The "L" Word in LGBTQ: Lesbians

The AIDS Crisis and Lesbians

30 Jun, 20242 min read

Have you ever wondered the reason why LGBTQ+ starts with the letter “L”?

Everybody knows the letters in LGBTQ+ stand for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer in order and the “+” sign represents other queer identities. But this wasn’t the order back in the day. The acronym before it was changed to LGBT, was GLBT. There is a reason for this change and the reason why the acronym now starts with “L” is often overlooked or unknown for most people. And unfortunately, there is a sad history behind this change.

In the 80s and 90s, when the AIDS crisis began, the most affected group of people unfortunately became homosexual men and the trans community. Due to the intense homophobia amongst the public, they turned their backs on the gay and trans community and ignored their struggles and suffering regarding AIDS, and left them completely alone without medical support to die.

Before then, gay bars and other gay places were mainly occupied by gay men because, believe it or not, the society has always been centered around men and has always been patriarchal and the patriarchal system existed even amongst gay communities. Lesbians and their existence were ignored or seen as something insignificant. So, it can be said that lesbians were lonely and minority even in their own community and had loose connections with others.

However, with the rising AIDS crisis and gay men and trans people being ignored by everybody, lesbians stepped up and started to take care of gays and trans people who were affected by the deadly virus. They treated them, gave them food and provided accommodation, supported them mentally, and even donated their blood.

Thanks to this leadership and nursing behavior lesbians performed during the crisis, gay men in the community wanted to honor them. The change in the order of the GLBT acronym regarding putting the letter “L” at the beginning was accepted contently. Ever since this change, the acronym has started with the letter “L” to show respect to lesbians.