The Rainbow Umbrella & Acronym
The rainbow umbrella terms have evolved over the years to include newly discovered and understood sexuality, identity and attraction that is outside the limiting and narrow view of patriarchal constructed sex and attraction.
8/24/20251 min read
The rainbow acronym has been expanding over time as our society identifies and understands more about our sexual identities and attractions. The progression of the acronym can confuse some people and while we all make mistakes with the placement of the letters, to show respect for the people each letter represents, we have compiled a list. At The Rainbow Crosswalk, we use the 2SLGBTQIA+ acronym. The 2S is for two-spirit and we place it at the beginning to honour and show respect and ally-ship for the two-spirit first nations people.
The Rainbow Umbrella & Acronym
LGB – Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual
LGBT – Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender
LGBTQ – Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender-Queer or Questioning
LGBTQI – Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender-Queer or Questioning-Intersex
LGBTQIA+ - Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender-Queer or Questioning-Intersex-Plus
2SLGBTQIA+ Two Spirit-Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender-Queer or Questioning-Intersex-Asexual-Plus
The Trans Umbrella
The term 'trans' is often used as an umbrella term to capture a wide variety of different gender identities that experience one’s own gender as not quite fitting, with the sex label or expectations of assigned sex to a person at birth.
The trans umbrella includes terms like transgender, transsexual, transfeminine, transmasculine and can also refer to terms like gender diverse, gender variant, gender creative, genderqueer, non-binary, agender, bigender, among many others.
Some people may identify with these or other specific terms, but not with the term 'trans', while others may identify as only 'trans', but not with other terms under the trans umbrella.
At their basic level, each of these terms has commonalities with the term trans, and yet they are all unique in their specific relationships between conceptions of gender identity and assigned sex. Some identities under the trans umbrella may fit into a binary system of gender (woman, man), and others may not.
For further information, visit EGALE at www.egale.ca
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The Rainbow Crosswalk Logos were created by Kasie https://www.facebook.com/kasie.larose/
We acknowledge that we live on the land that is the traditional unceded and unsurrendered territory of the Wolastoqiyik Peoples. This territory is covered by the “Treaties of Peace and Friendship” which Peoples first signed with the British Crown in 1725. The treaties do not deal with surrender of lands and resources, but in fact, recognize Wolastoqiyik title and establish the rules for what is an ongoing relationship between nations.