LGBTQ Plus QIAAPODSA

LGTB stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual. The sexual preferences associated with each letter seem pretty straightforward (so to speak). Or at least they did…

First up: Q for Queer, added by the Department of Redundancy Department. I mean, I was under the impression that queer was an umbrella term. If you’re LGB or T you’re also queer.

True! According to keshetonline.org, it’s a term describing a sexual orientation that is “not straight” without “indicating the genders of the queer person or the people they’re attracted to.”

What’s more…

“Some people identify as queer because it doesn’t reference gender, and some people prefer queer because it can expansively include attraction to people of a range of genders (used similarly to “pansexual” and “bisexual”).

Also…

“Historically and currently used by some as a slur targeting those perceived to transgress ‘norms’ of sexual orientation and/or gender expression, but for others, a word that has been reclaimed as a positive and affirmative part of their identity.”

I can't remember the last time I heard someone use the term "queer" pejoratively. Or the word “pejoratively.”

Keshet’s assertion that queer overlaps bisexual and pansexual ("a person who is emotionally, spiritually, physically, and/or sexually attracted toward persons of all gender identities") left me dazed and confused.

Don't worry: I spend a lot of time in that state. Equally, I'm not bothered by men who identify as women, or vice versa.

As long as someone gives me a heads-up, I'm happy to use their preferred pronoun, including xe/xem/xyr, fae/faer, thon/thons, ze/zir/zirs and ey/em/eir.

On the downside, I have no idea how to pronounce those pronouns, or to which gender or genders they refer.

In the interest of brevity, I'll leave that deep dive to the Google Curious. Meanwhile, if we abandon outdated notions of binary biology, how many genders are there?

Genders R Us

According to the Google’s PC AI, "accepted" gender terms include non-binary, gender fluid, agender, transgender, Two-Spirit, gender queer, gender expansive, differently gendered, gender creative, gender variant, bigender, androgynous and gender diverse.

Does a person have to shout TA-DA! to qualify as a bigender?

JK. It’s bi-gender — someone claiming a “combination of more than one gender or sometimes one gender and sometimes another."

Doesn’t that also describe “gender fluid?"

Given the viscous substances secreted by reproductive organs (regardless of sex assigned at birth), aren't all humans gender fluid?

O.K., that's a facetious, something-ist suggestion. In my defense, I identify as a SOB.

Plus Up!

You may have noticed that the powers that be updated LGBTQ with a plus sign.

According to official sources, the + is shorthand for Q (Questioning), I (Intersex), A (Ally), A (Asexual) and P (Pansexual).

That makes the full, unabridged initialism LGBTQQIAAP.

Gender vs. Sexual Preference

Silly rabbit! Don’t you know there’s a difference between gender identity and sexual preference?

As you might imagine – especially if PornHub’s thrown you a curve ball – sexual preferences are astoundingly diverse. A few commonly used terms to describe the preeminent predilections include…

Omnisexual – attracted to all genders, with a potential preference for certain genders

Demisexual – people who only experience sexual attraction after forming a strong emotional connection

Sapiosexual – someone attracted to another person’s intellect, regardless of other considerations

Abrosexual - an individual whose sexual and romantic attractions fluctuate over time

This list isn't comprehensive. But for those of you keeping score at home (so to speak), we're up to LGBTQQIAAPODSA.

Mind the gap (or fall into it)! There’s a large number of what used to be called kinks bereft of alphabetic inclusion.

What do you call a furry's sexuality, or people sexually attracted to amputees, or people turned-on by partners smoking during sex or masturbation?

Any of which could be lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual or queer.

Starbucks Sexuality

This farrago of additive nomenclature — curiously devoid of the letter H for heterosexual — reminds me of nothing so much as Seattle's once-favorite coffee house.

A place where you can order various-sized drinks at various temperatures with a wide range of ingredients (e.g., a kid's temp non-fat nine-shot Venti with one pump mocha and stirred cinnamon).

In the same way, someone can be a sapiosexual transsexual furry turned on by omnisexual two-timing two-spirits.

What’s needed here: The Mother Of All Venn Diagrams?

Did I say Mother? My bad. I should have included the non-binary terms for parents/caregivers: Zaza, ZeZe, Zari, Mapa, Moddy, Dama, Pama, Noddy, Nari, Nibi, Nobi, Nini, Mada, Maddy, Nopa and Nommie.

Intolerance Ain't What It Used To Be

If you find all this taxonomy confusing and maybe even a tad unnecessary, I feel for you (with your written permission).

I was raised in a time when sexuality was binary. You were either "normal" or a "pervert." What type of pervert was a source of endless fascination, but not the main focus.

How Did We Get Here?

If you backwards engineer this post, you’d discover the word “introvert” on a T-shirt reminded me of the word “pervert,” which inspired this potentially tendentious treatise..

The shirt adorned an attractive young woman sitting quietly at the chiropractor.

Huh. How can a person wearing a call to action identify as an introvert? Needless to say, the self-proclaimed introvert had nothing to say on the subject.

The way I see it, most people are either an extrovert or an ambivert: an extrovert in public who needs alone time to recover.

That describes me and just about everyone I know. Save the bookish babe engaged in my last serious relationship. She was the dictionary definition of introvert.

As for her gender identity or sexual preferences, as an aspiring VP announced: mind your own damn business!

Am I the only one who thinks people should keep their sexual preferences to themselves, until and unless they've established some kind of intimacy with their potential sexual partner or partners?

I realize that kind of discretion isn't the most efficient way to find a BDE bisexual male into a MILF-inclusive MMF, for example.

Yes but…

Letting the sexual preference mystery be during the getting-to-know-you phase can be more exciting, albeit in a potentially humiliating, open-to-blackmail kinda way.

What does that belief make me? Answer in a single letter please.

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