What does the 'L' in LGBTQ stand for? What identifying as lesbian means.
According to a 2023 Gallup poll, 7.6% of U.S. adults self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual. In the last 11 years, this has increased by 4.1 percentage points.
Today, over 20% of Gen Z adults – those between the ages of 18 to 26 – identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community, Gallup reports. The rising numbers come in part due to "larger society changing" with people feeling more comfortable sharing their identities, experts previously told USA TODAY.
Maybe you've seen or heard terms used to describe someone's identity. You might have a friend or family who identifies as "lesbian," but were unsure of the exact definition. Fret not, we've got you covered.
What does the 'L' in LGBTQ stand for?
The L in LGBTQ stands for lesbian. LGBTQ is an acronym that's an identifier, and it has changed over the last few decades, adding new letters to the lineup.
What each letter in LGBTQ means:
L: Lesbian
G: Gay
T: Transgender (differs from the rest of the acronym as it relates to gender and not sexual identity)
Q: Added to the acronym at the turn of the century to represent people identifying as queer, a more ambiguous term (reclaimed since its use as a derogatory term for LGBTQ individuals) allowing people to avoid rigid labels. Some also take the Q to mean questioning.
In recent years, I and A have been added, meaning intersex and asexual, respectively.
A plus sign is often attached at the acronym's end to include identities that may not fit into the other letters, such as pansexual or Two-Spirit.
Learn more: LGBTQ definitions every ally should know
What does lesbian mean?
Lesbian refers to a woman who is romantically, physically and/or sexually attracted to other women. Some nonbinary people, or those whose gender identities are outside of the gender binary of solely male and female, may also identify with this term.
Lesbian women can be attracted to lesbians, bisexual women, pansexual women, among others. According to the 2023 Gallup poll, around 1.2% of U.S. adults self-identify as lesbian.
The word lesbian derives from name of the Greek island of Lesbos, which was home to poet Sappho. Of Sappho's available works, she focused on her love of women and their beauty.
"Lesbian" was first used to describe sexual relations between two women in 1870. The term "sapphist" and "sapphism" were used interchangeable with the words lesbian and homosexual until the turn of the 20th century.
What are the colors of the lesbian flag?
While there is no official one lesbian flag, there are various which represent the lesbian community.
The labrys lesbian flag was created in 1999 and features a white labrys in an inverted black triangle on a purple backdrop. In the 1970s, the labrys was adopted by the lesbian feminist community as a symbol of empowerment. The usage of the inverted black triangle reclaims the symbol once used by Nazi Germany to identify lesbian women in concentration camps.
In 2018, a new flag was created featuring a seven-stripe layout with the color ranging from orange to pink shades. The colors represent:
Dark orange: gender non-conformity
Orange: independence
Light orange: community
White: unique relationships to womanhood
Pink: serenity and peace
Dusty pink: love and sex
Dark rose: femininity
Dive deeper: Get to know variations of the Lesbian pride flag
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What does the 'L' in LGBTQ stand for? Identifying as lesbian meaning
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