List of LGBTQ acronyms
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This page lists common acronyms relating to LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) people and the LGBTQ community.
Key
| Letter | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 2S | two-spirit (umbrella term for gender-variant Indigenous North Americans) |
| L | lesbian |
| G | gay |
| B | bisexual |
| T | transgender or transsexual |
| Q | queer or questioning[1][2] |
| I | intersex |
| A | asexual, aromantic, or agender. Sometimes mistaken for ally.[3][4][5][6][7] |
| N | non-binary |
| P | pansexual, panromantic, or polysexual |
| + or * | "plus" or "star." Wildcard indicating the inclusion of additional sexual and gender minorities not explicitly referenced in the acronym.[8] |
Variants of LGBTQ
- 2SLGBTQI+ (French: 2ELGBTQI+) – Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and additional sexual and gender diverse identities. Official acronym used by the Government of Canada.[9]
- GB or GBT – variants omitting "lesbian", typically when referring only to men.[10][11][12]
- GLBT – Commonly used until the 1980s. The L was placed first in honor of lesbians who provided care and donated blood during the AIDS Crisis, and LGBT became the dominant spelling.[13][14]
- HBTQ – homosexual, bisexual, transgender, and queer.[15] More common in Swedish.[16][17]
- LB – lesbian and bisexual. Typically referring to women attracted to women when about female sexual orientation or where gender modality is not addressed.[18][19][20]
- LBT or LBTQ – variant omitting "gay", typically when referring only to women.[21][22][23][24]
- LGB or GLB – lesbian, gay, and bisexual.[25][26] Used by activists in the 1990's before and alongside LGBT.[27] In the 21st century, the term is often associated with trans erasure, as in the slogan "Drop the T" and the anti-trans group LGB Alliance.[28][29] Following Donald Trump's executive order banning references to "gender ideology", several US government websites replaced LGBTQ with LGB.[30][31][32]
- LGBPA+ – lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, asexual[25][33][34][35]
- LGBQ[36]
- LGBT
- LGBT+
- LGBTA[3][37]
- LGBTH, with H for HIV+[38]
- LGBTI[39]
- LGBTIH, with H for hijra[40]
- LGBTQI, LGBTIQ, LGBTQI+, or LGBTIQ+[41]
- LGBTQIA or LGBTQIA+[42]
- LGBTQIAP+, with P for pansexuality or panromantic[43][44]
- LGBTQIAPD+, with D for demisexual and demiromantic[45][46]
- LGBTQIAPK+, with K for kink[47][48][49]
- LGBTQIAPN+ or LGBTIAPN+,[50][51] with N for non-binary[52]
- LGBTTQQFAGPBDSM,[a] acronym for "lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, queer, questioning, flexual, asexual, genderfuck, polyamorous, bondage/discipline, dominance/submission, sadism/masochism".[53][54][55] The acronym was coined in the early 2000s by LGBTQ students at Wesleyan University, including asexual activist David Jay, who took credit for the inclusion of FAG in the acronym.[56][57] In 2015, the term's continued inclusion on a campus housing page from that period provoked backlash.[57]
- LGBTTT or LGBTTTIQ,[58][59] with TTT standing for transgender, transvestite (or travesti), and transsexual.[60][61]
- LGT, GLT, or GLTT – referring only to monosexual and monoromantic identities.[62][63] More common in Brazil around the mid 1990s.[64]
- LGTB or GLTB – more common in Spanish.[65][66][67][68]
- QUILTBAG, with U standing for undefined, unlabeled, or unsure[69][70]
- LGBTQIA+SB, adding S and B for sistergirl and brotherboy, traditional gender roles in indigenous Australian cultures, analogous to trans women and trans men.[71][72]
- MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+ – acronym for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.[73] The acronym drew attention in April 2026 when NDP Member of Parliament Leah Gazan used it in a House of Commons speech criticizing budget cuts to Indigenous Services Canada and Crown-Indigenous Relations.[74][75] A clip of Gazan's speech sparked social media backlash ridiculing the acronym's length, and falsely claiming it had replaced 2SLGBTQI+, which remains the standard in Canadian federal writing.[76][77]
Alternatives to LGBTQ
- GSRD, GSD – gender and sexual (and romantic) diversity
- SGM, GSM, GSRM – gender, sexual (and sometimes sex to include non-endosex people), and romantic minority[78][79][80]
- SGMY – sexual and gender minority youth.[79][81]
- MOGAI or MOGII – marginalized orientations, gender alignments and intersex[82][83]
- SOGI – sexual orientation and gender identity.[84][85]
- MVPFAFF – Māhū, Vakasalewa, Palopa, Fa'afafine, Akava'ine, Fakaleitī (Leiti), and Fakafifine (identities in the Pacific Islander community)[86]
- SOGIE – sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.[80]
- SOGIESC – sexual orientation, gender identity and (gender) expression, and sex characteristics.[87][88]
- SSOGIE – sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression.[80]
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.[89]
- MSM / WSW – men who have sex with men / women who have sex with women. Used primarily in public health as a behavioral category distinct from sexual orientation.[90][91][92][93]
- NBLNB – non-binary loving non-binary.[89]
- SGA, same-gender attraction[94]
- SGL – same-gender loving. This term is used by some in the Black community to avoid identity terms considered Eurocentric.[88][14]
Distinguish from
- SSA - same-sex attraction / same-sex attracted. A phrase used by some religious groups in the late 20th century as part of the ex-gay movement.[95][96] From the 2010s, it has also been used in non-religious circles, either as a non-prescriptive term to include those of different sexual orientations without naming specific labels,[97] or heterosexual-identified men and women who have same-sex partners or same-sex attraction,[98] or as a trans-exclusionary term to specify male-male and female-female same-sex relationships.[99][100][101]
Sex and gender
- AFAB – assigned female at birth
- AGAB/ASAB – assigned gender at birth / assigned sex at birth.[102]
- AMAB – assigned male at birth
- DSD – disorders of sex development (or differences in sex development).[103] Describes intersex variations. The former is considered pathologizing by some intersex people.[104]
- FLINTA* – German acronym of frauen (women), lesben (lesbian), intersexuelle (intersex), nicht-binäre (non-binary), transgender and agender.[105]
- FTM/MTF – female-to-male or male-to-female respectively. Considered outdated; trans man and trans woman are preferred.[106][107]
- FFS – facial feminization surgery
- GAC – gender-affirming care; the medical aspect of gender transition
- GAHT – gender-affirming hormone therapy
- GNC – gender non-conforming
- ITNB+ – intersex, trans, non-binary, and gender nonconforming.[108] More common in Portugal.[109]
- NB (sometimes spelled "enby") – non-binary.[110] Occasionally confused for "non-Black" (also abbreviated NB).[111]
- 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.[112]
- PTP – person with a transgender parent[14]
- TGD – transgender and gender diverse[113][114][115]
- TGE – transgender and gender expansive[116][117]
- TGI – transgender, gender diverse, and intersex.[118] The term is also inclusive of people who identify as transsexual.[119]
- TGNC – trans and gender nonconforming[14]
- TQI+, QTI+, or QIT+, meaning queer, trans, or intersex, and other groups.[120][121][122][123]
- T4T – trans for trans; transgender people primarily or exclusively seeking relationships with other transgender people.[124][125]
- VSC – variations in sex characteristics. An alternative term for intersex variations.[103]
- XtX, XtF, XtM,[126] FtX and MtX,[127] alternative terms that are used in place of FtM or MtF. X represents nonbinary or undefined genders. F stands for female and M stands for male.[128]
Others
- GSA – gay–straight alliance, or genders and sexualities alliance.[129]
- GLA – gay and lesbian alliance[130][131]
- GLOW – "gay, lesbian, or whatever"[132][133]
- QPR – queerplatonic relationship; committed intimate partnerships which are non-romantic[134]
- QPOC – queer people of color.[135]
- QSA, meaning queer–straight alliance.[136][137]
- QTPOC/QTIPOC, standing for queer and trans people of color or queer, trans, and intersex people of color.[14][138]
- QTWOC, standing for queer and trans women of color.[139]
See also
Notes
- Sometimes LGBTTQQPFAGIBDSM or GLBTQQFAGPBDSM