TIQ

The transgender, intersex and queer portions of the LGBTIQ population.

TIQ is part of the LGBTIQ initialism. TIQ refers to diversity in gender and biological sex, as opposed to LGB which refers to sexual orientation.

T is for Transgender, which typically refers to trans men and trans women, but also encompasses many gender diverse experiences, representing a spectrum of gender identities, including non-binary, genderqueer, genderfluid, agender, and more.

I is for Intersex, an umbrella term for people born with physical sex characteristics that don’t fit medical and social norms for male or female bodies. There are dozens of intersex variations with formal medical diagnoses and etiologies, which apply to roughly 1% of the population.

Q is for queer, for those who do not fit typical labels and expectations of binary categories such as heterosexual or homosexual, cisgender or transgender, either in the form of gender identity, gender expression, romantic relationship, or social non-conformity. Queer used to be a pejorative, but is now a reclaimed word among those who find the old categories of gender identity and sexual orientation inadequate.

The TIQ population have needs that are not always understood by their LGB allies.

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ambigender

ambigender (adj.)

Like the words ambidextrous, ambivert, ambiguous and ambisexual — ambigender implies a combination of opposites, in this case masculine and feminine. The ambigender individual may swap readily between male or female modes in their social relationships, using a combination of masculine and feminine traits, in ways that affect how other people read their gender over time.

With this non-binary gender identity, an ambigender person feels a need for expression and/or recognition as both male and female, or both masculine and feminine, but usually preferring a degree of gender ambiguity. This is similar to bigender, except that bigender does not necessarily imply ambiguity or androgyny. An ambigender identity, may be either fixed across a continuing experience of masculine and feminine, or experience genderfluid shifts across that range.

As a gender expression, ambigender refers to an androgynous look which might be read as either male or female, depending on context, words, behaviour or mannerisms. A clearly ambigender appearance can easily tip towards a male or female presentation, by simply adding or removing minor gender cues.

I know I am ambigender, because I feel most comfortable when people have difficulty gendering me. When I get a mixture of "he", "she" and "they" pronouns, without even changing my clothes, that's a good day.

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