It may make for confusion for you, but for me it answered a long standing question of “why am I so weird compared to everyone else?”

The labels and designations are for the folks who identify with those—to find community amongst folks who share, in this case, a sexuality that is rarely seen let alone acknowledged.

I do get where you’re coming from, though. Prior to grabbing my A from the list I was overwhelmed with the stack of letters.

However, it was through taking time to understand what the letters meant, both practically and for the queer community, that made me realize how important it is.

LGBTQIA+ isn’t a term meant to alienate anyone; it’s an acronym that welcomes anyone who is slightly off the “heterosexual norm.” Hell, it sometimes includes queer allies among the heterosexual community as well.

A better way to think about this may to consider it the same way some folks say stuff like “I’m a Virgo,” or “I’m Irish” (despite being several generations from the island).

These are identifiers the person uses to help reveal themselves to the world in an authentic way.

And, what I learned on my own journey is that these letters are for the person using them and their community. They’re not really meant for other folks—they have their own words, phrases, and community along this.

In short: the letters are for the person using them; if you don’t understand or are confused, feel free to ask or straight up ignore the sexuality question in the room.

Believe it or not, most of us don’t actually want to discuss our sexualities, but for a large subsection of the group, specifically trans folks, they get it out of the way up front because otherwise people will get weird.

It’s not about shoving it in your face in those cases, it’s about ripping off the bandaid so they can get to work or move on to normal conversations about sports, TV, or, more likely at the moment, politics.

Does that help?