LGBTQIAPD for Dummies: 20 Things You Probably Didn't Know

Let’s cover the basics…

1. Lesbian… Women who are attracted to other women.

2. Gay… Men who are attracted to other men.

3. Bisexual… A man or woman who is attracted to both men and women. They are not confused, it’s not the step before ‘becoming gay’, and it is a real thing.

4. Transgender… A person who is born in the wrong body so to speak. Either a man’s body with a woman's heart and soul or a woman with the heart and soul of a male.

5. Queer… This has kind of become an umbrella term for ^ these orientations. It also has become a term for anyone who has unconventional (kinky) sex. Bravo to all of you heteros out there, you might have to consider yourself as queer as fuck too.

6. Questioning… Just to state the obvious, but this is for all of those people who are unsure or re-examining their previously assumed sexual orientation. Most everyone hits this category at some point in their LGBT+ explorations.

7. Intersexual… The proper term for a person born with some female and some male reproductive parts. No, not a ‘chick with a dick’. Hermaphrodite would be the most commonly associated word, but really many intersexual people can go their entire lives without knowing. That’s kind of the beauty in it. They don’t necessarily need to know and it really doesn’t even matter.

8. Asexual… A person who is not sexually attracted to anyone. Wearing a black ring on your finger can be a symbol of asexuality. Asexuals can still have meaningful, romantic, and intimate relationships; they just involve minimal physical contact.

9. Pansexual… When a person is sexuallty attracted to all genders whether they be male, female, gender fluid, or anything in between. They don’t discriminate who they’re attracted to based on how someone identifies.

10. Demisexual… A person who has to generally build up a deep, emotional connection with someone before they become sexual attracted to them. The sexual attraction is based on how the relationship progresses, not that instantaneous sexual desire that many of us feel.

11. LGBT+ is the only minority group that is not federally protected.

12. The first Pride flag had 8 colors. It’s now 6: Red (life), orange (healing), yellow (sunlight), green (nature), blue (serenity/ harmony), violet (spirit).

13. Bisexual celebrities: Amber Heard (Johnny Depp’s fiancee), Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day), Fergie (she’s Fergalicious), Michelle Rodriguez (The Fast and The Furious) Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games).

14. Gay celebrities: Matt Bomer (White Collar), Ellen Page (Juno), Jodie Foster (The Silence of the Lambs), Anderson Foster, Victor Garber (Titanic), Derrick Gordon (NBA player), Queen Latifah, Heather Matarazzo (The Princess Diaries).

15. The American Family Association are a bunch of assholes (which is literally the most tame and appropriate way for me to say that)...

16. Literally their views on the LGBT+ community make the Westboro Baptist Church seem like a bunch of world-loving, peacekeeping hippies in comparison.

17. The high-five was invented by a gay man.

18. If all 50 states and the Federal government recognized marriage for same-sex couples, the country's economy would benefit by over one billion dollars a year.

19. The term ‘swag’ was created in the 1960’s by a group of gay men and it meant “secretly we are gay”...

20. It was used most commonly on posters to promote gay orgies.