If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
GLBTQ. It’s an acronym that you may have heard mentioned in certain newspapers or magazines, or named in flyers on a college campus. This term is a catch-all designed to identify and include those whose sexuality is something other than “heteronormative”. Heteronormative is a word that gives a nod to how common – and unfortunately how phobic – heterosexuality, a relationship between a man and a woman, often is. Much like Americans abroad that become annoying tourists when they can’t stop exclaiming how weird something different to them is, GLBTQ is a shield to signify a welcoming group who does not judge or exclude on partner or personal sexual preference.
So what does it mean? Let’s break it down together.
G – Gay. This letter refers to men who have relationships with other men. This can sometimes refer to a relationship between two women, but is most often used for male-male relationships.
L – Lesbian. This letter refers to relationships between two women.
B – Bisexual. This letter refers to those who enjoy the sex or companionship of both males and females.
T – Transgender. This letter refers to anyone who feels they are the opposite sex “inside”, regardless of surgery or not.
Q – Questioning or Queer. This letter is for those exploring their sexuality, or those who have a less-definable, but still valid, sexuality like androgyny (behaving and appearing to not fully belong to either male or female gender), being pansexual (liking people for people and not for outward appearance).
This acronym is often accompanied by a rainbow flag, the symbol of the sexuality movement, and less frequently a pink triangle. The pink triangle was the patch put on the clothes of some of hitler’s concentration camp prisoners in WW2 to signify they were gay, and has since become a symbol of endurance and strength.
Tags: Bisexual, Gay, Gender Identity, Genderqueer, GLBT, GLBTQ, Heteronormative, Lesbian, Queer, Questioning, Sexuality, Transgender
