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{{Merge|Page=LGBT|reason=Very similar, and the information could just be combined.}}
'''LGBT''' is an initialism that stands for "[[Lesbian]], [[Gay]], [[Bisexual]], and [[Transsexual]]/[[Transgender]]". In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for certain sexualities and [[gender identity|gender identities]].

A six-band rainbow flag representing the LGBT community

The term LGBT is an adaptation of the initialism LGB, which began to replace the term gay (or gay and lesbian) in reference to the broader LGBT community beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s. When not inclusive of transgender people, the shorter term LGB is still used instead of LGBT.

It may refer to anyone who is non-heterosexual or non-[[cisgender]], instead of exclusively to people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. To recognize this inclusion, a popular variant, LGBTQ, adds the letter Q for those who identify as [[queer]] or are [[questioning]] their sexual or gender identity. The initialisms LGBT or GLBT are not agreed to by everyone that they are supposed to include.

LGBT has, over time, largely aided in bringing otherwise marginalized individuals into the general community. Transgender actress [[Candis Cayne]], in 2009, described the LGBT community as "the last great minority", noting that "we can still be harassed openly" and be "called out on television".

In 2016, GLAAD's Media Reference Guide states that LGBTQ is the preferred initialism, being more inclusive of younger members of the communities who embrace ''queer'' as a self-descriptor. Some people consider ''queer'' to be a derogatory term originating in hate speech and reject it, especially among older members of the community.

transgender, intersex, queer/questioning, asexual and many other terms (such as non-binary and pansexual)".

In Canada, the community is sometimes identified as LGBTQ2 (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and [[two spirit]]). Depending on which organization is using the abbreviation, the choice of initialism changes. Businesses and the CBC often simply employ LGBT as a proxy for any longer abbreviation, private activist groups often employ LGBTQ+, whereas public health providers favour the more inclusive LGBT2Q+ to accommodate twin spirited indigenous peoples. For a time, the Pride Toronto organization used the much lengthier initialism LGBTTIQQ2SA, but appears to have dropped this in favour of simpler wording. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was also criticized for using the 2SLGBTQQIA+ initialism.

=== Transgender inclusion ===
The term trans* has been adopted by some groups as a more inclusive alternative to "transgender", where trans (without the asterisk) has been used to describe trans men and trans women, while trans* covers all non-cisgender (genderqueer) identities, including transgender, [[transsexual]], [[transvestite]], [[genderqueer]], [[genderfluid]], [[non-binary]], [[Gender Bender|genderpunk]], [[genderless]], [[agender]], [[non-gendered]], [[third gender]], [[two-spirit]], [[bigender]], and [[trans man]] and [[trans woman]]. Likewise, the term transsexual commonly falls under the umbrella term transgender, but some transsexual people object to this.

=== Intersex inclusion ===
Main article: [[Intersex and LGBT]]

Those who add [[intersex]] people to LGBT groups or organizations may use the extended initialism LGBTI, or LGBTIQ.

The relationship of intersex to lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans, and queer communities is complex, but intersex people are often added to the LGBT category to create an LGBTI community. Some intersex people prefer the initialism LGBTI, while others would rather that they not be included as part of the term. Emi Koyama describes how inclusion of intersex in LGBTI can fail to address intersex-specific human rights issues, including creating false impressions "that intersex people's rights are protected" by laws protecting LGBT people, and failing to acknowledge that many intersex people are not LGBT. Organisation Intersex International Australia states that some intersex individuals are same-sex attracted, and some are heterosexual, but "LGBTI activism has fought for the rights of people who fall outside of expected binary sex and gender norms". Julius Kaggwa of SIPD Uganda has written that, while the gay community "offers us a place of relative safety, it is also oblivious to our specific needs".

Numerous studies have shown higher rates of same-sex attraction in intersex people, with a recent Australian study of people born with atypical sex characteristics finding that 52% of respondents were non-heterosexual; thus, research on intersex subjects has been used to explore means of preventing homosexuality. As an experience of being born with sex characteristics that do not fit social norms, intersex can be distinguished from transgender, while some intersex people are both intersex and transgender.

=== Asexual, aromantic and agender inclusion ===
Main articles: Asexuality, Aromanticism, and [[Agender]]

In the early 2010s, asexuality and aromanticism started gaining wider recognition. Around 2015, they were started to be included in the expanded initialism LGBTQIA, with the A standing for asexual, aromantic, commonly grouped together as a-spec along with [[agender]].

Some people have mistakenly claimed the A stands for ally, but allies are not a marginalized group and mentions of A for ally have regularly sparked controversy as a form of LGBT erasure.

LGBT families, like these in a 2007 Boston pride parade, are labeled as non-heterosexual by researchers for a variety of reasons.<sup>[better source needed]</sup>

The initialisms LGBT or GLBT are not agreed to by everyone that they encompass. For example, some argue that transgender and transsexual causes are not the same as that of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people. This argument centers on the idea that being transgender or transsexual has to do more with gender identity, or a person's understanding of being or not being a man or a woman irrespective of their sexual orientation. LGB issues can be seen as a matter of sexual orientation or attraction. These distinctions have been made in the context of political action in which LGB goals, such as same-sex marriage legislation and human rights work (which may not include transgender and intersex people), may be perceived to differ from transgender and transsexual goals.

A belief in "lesbian and gay separatism" (not to be confused with the related "lesbian separatism"), holds that lesbians and gay men form (or should form) a community distinct and separate from other groups normally included in the LGBTQ sphere. While not always appearing of sufficient number or organization to be called a movement, separatists are a significant, vocal, and active element within many parts of the LGBT community. In some cases separatists will deny the existence or right to equality of bisexual orientations and of transsexuality, sometimes leading public biphobia and [[transphobia]]. In contrasts to separatists, Peter Tatchell of the LGBT human rights group OutRage! argues that to separate the transgender movement from the LGB would be "political madness", stating that:<blockquote>Queers are, like transgender people, [[gender deviant]]. We don't conform to traditional heterosexist assumptions of male and female behaviour, in that we have sexual and emotional relationships with the same sex. We should celebrate our discordance with mainstream straight norms.</blockquote>The portrayal of an all-encompassing "LGBT community" or "LGB community" is also disliked by some lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. Some do not subscribe to or approve of the political and social solidarity, and visibility and human rights campaigning that normally goes with it, including LGBT pride marches and events. Some of them believe that grouping together people with non-heterosexual orientations perpetuates the myth that being gay/lesbian/bi/asexual/pansexual/etc. makes a person deficiently different from other people. These people are often less visible compared to more mainstream gay or LGBT activists. Since this faction is difficult to distinguish from the heterosexual majority, it is common for people to assume all LGBT people support LGBT liberation and the visibility of LGBT people in society, including the right to live one's life differently from the majority. In the 1996 book Anti-Gay, a collection of essays edited by Mark Simpson, the concept of a 'one-size-fits-all' identity based on LGBT stereotypes is criticized for suppressing the individuality of LGBT people.

Writing in the BBC News Magazine in 2014, Julie Bindel questions whether the various gender groupings now, "bracketed together[,] ... share the same issues, values and goals?" Bindel refers to a number of possible new initialisms for differing combinations and concludes that it may be time for the alliances to either be reformed or go their "separate ways". In 2015, the slogan "Drop the T" was coined to encourage LGBT organizations to stop support of transgender people; the campaign has been widely condemned by many LGBT groups as transphobic.

describe men who have sex with other men without referring to their sexual orientation, with WSW ("women who have sex with women") also used as an analogous term.

=== MVPFAFF ===
MVPFAFF is an abbreviation for ''[[Māhū]]'', [[Vakasalewa]], [[Palopa]], [[Fa'afafine]], ''[[Akava'ine]]'', [[Fakaleitī]] ([[Leiti]]), and [[Fakafifine]]. This term was developed by Phylesha Brown-Acton in 2010 at the Asia Pacific Games Human Rights Conference. This refers to those in the rainbow [[Pasifika]] community that may or may not identify with the LGBT initialism.
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[[Category:Terminology]]