From GLBT to LGBTQIA*

Lizbeth
Apr 15
5 min read

Regenbogen aus Punkten auf blauem Untergrund — A Subtle Rainbow

The story of an evolving acronym

Labels for communities rarely emerge by accident. They grow out of political struggles, social change, and the needs of the people who see themselves reflected in them. This is especially true for the acronym that today is used to describe the diversity of queer identities.

What we now know as LGBTQIA* began in a much shorter form. And the path from there to here tells far more than a linguistic story.

It tells a story of solidarity, exclusion, internal political struggles, and of whose voices were heard at different points in time.

The early years: Why did the G come first?

In the 1960s and early 1970s, it was primarily the gay rights movement that was visible in the public eye. The Stonewall uprising on June 28, 1969, in New York is widely seen as the symbolic starting point of the modern queer movement. When police officers raided the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street, patrons resisted collectively for the first time against the ongoing raids. ¹ The clashes lasted several days and gave new momentum to an entire movement. ⁵

“The uprising around the Stonewall Inn became a symbol: it shows that a single decision, an instinctive reaction to injustice, can spark an entire movement.”— Amnesty International, 2019⁴

What is often less widely known is who stood at the forefront: trans women like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, many of them Black and Latinx queer people, and homeless youth. ⁹ As historian Lillian Faderman describes it, Stonewall was a rebellion from the margins. ¹¹

Yet it was primarily gay (white) men who went on to shape emerging organizations, media, and political structures. ³ The acronym GLBT, with the G in first position, reflected this distribution of power. ²

Timeline

Year	Event
1969	Stonewall uprising in New York. Founding of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF). First Christopher Street Liberation Day one year later. ¹
1970s	The gay rights movement dominates queer politics. Lesbian women and trans people are part of the movement but are often pushed to the margins. ³
1979	The first Christopher Street Day events take place in Bremen and Berlin. ³
1983	The AIDS crisis fundamentally reshapes the queer movement. Lesbian women take on leadership roles and provide care work that much of society refuses to offer. ⁸
1990s	Shift from GLBT to LGBT as the accepted standard form. The L moves to the front in recognition of lesbian contributions. By the mid-1990s, LGBT becomes the international standard. ²
1999	In Germany, the “Schwulenverband in Deutschland” is renamed “Lesben- und Schwulenverband” (LSVD). ⁷
2016	GLAAD officially recommends including the Q as standard. LGBTQIA* becomes increasingly common. ⁷

Why GLBT became LGBT

The shift took place in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and it was far more than a minor linguistic change. It was a deliberate political decision shaped by the AIDS crisis.

Beginning in 1983, as AIDS devastated the gay community, government institutions largely ignored those affected or actively stigmatized them.³ In this context, lesbian women played a crucial role. They cared for the dying, donated blood, took on leadership roles in ACT UP and other queer organizations, while large parts of society turned their backs on those who were ill. ⁷ ⁸

“Together, gay men and lesbians formed a strong alliance, supporting each other as friends and lovers were dying.”— Eyewitness Alex Danzig, quoted in Qiio Magazine ⁷

With the first effective AIDS treatments in the late 1990s, space opened for recognition. In the United States, Gay Community Centers were renamed Lesbian and Gay Community Centers. ⁷ The order of the letters changed, placing L before G, as a visible acknowledgment that the movement had not been carried by gay men alone. ⁸

By the mid-1990s, LGBT had become the internationally accepted standard. ² ⁶

From LGBT to LGBTQIA*: Who was still missing?

Even the term LGBT did not include everyone who was part of the queer community.

Bisexual people often felt invisible or were not fully accepted by either heterosexual society or parts of the gay and lesbian movement. ² Trans people, whose concerns differ fundamentally from questions of sexual orientation, remained on the margins for years, even though figures like Marsha P. Johnson had been at the forefront of Stonewall. ¹⁰

Intersex people, asexual individuals, and those who did not want to fit into existing categories also sought visibility. ⁶

LGBTQIA* – What the letters mean

L	Lesbian	Women who are attracted to women. The term traces back to the island of Lesbos, home of the ancient poet Sappho. ⁶
G	Gay	Originally a reclaimed positive term for people attracted to the same sex, particularly men. ⁶
B	Bisexual	People who are attracted to more than one gender. The bisexual movement began to gain visibility in the 1970s. ²
T	Trans	People whose gender identity does not align with the sex assigned at birth. Activists like Kate Bornstein helped popularize the term in the 1990s. ⁷
Q	Queer / Questioning	Originally a slur, reclaimed by activists as an intentionally open identity term. Officially recommended by GLAAD starting in 2016. ⁷
I	Intersex	People whose physical sex characteristics do not fit typical definitions of male or female bodies. ⁶
A	Asexual / Aromantic / Agender	People who experience little or no sexual attraction, little or no romantic attraction, or who do not identify with any gender. ⁶
*	Openness	The list is intentionally incomplete. Identities continue to evolve. ⁶

The term “queer” deserves special attention. For a long time, it was used as an insult. Activists deliberately reclaimed it and gave it a new, positive meaning. When GLAAD recommended including the Q as standard in 2016, its president Sarah Kate Ellis explained that the term reflects the increasingly diverse ways younger queer people describe their identities. ⁷

Language as a political tool

The evolution from GLBT to LGBTQIA* shows how closely language is tied to social reality. ⁶ Every change reflects internal debates within the community: Who is seen? Who is heard? Who feels excluded?

The order of the letters, their expansion, and even the criticism of them are all part of an ongoing, never fully resolved process of negotiation. ²

These debates continue today. Some argue that the acronym has become too long to be practical. Others question whether trans identities should be grouped under the same umbrella as sexual orientation. Still others suggest that “queer” alone might already be sufficient to encompass the full diversity. ²

These discussions are part of the process. They show that the community is not static, but constantly redefining itself.

At first glance, LGBTQIA* may seem like a complicated string of letters. But behind each one lies a piece of history.

The shift from GLBT to LGBT reminds us that recognition within a movement must be actively fought for again and again. The expansion reflects a broader understanding of gender and sexuality. And the asterisk at the end leaves space for those who do not yet have their own letter.

This acronym is not just a label. It is a promise that a community continues to renew.

Yours, Lizbeth