Ell-Gee-Bee-Tee-Tee-Queue-Queue-Pee-Aye-Ay-Two-Ess. I've said this acronym so many times that it's become its own word. So many hyphens. So what, in our understanding, does this acronym actually mean? In the next ten minutes, hopefully I can clear up and explain some aspects of this ever-growing acronym and the people who self-identify within it. I am by no means an expert, but have received diversity awareness training and education through the National Association of Independent School's Student Diversity Leadership Conference. So without further ado, let's get into it.
L - Lesbian. Reference.com defines a lesbian as a female homosexual. A female who experiences romantic love or sexual attraction to other females.
G - Gay. Originally used to describe someone as 'happy' or 'showy', "gay" has made a linguistic shift to describe a homosexual male who experiences romantic or sexual attraction to other males.
B - Bisexual. Okay, here's where things start to get a bit more complicated. Bisexuality is defined by the American Psychological Association as romantic and sexual attraction as well as sexual behavior towards both males and females. BUT! Many bisexual-identifying individuals can experience those attractions and behaviors for members of the community who may not necessarily identify as either male or female.
T/T - Transgender/Transexual. Trans*-identifying individuals are members of our community whose gender expression and/or gender identity does not necessarily line up with their assigned biological sex. Gender is a spectrum. Gender is a spectrum. Gender is a spectrum. While Trans*-identifying individuals are part of the big acronym, Trans* is not actually a sexual orientation. Trans*-identifying individuals can be heterosexual, gay, lesbian, queer, etc...
Q/Q - Queer/Questioning. Queer, formerly used as a slur, has been reclaimed (for the most part) by the community and is now used as an umbrella term to describe anybody that is not (for the most part) exclusively heterosexual. A questioning individual is pretty self-explanatory. You don't have to know what you like, and the beautiful thing about sexuality is that it is completely fluid. Your preferences and interests can change; it's important to be in touch with yourself enough to realize that these things can change, and that's okay. Sexuality, like gender, is a spectrum.
P - Pansexual. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines pansexuality as a sexual orientation which involves romantic or sexual attraction towards other individuals, regardless of biological sex, gender identity, or gender expression. That being said, there is a common misconception that pansexual-identified individuals are more sexual beings because they have a "bigger pool to choose from", but that's simply not true; pansexual-identified individuals engage in sexual activity just as much as everybody else. And even if some individuals do engage in more sexual behavior than what is perceived as "average", that's nobody's business but their own.
I - Intersex. Like gender and sexuality, biological sex is actually on a spectrum as well. Intersex-identifying people are members of our community whose biological expression of sex is neither entirely male nor female. While their gender expression may be on either side of the spectrum, their actual expression of phenotypical traits within their genetic code lies somewhere in the middle between biologically male and female. While extremely visible cases of intersex individuals are rare, there are more subtle ways in which members of our community can identify as intersex. (i.e. Some perceived biological women have unusually high levels of testosterone resulting in a lower voice or even the presence of an adam's apple)
A - Asexual. Anthony F. Boegart, author of 'Toward a Conceptual Understanding of Asexuality', defines asexuality as a sexual orientation in which an individual experiences little to no sexual urges whatsoever. This does not mean that asexual individuals can't fall in love, it just means that sex isn't really an interest or a priority.
2 - Two-Spirit. A relatively new addition to the acronym, "2-spirit" is a term used by the indigenous people of North America to describe individuals who feel as though their bodies are inhabited by both a male and female spirit. These individuals fulfill a spiritual role in many tribes, and often perform typically male and female gender roles. More recently, non-native people have taken to identifying as two-spirited as well. While significantly less spiritual, people who identify as two-spirited feel as if there are two distinctly different spiritual aspects of their identities that are both male and female.
S - Sapiosexual. Another relatively new term (so new it's not in any dictionary except for the urban one), sapiosexuality is a sexual orientation in which an individual is attracted to intelligence, regardless of biological sex, gender identity, or gender expression.
This is by no means the end-all be-all to sexuality or gender expression or even LGBT+ issues. We, as people, enjoy problematizing and labeling everything in our world. We all have hearts and parts; we make them do stupid things sometimes, but remember this at the end of the day: you are who you are, and that's a sexy thing. If anything, I hope you learned something new or gained new insight on something; I encourage you to find further resources and educate yourself more on the issues relative to each of these identities. Human sexuality and gender expression is so awesome, and I'm so happy that I've been given the opportunity to offer my two cents.
