Programs & Initiatives
Laguage and Terms
Asexual: A person who does form meaningful emotional and spiritual connections but who does not sexualize these feelings.
Biphobia: Fear of bisexuals, often based on inaccurate stereotypes, including associations with infidelity, promiscuity and transmission of sexually transmitted diseases.
Bisexual: An individual who is physically, romantically, emotionally and/or spiritually attracted to men and women. Bisexuals need not have had equal sexual experience with both men and women; in fact, they need not have had any sexual experience at all to identify as bisexual.
Closeted: Describes a person who is not open about his or her sexual orientation.
Coming Out: A lifelong process of self-acceptance. People forge a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender identity first to themselves and then may reveal it to others. Publicly identifying one's sexual orientation may or may not be part of coming out.
Cross-Dressing: To occasionally wear clothes traditionally associated with people of the other gender. "Cross-dresser" should NOT be used to describe someone who has transitioned to live full-time as the other gender, or who intends to do so in the future. Cross-dressing is a form of gender expression and is not necessarily tied to erotic activity. Cross-dressing is not indicative of sexual orientation.
Domestic Partnership: Civil or legal recognition of a relationship between two people (domestic partners) that sometimes extends limited protections to them.
Gay: The adjective used to describe people whose enduring physical, romantic, emotional and/or spiritual attractions are to people of the same sex (e.g., gay man, gay people). In contemporary contexts, lesbian is often a preferred term for women. Avoid identifying gay people as "homosexuals”.
Gender: Society's expectations of attitudes, appearances and behaviors based on biological sex. (Gender Role: What does the culture think I should act like?)
Gender Identity: One's internal, personal sense of being a man or a woman (or a boy or girl.) For transgender people, their birth-assigned sex and their own internal sense of gender identity do not match.
Heterosexism: The attitude that heterosexuality is the only valid sexual orientation. Often takes the form of ignoring lesbians, gay men and bisexuals. For example: a feature on numerous Valentine's Day couples that omit same-sex couples.
Homosexual: Outdated clinical term considered derogatory and offensive by many gay people. Gay and/or lesbian accurately describe people who are attracted to members of the same sex.
Heterosexual Man / Woman: A person whose enduring physical, romantic, emotional and/or spiritual attraction is to people of the opposite sex. Also straight.
Homophobia: The fear and hatred of or discomfort with people who love and are sexually attracted to members of the same sex.
Intersex: Describing a person whose biological sex is ambiguous. There are many genetic, hormonal or anatomical variations that make a person's sex ambiguous (i.e., Klinefelter Syndrome, Adrenal Hyperplasia). Parents and medical professionals usually assign intersex infants a sex and perform surgical operations to conform the infant's body to that assignment. This practice has become increasingly controversial as intersex adults are speaking out against the practice, accusing doctors of genital mutilation. * The outdated and misleading term is hermaphrodite.
Lesbian: A woman who’s enduring physical, romantic, emotional and/or spiritual attraction is to other women.
LGBT / GLBT: Acronyms for "lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.” LGBT and/or GLBT are often used because they are more inclusive of the diversity of the community.
Lifestyle: Inaccurate term. As there is no one heterosexual or straight lifestyle, there is no one lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender lifestyle.
Openly Gay: Describes people who self-identify as lesbian or gay in their public and/or professional lives. Also openly lesbian, openly bisexual, openly transgender.
Outing: The act of publicly declaring (sometimes based on rumor and/or speculation) or revealing another person's sexual orientation without his or her consent. Considered inappropriate by a large portion of the LGBT community.
Pansexual Person: A person whose primary romantic, emotional, physical, and sexual attractions and connections are with persons of any gender.
Queer: Traditionally a pejorative term, queer has been appropriated by some LGBT people to describe themselves. Some value the term because it can be inclusive of the entire LGBT community. Nevertheless, it is not universally accepted even within the LGBT community and should be avoided unless quoting someone who self-identifies that way.
Questioning: In the process of questioning one's sexual identity.
Sex: The classification of people as male or female. At birth, infants are assigned a sex based on a combination of bodily characteristics including: chromosomes, hormones, internal reproductive organs, and genitals.
Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS): Refers to surgical alteration, and is only one small part of transition (see Transition above). Preferred term to "sex change operation." Not all transgender people choose to or can afford to have SRS.
Sexual Orientation: The scientifically accurate term for an individual's enduring physical, romantic, emotional and/or spiritual attraction to members of the same and/or opposite sex, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and heterosexual orientations. Avoid the offensive term "sexual preference," which is used to suggest that being gay or lesbian is a choice and therefore "curable."
Transgender: An umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or gender expression differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. The term may include but is not limited to: transsexuals, cross-dressers, and other gender-variant people. Transgender people may identify as female-to-male (FTM) or male-to-female (MTF). Use the descriptive term (transgender, transsexual, cross-dresser, FTM or MTF) preferred by the individual. Transgender people may or may not choose to alter their bodies hormonally and/or surgically.
Transition: Altering one's birth sex is not a one-step procedure; it is a complex process that occurs over a long period of time. Transition includes some or all of the following cultural, legal and medical adjustments: telling one's family, friends, and/or co-workers; changing one's name and/or sex on legal documents; hormone therapy; and possibly (though not always) some form of surgical alteration.
Transsexual (also Transexual): An older term that originated in the medical and psychological communities. Many transgender people prefer the term "transgender" to "transsexual." Some transsexual people still prefer to use the term to describe themselves. However, unlike transgender, transsexual is not an umbrella term, and many transgender people do not identify as transsexual. It is best to ask which term an individual prefers.
Source: Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, GLAAD (www.glaad.org); Human Rights Campaign, HRC (www.hrc.org)