5.2: LGBTQQIA+ Identities

Learning Objectives

• Define sexual orientation
• Explain what scientists mean when they say “sexual orientation is not binary”

Introduction

Which one of these penguins is male?

“Day 119, April 28th: Penguin love” by katybird is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

There are known to be gay penguins couples all over the world.

Both of the penguins are male. In fact, they are a relatively famous couple of zoo penguins; in their desire to become fathers, they actually have attempted to steal eggs from other penguin couples, apparently going so far as to attempt deceit by leaving rocks in the place of the stolen eggs.

Clearly, there is something compelling about same-sex penguin couples. Our attraction (or aversion) to these stories is itself interesting, and leads to a lot of biologically relevant questions about sexual attraction.

What do we mean by “Sexual Orientation?”

Give me an L! L! you got your L, you got your L! Give me a G! G! you got your G, you got your G! Okay, that’s enough, because if we really finished that little cheer, we’d have to spell out LGBTQQIA+. Yep, we’d be here a while. However, these are also the sexual identities we’re going to explore in this chapter, as we just discussed why the binary approach to sexuality is no longer social or scientifically valid.

Sexual Orientation describes a person’s patterns of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attraction to another person. Sexual orientation and gender identity often fall under the same umbrella when it comes to understanding human sexuality but are two different aspects of the self. Gender identity refers to an individual’s own gender. Gender identity can be the same as someone’s assigned sex, but it can also be different. Both gender identity and sexual orientation are larger than a binary and may shift throughout a person’s lifetime.

Lesbian refers to women who are attracted to other women. The word “attracted” doesn’t necessarily imply a sexual attraction. Rather, this can include sexual attraction, sexual activity, sexual fantasies, emotional preference for females, or lesbian identification.

G=Gay 

The G represents gay males. While the word gay is an umbrella term that can describe homosexual men and women, typically the word gay is used to represent homosexual males, thus making it necessary to allow a separate identity for homosexual females (lesbians).

B=Bisexual 

Those who identify as bisexual have sexual desires or behaviors for both men and women, and those desires or behaviors are more than just incidental or occasional. This definition would exclude heterosexual people who have “experimented” with homosexual behavior but engaged in only heterosexual behaviors for the rest of their lives, and it would exclude homosexual people who experimented with heterosexual behaviors but exercised homosexual behaviors for the rest of their lives. Bisexuality is NOT a combination of heterosexuality and homosexuality, as previously thought in the sciences only a couple of decades ago.

T=Transgender 

Transgender is an umbrella term, encompassing most identities for people who do not conform to traditional gender norms based on their assigned sex category. Some people also refer to being transgender as being gender nonconforming or gender variant. These are all acceptable descriptors for people who “cross gender barriers” but do not change their sex. So women who wear men’s clothes or men who wear women’s clothes might identify as being transgender. The word transgender is becoming more accepted than the word transvestite, because the word transvestite has an association with the medical community and sometimes has a derogatory meaning.

Transexuality refers to those who have undergone sex reassignment hormone therapy and/or surgery (gender affirming surgery). People who identify as being transsexual experience gender identity inconsistent with the culturally constructed gender assumptions based on their assigned sex category. While some people who are transsexual reject the label of transgender, transsexual is not an umbrella term like transgender.

Q=Queer 

The word queer actually means “strange” or “odd.” However, in recent decades the word was used to denigrate people who identified as homosexual. The University of Michigan describes the word as such:

Queer:

1. An umbrella term referring to the entire LGBTQIA+ community.
2. An alternative that some people use to "queer" the idea of the labels and categories such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, etc.

Queer theory challenges either/or, essentialist notions sexuality within the mainstream dialogue, and instead suggests an understanding of sexuality that emphasizes blurring boundaries and cultural constructions that change depending on historical and cultural context.

Q=Questioning 

The second Q stands for questioning, meaning people who may not feel like they fit nicely and neatly into one of these constructed boxes. While we are seeing some shift toward progress of understanding sexuality as a spectrum, we continue to create labels and identities that ultimately constrict people’s identities, behaviors, relationships, and social interpretations of sexuality. So we are seeing progress with more terms and categories than the traditional homosexual or heterosexual binary, but some people (even with the additional contemporary categories) don’t identify as strictly one of those. Often people who identify as “questioning” are exploring their identification.

I=Intersex 

Intersex refers to people who have characteristics that are different than the prevalent notions of female and male. Sometimes the I is omitted form the LGBTQQIAA because they argue intersex is not part of or affect sexuality or sexual identity, and this does not belong in this string of letters. In other words, intersexuality is not about sexuality, it’s about the sex category. Others argue intersexuality falls under the transgender umbrella and, therefore, belongs in this string of letters. What most sociologists agree on is that expanding our understanding of sexuality, sex, and gender is imperative for the health of our culture and the individuals within. Yes, our understanding is still imperfect and limited, but we are moving in a more enlightened direction.

A=Asexual 

Asexuality is a sexual orientation characterized by a persistent lack of sexual attraction toward any gender or sex.¹²¹ At least 1% of people are believed to be asexual. Someone who is asexual simply does not experience sexual attraction for others. However, it is important to note, people engage in sexual behaviors for motives other than sexual attraction all the time. So, people who are asexual often date, have sex, masturbate, fall in love, get married, or have children.