“If I wait for someone else to validate my existence, it will mean that I’m shortchanging myself.” – Zanele Muholi 

I have found that many people do not understand what the letters in the acronym LGBTQIA+ stand for and what they represent. It is common to find that people will associate the knowledge of the LGBTQIA+ community with ‘wokeness’, as it were. In other words, your level of ‘wokeness’ determines how much you know about the community. I must admit that there may be truth or correlation to that, although it may be an unpopular opinion.

When it comes to matters of sex, sexuality and gender it is imperative that one views them not in isolation from one another. They are symbiotic, coexistent and somewhat coinciding. Thus, having to grasp the full continuum of the community requires one to be open-minded and patient. 

Shall I attempt to introduce and attune you to the LGBTQIA+ community? Let’s get started…

L 🡪 lesbian 

This describes a woman who is sexually and romantically attracted to another woman.

G 🡪 gay 

This term describes a man who is both sexually and romantically attracted to another man. This is also the preferred term to use (as opposed to using the term homosexual) when one is referring to individuals who are attracted to the same sex.

B 🡪 bisexual 

This relates to an individual who is attracted to both men and women. 

T 🡪  transgender 

This describes an individual who identifies mentally, psychologically and emotionally as a gender that is discordant to the gender which was assigned to them at birth. This also functions as an umbrella term for referring to transwomen, transmen and transsexual individuals.

Q 🡪 queer (genderqueer), questioning 

Queer refers to the all-encapsulating term used to refer to the community. Questioning is self-explanatory: where one chooses not to label oneself as they are in the process of exploring who they are.

I 🡪 intersex 

This refers to individuals who are born with ambiguous genitalia due to the chromosomal abnormalities during embryonic development. The term ‘hermaphrodite’ is now an obsolete term, and thus should not be used to refer to Intersex people.  

A 🡪 asexual, agender, allies

Asexual refers to persons who may have a romantic attraction to another person but not a sexual attraction. 

The term Agender is used to describe people who identify neither as male nor female. 

Allies refers to people who do not identify with the community, but who are in support of people of the community and the causes for which they stand. 

+ 🡪 pansexual,  fluid, non-binary, two-spirited 

Pansexual describes members who are attracted to other people regardless of gender, i.e. more than one gender. This further describes that these members may be attracted to one’s personality primarily. 

Two-spirited is a Native American term which describes people who display both female and male qualities, be it in their personality, sexuality or gender identity. 

So, in light of this brief introduction to the LGBTQIA+ community I hope that you no longer think that these letters just went to private school or even believe them to be synonymous with your level of ‘wokeness’. I hope you have gained understanding of what each letter means and who it represents. Moreover, you can now embrace members of the community with greater understanding. Who knows a member of the community may be closer than you know. 

References and links

1. Sexuality and what coming out look like in the black community

https://omny.fm/shows/power-podcasts/sexuality-and-what-coming-out-in-black-community-l

2. An introduction to the Queer community 

3. Defining LGBTQ

Ubusha Bami futsi yimi lo – My youth and this is me! © October 2020