The Only Sexuality That Excludes Trans People Is Bigot: In Pursuit of Inclusivity

Early in 2021, new data from Gallup found that the number of people who identify as LGBTQ has reached an all-time high of 5.4% (Jones 2021). More specifically, this research found that the portions of that population who identify as bisexual and transgender are the most rapidly growing, which is consistent with the academic literature on the LGBTQ community (England et. al. 2016: Watson et. al. 2020). Scholars have pointed out previously that sexualities that fall under the multisexual spectrum and transgender identities fundamentally unsettle the assumptions made about gender sexuality that allow people to be neatly sorted into categories. It is assumed, for example, that a) a person’s sex/gender gives you enough information to make inferences about their sexuality and b) that the partner someone has at any given point confirms their identity as either heterosexual or straight. In short, sexualities that are not monosexual are rejected because they threaten existing schemas, and transgender identities disrupt peoples’ ability to make assumptions about gender based on a person’s presumed biology (Callis 2014; Lucal 2008). Given that these identities are gaining more visibility and there are more people claiming these identities in recent years, this raises a wide range of questions for sociologists, both in terms of how these identities are understood by the dominant culture, and how the inner dynamics of the community have been altered as a result of this increased visibility.