What’s with all the letters?

LBGTQ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer.

Lesbian and gay both refer to people who are attracted to other people with the same gender.
Bisexual refers to people who are attracted to males and females.
Transgender refers to people whose initial sex that they were assigned at birth does not line up with their gender identity.
Queer an refer to people who are attracted to all kinds of people, regardless of gender identity. It can also be used as an umbrella term to include all the letters at once. Queer has also historically been used as an insult directed toward LGBT people, but there is a growing desire within the community to reclaim this word and use it in a positive way.

Some letters that are also often included are I for intersex – a general term for a variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male; P for polyamory – a term referring to a model of relationships that may involve more than two people; and A for ally – a term to describe straight folks who personally advocate for LGBTQ folks to receive equal rights and treatment from others.