What Does LGBTQIA Mean?
When the theme is queer identity and culture, some of the most popular questions on Google are What is the meaning of LGBTQ+?, What does the IA in LGBTQIA stand for?, and, surprisingly, What does bottom mean in LGBTQ?. You may not find the answer for the latter in this post, but we are here to help you understand the meaning behind all these letters.
LGBTQIA stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, and asexual/aromantic/agender. The IA was, in fact, recently added to the initialism and some writers and activists still prefer to use LGBTQ+. In this case, the + represents all sexual orientations and gender identities.
"These and other terms will continue to evolve and take on different forms and meanings across different culture and age groups," explained a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine committee in a 2020 report. It's important to remember that no term is perfectly inclusive, and the LGBTQ+ community is learning and evolving constantly.
You may have also read somewhere the term LGBTQQIP2SAA, which stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, pansexual, two-spirit, asexual, and ally. This initialism is considered too complicated and poorly effective by many activists.
Because of its many letters, the LGBTQ+ community was once described by conservatives as the Alphabet Mafia. The expression was an attempt to mock the community, but conservatives never had a good sense of humor, so the joke backfired. The LGBTQIA people recently claimed the term, and it became popular on social media.
Explaining the letters
Lesbian: A woman who is sexual or romantic attracted to other women.
Gay: A person who is sexual or romantic attracted to people of their own sex; commonly used to describe men.
Bisexual: A person who is sexual or romantic attracted to more than one gender.
Transgender: A person whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth.
Queer: Originally used as a pejorative slur, queer is now used as an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or are not cisgender.
Pansexual: A person who can be attracted to all different kinds of people, regardless of gender.
Intersex: A person who is born with a combination of male and female biological traits.
Asexual: A person who doesn't fit traditional standards around sexual desire.
Two-spirit: A person who embodies both male and female spirits within them. Two-spirit is an umbrella term across American Indian and First Nations cultures.
Ally: A person who is not LGBTQ but uses their privilege to support the community and promote equality.
Other definitions
Nonbinary: A person who doesn't identify exclusively as female or male.
Genderqueer: A person who rejects static, conventional categories of gender and embraces fluid ideas of gender.
Gender-expansive: People who don't identify with traditional gender roles.
Gender fluid: A person whose gender identity may change.
Gender non-conforming: People who don't conform to traditional expectations of their gender.
Androgynous: A person who has both masculine and feminine gender characteristics, being neither strictly male nor strictly female.
Cisgender: A person whose gender identity aligns with the sex they were assigned at birth.
Every group represented by the LGBTQ+ initialism has its own different flag. You can learn about the Rainbow Flag origin and its variations in this post.
More on Queer History
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