Hanna Stalmach, Contributor
There is a broad spectrum of gender and sexual identities within the world. Not everyone fits into the rigid definitions in society that is represented in the media and not confining to rigid definitions is much more common than we believe.
There is an unspoken dichotomy of being either straight or gay, man or woman. As pansexual, which does not limit me in terms of biological sex, gender, or gender identity, I can tell you that there have been instances of others encouraging me to “choose a side,” as if sexual attraction is exclusive to one sex.
This makes LGBTQ+ spaces not as welcoming to those who do not fall into the dichotomy because explaining yourself can become a challenge. It does not help that our language also falls into a binary trap because when those who are not straight or gay come out, the best they can express themselves without having to give their listener a definition lesson is to resort to a L, G, B, or T.
It is also possible to say that you are queer but the term be considered insulting to some. The term queer itself has a massive history and it was only recently reclaimed in the last 50 years as something positive, but it does not help that most people do not understand its heavy history.
Its definition remains fluid and has more than one use in conversation and is more than a catch-all umbrella term for the community. So with a multitude of terms and common misconceptions to the words gay and queer, what are mid-range-oriented people to do?
The spectrum is something that contains many shades and hues and a multitude of terms.
You can be bisexual, attracted to your own and another sex, but be more attracted to women than men. You can be pansexual, attracted to all sexes, but be partial to those who are agender, without gender. You can be demisexual, attracted to only those you already have a nonsexual relationship with, but also be aromantic, romantic attraction being an entirely other dimension on top of sex and gender.
There are so many possibilities and combinations of various identities that there is no wonder people get confused and want to put everyone who is not straight into a pigeon hole.
That does not make it okay. It is important to recognize our differences and celebrate them. It is important that the community contains more than strictly gay men and lesbian women. The community is not just trans men and women, because there are also agender people, demigirls, demiboys, bigender people, and gender fluid individuals. The community is much larger than we think.
The world is filled with people who identify all along the spectrum and we should not be embarrassed by all of our terms. We need to say these terms explicitly until it is integrated into common vocabulary.
