This page lists common initialisms relating to

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

(

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

, gay,

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

, and

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

) people and the

LGBTQ community The LGBTQ community (also known as the LGBT, LGBT+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIA+, or queer community) comprises LGBTQ individuals united by a common culture and social movements. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individu ...

Key

Variants of LGBTQ

* 2SLGBTQI+ * GBT or GBTQ – variant omitting "lesbian", typically when referring only to

men A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy. Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the fa ...

. * GLBT – Commonly used instead until the 1980s. The L was placed first in honor of lesbians who provided care and donated blood during the

AIDS Crisis The global pandemic of HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) began in 1981, and is an ongoing worldwide public health issue. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), by 2023, HIV/AIDS ...

, and LGBT became the dominant spelling. * HBTQ –

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...

, bisexual, transgender, and queer. More common in Swedish. * ITNB+ – intersex, trans,

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

, and gender nonconforming. More common in Portugal. * LBT or LBTQ, – variant omitting "gay", typically when referring only to

women A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...

. * LGB or GLB – lesbian, gay, and bisexual. In the 21st century, the term became associated with anti-trans groups such as

LGB Alliance The LGB Alliance is a British advocacy group and registered charity founded in 2019 in opposition to the policies of LGBT rights charity Stonewall on transgender issues. Its founders are Bev Jackson, Kate Harris, Allison Bailey, Malcolm Clar ...

and #DropTheT. * LGBPA+ * LGBQ * LGBT * LGBT+ * LGBTA * LGBTH, with H for HIV+ * LGBTI * LGBTIH, with H for hijra * LGBTQI, LGBTIQ, LGBTQI+, or LGBTIQ+ * LGBTQIA or LGBTQIA+ * LGBTQIAP+, with P for

pansexuality Pansexuality is sexual, romantic, or emotional attraction towards people of all genders, or regardless of their sex or gender identity. Pansexual people may refer to themselves as gender-blind, asserting that gender and sex are not de ...

or panromantic * LGBTQIAPD+, with D for

demisexual Demisexuality is a term used to describe individuals who rarely experience primary sexual attraction – a type of attraction that is based on immediately observable characteristics such as appearance or smell, and is experienced immediately af ...

and demiromantic * LGBTQIAPK+, with K for kink * LGBTQIAPN+, with N for

* , acronym for "lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, queer, questioning, flexual, asexual, genderfuck, polyamorous, bondage/discipline, dominance/submission, sadism/masochism". Coined by queer students at

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

in the early 2000s. * LGBTTT or LGBTTTIQ, with TTT standing for transgender, transvestite (or travesti), and

transsexual A transsexual person is someone who experiences a gender identity that is inconsistent with their assigned sex, and desires to permanently transition to the sex or gender with which they identify, usually seeking medical assistance (incl ...

. * LGT, GLT, or GLTT – referring only to monosexual and monoromantic identities. More common in Brazil around the middle of

1990s File:1990s decade montage.png, From top left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope orbits the Earth after it was launched in 1990; American jets fly over burning oil fields in the 1991 Gulf War; the Oslo Accords on 13 September 1993; the World ...

. * LGTB or GLTB – more common in Spanish. * QUILTBAG, with U standing for undefined, unlabeled, or unsure * TQI+, QTI+, or QIT+, meaning queer, trans, or intersex, and other groups.

Alternatives to LGBTQ

* GSRD, GSD – gender and sexual (and romantic) diversity * SGM, GSM, GSRM – gender and sexual (and romantic) minority * SGMY – sexual and gender minority youth. * MOGAI or MOGII – marginalized orientations, gender alignments and intersex * SOGI –

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring personal pattern of romantic attraction or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. Patterns ar ...

and

gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent and consistent with the in ...

. * MVPFAFF – , Vakasalewa, , Fa'afafine, , Fakaleitī (Leiti), and Fakafifine (identities in the

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

community) *SOGIE – sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. * – sexual orientation, gender identity and (gender) expression, and

sex characteristics Sexual characteristics are physical traits of an organism (typically of a sexually dimorphic organism) which are indicative of or resultant from biological sexual factors. These include both primary sex characteristics, such as gonads, and sec ...

. *SSOGIE – sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression.

Same gender attraction

* MLM / WLW – men loving men / women loving women (or non-binary people), regardless of sexual or romantic orientation as gay, bi, pan, etc... * MSM / WSW –

men who have sex with men Men who have sex with men (MSM) are men who engage in sexual activity with other men, regardless of their sexual orientation or sexual identity. The term was created by epidemiologists in the 1990s, to better study and communicate the spre ...

/ women who have sex with women. Used primarily in public health as a behavioral category distinct from sexual orientation. * NBLNB – non-binary loving non-binary. * SGA, SSA – same-gender attraction, same-sex attraction * SGL – same-gender loving. This term is used by some in the Black community to avoid identity terms considered Eurocentric.

Sex and gender

* AFAB –

assigned female at birth Sex assignment (also known as gender assignment) is the discernment of an infant's sex, typically made at birth based on an examination of the baby's external genitalia by a healthcare provider such as a midwife, nurse, or physician. In the ...

*AGAB/ASAB – assigned gender at birth / assigned sex at birth. *AMAB –

assigned male at birth Sex assignment (also known as gender assignment) is the discernment of an infant's sex, typically made at birth based on an examination of the baby's external genitalia by a healthcare provider such as a midwife, nurse, or physician. In the v ...

*DSD –

disorders of sex development Disorders of sex development (DSDs), also known as differences in sex development, variations in sex characteristics (VSC), sexual anomalies, or sexual abnormalities, are congenital conditions affecting the reproductive system, in which developme ...

(or differences in sex development). Describes

intersex Intersex people are those born with any of several sex characteristics, including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binar ...

variations. The former is considered pathologizing by some intersex people. * FLINTA* – German acronym of (women), (lesbian), (intersex), (non-binary), transgender and agender. * FTM/MTF – female-to-male or male-to-female respectively. Considered outdated;

trans man A trans man or transgender man is a man who was assigned female at birth. Trans men have a male gender identity, and many trans men undergo medical and social transition to alter their appearance in a way that aligns with their gender identi ...

and

trans woman A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...

are preferred. * FFS –

facial feminization surgery Facial feminization surgery (FFS) is a set of reconstructive surgical procedures that alter typically male facial features to bring them closer in shape and size to typical female facial features. FFS can include various bony and soft tissue proc ...

*GAC –

gender-affirming care Transgender health care includes the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of physical and mental health conditions which affect transgender individuals.Gorton N, Grubb HM (2014). General, Sexual, and Reproductive health. In L. Erickson-Schroth. ...

; the medical aspect of gender transition *GAHT –

gender-affirming hormone therapy Gender-affirming hormone therapy (GAHT), also called hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or transgender hormone therapy, is a form of hormone therapy in which sex hormones and other sex-hormonal agent, hormonal medications are administered to transg ...

*GNC – gender non-conforming * NB (sometimes spelled "enby") –

. Occasionally confused for "non-Black" (also abbreviated NB). * PGP – preferred gender pronouns. Sometimes proscribed in favor of just "pronouns", to avoid implying that one's pronouns are just a preference, or that they necessarily indicate one's gender. * PTP – person with a transgender parent * SOGIESC – initialism for

Sexual Orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring personal pattern of romantic attraction or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. Patterns ar ...

Gender Identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent and consistent with the in ...

/ Expression, and

Sex Characteristics Sexual characteristics are physical traits of an organism (typically of a sexually dimorphic organism) which are indicative of or resultant from biological sexual factors. These include both primary sex characteristics, such as gonads, and sec ...

. * T4T – trans for trans; transgender people primarily or exclusively seeking relationships with other transgender people. * TGD – transgender and gender diverse * TGE – transgender and gender expansive * TGI – transgender, gender diverse, and intersex. The term is also inclusive of people who identify as transsexual. * TGNC – trans and gender nonconforming *VSC – variations in sex characteristics. An alternative term for intersex variations. * XtX, XtF, XtM, FtX, MtX, FtF, or MtM, alternative terms that are used in place of FtM or MtF

Others

* GSA – gay-straight alliance, or genders and sexualities alliance. * GLA – gay and lesbian alliance * GLOW – "gay, lesbian, or whatever" * QPR –

queerplatonic relationship Queerplatonic relationships (QPR), also known as queerplatonic partnerships (QPP), are committed intimate relationships between significant others whose relationship is not romantic in nature. A queerplatonic relationship differs from a close ...

; committed intimate partnerships which are non-romantic *QPOC – queer

people of color The term "person of color" (: people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is associated with, the United States. From th ...

. *QSA, meaning queer-straight alliance. * QTPOC/QTIPOC, standing for queer and trans people of color or queer, trans, and intersex people of color. *QTWOC, standing for queer and trans women of color.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:LGBTQ acronyms Lists of acronyms

Acronyms An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

Key