LGB, I mean LGBT, oh no I mean LGB&T, erm maybe I actually mean LGBTQ, perhaps I really mean LGBTI or LGBTIH or LGB&T* or LGBT+ it's all too confusing these days.

Back in the mid to late 1980's the term gay seemed not to accurately fit the over all community it was then used to generically describe. To many the term gay only represented the gay male section of the community meaning those who identified themselves as Lesbian or Bisexual felt excluded, it was why the gay community begun calling itself the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual community which was initialised as LGB (which is not a subway sandwich) for short. That should do it right? Well no not actually because within the LGB community there consisted many whom identified and identify themselves as being Transgender.

Transgender being the state of one's gender identity the self-identification as woman, man, neither or both or gender expression not matching one's assigned sex being the identification by others as male, female or intersex based on physical/genetic sex. You got that? 

Well anyway it was for this reason that a T was added to LGB to make it LGBT and as to not exclude those members of the LGB community that did not identify as Cisgender or Cisexual which by the way means the type of gender identity where an individual's self-perception of their gender matches the sex they were assigned at birth. Can I just note here that being Transgender does not exclusively mean that the individual has to belong to the Lesbian, Gay or Bisexual community at all and can actually be heterosexual although we'll concentrate on the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender spectrum here.

Your head hurting yet? Ok, so the term was now LGBT and it represented a much broader section of the community. However what about if you were curious? What if you identified as only dabbling, only dipping your toe into the big gay world or just sampling the furry cup? Well that is where the letter Q came in and joined the party. Q was added by some to represent those who we're questioning their sexuality meaning those who identified previously as LGB but may try heterosexuality too or vice versa. From 1996 onwards the term now became LGBTQ, I know right it's getting to look like the spelling of a welsh mining town? 

Did it stay that way? Well no, even thou some may still use LGB, LGBT and LGBTQ others were not satisfied that the initialism represented them appropriately. What about those who identified as intersex which means those who were born with a variation in sex characteristics including chromosomes, gonads, or genitals that do not allow an individual to be distinctly identified as male or female. Well that is why LGBTQ became LGBTQI as to represent intersex individuals with the I.

Personally if your still reading this then well done, you certainly have a good I.Q which is also a good use of those letters! 

So I've drifted off the point, we now have LGBTQI and in some parts of India LGBTQIH to represent the Hijra third gender identity, the Hijra being those designated male at birth but who have feminine gender identity, adopt feminine gender roles, and wear women's clothing. 

Does it stop there? Well no because some believe that because Transgender is a gender identity rather than a sexuality that it should really be LGBQI&T (forgetting the H because we're not in India).

Others believe it should be simply LGB and some believe it should be LGB&T+ or LGB&T* or a variation of all of the above. Whilst our identities as individuals are important I can't help but get frustrated by the continuous debate, swapping and changing of the identification of our communities as a whole. I quite happen to agree that the & should be there to differentiate between a sexuality and a gender identity after all you can be LGB and also be T. I also happen to like the * and to a lesser extent the + to acknowledge the Q's, H's and I's and any other grouping between.

I may use the abbreviation of LGB&T* more than any other or just LGB if I am solely talking about the Lesbian, Gay and the Bisexual sections of our community. That is not to say I won't use any of the above should I be talking about an individual section of the community. It's safe to say I'll stick with LGB&T*, not everyone will agree but please make your own choices as we're all individuals.

You may even prefer to use a  catch-all term Gender and Sexual Diversity (GSD for short) but I myself will be using LGB&T*. 

Thanks for trying to stay with me and I hope this makes some sense! I'm off for a rest and try and get all these letters out of my head because otherwise I may explode!! 

By Ross McCusker 

editor@gayleeds.com