The Spectrum... It's More Than Just "Gay" And "Straight"

"What's 'The Spectrum'?" you may ask. Well, the LGBT community is much more diverse than just "Gay" and "Straight" it's an entire spectrum that people from all over the world fall somewhere on.

Yes, even you.

For years a lot of people thought it was as simple as "Gay" or "Straight" but that simply isn't true. There's so much more than that. LGBT+ stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and many more. 

Gay and Lesbian are fairly simple. Someone that is "gay" is a man that is attracted to another man. Someone that is a "lesbian" is a woman that is attracted to another woman. Simple, right? Even more simple is the term "straight", which is a person of one gender that is attracted to the opposite gender. 

The confusing part is when you start getting into the Bisexual and Transgender part of the LGBT community. A person that identifies as "bisexual" is either a male or female that is attracted to both males and females. That does NOT mean that a bisexual will "date" both a man and woman at the same time. That is something entirely different. Someone that identifies as "transgender" is either a male or female that identifies as the opposite sex. So like, a girl that identifies as boy or vise versa. 

Wait. What does the "+" mean at the end of LGBT+? I'm glad you asked! 

The full acronym is: LGBTTQQIAAP

Which stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Transsexual, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, Ally, and Pansexual

It's a lot. I know. I don't even know what all of those words mean, off the top of my head at least. So I'll define the most common ones. 

I've already told you what Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender means but none of those terms may describe you. And like I said earlier, EVERYONE falls somewhere on the spectrum. 

You may assume you're an Ally, someone who is straight (or in the closet) that supports the LGBT community and their rights as humans. BUT you may fall under a different term that you don't even know about. 

When I was younger, I had no idea what any of the terms mentioned above meant. So I assumed I was straight... Because that's all I knew.

Through a little bit of confusion and a lot of my parents trying to get me to come out of the closet myself, my mother finally sat me down and told me "Maya, you are not straight, and almost everyone has known since you were little. But we all love you. No matter what." 

I never came out of the closet, my mother sorta dragged me out. Over time I've learned more and some things have been cleared up while others have become increasingly more confusing. My point is, maybe you fall somewhere else on the spectrum that you don't even know about yet. My mom was able to help me because I fell under a lot of the "Lesbian" stereotypes but that's not always the case for everyone. Maybe even you.