The Queer Community

Let's talk about the queer community.

A lot of people don't know very much about the community, so I'm here to talk about a few of the very many queer identities!

To start, we have the ones mostly everyone knows: Gay and Lesbian. But, there is one thing many people don't know! The Gay flag is actually different from the rainbow flag! The rainbow flag is to represent everyone in the community, while the Gay flag is 7 colors, 3 aqua tones, white, and 3 blue tones.

Now I'd like to introduce the Bisexual Umbrella! And for those who don't know, the term "Bisexual Umbrella" refers to any identity that has attraction to 2 or more genders.

Under this Umbrella, you see Bisexual, the sexual attraction to two or more genders with or without preference, Pansexual, the sexual attraction to all genders with no preference (often referred to as "gender blind), Polysexual, the sexual attraction to many, but not all, genders, again with or without a preference, and Omnisexual, the sexual attraction to all genders with a preference (often confused with Pansexual, but they are different!). There are very many more under the Bi Umbrella, but there are the most common ones.

Did you know that you can change out the "sexual" part of a term for "romantic"? Some people have romantic attraction to all genders, free of preference, so they would be Panromantic, but they are only sexually attracted to the same gender, so they would be Homosexual!

Next I would like to talk about the Transgender Umbrella. This Umbrella term refers to any gender identity that is not Cisgender (for those who don't know, "Cisgender" or "Cis" means that you identify with the gender you were assigned at birth).

Some of the terms under the Trans Umbrella include Nonbinary, a term for individuals whose gender identity does not exclusively fall into the binary gender classification of only "man" or "woman", Genderfluid, a gender that changes over time (the gender could change hourly, daily, weekly, or even yearly), Agender, a term for someone who may feel "genderless", does not identify with any gender, or the concept of gender is simply unimportant to them.

Remember that gender is a social construct, and there are so many identities under the the Trans Umbrella (I just chose the most common).

As another topic, let's take a look at some identities on the Asexual Spectrum. The "Asexual Spectrum" refers to identities that are similar to Asexual (lack of sexual attraction) or closely related to such. There is an Aromantic Sprectrum, similar to the Ace Spectrum, but Aromantic refers to those who lack romantic attraction.

So, the Ace Spectrum! Some identities include Demisexual, when one only feels sexual attraction when there is already a strong emotional connection, Greyseual, referring to someone who feels "inbetween" Asexual and Allosexual (someone who feels sexual attraction), it is a "grey area" per se. Last is Aegosexual, someone who experiences a disconnect between themselves and the subject of arousal.

Finally, I'd like to give light to some Aromantic Spectrum identies. We have Demiromantic, when one only feels romantic attraction to people they are close with, Greyromantic, referring to one who is in the "grey area" of Aromantic and Alloromantic (one who feels romantic attraction), and lastly Aroflux, someone who's romantic attraction fluxuates.

Always remember that there are hundreds of terms and labels under these umbrellas and on these sprectrums.

Next time, I'll talk about the many pronouns and xenogenders. In another story, I will go more in-depth on Asexuality and Aromanticism.

That's all for now. Thank you for reading!