All the colours of the rainbow: what the ‘+’ in LGBT+ means

As the world becomes a more accepting place and discussions on gender and sexuality evolve, the rainbow flag has expanded to include more letters in the queer alphabet. You may have seen the familiar LGBT updated to LGBTQ, LGBTQIA, LGBTQQIAAP, or simply LGBT+, like we use here at mygwork. GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, has also updated their lexicon and explained the need for adding a plus at the end our initialism to include all these new iterations

“Coverage of LGBTQ issues has moved beyond simplistic political dichotomies and toward more fully realised representations, not only of the diversity of the LGBTQ community, but also of LGBTQ people’s lives, their families, and their fundamental inclusion in the fabric of… society,” the organisation writes on their website.

“Today, LGBTQ people’s stories are more likely to be told in the same way as others — with fairness, integrity, and respect. Journalists realise that LGBTQ people have the right to fair, accurate, and inclusive reporting of their stories and their issues.

“Fair, accurate, and inclusive news media coverage has played an important role in expanding public awareness and understanding of LGBTQ people”.

So, what is encompassed in the plus?

Asexual

Someone who is asexual normally has little to no sex drive and is attracted to someone for more emotional reasons.

Pansexual

Pansexuality has become a more fluid term to cover those who are attracted psychically, emotionally and sexually to more than one gender identity. Pansexuals often refer to themselves as “gender-blind” and are similar to omnisexuals who can also be attracted to all genders.

Intersex

Intersex people are a small percentage of the population who are born with variations in their sex characteristics, including their chromosomes, sex hormones, or genitals that don’t match either male or female.

Gender-Fluid

Someone who is gender-fluid can move between identifying as either male or female, or somewhere in between. They may change their gender throughout their life.

Cisgender

A person who is cis identifies as the gender they were assigned at birth, if you were born a male and you identify as a male.

Straight Allies

For friends of the LGBT+ community, but are not necessarily a part of it. Straight allies are an important bridge between the LGBT+ community and other straight people who do not have a great understanding of queer issues. They are instrumental in helping effect political change.

Questioning

Someone is still exploring their sexuality or gender identity and isn’t ready to put a definitive label on it.

Non-Binary

A person who has a gender identity that is not exclusively male or female, similar to gender-fluid people.

Agender

A person who doesn’t identify as male, female, or otherwise.

Aromantic

Someone who experiences little to no romantic attraction to other people – different from asexual.

Bigender

A person who identifies as two genders, these genders can either be experienced simultaneously or not. They can include male, female and non-binary genders.

Queer

Originally a hate term, queer as been reclaimed by the community and has become a blanket term for all LGBT+ people.

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