LGBTIQ
The abbreviation LGBTIQ is used as shorthand to refer to sexual and gender identities: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersexual and queer. The shorter abbreviation LGBT is often used, and both can be extended with further letters or signs, such as LGBTIQQA*, where the additional Q stands for questioning, A for asexual, and the asterisk for further, not specifically defined identities.
Using these abbreviations, and the terms for the individual identities themselves, often raises awareness of the prevailing heteronormative worldview, which deems heterosexuality to be the norm. It also assumes there are only two genders – male and female – which correspond directly to two biological sexes. The heteronormative worldview does not recognise (and often suppresses) gender identities that deviate from this socially constructed binary concept of male/female.
