LGBT is an acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. Until recently, the initialism was added to with a new contraction, Q, and this stands for Queer. Now it is called LGBTQ.
What does 'Q' identify?
Well, lesbian means a woman who is attracted to another woman, while gay is a man who is fascinated with another guy. Bisexual is being interested in either of the two genders – man or woman and transgender is a person whose gender identity differs from their sexuality.
So here comes 'queer.' Queer is actually an umbrella term. It covers a much broader definition of someone’s sexuality.
It may simply mean not being “straight” rather than exactly pinpointing one’s sexuality.
“Q can mean either 'questioning' or 'queer,'” a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign Fred Sainz told USA Today. Thus, he confirmed that either of the two interpretations is accepted.
Some now use the term queer as it is not specifically defining one’s sexual orientation or gender identity. In fact, a 26-year-old intern at GLAAD named Cleo Anderson also told the publication that it is anything that “exists outside of the dominant narrative.”
The negativity of the definition
If this person feels like he/she is not gay or lesbian, bisexual or transgender, then maybe he/she is a queer. However, the word 'queer' is not really embraced by the entire LGBTQ community.
In fact, the identification has a history filled with reclamation and political implications and is quite opposing for some. "For decades (queer) was used as a pejorative against LGBT people," Sainz added. For some, it was humiliating and often linked to violence.
As an umbrella term, it carries a lot of meaning for everyone -- different persons, different connotations.
Some say there are people who feel like they don’t belong to the LGBT group, thus queer is added. It is a blank term to suit the identity or sexuality that one feels he/she has.
It, too, can mean the people who are not heterosexual, gender-binary, or non-cisgender. There are also several ones that describe queer as a political idea, countercultural and politically radical while others say it is a term of the young ones.
No matter what sexuality one has, people shouldn’t be identified by labels and be limited to what the society believes or say they are. Whether people are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer, the most important thing is they are happy with the identity or sexuality they have.
