By Kirara Miyahara, ATR-BC, LPC
During June of every year, communities come together all around the world to celebrate love, and highlight the pride of LGBT(QIA2S+) folks. You can find us in rainbow attire and politely gathering to request basic human rights with great persistence. Sometimes, there is music and drag (a performance art that explores different gender expressions), and other times there is education and lawmaking. Always, there are people happily together hoping to make positive changes, that are often being pulled apart by invisible walls built of misinformation, ignorance, and/or hate.
This year, I am taking the initiative to extend a warm welcome and to invite you to join us in making space for kindness, acceptance, and understanding. Here is a quick refresher of some relevant English words we can use to discuss the multifaceted nature of the human experience…
Assigned (sex) at Birth: Refers to the anatomical genitalia that an individual is born with, which often suggest “Assigned Female at Birth” (AFAB) or “Assigned Male at Birth” (AMAB) and also include intersex traits which are natural variations in physical, chromosomal, and hormonal characteristics and patterns.
Gender Identity: Refers to the gender that an individual identifies with, including but not limited to fluid (refers to change over time in a person’s gender expression and/or identity), cisgender (someone whose gender identifies with the sex assigned at birth), and nonbinary (refers to identifying outside the male/female gender binary).
Sexual Orientation: Refers to the nature of relationship with sources of attraction, including but not limited to pansexual (attraction undetermined by sex or gender identity), bisexual (attraction to multiple genders or sexes), heterosexual (attraction to the other sex), and asexual (lack of sexual attraction to others).
Some community members prefer using specific words to refer to themselves in a descriptive manner. Others like to identify as queer, to suggest non-cisgender and/or non-heterosexual qualities. Everyone is allowed the right to describe themselves in their reality in a way that feels safe and authentic.
This June, I am encouraging you to seek opportunities to have conversations with people who are politely requesting space to exist as their authentic selves. We only ask that you come with an open mind, and to hear us out. In this time of chaos and confusion in the global village, I hope you embrace your neighbourhood and community with kindness and curiosity today.