I am going to need to carry a glossary with me eventually while referring to a certain segment of our society.

OK. Here we go.

The gay community a while back began using the term LGBT to define itself. It stood for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender; the way I see these things, the terms lesbian and gay mean the same thing, as it defines those who are attracted sexually to others of the same gender.

Then LGBT added the letter Q, meaning queer. When I was a kid, queer was thought to be an epithet; no more, apparently.

Let’s throw in the letter P, which stands for pedosexual. I understand there’s a connection between homosexuality and pedophilia, although I understand that pedosexual refers only to boys. Sheesh!

Now we see the letters “I” and “A” added along with a plus sign.

So … the identity of some of us is now expanded to read LGBTQPIA+

What the hell? Is your head spinning? Mine sure is.

I am not comfortable even talking casually about individuals’ sexual orientation. It’s none of my damn business. I have never discussed sexual intimacy with strangers.

But this growth in the alphabet-soup listing of individuals with a seemingly endless list of sexual orientations borders on the ridiculous. What about the I and the A? Here’s what I found:

• Intersex: A term to describe individuals who are born with variations of sex characteristics that do not fit with binary definitions of male or female bodies.1
• Asexual: Sometimes shortened to “ace,” this term refers to someone who has little or no sexual attraction; they may, however, experience romantic attraction.

Oh, and how about the +? It means: The ‘plus’ is used to signify all of the gender identities and sexual orientations that are not specifically covered by the other five initials. An example is Two-Spirit, a pan-Indigenous American identity.

Are you confused now? I damn sure am.