Our friends over at Bustle recently released a video entitled ‘What Is LGBTQA+?’

Hopefully, we all at least know what the first four letters mean – but what about the last ones? And what’s that funny plus symbol for?

As we all know by now, the LGBT community extends far beyond those first four categories. Our sexual and gender identities stretch endlessly in every direction, and simply saying ‘LGBT’ is no longer an all-inclusive umbrella. So let’s take a look at the newest additions:

“Q” – as you likely have guessed – indicates those who fall under an identity that is not exclusively male or female, meaning gender identities outside of the gender binary and cisnormativity. ‘Queer’ used to be a derogatory term used towards non-heterosexual people, but in recent years has been taken back by the community and used as an all-inclusive term for those who do not identify as simply male or female.

“Q” can also mean ‘questioning’ – something that is also extremely important to include. There are people who do not know or understand what or who they are, and are questioning their sexual and/or gender identities. Having an inclusive, safe spot in our community for everyone to feel included, to explore and to question is one of the most important things we can do.

“A” is for ‘asexuality’; those who completely lack sexual attraction altogether. This is an important addition because it offers representation for an identity that often goes completely unrepresented in the mainstream.

And finally, “+”. This is an umbrella for any additional identities who do not fall under the LGBTQA spectrum, which includes but is not limited to those who are genderqueer, demisexual, bigender, trigender, androgyne, polyamorous, pangender, two-spirit, non-binary, and genderless.

Personally, I like a system that makes an attempt to include everybody – after all, isn’t inclusiveness and safety what we all strive for? Let us know in the comments below what you think of the video.

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