LGBT means diversity

Oh wow, so many letters

"L, G, B, T, Q, A, I, P..."
"Did you smack your little head over the pavement? The alphabet starts with A."

No, I'm not trying to remember my ABC. These are the initials describing non-heterosexual and non-cisgender people and used together as a name for our community.

There are a lot of different sexualities and genders and thus, the community is often only named after the most "common" letters: LGBT or, if you're trying to be more inclusive: LGBT+ (some even add a few letters such as Q and A as these are becoming more and more "common").

You might also see some people only using a few letter to refer to a part of the community (e.g. LGB, AA, TNB, etc.)

"It's so difficult *sighs*"

It's actually not if you take the time to learn, educate yourself and open your mind.

As I've said, there are many sexualities and though some people think there are only a few genders (female, male, trans male, trans female, non-binary), some others think there are way more genders than that, resulting in dozens of new letters, signs (I'm talking about these:♀♂⚧, etc.) and flags.

Sexuality and gender are such personal traits, it would be impossible to please everyone. But some people tend to be as inclusive as possible and keep "creating" new groups and sexuality/gender names for people to be more comfortable (some say there are over a 100 genders now).

But when I say comfortable it's not necessarily about themselves. I mean, dude. Do you really think all of us like this concept of labels ? Most of LGBTQA+ people would rather be themselves and just exist and feel free to be and love who they want rather than have a label stuck on their faces like in a "Guess who" game.

But since being part of the LGBTQA+ is still not normalized in our society, some people might feel more comfortable if they have a name and definition to explain what they are/feel, especially young and/or questioning people who might need reassurance and to know that they are understood and not alone.

So in this educational guide, I'll try to give the best definitions and explanation to the different terms you might encounter on your journey to understanding the community.

Please feel free to comment, debate (with me and others) and also ask questions. No one is gonna bite you if you're genuinely interested in understanding and supporting the community. I might write down some of your questions and then write Q&As chapters if there are enough questions.

Please also feel free to complete my sayings/correct me if you disagree. I am not saying I know it all (you can never 100% know when you're not part of a group [e.g. I'm not transgender or asexual, I might say something wrong]).

However, this place is a place of love, support and sharing. Hate and insults are not welcomed here at all. Mean comments toward me/another reader/the community or comments invalidating someone/a group will be instantly deleted and the user blocked.

That said,
Enjoy your reading!