“LGBT? What’s that?”
It’s a surprisingly common question that pops out the mouths (or DMs) of a lot of people. Some people might expect it to be the acronym of an institution, the name of a clothing brand, or even a TV channel! Very few people know that each letter denotes the words “lesbian”, “gay”, “bisexual”, and “transgender”. Even fewer know that these letters are followed by many more denoting “asexual”, “pansexual”, “non-binary” and so on and so forth.
If this is the first time you’ve come across the term, it can be a little confusing. Isn’t that always the case with getting used to knew ideas? I know I struggled to digest things like (a + b)2 = a2 + 2ab + b2, Newton’s three laws, or memorising the periodic table when I was first exposed to these concepts. But just as learning all of these things helped me graduate from one class to the next, understanding the meaning and history of “LGBTQIA+” can help us all graduate to a place of acceptance, compassion, and empathy.
Does that sound like something you wanna do? Well then, here’s a quick video produced by Namma Pride that is sure to sensitise you about the community!