Key Words & Concepts

 Ally: A person who supports and advocates for the LGBTQ+ community, even if they do not personally identify as LGBTQ+.

Asexual: Often abbreviated as "ace," asexual describes individuals who experience either a complete or partial absence of sexual attraction or interest in sexual activity with others. Asexuality varies across a spectrum, with some individuals experiencing no sexual attraction, little attraction, or conditional attraction.

Biphobia: Biphobia refers to the fear, hatred, or discomfort toward individuals who love and are sexually attracted to more than one gender.

Bisexual: A person who is emotionally, romantically, or sexually attracted to more than one gender.

Cisgender: A term used to describe individuals whose gender identity aligns with the sex they were assigned at birth.

Coming out: The process through which an LGBTQ+ person acknowledges and shares their sexual orientation or gender identity with others.

Gay: A person who is emotionally, romantically, or sexually attracted to individuals of the same gender. This term can be used by men, women, and non-binary individuals.

Gender binary: A system that divides gender strictly into two categories: male and female. It expects gender identity to align with assigned birth sex and conforms to traditional gender roles.

Gender dysphoria: Distress caused when a person's assigned birth gender does not align with their gender identity.

Gender-expansive: Individuals with a wider range of gender identity and expression than the binary system typically allows. It's often used for young people exploring their gender.

Gender expression: The external presentation of one's gender identity, which may or may not conform to societal expectations of masculinity or femininity.

Gender-fluid: Individuals who don't identify with a fixed gender or have a fluid gender identity.

Genderqueer: Genderqueer individuals reject static gender categories and embrace a fluidity of gender identity. They may identify as both male and female, neither, or as falling outside these categories.

Heteronormativity: The assumption that heterosexuality is the norm or default sexual orientation, leading to the marginalization of LGBTQ+ identities.

Homophobia: Fear, hatred, or discomfort toward individuals attracted to the same sex.

Intersectionality: The interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, gender, and sexuality, which can create overlapping systems of discrimination and privilege.

Intersex: People born with variations in their sex traits and reproductive anatomy, including differences in genitalia, chromosomes, and hormone production.

Lesbian: A woman who is emotionally, romantically, or sexually attracted to other women. This term can be used by women and non-binary individuals.

LGBTQ+ : An acronym for “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer,” with a "+" sign acknowledging diverse sexual orientations and gender identities within the community.

Non-binary: Describes individuals who don't exclusively identify as male or female. It includes identities such as agender, bigender, genderqueer, or gender-fluid.

Outing: Revealing someone's LGBTQ+ identity without their consent, which can have serious consequences.

Othering: Refers to dynamics, processes, and structures that create marginalization and ongoing inequality among various human groups based on differences. These differences can include religion, sex, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, disability, sexual orientation, and skin tone, among others.

Pansexual: Refers to individuals potentially attracted to people of any gender, not necessarily simultaneously, in the same way, or to the same degree. It's sometimes used interchangeably with bisexual.

Queer: A term used to encompass various identities and orientations diverging from mainstream norms. It's inclusive of non-binary or gender-expansive individuals and has been reclaimed from its previous derogatory use.

Questioning: People exploring their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Same-gender loving: A term some prefer instead of "lesbian," "gay," or "bisexual" to express love and attraction to people of the same gender.

Sex assigned at birth: The classification of male, female, or intersex assigned to a child based on external anatomy at birth.

Sexual orientation: Enduring emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction to other people, independent of gender identity.

Transgender: An umbrella term for people whose gender identity or expression differs from cultural expectations based on their sex assigned at birth.

Transitioning: Processes some transgender individuals undergo to align their lives with their true gender, including social, medical, and legal aspects.