LGBT is an initialism that stands for "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender". It may refer to anyone who is non-heterosexual, non-heteroromantic, or non-cisgender, instead of exclusively to people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. The variant LGBTQ adds a Q for those who identify as queer (which can be synonymous with LGBT) or are questioning their sexual or gender identity, while LGBTQ+ adds a plus sign for "those who are part of the community, but for whom LGBTQ does not accurately capture or reflect their identity". Many further variations of the acronym exist, such as LGBT+ (simplified to encompass the Q concept within the plus sign), LGBTQIA+ (adding intersex, asexual, aromantic and agender), and 2SLGBTQ+ (adding two-spirit for a term specific to Indigenous North Americans). The LGBT label is not universally agreed to by everyone that it is generally intended to include. The variations GLBT and GLBTQ rearrange the letters in the acronym. In use since the late 1980s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for marginalized sexualities and gender identities.
The earlier initialism LGB began to replace the term gay (or gay and lesbian) in the late 1980s to reference the broader community. When not inclusive of transgender people, the shorter LGB is still used. (Full article...)
LGBT culture is a culture shared by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals. It is sometimes referred to as queer culture (indicating people who are queer), while the term gay culture may be used to mean either "LGBT culture" or homosexual culture specifically.
LGBT culture varies widely by geography and the identity of the participants. Elements common to cultures of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people include:
Historical figures identified as LGBT, although identifying historical figures with modern terms for sexual identity is controversial (see History of sexuality). However, many LGBT people feel a kinship with these people and their work (particularly that addressing same-sex attraction or gender identity); an example is VictoryFund.org, dedicated to supporting homosexual politicians.
—"Dear Abby" (Abigail Van Buren) responding to a reader's letter about a gay couple moving across the street; asking how he could improve his neighborhood
This 1908 painting by German artist Paul Höcker depicts Nino Cesarini, the Italian lover of Baron Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen. Fersen had fled from France after a sex scandal and built a mansion on Capri, Villa Lysis, where he lived together with Cesarini. The two edited a short-lived literary magazine together, Akademos, which was partly a discreet defense of homosexual love. A romanticized account of their relationship is given by Roger Peyrefitte in his 1959 novel L'Exilé de Capri ("The Exile of Capri").
... that the Heian period Japanese story Torikaebaya Monogatari is the tale of a man who lives as a woman and his sister who lives as a man, who eventually swap places in order to lead happy lives?