You may be thinking, why is an artist or photographer concerned with the LGBT+ acronym?
My art helps me to make things that I find important more visible to people. In addition, I like to take the opportunity to transfer my knowledge to other people. In this way I hope to contribute to a safer world for everyone who is part of the LGBT+ community, also called rainbow community.
Where did the LGBT+ acronym come from?
Until a few years ago, only the terms straight or gay, lesbian or bi existed.Not surprising, if you realize that only since 2001 (Netherlands) it is allowed for people of the same sex to marry each other. Nowadays those boundaries have fortunately become much less strict. More and more people dare to be open about who they are attracted to. At the same time, more and more people have dared to express all the different in-between forms and variations that until then had remained fairly undiscussed.
The abbreviation LGBT+, LBTIQA+ or even LGBTTQQIAAP are all collective names for all those different feelings, physical forms and expressions. We ourselves primarily use "LGBT+" as a term in our communications for reasons of readability. In any case, below we will try to explain as best as we can what each letter stands for.
Lesbian:
When a woman is emotionally and/or physically attracted to other women.
Homosexual:
When a man is emotionally or physically attracted to other men.
Bisexual:
When a man or woman who is emotionally or physically attracted to both men and women.
Transgender:
This is an umbrella term for people who do not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth.
Transsexual:
An old term used to indicate that a person has changed their gender through surgery and hormones.
Intersex condition:
In an intersexed person, the body exhibits both male and female characteristics. Gender can be distinguished in different ways (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersex). These characteristics can occur in many different combinations with each other.
Queer:
People who prefer not to categorize their sexual orientation. Thus, someone who is queer would rather not identify as lesbian, straight, bisexual, or pansexual.
Questioning:
The process in which someone is in the process of exploring and discovering their own sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.
Asexual:
People who are not sexually attracted to others or are aromantic (not romantically attracted to anyone).
Ally (ally).
A person who does not belong to the rainbow community who supports this community and stands up for them.
Pansexual:
Someone who is attracted to all gender identities and/or biological genders. Thus, they do not necessarily fall for a gender, but rather for the character or personality of someone.
Cisgender:
This is when someone's birth gender matches their gender identity.
I hope this gives you a clear reference to what the LGBT abbreviation stands for. At the same time you will also find some other important terms within the rainbow community. If you have any questions about this topic, please feel free to contact us.
We will always do our best to help you.
