LGBT PSYCHOLOGY

Definition of terms:
LGBT- Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender; an acronym used to refer to different

genders. Lesbian- women who are emotionally and sexually attracted to women.

Gay- men who are emotionally and sexually attracted to men.

Bisexual- man or women who are emotionally and sexually attracted to men or women.

Transgender- when your gender identity (how you feel) is different from your physical
sex (male/female).

Views on LGBT in History

Sexual and emotional attraction towards the same sex has been recorded throughout
history of mankind. In China 600 BCE, They used the terms ‘pleasures of the bitten peach’ and
‘brokeback’. In Japan, they have ‘shudo’ or ‘nanshoku’. ‘Kathoey’ is used in Thailand to refer
to lady boys. In the Philippines we have the ‘Babaylan’ and the ‘catalonan’ who were mostly
women priests, but some are males who lived their lives as women.

Society’s attitude towards homosexuality and other gender variants change through history. In
ancient Greek, all males are expected to take on a younger male lover in a practice called
pederasty. Some societies, like the indigenous Native Americans, accepted and celebrated
what they called ‘two-spirited’ person in a dance to the ‘Berdache’.

However, later cultures see it as a “sin” following the Abrahamic Religion which branded it as
sodomy, a crime against nature. As these cultures colonized other countries, it enforced its
belief system of viewing same sex marriage as a sin through violence such as killing
homosexuals through burning, stoning, or being fed to the dogs.

Homosexuality was classified as an illness in the 19 th century as a basis for them to legally
persecute homosexuals, imprison, and commit them to a mental institution. An example of
this percussion is that of Alan Turing, the father of modern computing, who was prosecuted in
1952
for homosexual acts. He was sentenced with chemical castration treatment, and he later
died through cyanide poisoning.
As science advanced through years of extensive research, the APA removed homosexaulity as a
psychiatric disorder or sickness in 1973. This decision was after many years of struggles from
the gay and lesbian liberation movement. APA finally declared that being attracted to people of
the same sex is a natural variation of the human experience, and it does not make anyone any
less of a healthy and functioning human being. Now that society is more accepting towards the
LGBT, new terms and labels have been used to cater to everyone.

A few letters that were added to the LGBT:

LGBTQIA+- Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trangender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexusal/Ally.

Queer- used by people who celebrate all gender identities, can also be mean someone
who do not want to be restricted as Lesbian, Gay, or Bi.

Intersex- people who were born with sex genitals or chromosome patterns that do not
fit the typical male or female body.

Asexual/Ally- asexual people are who do not feel sexual attraction to anyone, but it
does not mean that they do not engage in romantic or sexual relationships. Allies are straight
or heterosexual people who are fighting for LGBT rights.

Plus+- the plus sign refers to all sexualities that do not fit in the LGBTQI

spectrum.

Knowledge on the human sexuality is still evolving so there are many terms
that pops up. Here are a few more to help us become more inclusive.
Androgynous- people whose gender expression (their physical appearance) may or may
not be distinctly male or female.

Gender- your internal sense of being masculine or feminine or

neither. Gender identity- how you feel, man, women, or neither.

Gender expression- how you express your sense of being male or female or
neither, maybe through hairstyle, clothes, etc.
Sexual orientation- your emotional and sexual attraction to a person.

Sex assigned at birth- your given sex when were born based on your sex organ.

Cisgender- when your gender identity matches with the sex you are assigned at

birth.

Non-binary- people who do not feel a like a boy or a girl; they may feel like they are both
or neither, so sometimes they use the pronouns they, them, and theirs.

Understanding Transgenderism
Society attaches a lot of meanings to our biological sex or physical sex. Parents unknowingly
set up a gender-based pattern of raising their children upon knowing the biological sex of their
babies. Pink for girls and blue for boys is a reflection of our heteronormative culture wherein
we expect females to be feminine and males to be masculine.

This limited view on sexuality makes it harder for those who do not fit in the box of
masculinity and femininity. Like the lesbians, gays, and bisexual. However, it makes it so much
more difficult for the transgender people, those who feel like they were born in the wrong
body or given the wrong biological sex.

Who is a Transgender?
The APA defines transgender as “ an umbrella term for persons whose gender identity,
gender expression, or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex
to which they were assigned at birth.’’

Transsexual- is often used in the medical field to refer to people whose gender identity is
different from their biological sex and they may want to change their body, so it resembles how
they feel about their gender identity. A biologically male person may feel like she is a woman
since she was just a child and in adulthood, she may choose to have a ‘’hormonal replacement
or sex reassignment surgery’’.
Other sexualities under the transgender umbrella term includes:

FTM- female to male, a person whose biological sex is female and has transitioned to living
his life as a male.

MTF- male to female, a person whose biological sex is male and has transitioned to living
her life as a female.

Crossdressing- some people want to dress as the opposite gender from time to
time, however, unlike the transsexual, they are comfortable identifying with their
biological sex;

Drag kings and queens- these are people who dress as the opposite gender
for entertainment which they do out of passion or for work; and

Gender queer- these are people who feel like their gender does not fit the gender
binary view that is limited to the male or female category because they feel that these are
too restrictive.