LGBT
Origin
An initialism for "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender/Transexual", used as a self-designation in United States gay rights activism since about 1990. Attested since 1988 (Research, policy and practice: Annual meeting, American Educational Research Association
Verlag AERA, 1988).
Alternative forms
Usage notes
Sometimes, additional letters are added, such as 'Q' for 'queer' or 'questioning', 'I' for 'intersex', and 'P' for 'pansexual', 'A' for 'asexual', etc.
Sometimes, the order of the letters is switched to GLBT.
When speaking only of sexuality and not of gender, the abbreviation LGB or GLB may be used.
Some authors disuse the umbrella term 'LGBT' because "gender identity is clearly distinct from sexual identity", the 'T' community "is itself heterogeneous, comprising intersex individuals, androgynes, transvestites, and a whole range of others", and transgender and genderqueer people "experience trans-phobia within LGB services and communities".
Katherine Cox, Sexual Orientation, in Death, Dying, and Social Differences (edited by David Oliviere, Barbara Monroe, Sheila Payne, published in 2011), page 197:
Trans communities
Although the umbrella term LGBT makes pragmatic sense, there are compelling arguments to treat transgendered people as distinct from LGB communities: gender identity is clearly distinct from sexual identity (Dean et al., 2000) and to conflate the two risks ignoring the particular experiences of this "trans" group which is itself heterogeneous, comprising intersex individuals, androgynes, transvestites, and a whole range of others. Transgendered people ... can experience trans-phobia within LGB services and communities.