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Understanding The Terminology Of The Lgbt Community

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Definition Understanding the terminology of the LGBT community is often complicated. LGBT, which was once known as the “gay community,” is an acronym that describes different gender expression or identities. The acronym was created to be more inclusive and have more diverse groups. It allowed individuals of the LGBT community to fully express themselves in different ways. The first word of the acronym is lesbian. The word lesbian is defined as an individual who identifies as a women and who are physically and emotionally attracted to other women (Huegel, 2011). People who identify themselves as lesbian may also choose an alternative word to identify themselves as, gay. The term gay is often used to describe both homosexual men and women however in reference to men, gay describes men who are physically and emotionally attracted to other men (Huegel, 2011). Men more often use the term gay when identifying themselves than women. According to Huegel (2011), “bisexual is defined as people who are emotionally and physically attracted to people of either sex” (p.9). When an individual identifies as bisexual it can often cause complications within and outside of the LGBT community. They are often told,” they are confused about who they are,” or “they just cannot make up their minds,” however bisexuality has been scientifically proven as a valid identity (Huegel, 2011). The last word in the acronym is Transgender. Transgender is also another term that has to be broken down for

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