What has the acronym LGBTQIA+ been through? The stories behind each letter will surprise you
To tell the story of the LGBTQIA+ community is to immerse oneself in a history that was not made in one place at one time. It's a mosaic that has been pieced together over centuries by poets, doctors, activists, people on the streets, and those who dared to name their own experience when it wasn't safe to do so. And it is this mosaic that has given rise to an acronym that today is not only a landmark for communities around the world, but also a reflection of how human understandings of identity are constantly evolving.
Each letter in LGBTQIA+ is an imprint of its time - and it's only when they are pieced together that the whole picture begins to emerge. It's not just the language, but how society has gradually accepted something that has always been with people. So let's take the mosaic apart and put it back together again, this time with more distance and with an understanding of its individual layers.
Lesbos, Sappho and the first letter that entered history
In the beginning is poetry. And poetry likes clear images. The island of Lesbos has therefore become a place that history has associated with one of the earliest forms of recorded female love. Sappho, a female poet who lived around the 6th century BC, wrote so openly about desire between women that her work became a natural reference for the term "lesbian".
It is remarkable how long it took for this literary staple to turn into a term used for identity. It wasn't until the 19th century that it began to be listed in medical dictionaries - at first with some distance, then with increasing frequency. Women who loved women adopted it as their own with a quiet courage that eventually grew into a proud self-identification. It was here that the letter L was born - the first building block of the future acronym.
How language was born: from the "third sex" to modern terms
While the word lesbian came out of culture, other parts of the acronym arose from the need to scientifically describe what had long been overlooked or punished. In the 1860s, German lawyer Karl Heinrich Ulrichs attempted to define men who love men. He coined the term Urning and spoke of a "third sex," trying to explain that his identity was not a choice but a natural variation of humanity.
Ulrichs' thinking inspired Karoly Maria Kertbeny. The latter took matters into his own hands and made a significant impact on the history of the language of identity. His 1869 letter to the Prussian Minister of Justice was not only a protest against the criminalization of relationships between men - it was also the place where the words homosexual, bisexual and heterosexual first appeared in their modern meaning. Kertbeny thus laid the foundations of the language system we still use today, and created the pillars on which the letters G and B stand.
Gay: when an insult turns into a symbol of pride
And then comes the word gay - a term whose journey is perhaps the most dramatic. Until well into the 20th century, the word was a common slur. It was used to demean people who fell outside the norm. But as the 1960s approached, resistance to closeted life grew. Activists then took a word that was meant to be hurtful and reversed its meaning. They transformed it into an identity that united, connected and gave people a language to describe themselves.
In the decades that followed, gay gradually overtook other terms in use. The essayist Edmund White later wrote that it was a term that could encompass not only sexuality but also cultural identity. And it was this combination that made G one of the strongest pillars of the whole acronym.
Transgender and the birth of another letter that changed the optics
What we now call the transgender experience has existed throughout human history. Only language lagged behind for a long time. The word transgender didn't appear until the 1960s and was first recorded in a 1965 psychology textbook. But activists, including Virginia Prince, soon began using it as a tool to separate gender from biological sex and to describe identity with greater respect.
In the 1990s, the "T" was then officially incorporated into the LGB acronym of the time. This was not just a formal step - it was a symbol of common struggle and mutual solidarity. With this change, the language became more open and precise. More importantly, it finally gave space to people who had been outside the mainstream public debate on identity.
Queer: an open concept for an open experience
When Q began to be added to the acronym in the 1990s, it marked another linguistic shift. The word queer had long functioned as an insult, but, as with the word gay, activists reclaimed and reshaped it. It has taken on a new, broader meaning: for those who don't identify with traditional labels but also know they belong to a wider spectrum of non-heteronormative identities.
Queer has become an open-ended, sometimes deliberately unspoken term. Scholars have begun to use it to refer to a whole set of experiences that reject clear-cut pigeonholes. And for some, Q also means questioning - a stop on the path of self-discovery. It is this flexibility that makes Q one of the most vibrant letters in the entire acronym.
Intersex, asexuality and a plus sign that leaves the door open
Gradually, other letters appeared. Even for intersex people - people whose biological characteristics do not fit traditional ideas of the male or female body. And for the asexual community, the letter A, which opens up space for people who don't feel sexual attraction or identify outside traditional norms of sexuality.
And then there's the "+". Perhaps the simplest symbol in the entire list, but a crucial one. It's a reminder that identity doesn't stop at a few letters. That people's experience is far broader than we can name. And that language must leave room for what we don't yet know or can't yet accurately capture.
Abbreviation in motion: why it keeps changing
Some organisations are now even abandoning single initials and using broader labels such as 'gender and sexual minorities'. This is an effort to avoid endlessly stretching the acronym while still including as many identities as possible.
But whether the acronym or the umbrella term is used, one thing remains the same: identity naturally evolves and society evolves with it. Letters are not fixed poles, but rather signposts along the way. They are reminders of how many battles have been fought and how many new ones will need to be fought.
The U.S. National Academy of Sciences once wrote that the beauty of individuality lies in its many forms of self-expression. And this phrase actually captures the LGBTQIA+ story perfectly: it is not a finished shape, but an ever-changing picture of human diversity.
