The initialism, as well as common variants such as LGBTQ, have been adopted into the mainstream in the 1990s as an umbrella term for use when labeling topics about sexuality and gender identity. In the late eighties and early nineties, queer was also reclaimed as a one-word alternative to the ever-lengthening string of initials, especially when used by radical political groups. Later, this was expanded by many groups to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, to be more representative. While the movement had always included all LGBT people, the one-word unifying term in the 1950s through the early 1980s was gay (see Gay liberation). In use since the 1990s, the term is an adaptation of the initialism LGB, which was used to replace the term gay - when referring to the community as a whole - beginning in about the mid-to-late 1980s. LGBT, or GLBT, is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. LGBT communities may organize themselves into, or support, movements for civil rights promoting LGBT rights in various places around the world. Groups that may be considered part of the LGBT community include gay villages, LGBT rights organizations, LGBT employee groups at companies, LGBT student groups in schools and universities, and LGBT-affirming religious groups. Not all people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender consider themselves part of the LGBT community.
The LGBT community is diverse in political affiliation. The term pride or sometimes gay pride expresses the LGBT community's identity and collective strength pride parades provide both a prime example of the use and a demonstration of the general meaning of the term. LGBT activists and sociologists see LGBT community-building as a counterweight to heterosexism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, sexualism, and conformist pressures that exist in the larger society. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individuality, and sexuality. The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a common culture and social movements.