West Valley Learns the ABC’s of LGBT’s

By Avi Vieira
Glendale

LGBTQPIAQT*… The list goes on and on, but what do they all mean? What is the difference between Sexual Identity and Sexual Orientation? Who has the fastest hands to the buzzer when it’s time to play The Feud? Such questions and more were answered when one n ten  West Valley was joined by our own Stacey Jay Cavaliere as our youth learned more about the seemingly endless chain of letters in the initialism,  identified different types of sexual identities, and tested the youth with an LGBT version of Family Feud.

Beginning with a quick breakdown of the L G B and T, the group was led to identify other initials that represent other identities and orientations – both sexual and gender based such as Two-Spirit, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, Pansexual and many more. Group members then explored differences between sexual orientation and identity as well as those differences from gender identity.

With the basics covered, Stacey Jay then went on drawing up a umbrella of gender identity which explored the diversity within Cisgender and Transgender personalities ranging from Drag and cross dressing to intersex, bigender, androgynous, transgender, transsexual, and others to the point that the board was filled with the variety of identities.

Finally, the evening closed with the group splitting into two teams which competed head to head in a Family Feud style competition over the terminology covered in the course of the evening. Competition was tense, but friendly as the teams faced off for candy prizes and bragging rights for the night. The youth enjoyed themselves immensely and took pride in being able to demonstrate their understanding of the diversity within our community, and offer clarification to peers, fostering a sense of lifelong learning using each other as resources.