Know what Exactly it Means to be LGBTQ and More

Asexual describes someone who feels little or no sexual attraction. Asexual people may want close emotional or romantic relationships, but they are not drawn to sex as a way to express closeness. Asexual people may identify in combination with another sexual orientation. For example, a gay asexual man may not have sexual attraction for any gender but feel emotional or romantic attraction to other gay men. 

In recent times the term 'LGBTQ' has indeed made its way to mainstream vocabulary. However, not many people truly understand the specific gender and sexual dispositions of people who fall under this umbrella term. "There is a mass misconception that all people within the rainbow spectrum fancy only non-platonic relationships with people of their own sex. Also many people innocently assume that LGBTQ people have a hyper sex drive and that the concepts of fidelity and loyalty are alien to them," says Madhu Kundra a psychologist who has worked closely with people from the rainbow spectrum. "However all these are uninformed and gross generalizations. In my opinion even the 'coming out' process of LGBTQ individuals will become a lot easier if people precisely or atleast reasonably understand what exactly it means to be a lesbian, a gay, a bisexual, a transgender or a queer. I am saying this because in my experience as a counselor I have seen that more often than not people from this community are actually more misunderstood than anything else. This misunderstanding of 'some fundamentals' attached to their gender and sexuality also causes ostracisation," she adds.

Given this pertinent reasoning, it might help to get acquainted with these terms. We have also included a few other terms that either fall within the rainbow spectrum or are closely associated with it (by way of either a positive or negative influence).

Asexual – Asexual describes someone who feels little or no sexual attraction. Asexual people may want close emotional or romantic relationships, but they are not drawn to sex as a way to express closeness. Asexual people may identify in combination with another sexual orientation. For example, a gay asexual man may not have sexual attraction for any gender but feel emotional or romantic attraction to other gay men.

Ally – Ally essentially describes someone who does not identify as LGBTQ yet supports the gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer, questioning, transgender and gender non-conforming communities.

Bisexual – This is an umbrella term that describes people who are physically, emotionally and/or romantically attracted to men and women, or more than one gender. Some view this term as limiting and dependent upon a gender binary. Others promote this term as inclusionary.

Biphobia – Biphobia describes the oppression of bisexual people because they do not identify as gay or straight. Biphobia can be perpetrated by others within the LGBTQ community as well as by straight people. Biphobia is often exemplified by assertions that bisexual people are unsure about their true sexual orientation, have personality disorders, are hypersexual, or untrustworthy.

Cisgender - A person whose gender identity and expression aligns with what is typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth. An example of a cisgender person is a woman who was assigned the female sex at birth after the (often superficial) examination of genitalia and who identifies and lives as a woman.

Drag – Now this is a gender expression or hyper-expression for the sake of theatrical performance. People performing a 'drag' can be of any sexual orientation and the performance does not indicate any specific sexual orientation or daily gender expression.

Gay – Gay describes men who are physically, emotionally and/or romantically attracted to other men. While many people use this word only to refer to men, others fallaciously use it as a general term to include many genders.

Genderqueer – Describes an identity of someone whose gender identity does not conform to traditional norms associated with their sex assigned at birth. Genderqueer people may identify as a combination of, both, or neither woman or man.

Lesbian: Lesbian describes women who are physically, emotionally and/or romantically attracted to other women men. Like in the case of gays, while many people use this word only to refer to women, others use it fallaciously as a general term to include many genders.

Transgender: Transgender people have a gender identity or gender expression that differs from the sex that they were assigned at birth. Some transgender people desire medical assistance to transition from one sex to another. They then identify as a transsexual.

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