The LGBTQIA+ Masterpost

Hello everyone!
My name is Peryton and my pronouns are he/him. I'm a 20 y/o transmale and so far I haven't seen a chatter thread about the LGBTQIA+ community for the purposes of education. So, I decided I would make one myself! 

There are a lot of different ways to be queer in today's world. A good portion of the population may fall under the umbrella, and if you are outside the community a lot of the words being thrown around may not make sense and can be quite confusing! I know it would be to me if I were not a member myself. 

I will be sourcing a lot of these definitions from websites such as The Trevor Project, and all links will be included at the end of the post if you would like to do some additional reading. As well, if there is anything major that you feel should be included please feel free to comment down below!

Please note: This post is not intended to cause any drama or conflict. It is simply to define commonly used terms, answer common questions, and link source material for people who aren't as informed as those of us within the community. Wolvden counts LGBTQIA+ folk among it's members, and deserves to be a safe space where we can express ourselves accordingly. I may also use the word "queer" and the acronym LGBT+ interchangeably. For some, the word queer is seen as a slur or is a trigger, so it is up to the individual themselves whether they want to use the term. 

Now onto the information!

Q: What does that big acronym stand for?
LGBTQIA+, often shortened to LGBT+, is a way to reference the community in a respectful and inclusive way. Each letter references a specific group of people within that community, either by their gender or sexuality. It is often shortened to LGBT+ for the sake of saving time.

Q: What does each letter mean?
L= Lesbian, a woman identifying person who is attracted to another woman. This is regardless of their physical parts, because not all trans-women have access to surgery or decide to pursue surgical options. 

G= Gay, a male identifying person who is attracted to another male. This also includes trans-men, because again, attraction is about one's gender identity and presentation not about their genitals. 

B= Bisexual, which is often times swapped for pansexual. Someone who is bisexual is attracted to two or more genders of people, or people outside of the gender binary entirely. 

T= Transgender, which is someone who does not identify with their assigned gender at birth. The term transgender will be further explained down below!

Q= Questioning, which is when someone is aware that they may belong within the LGBT+ community but don't quite know how they fit in or how to define themselves. 

The Q has also been used in the past to mean "queer", which is used as a blanket term when someone is exploring their identity or doesn't solidly identify with any one sexuality or gender within the LGBT+ community, and are reclaiming the slur in a way to empower themselves. Outside of use by members of the community, queer is a slur and should not be used.

I= Intersex, which is actually a biological condition that affects a portion of the population. Oftentimes intersex people are marginalized so they are included and given a safe space within the LGBT+ community. Intersex people have chromosomes or biological parts that don't fall within the stereotypical "male" and "female" genders that doctors get to check on your birth certificate when you are born. There are a number of medical conditions that intersex people have, and oftentimes they are forcibly given surgery when born to "correct" them. 

Not all intersex people identify with the LGBT+ community, however for the purposes of explaining the acronym I have included them in this post.

A= Asexual, which is a term for people who don't experience any form of sexual attraction or experience it very minorly. The A can also stand for aromantic, which is when someone doesn't experience romantic attraction to other people. There is a link with more information on ace/aro people at the bottom of this post! 

Q: What does pansexual mean?
Pansexuality and bisexuality are very similar, however when someone is pansexual they are attracted to all different types of people, regardless of gender identity. I use the term pansexual to describe my own attraction, because for me I love someone for the person they are rather than the gender they identify with. 

Q: What is the difference between sex and gender?
This is one of the more common misconceptions outside of the LGBT+ community. Someone's biological sex and their gender identity are not the same thing! For most humans, their sex and their gender identity are in sync. So, when someone has a vagina and also identifies as a woman, this person is cisgender. Biological sex is determined by your parts and your gender is determined in the brain. 

Q: What does it mean when someone is transgender?
When someone is transgender, their gender identity does not match up with their assigned sex at birth. They may feel completely opposite within the binary gender norm, something in between, or something different entirely. Said individual may choose to "transition", which means changing how they present themselves, going through hormone replacement therapy, or even pursuing surgical means so that their body matches up with their sense of self. 

Transgender individuals often have a set of preferred pronouns, for example mine are he/him/his. Saying one's preferred pronouns, even if you are not transgender, helps to normalize the concept and make the world a more welcoming place for transgender individuals. 

Q: What does non-binary mean?
When someone is non-binary, they have a gender identity that is somewhere on the gender spectrum besides the "traditional" male and female gender identities. They may be a little bit of both, neither, or somewhere in between. This is different than a feminine presenting man or a masculine presenting woman. Feminine men and masculine women may just be non-gender conforming, rather than genderqueer or nonbinary.

Q: What does TERF mean?
TERF is another acronym commonly used within the community and it stands for transgender-exclusionary-radical-feminist. Oftentimes, this word is thrown around with people not having a clear idea of what it means. A TERF (for example, J.K. Rowling) believe that feminism only applies to cisgender women and that including trans women in feminism harms cis women. This concept is extremely harmful to transgender women, who often need more protection and validation from their cisgender sisters due to the heightened danger they face in our all too often transgender-hostile society. The danger is further exacerbated if the transgender-woman is a POC (person of color, i.e., not caucasian). True feminism applies to all women, not just cisgender women. Excluding trans-women from feminism is NOT feminist, it is discriminatory. 

Another discriminatory behavior that TERFs often do is exclude trans-women from lesbianism. Trans women are women, and a lesbian is simply a woman who is attracted to other women. Transgender women have as much right to be there as cisgender women, and to exclude them is reducing lesbianism down to the presence of a vagina. 

Q: What is dysphoria?
Dysphoria is a term to describe the feeling that parts of your body are just "wrong". It is often an indicator of a mismatch between biological sex and gender identity, however not all transgender individuals experience dysphoria. Dysphoria differs from person to person, but it can cause severe depression, anxiety, and body image issues depending on the severity. Dysphoria is one of the reasons transgender individuals undergo gender-affirming surgeries. 

Q: How can I be supportive of LGBT+ individuals?
It is super important to be a good ally! A lot of people may not be able to come out in their daily lives due to their family situation, so for this reason the internet should be a safe and welcoming space for all. You can be a good ally by supporting people who do come out, and not nitpicking things or asking questions that are too invasive, such as "But how do you know you're gay?" or "When are you having the surgery?" These questions are very invasive and may make LGBT+ people feel like they need to be able to explain everything about themselves, which frankly isn't necessary. They should just be comfortable existing without feeling like they need to justify it. 

Once again, if you have any questions or think of a common question I should add to this post, please feel free to leave a comment and I will add it as fast as I am able! Thank you for reading everybody. 

Educational Links:

LGBT+ 101:

The Trevor Project

Asexuality Education Network

American Psychological Association

Heyo! I'm just another trans guy here to say this is a great master post for people who are looking to learn more about the LGBTQ+ community. Thanks a bunch for making it!

Glad you like it! I figured chatter needed an info post ^^ 

Hi, bisexual person here, just got a couple issues with your post:

Firstly, the Q has historically and generally chiefly stood for Questioning. I am glad you brought this up, but as you said in your preface, there is also a negative history with the use of the term 'queer' as an umbrella term as it is still largely used as a slur against the LGBT+ community. Reasons come not only from such usage as a slur, but also because of the natural othering brought on by the very definition of the word, as queer is synonymous with strange and abnormal. People choosing to reclaim it for themselves is fine, but using it as an umbrella term hurts the people who do not wish to be associated with such a term that has caused harm to them. I also feel that people who are questioning their identity tend to get brushed aside, and that we should really focus on helping those folks a lot more come to terms with who they are.
..I do also find the fact that you acknowledging the word as a trigger for some people in the introduction before turning around and using it as an umbrella term regardless fairly insensitive. I'm sure that wasn't your intention, but it does come off that way to me, at the very least.

Secondly, your description of the separation between pansexuality and bisexuality is rather biphobic, in my opinion. Many bisexual people like myself also do not equate attraction to parts. There is a lot of overlap between the pansexual and bisexual labels, and the purple in the bisexual flag in fact refers to gender identities other than male or female. Bisexuality is not inherently binary!

I do also have a problem with you stating the A stands for Ally even if it is a post-script to it standing for Asexual, but that's largely because of some bad allies using it to try and force themselves into LGBT spaces. Additionally, "A for Ally" has been historically used to discredit asexuals' and aromantics' places within the LGBT acronym and community.

Other than that, your post is great! Kudos to you! :>

Thank you for such a lengthy response!

First off, sorry about my wording of things making you uncomfortable, my attempt was to make things as inclusive as possible, hence including Q being used for both "queer" and "questioning". I will swap the two's places around, as folk who are questioning their gender identity or sexuality are vastly more important than a way to define the word queer. 

Second, in my definition of bisexual, the tail end specifies that it's an attraction to two or more genders of people, my understanding was that bi=2 or more and pan=attraction regardless of gender. I will update the pansexual wording to reflect this, as well as the wording under bisexual! I should have been more specific about sex versus gender in both!

It's nice to have a second set of eyes to go over things ^^: thank you for your feedback!

Bisexual and Pansexual are basically interchangeable, tbh. The wording on it that makes me, personally, a bit uncomfortable is "I use the term pansexual to describe my own attraction, because for me I love someone for the person they are rather than the parts they posses" when Bisexuals aren't just attracted to parts, and a lot would describe themselves with the exact same words you have. 

The biggest difference between Bi and Pan is just... which term you feel works best.

I have since updated the wording under both bisexual and pansexual to reflect the difference between gender and assigned sex! I understand they're interchangeable but didn't flesh out the definitions enough.

No worries! I just wanted to point those out, and hope I came across as understanding as possible. Being autistic means I flub wording big time every so often and can come off aggressively when I don't mean to... ;_;''

I do hope I didn't inconvenience you any as well, I just wanted to make sure a lot of stuff came off as inclusively as possible also! I really appreciate the rewording you did, and think it looks even more excellent now. I also apologize for some of the stuff I may have glossed over in your initial OP when I started making my points... that was bad form and for that I take sole responsibility.

I appreciate it muchly and do very much applaud your efforts for making this masterpost in the first place. I hope it helps a lot of people!

Oh you're alright! I didn't really get any second opinions while making it, and would love as many responses as possible to make sure I get things right. I am a trans male yes, but my experience before this was only really as a "lesbian" (gotta love not realizing your gender/sexuality for awhile) so I'm not as fully versed in most things as other members of the community. 

I sure hope the masterpost helps!! The past few days I've seen TERF thrown around a bit and figured not everyone on the game is LGBT+...even though I feel like animal games attract a lot of gays lmao 😂 but no worries!

I just want to drop in and say I love all of the care and research that went into this post. It's highly informative and well put together! thank you for creating it c:

I also want to say that no matter what you write in your post, it will cause some friction. Definitions are ever-changing and even personal to some people, especially when it comes to personal identity. We're all on this journey of identity together, and for creating an overall blanket definition to help people understand the basics, I think you did perfectly! From there, we each tailor the definitions to our personal journey and make them personal to us. That's what is amazing about identity c:

- just a bisexual demiboy on my own personal journey