Are You Aware? LGBTQ+ Education Introduction

This is part I in our LGBTQ+ Education Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here.

My husband and my oldest son have brown eyes, I have gray eyes, and my younger son has grayish-green and gold hazel eyes — I don’t have any other way to describe them. My husband has dark brown (almost black), salt-and-pepper hair. My hair is naturally brown, though I choose to highlight it to cover some of the gray that started showing up when I was 16 years old. My youngest has red hair, and I don’t even know what color to call my oldest son’s hair. Sometimes I say red or gold and sometimes auburn, but none of those seems exactly right. I dislike eating anything that swims except canned tuna, but my guys all enjoy eating fish and seafood. School is pretty easy for my oldest son. He seems to thrive in that environment. My youngest has some neurological differences and hates school.

We all come in many shapes, sizes, and colors. We all have different abilities, desires, strengths, and weaknesses. We have differing preferences for food, colors, temperatures, and social comfort. Within MWEG, we are very familiar with how wildly we can vary in our ways of thinking and political views. Why would we think our persons, in terms of biological sex, gender, or sexual preferences, would be any different?

First things first. Before we have any sort of conversation about gender and sexuality, it’s important that we are all on the same page. It is estimated that LGBT people make up close to 5% of the population in the U.S. In recent years, more visibility for our LGBTQ+ siblings has also highlighted the confusion and misunderstandings associated with gender and sexual variations. We see and hear about people identifying as part of the LGBTQ community, but do we really know what that means?

Let’s start with the basics. It is essential to understand what is meant when we talk about sex assignment or biological sex, gender, and sexual orientation. Gender and sexual assignment have historically been used synonymously and considered assigned at birth and binary — either male or female — according to visible genitalia. Sexuality has also been erroneously simplified over the years. However, science and experience have shown these issues are much more complicated than they seem. Biological sex, gender, and sexuality are all more accurately viewed in terms of spectrums.

Assigned sex and biological sex

When a person is born they often have two X chromosomes, making them biologically female, or an X and a Y chromosome making them biologically male. Assigned sex is often pronounced at birth, judging solely from the presence of external genitalia. Did you know there is a whole spectrum of biological sexual variations that is far more complicated than external anatomy? In fact, a person can be born with multiple or partly formed sex markers, like testes and a vagina, or ovaries and a penis. Sometimes people will be born with chromosomal variations such as XXY, XYY, XXX, or XO.

During fetal development, there are multiple stages of growth influenced by genetics, epigenetics, and hormones, which do not always manifest in binary ways. Sometimes it is not apparent that a person’s biological sex does not coordinate with their external biology. A person can have XY chromosomes and yet outwardly appear female. They may develop as would be expected of a girl, including growing breasts, only to be made aware of their chromosomal makeup when menstruation never starts. Others can appear female, outwardly, until their male hormones are triggered and they develop male anatomical characteristics, including a penis. Estimates for the proportion of people with non-binary sex markers go as high as 2% of the population (about as common as having red hair).

Gender identity

A person may or may not identify positively with their biological sex. Gender identity is how a person feels about themselves, whether it be male, female, both, or neither. The expression of gender, or outward behavior and appearance traditionally associated with femininity or masculinity, may or may not line up with their biological sex or gender identity.

Sexual orientation

Sexual orientation is used to describe to whom a person is attracted, emotionally, romantically, or sexually. Again, we find a range of sexual orientations. People can be attracted to the same sex, the opposite sex, both sexes, all sexes, or no sexes. More and more, scientific research is pointing to the reality that sexual orientation is due largely to genetic and epigenetic factors.

Now let’s get into some specifics. We often hear the terms LGBT, or LGBTQ+, or LGBTQIA, but what do these mean?

(L) Lesbian: A lesbian is a homosexual woman — one who is attracted to other women. This can be a cisgender (identity matches biological sex) woman attracted to other women (cis or trans) or a transgender woman attracted to other women (cis or trans).

(G) Gay: A person who is gay is a homosexual man — one who is attracted to other men. As with women, this can be a cisgender man attracted to other men (cis or trans) or a transgender man attracted to other men (cis or trans).

(B) Bisexual: A person who identifies as bisexual can be attracted to a person who is either male or female. This does not mean they are attracted to everyone, just as a heterosexual man or woman is not attracted to every person of the opposite gender.

(T) Transgender: As opposed to cisgender, a transgender person is someone whose gender identity does not match their biological sex. They may or may not change their associated gender expression, meaning they may still look and dress in a manner traditionally associated with their biological sex. A transgender person may desire to use pronouns associated with their gender identity.

(Q) Queer: There have been people who have used the “Q” to represent “questioning,” but more often it is meant to represent the word “queer.” Queer is a term with a complicated history. Just as the term “gay” has largely been rehabilitated to become a neutral identifier for a homosexual man, queer is becoming a more acceptable term to describe sexual or gender ambiguity. In fact, many people will use the term interchangeably with the term LGBTQ+. An LGBTQ individual may or may not be comfortable with the term “queer,” so if you are a cisgender heterosexual individual it may be wise to ask your audience their preference before using the term.

(+) Plus: The plus refers to any number of other identities not covered by the initials LGBTQ. Some of these include:

Intersex — a person whose biological sex is non-binary
Asexual — a person who does not experience sexual attraction
Pansexual — similar to a bisexual individual, a pansexual person might be attracted to a person of any gender, whether cis, trans, or non-binary
Non-binary — someone who identifies as neither male nor female
Genderfluid — describes a person who feels like a woman sometimes and other times like a man.
(This is not a comprehensive list.)

Whatever a person’s biology or identity, something we all have in common is the need for love, respect, and compassion. In the October 2009 General Conference, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said:

“God loves all of us. He loves those of different faiths and those without any faith. He loves those who suffer. He loves the rich and poor alike. He loves people of every race and culture, the married or single, and those who experience same-sex attraction or identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. And God expects us to follow his example.”

During the month of November we will be educating ourselves on what it means to be a member of the LGBTQ community and some of the associated strengths and challenges.