Author’s Note: BTQIA+ individuals are those that fall under bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, agender/aromantic/asexual, and all other marginalized gender and sexual orientation identities other than lesbian women and gay men.
1. Remember that your partner doesn’t represent the whole of their community.
Often when allies come into discussions about their partner’s sexuality/gender, they use their partner as the sole example and source for various topics and issues. While this is okay because personal experience does have a lot of influence, it can be detrimental to the others in the community. If your partner defines their label with a personal definition, that in no way means the community as a whole defines the same label that way. Approaching various issues this way can be harmful to some important discussions.