Equality & Diversity

LGBT+ stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans. It's useful to note that although the majority of people understand lesbian and gay identities, bi and trans identities are often less understood. Note that we use the term bi rather than 'bisexual' because some people are not sexually attracted to others (asexual) but could be biromantic (have romantic attractions to two genders). Trans is a useful umbrella term as it encompasses gender identity as well as aspects of a change of sexual identity. In order to understand transgender identities, it is useful to start with the term 'cisgender' which means that your gender matches your sex that you were assigned at birth. For some people, this is not the case. Their gender does not match their sex and they may transition from male to female (MtF) or from female to male (FtM). It is also worth noting that there are more genders than male and female because gender is a social construct whereas an individual's sex is biological. People that neither identify as male nor female are agender (non-binary) or gender-fluid (where their gender changes). Lastly, the + represents people that don't identify as LGBT e.g. asexuals or those questioning their sexual orientation/gender identity (sometimes Q is used as part of the acronym).