What does LGBTQ2+ mean?

What does LGBTQ2+ mean? - Transcript

TBS the department supports the LGBTQ2+ communities, and part of that support is raising awareness and educating people on what that means.

The first thing that we need to understand is the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity.

Sexual orientation basically explains your sexual preferences.

Gender identity is who you identify as and who you know yourself to be, how you choose to identify yourself.

The acronym that TBS uses for these communities is LGBTQ2+.

Let’s dive into what the LGBTQ2+ acronym stands for.

“L” is for lesbian.

Basically, a woman who likes women.

“G” stands for gay.

That’s a person who is attracted to people of the same gender.

Most often it is used for a man who likes other men, but it can be used by anybody.

“B” is for bisexual, and that’s somebody who is attracted to people of their own gender and other genders.

It can also refer to non-binary people.

“T” is for transgender.

A person whose gender identity is different from the sex placed on their birth certificate.

“Q” stands for Queer.

Queer is an umbrella term often time used to categorize the entirety of the LGBTQ2+ community.

Next, we have the “2”.

It’s for Two-Spirits.

It is an indigenous identity used by some indigenous folks who, just like queer, whose gender identity, sexual orientation or spiritual identity differs from the societal norm, and it’s called Two-Spirits because a person may be believed to have both the male and the female spirits within them.

And then, there’s the “+” sign, which is there to represent all of the other identities that you may have already heard of: Non-binary, pansexual, asexual and intersex.

We use the plus sign because there’s so many identities out there, and the community and the language is always evolving and we want to be inclusive.

It is very important to be inclusive, understanding and patient when it comes to the diverse forms of identity that currently exist in our day to day life.

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