This think piece provides a critical analysis of the terms lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) from an international perspective that draws on citizenship studies, providing some indications of the implications for LGBTQ studies. It outlines difficulties with the LGBTQ acronym in the Global North and South. Internationally, scholarship to support the human rights of non-heterosexuals and gender-diverse people is badly needed, but the think piece concludes that it is crucial to consider the social context of different cases, and to address the materialist, cultural, neo-colonial, and other forces that affect the formation of non-heterosexual and gender-diverse identities.
Keywords: Citizenship; LGBTQ studies; SOGIE; international; sexual orientation.