The Amazing World of MOGAI

The queer community is quite the collossus when it comes to the number of identities and orientations that exist. It’s a show on how the monolith we have created (that will be covered under a future article called Cishetallo Norms) that is being cisgendered (identifying with your gender you were assigned to at birth), heterosexual and heteromantic (being sexually and romantically attraced to the opposite gender--respectively), and allosexual and alloromantic (experiencing sexual and romantic attraction--respectively). But who would have known that that world is even bigger than many already know? That’s where MOGAI comes in.

So what in the world is MOGAI?

MOGAI stands for Marginalized Orientations Genders Alignments and Intersex. It’s two things:

• A more inclusive term as opposed to the acronym LGBTQIA+ having that you need to continue to add letters to truly encapsulate the entirety of the queer community.
  
• A specific branch of lesser known and/or not as popular identities and orientations. 
  

Personally I identify as under the MOGAI umbrella for having the identity of Diamoric! 
It means my attraction is affected by my nonbinary gender--my gender being agender (the prefix a- meaning “no” so no gender)! What this means for me is that my disconnection with gender causes a confusion for me as to why gender should impact attraction. I personally don’t understand how gender should impact my attraction! 

MOGAI is a beautiful cluster of identities and orientations that really opens up the possibility of self expression. Some of our experiences are so complex and specific that just saying “bi” or “nonbinary” isn’t enough. Sometimes you’re lithromantic, neptunic, sapphic, achillean, lunarian, diamoric, or fall under a xenogender--a gender that doesn’t fall under androgyny, masculinity, femininity, outherinity, or agenrity. It helps to sometimes find something more specific than the more popular options to explain your experience. All identities are valid, popular or not, and yours deserves respect if it falls under MOGAI, if it doesn’t, or if it’s a mix of both. 

MOGAI, because it’s not as simple or well known as the acronym LGBTQIA+ faces a lot of oppression and resistance even within the queer community. Some find that things like xenogenders and neurogenders are invalid or not real. But as someone who doesn’t have a connection with gender and doesn’t understand it, it doesn’t mean that gender doesn’t exist for others or makes sense to others. Sure, gender is a social construct, but it truly matters for many people and exists as an experience for them. So who are we to say these experiences do not exist? 

Keep your head up, the sun still rises
Mercury (Merc) Neon

Helplines:

• Trevor Project 
  
  • (866)-488-7386
    
• LGBT National Youth Hotline (ages 23 and under)     
  
  • Mondays to Fridays from 1 pm – 9 pm PST
    
  • Saturday from 9 am – 2 pm PST
    
  • 800-246-7743
    
• LGBT National Hotline     
  
  • Monday thru Friday from 1PM to 9PM PST
    
  • Saturday from 9am to 2pm PST
    
  • 888-843-4564
    
• True Colors United     
  
  • ​​​​​​​(212)-461-4401
    
• Pride Institute LGBTQ Dependency      
  
  • (800)-547-7433
    

• Crisis Text Line:     
  
  • Text HELP to 741741 in the United States.         
    
• Teen Line
  
  • Text "TEEN" to 839863 
    
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• Suicide Prevention Hotline
  
  • 1-800-273-8255