We've all heard of the common term "LGBT" and we all just think of the word "gay" ut it's more than that. So what does LGBT actually stand for, and what about that little plus sign on the end?
LGBT stands for:
Lesbian
Gay
Bisexual
Transgender
Now, the extended version of this is LGBTQIA2-S, and that stands for:
Lesbian
Gay
Bisexual
Transgender
Queer
Questioning
Intersexual
Asexual
Two-Spirted
If you're straight and not really familiar with the world of LGBT+, you might not know what all these terms mean, so let's break it down in a simple way that we can all understand. And this will also help you break the ways of thinking that LGBT+ means "gay" because it doesn't.
Lesbian means a female or feminine gender that is attracted to its own sex or feminine gender.
Gay is for a man or masculine gender to lust for another masculine sex gender.
Bisexual means for a male or female to be attracted to both sexes.
If one is transgender or sometimes just called trans, is a male or female that has switched in gender sexes and had their genitals surgically changed.
According to Sophie Saint Thomas, queer is an identity created for anyone outside of the heterosexual norm and meant to be inclusive and create a sense of acceptance.
Questioning or sometimes known as bi-curious means that a person is unsure of their sexuality or standing in the sex world.
And according to Wikipedia, Intersex people are individuals born with any of several variations in sex characteristics including chromosomes, gonads, sex hormones or genitals that, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit the typical definitions for male or female bodies".
Asexual is a term you might have heard in your biology classes in school, but it doesn't quite mean the same thing in this scenario. Asexual means that a person is not sexually attracted to anymore, whether male, female, or nonbinary. They may be romantically attracted, but sexually, there is a lack of attraction.
Two-Spirted, according to lgbtqhealth.ca, refers to a person who identifies as having both a masculine and a feminine spirit and is used by some Indigenous people to describe their sexual, gender, and/or spiritual identity. As an umbrella term, it may encompass same-sex attraction and a wide variety of gender variance, including people who might be described in Western culture as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, cross-dressers or who have multiple gender identities.
So there you go, now you know what LGBT+ means in full. So maybe now you have a deeper understanding that love comes in many forms.
Thanks for reading!