This is an incomplete list of identities, terms, and short summaries of topics that you can refer back to for info or to learn from. If you don't see your identity on here or something you think is important, let us know in our resources suggestion form here: Resource Suggestions

Sexual Orientations

Lesbian - A non-man who is emotionally, romantically, or sexually attracted to other non-men. Women and non-binary people may use this term to describe themselves.

Gay - A term used to describe a person who is emotionally, romantically, or sexually attracted to other people of the same gender.

Bisexual (Bi) - A person emotionally, romantically, or sexually attracted to more than one gender though not necessarily simultaneously, in the same way, or to the same degree. Sometimes used interchangeably with pansexual, but the distinction is important to some people.

Pansexual (Pan) - A person who generally experiences sexual attraction to people of any gender in the same way or to the same degree. Sometimes used interchangeably with bisexual, but the distinction is important to some people.

Asexual (Ace) - A person who generally experiences little or no sexual attraction to people of any gender, but may still feel romantic, emotional, or platonic attraction. Asexuality is generally viewed as being on a spectrum, and is related to identities such as greysexual (or grey-asexual) and demisexual.

Greysexual or Grey-asexual - A person who feels limited sexual attraction. On the asexual spectrum.

Demisexual - A person who only feels sexual attraction after developing a close emotional bond. On the asexual spectrum.

Queer - An umbrella term used to describe anyone with a non-normative (ie non-hetero) sexuality.

Types of Attraction

Although these are often treated as the same thing or as always going together, this isn't true for everyone, and different kinds of attraction are present in different relationships.

Sexual Attraction - Looking at someone and feeling something toward them in a sexual way. This is not the same as libido or actions taken by a person, it is purely about attraction.

Romantic Attraction - This is entirely separate from sexual attraction, although they often coincide with one another. This is the type of attraction where you want to be romantically involved with a person.

Sensual/Physical Attraction - The desire to be around others, physically cared for, and treated with love and affection (ie. hugs). This can be part of romantic relationships but is also present in friendships, family, etc.

Emotional Attraction - Feeling a desire to be emotionally present and connected with another person.

Aesthetic Attraction - Noticing the beauty of a person but not necessarily having that mean you want to be close to them or in a relationship. It doesn't mean there can't be a physical or sexual attraction at the same time, but that is not necessary.

Intellectual Attraction - This is somewhat of a different category than the others, but that doesn't mean it's not worth discussing. Intellectual attraction refers to the desire to interact with someone on a more cerebral level. You may want to spend more time with them because of the topics you discuss, or because someone makes you think about things in new and challenging ways. Some people find they need to be intellectually attracted to someone in order to feel emotionally or even romantically attracted to them, but that isn't the case for everybody. Because of its strictly non-physical nature, many people consider intellectual attraction to be an aspect of emotional attraction.

Gender

Gender Identity - The personal sense of one's own gender.

Gender Expression - How a person publicly expresses or presents their gender. This can include behavior and outward appearance such as dress, hair, make-up, body language, and voice. A person's name and pronouns are also common ways of expressing gender

Transgender - A person whose gender identity is different from the sex they were assigned at birth. Often abbreviated to trans.

Cisgender - A person whose gender identity matches their sex assigned at birth. Often abbreviated to cis.

Gender Binary - A system of gender classification in which all people are either men or women.

Nonbinary - A person who does not identify exclusively as a man or a woman. Non-binary people may identify as being both a man and a woman, somewhere in between, or as falling completely outside these categories. Non-binary can also be used as an umbrella term encompassing identities such as agender, bigender, genderqueer, or gender-fluid. Some nonbinary people will refer to themselves as "enby," which is used in place of words like "girl" "boy" "woman" and "man."

Agender - A person who does not identify as having a gender.

Bigender - A person who identifies as both male and female at the same time, or whose identity shifts back and forth between the two.

Genderfluid - A person whose gender identity fluctuates over time. Their gender expression may also change to match their identity, but not always.

Two-Spirit -A Native American third gender usually used to indicate a person whose body simultaneously houses a masculine spirit and a feminine spirit. A person must be Native American to identify as two-spirit.

Hijra (or Kinnar) - A South Asian identity that includes eunuchs, intersex people, and transgender people. Hijras are officially recognized as third gender in the Indian subcontinent. A person must be South Asian or Indian to identify as hijra.

Types of Queerphobia

Queerphobia - Fear of, hatred of, or discomfort with people who are LGBT+. Queerphobic reactions often lead to intolerance, bigotry, and violence against anyone not acting within socio-cultural norms of gender and sexuality.

Transphobia - Fear of, hatred of, or discomfort with people who are transgender or otherwise gender non-normative.

Homophobia - The fear of, hatred of, or discomfort with people who have a non-normative sexual orientation or who are attracted to members of the same sex.

Biphobia - The fear and hatred of, or discomfort with, people who love and are sexually attracted to more than one gender.

Heteronormativity - the belief that heterosexuality is the default, preferred, or normal mode of sexual orientation. It assumes the gender binary (i.e., that there are only two distinct, opposite genders) and that sexual and marital relations are most fitting between people of opposite sex.

Cisnormativity - the belief that being cisgender is the default, preferred, or normal mode of gendered experience. It carries the expectation that all people are cisgender, that those assigned male at birth always grow up to be men and those assigned female at birth always grow up to be women, and upholds the gender binary.

Heterosexism - discrimination or prejudice against gay people on the assumption that heterosexuality is the normal sexual orientation.

Cissexism - prejudice or discrimination against transgender people on the assumption that being cisgender is the normal gender experience.

Historical LGBT+ People of Importance

Bayard Rustin (1912-1987) - "Bayard Rustin was a Civil Rights organizer and activist, best known for his work as adviser to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the primary organizer of the March on Washington in 1963. Throughout his life, Rustin was engaged in several pacifist groups and early civil rights protests, with a particular passion for non-violent resistance. Due to his high-level status as an organizing figure, he was arrested several times for civil disobedience, as well as for being a gay man. Despite this, he never stopped fighting for equality for Black and LGBTQ+ people. He also sought to bring both the worlds of queer resistance and racial justice together, being the first person to bring the AIDS crisis to the attention of the NAACP in 1987." - GLSEN

Harvey Milk (1930-1978) - "Being one of the nation's first openly gay elected officials, Milk was the standard-bearer of what during his time was called the gay liberation movement. Milk helped stave off a conservative backlash against LGBT equality in the form of the so-called Briggs Initiative, which would have barred gay people from teaching in California's public schools. Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. Even in the comparatively liberal decade of the 1970s, even inside the long-standing capital of America's progressive movement, it took Milk three tries before he won a seat at the table of power for himself and, at least symbolically, for untold millions of other LGBT folks. Since Milk's victory, hundreds of LGBT candidates have been elected across the nation."- Advocate

Marsha P. Johnson (1945-1992) - "Marsha P. Johnson stood at the center of New York City's gay liberation movement for nearly 25 years. But LGBTQ rights weren’t her only cause. She was on the front lines of protests against oppressive policing. She helped found one of the country’s first safe spaces for transgender and homeless youth. And she advocated tirelessly on behalf of sex workers, prisoners and people with HIV/AIDS. All while draped in dashing outfits and flower headpieces and armed, people who knew her say, with a vibrant smile. Johnson was a drag performer and a sex worker; she was often homeless and lived with mental illness.... She is remembered as one of the most significant activists for transgender rights, although the term “transgender” wasn’t commonly used during her lifetime. Johnson identified as a “transvestite,” gay and a drag queen, and used she/her pronouns....Johnson played a key role in the uprising that began on June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in New York’s Greenwich Village after police raided the gay bar and patrons fought back. Protests followed over the next six days.... The first anniversary of the protests prompted the first gay pride parade in 1970.... Johnson, alongside her good friend Sylvia Rivera, emerged from the clashes as leaders in the nascent gay liberation movement. Marsha P. Johnson said that the P in her name stood for "Pay It No Mind." - CNN

Sylvia Rivera - "Sylvia Rivera was a Latina-American drag queen who became one of the most radical gay and transgender activists of the 1960s and 70s. As co-founder of the Gay Liberation Front, Rivera was known for participating in the Stonewall Riots of 1969 and establishing the political organization STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) with fellow friend and drag queen, Marsha P. Johnson. ...Defiant of labels, Rivera confounded many in the mainstream gay liberation movement because of her own diverse and complex background: She was poor, trans, a drag queen, a person of color, a former sex worker, and someone who also experienced drug addiction, incarceration, and homelessness. For all of these reasons, Rivera fought for not only gay and trans rights but also racial, economic, and criminal justice issues." - Biography.com

Audre Lorde- (1934-1992) - A self-described “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet,” Audre Lorde dedicated both her life and her creative talent to confronting and addressing injustices of racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia. She was a librarian in the New York public schools throughout the 1960s. She had two children with her husband, Edward Rollins, a white, gay man, before they divorced in 1970. In 1972, Lorde met her long-time partner, Frances Clayton. She also began teaching as poet-in-residence at Tougaloo College. Her experiences with teaching and pedagogy—as well as her place as a Black, queer woman in white academia—went on to inform her life and work. Indeed, Lorde’s contributions to feminist theory, critical race studies, and queer theory intertwine her personal experiences with broader political aims. Lorde articulated early on the intersections of race, class, and gender in canonical essays such as “The Master’s Tools Will Not Dismantle the Master’s House.” - Poetry Foundation

LGBT+ Historical Events