# The Q in LGTBQ **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 15, 2017, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-q-in-lgtbq/796396 "2017-09-15T12:28:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-q-in-lgtbq/796396/41 "2017-09-16T19:57:44Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Oh, and what about the “U” in “QUILTBAG”? Is that for “Undecided” or something, or is it just to make the “Q” pronounceable? When I’ve encountered “QUILTBAG” it usually seems a bit tongue-in-cheek, and I suspect that not all of the letters have firmly fixed meanings. A quick Google turns up some sources saying the “U” stands for “Undecided”, “Undetermined”, or “Unidentified”, and some saying it’s “QU” for “QUeer”/“QUestioning” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-q-in-lgtbq/796396/42 "2017-09-16T20:18:04Z")
I was interpreting it as “Queer Undecided Intersex Lesbian Trans Bisexual Asexual Gay”. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-q-in-lgtbq/796396/43 "2017-09-16T21:34:35Z")
I was tempted to make a rather obscure joke about the “U” standing for “[Uranian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranian)”, a historic term used to describe homosexuals before the word “homosexual” was coined. I learned from Wikipedia just now that Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, the German writer and activist who introduced the term Uranian/Urning, went on to develop a pretty complex [taxonomy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranian#Development_of_classification_scheme_for_sexual_types) of sexual orientation, gender identity, and behavior. Ulrichs’s work was largely forgotten until it was rediscovered by modern LGBT activists, but if it had caught on then instead of LGBT we might have something like UDUdZ. (Maybe pronounced “You Dudes”?) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-q-in-lgtbq/796396/44 "2017-09-16T23:55:17Z")
> [@Claude\_Remains](#): > > My daughter’s a QUILTBAG who gives me grief no matter what I say one way or the other about human sexuality. That is the function of daughters. Especially teenage ones. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2017, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-q-in-lgtbq/796396/45 "2017-09-17T18:08:22Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > I was tempted to make a rather obscure joke about the “U” standing for “[Uranian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranian)”, a historic term used to describe homosexuals before the word “homosexual” was coined. Very few people are even aware that term existed; I’m impressed. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2017, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-q-in-lgtbq/796396/46 "2017-09-17T19:26:08Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > Very few people are even aware that term existed; I’m impressed. I have an overgrown National Novel Writing Month project that’s set in the 19th century, which led me to do some [del]procrastinating[/del] research on views on sexuality during the period. My story is set before Ulrichs’s time though, so I didn’t look into his work and hadn’t encountered his full taxonomy before. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-q-in-lgtbq/796396.md?page=2)