intersexual

[Victor Steinbok]

Some of my college friends belonged to "Lesbian-Gay Alliance". More
recently, national groups expanded to include "bisexuals", and, later,
"transgender", so that the entire conglomerate is often referred to in
the press as LGBT community. Sure enough, I come across an "LGBTI":

http://bit.ly/9MSqbe
> People who are not heterosexual can be punished by law in 80
> countries; this can mean the death penalty in some states, if a person
> is lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual or intersexual (LGBTI).
> ...
> LGBTI people are facing serious issues in terms of violence and hatred.

So "I" stands for "Intersex(ual)". And what is "intersexual"? Well,
according to Wiki, it's the group that includes nearly all congenital
variations away from the typical XX-female/XY-male division (not based
on partner preference or identity preference). More generally, it is
people with atypical or ambiguous gender identity. So androgyny,
physical and genetic hermaphroditism fall into the category of
"intersexual", along with a number of other variations.

I just thought I'd make a note of that. Next time I see "LGBTI", I'll
know what it means. This is beginning to look a lot like the symmetry
laws and grand unified theories in physics--every time a pattern is
established, a new group emerges that defies the established categorization.

     VS-)

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