LGBTQIA+ Terminology

Asexual | Asexual refers to a complete or partial lack of sexual attraction or lack of interest in sexual activity. 

Bisexual | Those who identify as bisexual feel a sexual and/or romantic attraction to more than one gender. This is sometimes used interchangeably with pansexual. 

Gay | A person who is emotionally, romantically or sexually attracted to members of the same gender. 

Genderqueer | Genderqueer people embrace a fluidity of gender identity and often, but not always, sexual orientation. They may see themselves as a combination of the two binary genders, neither male nor female or as a continuum between those two genders. 

Gender binary | A system in which gender is constructed into two categories of male or female.

Gender dysphoria | A term used to describe one’s sense of unease or distress when your biological sex does not match your gender identity. 

Gender-expansive | A person with a wider, more flexible range of gender identity and/or expression than is associated with the binary gender system. Often used when referring to young people still exploring their gender expression and/or gender identity.

Gender expression | How a person publicly presents their gender. This can include behavior, outward appearance, body language and voice.

Gender-fluid | A person who does not identify with a single fixed gender or has a fluid or unfixed gender identity.

Homophobia | The fear of, aversion to, or discomfort with people who are attracted to members of the same sex. 

Intersex | Intersex people are born with a variety of differences in their sex traits and reproductive anatomy. 

Lesbian | A woman who is emotionally, romantically or sexually attracted to other women. 

LGBTQ+ | An acronym for “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer” with a "+" sign to recognize the limitless sexual orientations and gender identities used by members of our community.

Non-binary | Non-binary people may identify as being both a man and a woman, somewhere in between, or as falling completely outside these categories. It is also used as an umbrella term encompassing identities such as agender, bigender, genderqueer or gender-fluid.

Outing | Exposing someone’s lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender or gender non-binary identity to others without their permission. 

Pansexual | Describes someone who is attracted, either emotionally, physically or both, to all genders.  

Queer | A term people often used to express a spectrum of identities and orientations that are different than the mainstream. This term was previously used as a slur, but has been reclaimed by many parts of the LGBTQ+ movement.

Sex assigned at birth | The sex (male, female or intersex), that a doctor or midwife uses to describe a child at birth based on their external anatomy.

Sexual orientation | This is about who you’re attracted to and who you feel drawn to romantically, emotionally and sexually. It’s different from gender identity. 

Transgender | A transgender person (often abbreviated trans person) is someone whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. Being transgender does not imply any specific sexual orientation. Therefore, transgender people may identify as straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, etc.