Thoughts on the acronym

 

Throughout this series, we’ve examined the various identities that make up the LGBT community.

Now, we’re going to return to the acronym "LGBT" itself to discuss its iterations, synonyms, and the relative strengths and weaknesses of each.

This article builds on the previous articles in this series, which I began publishing in September.

If you’re not super familiar with LGBT identities, I would recommend starting in the beginning of this series, rather than here.

Otherwise, you may be confused by the analysis that follows.

 

 

 

The Short Acronym

 

LGBT is the most common form of the acronym. 

Its strength lies in its familiarity.

 

 

Here are what the letters stand for in the short acronym.

 

L – Lesbian

G – Gay

B – Bisexual

T – Transgender 

 

Let’s briefly define these terms. But remember, not everyone defines these terms the same way.

 

A lesbian is a woman who is attracted to women.

A gay man is a man who is attracted to men.

A bisexual is someone who is attracted to both men and women.

A transgender person identifies with a different gender than the one they were assigned at birth.

 

For more information about these and other terms, you can read two articles I wrote earlier in this series, Sexual and Romantic Orientations and Gender Identity and Biological Sex.

 

Most people have heard of the term LGBT and have a passing familiarity with what it means.

Regardless of the merits of its alternatives, it would take considerable time for the public to become familiar with another way of describing this group of people. 

The other advantage of LGBT is that it’s relatively short. If someone uses it repeatedly, it doesn’t become overly cumbersome.

 

A major disadvantage of the term is that not everyone in the LGBT community is covered by the four letters in the short form of the acronym.

This has led some to use a longer form of the acronym, which we will discuss next.

 

 

 

The Long Acronym

 

Sometimes, people use a longer form of the acronym, LGBTQIA. 

 

 

 

An advantage of the long form of the acronym is that it explicitly covers groups who don’t make their way into the short form of the acronym.

A major disadvantage of LGBTQIA is that it’s long and quickly becomes unwieldy when used repeatedly in written or spoken communication.

 

A small disadvantage is that many people don’t know what the letters at the end of the acronym stand for.

There also isn’t complete agreement regarding what all the letters stand for, and some can stand for multiple words.

Here are what the letters in the long acronym stand for, based on various articles and videos about LGBT identity. 

 

 

L — Lesbian

G — Gay

B — Bisexual

T — Transgender

Q — Queer or Questioning

I — Intersex

A — Asexual, Aromantic, Agender, or Allies

 

 

Let’s examine the additional letters that have been added to the long form of the acronym.

 

Let’s start with “Q”.

Another common variation of the acronym is LGBTQ.

So when people add only one additional letter, they are likely to choose Q.

The Q stands for Queer or Questioning, so let’s take a look at both of these terms individually.

 

 

Queer is often used, as an umbrella term, to refer to anyone who is LGBT.

As an umbrella term, queer is incredibly useful, because it allows people to avoid using an acronym every time they want to refer collectively to the LGBT community.

I’ll discuss Queer further in its own section, later in this article.

 

Someone might identify as queer, as an umbrella term, without adopting a specific sexual or gender identity, if they believe they are LGBT, but aren’t yet certain what their sexuality or gender is. 

 

Including Queer in the acronym implies it’s a subcategory, like Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender.

If Queer is being used as an umbrella term, rather than a subcategory, I believe its inclusion in the acronym is more confusing than clarifying.

 

Someone could argue for including Queer, as an umbrella term, to the acronym as a way to catch any identity that should be included, which doesn't have a specific letter. 

But to me, that almost defeats the whole purpose of having an acronym composed of specific subcategories in the first place. 

 

Queer is also sometimes used to describe a specific sexuality.

The problem is that as a specific sexuality, Queer has no definition.

It’s a word that conveys no substantive meaning regarding who a Queer person is attracted to.

If you want to identify your sexuality as Queer, you may, but the term communicates no meaning to a listener regarding what your sexuality actually is.

 

There are many LGBT identities, and adding a letter to the acronym takes up precious real estate.

I don’t believe it makes sense to explicitly reserve a spot for a term that lacks a meaningful definition.

 

 

“Q” can also stand for Questioning.

Many people question their sexuality or gender before adopting a specific identity label.

But I find it a bit strange to include it in the acronym.

People who are questioning should always be welcome at LGBT events and organizations, but I don’t think questioning necessarily needs to be part of the acronym.

I think it makes more sense for someone to say they are questioning whether they are LGBT, than to say they are LGBT because they are questioning.

 

 

“I” stands for Intersex, which refers to people who have physical traits different than those traditionally considered male or female.

Intersex people may have differences in sex chromosomes, genitals, internal anatomy, or hormones compared to how male and female bodies generally develop.

I discussed intersex people at length in Intersex Experiences, an earlier article in this series.

Intersex people aren’t explicitly covered by any of the other letters in the acronym.

Intersex people also have experiences and struggles that are both different from, and similar to, those experienced by other queer people.

I believe it makes sense to include “I” in the long acronym for Intersex people.

 

 

“A” can stand for up to four different terms, making it perhaps the most confusing letter of the long acronym.

It’s difficult for allies and the public to feel comfortable with the long acronym if they have to remember four different terms the “A” can stand for, depending on who is defining the acronym.  

 

 

“A” can stand for asexual, aromantic, agender, or allies.

Let’s take a look at each of these individually.

 

 

An asexual person experiences little to no sexual attraction.

It absolutely makes sense to include asexual in the long acronym, because it’s a specific sexuality, with a meaningful definition, that isn’t explicitly covered by any of the other letters.

 

An aromantic person experiences little to no romantic attraction.

Both asexuality and aromanticism exist on spectrums, and people who identify with these terms experience different degrees of attraction.

I discussed both the asexual and aromantic spectrums at length in my article on Sexual and Romantic Orientations.

 

Including aromantic in the acronym is a bit strange, because romantic orientations are generally not explicitly included in the acronym.

For example, when people define the acronym, they define “B” as bisexual, rather than bisexual and biromantic.

The romantic orientation counterparts to the sexual orientations are implied, rather than defined outright.

That being said, asexual and aromantic people often try to explain the distinctions between these concepts, and the asexual community was the first to really explore the idea of romantic orientations.

The split attraction model, where someone’s sexual orientation can be different from their romantic orientation, arises from the asexual community.

Trying to include all the romantic orientations in the long acronym would make it even more of a mess, but I believe you can justify including aromantic.

 

 

An agender person has a gender identity where they don’t perceive themselves as having a gender.

But that doesn’t mean they are ambivalent towards their gender identity, how others perceive them, or how other people interact with them in gendered ways.

I discussed agender identity in my article on Gender Identity and Biological Sex.

 

Agender is an LGBT identity that begins with the letter “A”, but I don’t think it should get its own spot in acronym.

Genderfluid is another common specific nonbinary identity, but no one would say that the “G” in the acronym stands for gay and genderfluid. 

Nonbinary refers to someone whose gender isn't exclusively male or female.

 

As the acronym currently stands, it makes sense to conceptualize Agender and Genderfluid as subcategories of transgender.

Transgender includes both binary and nonbinary identities, and agender and genderfluid are both specific nonbinary identities.  

 

Here is a diagram I created to visualize these conceptual relationships, which first appeared earlier in this series. 

 

 

 

 

 

I created another diagram to visualize the conceptual relationships between all of the most common LGBT identities. 

 

 

 

 

“A” can also stand for allies, depending on who is defining the long acronym.

Allies are incredibly important, but I don’t think it makes sense to include them in the acronym.

Including allies in the acronym implies that allies are LGBT themselves by virtue of being allies.

I think it’s a bit confusing to say that someone is LGBT because they are an ally, rather than based on their own underlying sexual, romantic, gender, or intersex identity.

That being said, I believe those who include allies in the acronym do so to show their appreciation for LGBT allies and their support.

 

 

Sometimes, people add a plus sign to the end of the acronym in case there’s a group that should have been included, which isn’t covered by any of the specific letters. 

 

 

Finally, let’s talk about transgender identity.

Personally, I consider transgender to include both binary and nonbinary transgender people.

But many people only think about binary transgender people when they hear the term transgender. 

Nonbinary identity is common enough that nonbinary should receive its own letter, which it doesn't even have in the long form of the acronym. 

Later in this article, I will discuss how prevalent specific LGBT identities are in the United States. 

 

 

For the reasons mentioned above, I don’t believe Queer or Questioning needs to be included in the acronym, which means the Q isn’t necessary.

If you drop the Q and add an N, for nonbinary, you can replace the Q, without changing the acronym too much.

Doing so would adjust the long acronym to LGBTNIA. 

 

 

That version of the acronym doesn’t look too bad or unusual.

I might use this form of the long acronym in the future on social media. 

 

Here are what the letters stand for in my modified form of the long acronym. 

L — Lesbian

G — Gay

B — Bisexual

T — Transgender

N — Nonbinary

I — Intersex

A — Asexual and Aromantic

 

Conceptually, I include genderfluid and agender under the "N" for nonbinary.

 

We’ll come back to the long acronym later in this analysis.

But first, we have more synonyms to discuss.

 

 

 

 

Queer

 

Queer is often used, as an umbrella term, to refer to anyone who is LGBT. 

Linguistically, queer has a lot to offer.

It’s short, simple, and sweet, no acronyms needed. 

 

 

Whether used on its own, or in combination with one of the acronyms, it isn’t a word that tires with repetition.

It’s also more flexible than the acronyms.

If you decide to add a group, you don’t have to add another letter, or find a way to expand the meaning of an existing letter.

 

The main downside is that some older gay men have painful memories from when they were called Queer as an insult. 

Older allies might be hesitant to use the word as well, because they remember when it was used as a slur. 

But Queer is increasingly being embraced by the LGBT community, and I imagine its popularity will only continue to grow.

I first discussed Queer, as an umbrella term, in The Big Picture, the second article in this series.

 

 

 

MOGAI

 

MOGAI is a synonym for LGBT that you might stumble across online.

It’s pretty obscure, but it’s one that's worth discussing. 

 

 

MOGAI stands for, “Marginalized Orientations, Gender Alignments, and Intersex.”

Marginalized Orientations refers to minority sexual and romantic orientations.

This covers bisexual, gay, lesbian, and asexual. It also covers minority romantic orientations, which aren’t explicitly included in the LGBT acronym as it’s normally described.

Marginalized Gender Alignments refers to nonbinary and binary transgender people.

Intersex is self-explanatory.

 

First, let’s highlight the advantages of MOGAI.

MOGAI does a better job of covering more identities.

MOGAI is relatively short.

It also describes ideas conceptually, rather than listing all relevant groups by name.

 

But MOGAI has some major drawbacks.

It’s way too complicated to easily explain to people who aren’t already super familiar with these topics.

It would also take a while for any replacement for LGBT to become well known enough to be generally understood, particularly one as novel as MOGAI.

MOGAI is also associated with the online creation of an endless array of words to describe sexuality and gender, most of which were rarely, if ever, actually used. 

The YouTube Channel "Strange Aeons" has a wonderful video on this topic, “That Time Tumblr Invented Its Own Genders,” which I highly recommend.

 

 

 

An Alternate Arrangement

 

Let’s return to the long acronym.

Conceptually, there’s no reason we couldn’t change the order of the letters in the acronym.

For a moment, let’s consider what the acronym would look like if it was organized by how common each of its subcategories are.

 

Don't worry, I’m not seriously proposing that we reorder the acronym.

That would be needlessly confusing.

But I think it's an interesting thought experiment to imagine what it would look like if we did.

 

Here is what survey data tells us about which LGBT identities are most common among US adults. 

 

 

Identity              US adults           Survey

 

Bisexual                4.2%                Gallup

Gay                       1.4%                Gallup

Lesbian                 1.0%                Gallup

Nonbinary             1.0%                 Pew

Binary Trans          0.6%                Pew

Asexual                  0.3%        Research Study

 

 

I discussed these statistics at length in Sexual Orientation in the United States, Asexuality in the United States, and Gender Identity in the United States.

 

 

If we were to reorder the acronym based on how common LGBT identities are, Bisexual would be first.

We don’t currently know whether bisexual, or its near synonym pansexual, is preferred by more people who identity with one or both terms.

If pansexual is more common, then the B could be replaced with a P.

I don’t believe we need to list both terms, because they mean essentially the same thing.

For our purposes, we’ll keep it as B, but bear in mind that pansexual could become the more common term in the coming years.  

 

We need to add an N for nonbinary. We should all be on board with this by now.

 

We don’t have survey data for how many US Adults identify as Intersex, so I’m going to place the I at the end for now.

 

Based on the sizes of these groups, an alternate acronym could be BGLNTAI. 

 

 

It’s not a pretty acronym, but it’s one based on data.

 

 

 

 

Where things could be going

 

The sizes of these identities are not set in stone, however.

And some identities are poised to grow more quickly than others. 

Here are the sizes of the LGBT identities among Gen Z adults, the youngest group of Americans for which we have survey data.

Gen Z adults were born between 1997 and 2004, and they were 18 to 25 in 2022, when the surveys mentioned below were conducted.

These numbers reflect what LGBT identity in the US might look like in the future.

 

 

Identity               Gen Z Adults             Survey

 

Bisexual                   13.1%                    Gallup

Nonbinary                 4.1%                      Pew

Gay                            3.4%                    Gallup

Binary Trans              2.8%                     Pew

Lesbian                      2.2%                    Gallup

 

 

We don’t know how many Gen Z Adults identify as Asexual or Intersex.

 

Based on the statistics for Gen Z adults, an alternate acronym could be BNGTLAI. 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

 

LGBT and its alternatives each have their advantages and disadvantages.

For now, let’s try not to overwhelm people with too many exotic alternatives.

But there’s value in expanding the ways people think about LGBT identity.

And I’m glad you joined me in exploring some of those ideas today.