When not inclusive of transgender people, the shorter term LGB is still used instead of LGBT. The LGBT term is an adaptation of the initialism LGB, which began to replace the term gay in reference to the broader LGBT community beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s. At least some of the components of sexuality (regarding hetero, bi, straight), and also gender are stated to be on (different) spectrums of sexuality
Many variants exist including variations that change the order of the letters, including LGBT+. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. LGBT is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender.
