Editor’s Note: The following article was written by Jay Mack, one of the Tribuno’s first summer interns.
In recent years, there has been a rise in LGBTQIA+ presence. For generations, there have been terms like gay and lesbian. Most individuals understand the terms gay and lesbian. What are the other meanings of the different words in the acronym? For the newer generation, terms such as trans, genderfluid, and non-binary are prevalent in discussions.
LGBTQIA+ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and ally. Lesbians and gay people are very similar to each other. Gay is an umbrella term for someone who is attracted to the same gender. Lesbian refers to an identifying woman who likes others who identify as female. Gay is typically a word that refers to an identifying man who likes other identifying men. Bisexual means a person of any gender who likes both men and women. A transgender person is someone who was assigned a sex at birth and does not identify with the sex assigned at birth. Queer is a term for someone who falls under the umbrella terms for LGBTQ but doesn’t have an exact label on their gender and/or sexuality. Intersex is someone who was born with both the physical characteristics of a biological male and female. Ally refers to a straight, cisgendered person who supports the LGBTQIA+. The plus refers to the other identifications associated under the umbrella.
Sex and gender are not the same. Gender is a social construct identifying someone’s appearance, while sex refers to someone’s biology. Everyone is assigned a sex at birth. When a baby is born, you buy the items based on their biological status rather than gender. Cisgender is a term meaning someone who identifies under their assigned sex. When someone says cisgender male, they are saying that the person identifies as male and was born in the male body.
Sex is being used to decide the gender of a person. Specific fashions, sports, colors, and mannerisms are defined by sex by modern society. People are allowed to wear clothes based on their choices. Girls can wear “boy” clothes like pants and tuxes, while boys wear skirts and dresses. Society limits certain tropes to specific sexes. Cheerleading and football are sports that are said to be by “gender”. Gender is not the same as sex. Sex is biological, gender is social.
There are umbrella terms for the most common sexualities. Sexualities and genders are the umbrella under which identity is sorted. Sexuality is the sexual orientation that one aligns with. Someone who is bisexual and cisgender means they are a person who identifies as their assigned sex and likes boys and girls. Different sexualities cover the other terms that were not assigned.
The most common sexualities are lesbian, straight, gay, and bisexual. Lesbian is the term for identifying females who say they like others who identify as female. Straight refers to someone who likes the opposite sex, regardless of whether they were born with it. This is the most common sexuality. Gay means an identifying male likes other men. Bisexual means someone who likes both men and women, and identifies as one gender. Gender is more than just cis and trans. There are other gender types and ways to identify.
Gender is a concept of identity that someone identifies with. Cisgender and trans are the most common. 2 other gender identities that can be found are non-binary and genderfluid. Non-binary people are people who do not identify with the sex assigned at birth. Non-binary people use they/them pronouns. They/them do not show signs of a gender and are the preferred pronouns of a non-binary individual. Genderfluid is a term for someone who identifies with all the above. Genderfluid means that someone is changing gender identities and does not classify themselves with one gender. Their gender can be male for a week and female the following week. Gender is not black and white.
There are labels people like to use for their identification. These are called pronouns. People can use pronouns like they/them, she/her, and he/him. They explain someone’s preferred gender identity. Some people mix their labels. I am one of these examples. I identify as agender but use non-binary as a label. My pronouns are she/he. She means I identify as female, and “he” means I identify with male pronouns. People can add and change their pronouns to see how they would like to fit them into their daily life. Just like sexualities, there is not one but many.
Some other common sexualities are pansexual, demisexual, aromantic, and asexual. Pansexual is the sexuality of someone who is attracted to all genders. Demisexual refers to someone who needs to have a high connection to someone to gain a romantic interest in someone. Aromantic and asexual refer to someone who does not feel any romance or has little to no interest in romance, and someone who does not feel or has little to no sexual feelings. The terms romantic and sexual can be interchangeable with different sexualities. There are possible combinations of sexualities. An example is someone who is panromantic and asexual—putting pan and romantic shows that someone likes people romantically but doesn’t want a sexual relationship.
LGBTQIA is a complicated subject to navigate through. It is always welcome to ask about someone’s identity. There is no shame in making mistakes. People are still learning, and there is no age limit to when someone can identify outside of their assigned sex and the love outside of the hetero norm. LGBTQIA is not a scary concept. People under this umbrella are humans, too. There is no shame for someone who is gay, trans, or just straight and cisgender. Anyone can be part of the LGBTQIA, regardless of their identity.
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