Guest Article

The + In LGBTQPIA+

Van Ethan Levy, LMFT, LPCC

The + is a symbol of inclusion and an attempt at non erasure. More often than not, when people are talking about the LGBTQPIA+ community, the person/people are really only talking about cis/binary folx with certain sexualities.

However, LGBTQPIA+ is more than binary, heteronormative identities and how these identity(ies) co-exist. For instance, LGBTQPIA+ is also a queer, gender fluid, sexually fluid, romantically fluid individual who is queer, trans, non binary, intersex and more.

When we are communicating about identity(ies) we need to be intentional as to which ones we are including, and if we truly are being affirming to the entirety of the community. As we are unable to label every identity, adding a + at the end is indicating that there are more identity(ies) than what are listed.

There are 2 things I hope people take from this article:

1. If you are talking about the entirety of the community, no matter what letters you chose to use, always add the plus symbol “+”.

2. Be intentional with which acronyms you are using and don’t just add letters because you want to signal allyship when you have not done your own work to unpack your internalized messages and learn ways to create safer & affirming spaces by truly learning and engaging in an anti-oppressive positionality.

Van Ethan Levy, MA, LMFT, LPCC, (they) (elle), a trans and non binary therapist, is a queer, non binary, trans, socialized as female, nBPOC (not Black Person of Color), who is autistic, and has dynamic disabilities amongst many more historically excluded identities. Van provides consultations and trainings on trans and non binary identities, is the organizer of the 2022 Virtual International Do Something: Identity(ies) Conference, authored the interactive book, Exploring My Identity(ies), and produced the Documentary, Do Something: Trans & Non Binary Identities, Website: VanEthanLevy.com.