When doctors assign sex at birth, they usually use male or female, but there are also intersex people who have physical characteristics of both male and female. Sex is a term often related to physical characteristics of a person’s body – usually about how they were assigned at birth based on their genitals (“it’s a boy!” “it’s a girl!”). Sexuality is part of a person’s identity and refers to their romantic/sexual attraction. One important distinction to make is the difference between sexuality, sex, and gender identity. What’s the difference between sexuality and gender? In order to simplify things, many people use “queer” instead of an acronym as an umbrella term in order to be more inclusive. Other acronyms may include an asterisk (*) or a plus sign (+) next to it to symbolize any omitted letters. Another common acronym is LGBTQIA, which adds queer, questioning, intersex, and asexual. However, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The acronym stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. The LGBT community is a very diverse community that represents a variety of sexual and gender identities.
