Hi Lynn!
Being an ally and not a member of the community, I can’t remember the acronym LGBTQ without having to think long and hard. I believe my age and memory issues may be a cause for my inability to remember. Here’s my question, am I offending someone if I don’t remember the acronym correctly? Also, when did Queer become okay? Is it kind of like the police using the word “Cop” to take the power away from the word?
To my dearest ally,
I am sure that there will be some community members that will be offended if you can’t remember the acronym LGBTQ, but I believe that most community members will understand. Being an ally is the important part of that community. I would like to personally thank you for being an ally to the community.
There is a good editorial on “What Does Queer Mean?” on the Bustle website. I believe this should answer your question about reclaiming of the word “Queer”. We have to remember though, that this word has been used to traumatize some and is still a source of pain for them. The important thing here is to let people identify themselves, if they use the term in their self identification, then it should be okay to use it in the conversation.
As for the acronym, we’re not all a collective group so there isn’t an “official” acronym, we don’t all meet up once a month or vote on anything. Differing ideological groups within the community might use different acronyms but I personally just use LGBTQIA+ or LGBTQ+.
This is just how I personally define the acronym. I’m not speaking for everyone else in the community, just myself. All that disclaimer stuff being said….LOL, below is my definations of the acronym LGBTQIA+.
L – Lesbian. Lesbian is a term used to refer to homosexual females.
G – Gay. Gay is a term used to refer to homosexuality, a homosexual person, or a homosexual male.
B – Bisexual. Bisexual is when a person is attracted to both males and females.
T – Transgender. Trans is an umbrella term for transgender and transsexual folks.
Q – Queer/Questioning. Queer is an umbrella term for all of those who are not heterosexual and/or cis gender. Questioning is when a person isn’t 100% sure of their sexual orientation and/or gender, and are trying to find their own identity.
I – Intersex. Intersex is when a person has an indeterminate mix of primary and secondary sex characteristics.
A – Asexuality. Asexuality is when a person experiences no (or little, if referring to demisexuality or grey-asexuality) sexual attraction to people.
+ – The “+” symbol simply stands for all of the other sexualities, sexes, and genders that aren’t included in these few letters.
I hope that this helped answer your questions.
With love and best wishes,
Lynn
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