Factsheet on LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender) Terminology
Introduction
This factsheet is produced to help managers and employees have a better
understanding of the terminology around gender and sexual orientation.
Terminology
Abbreviations
GSM – gender and sexual minorities; an inclusive term for all people who are in a
minority of sexual orientation and/or gender identity
LGB – lesbian, gay and bisexual
LGBT – lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
LGBTQIA – A common abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,
queer/questioning, intersex and asexual community.
Common Terms
Asexual – Person who is not sexually attracted to anyone or does not have a sexual
orientation.
AFAB/AMAB – assigned female/male at birth – a term used to describe what sex a
person was designated when they were born without assuming that designation is in
any way “correct” or “real” – a useful term for transgender and intersex people, who
may also use “CAFAB/CAMAB”, meaning coercively assigned female/male at birth,
to denote that surgery can be performed on infants to align their genitalia with
normative, binary presentations.
Bicurious – A curiosity about having sexual relations with a same gender/sex
person.
Biphobia – The fear of, discrimination against, or hatred of bisexuals, which is often
times related to the current binary standard. Biphobia can be seen within the LGBTQI
community, as well as in general society.
Bisexual – A person emotionally, physically, and/or sexually attracted to more than
one gender. This attraction does not have to be equally split between genders and
there may be a preference for one gender over others.
Cisgender – a person who is not transgender. Using the term cisgender or “cis”
helps avoid potentially offensive language when talking about non-trans people in
relation to transgender people.
Coming Out – May refer to the process by which one accepts one’s own sexuality,
gender identity, or status as an intersex person (to “come out” to oneself). May also
refer to the process by which one shares one’s sexuality, gender identity, or intersex
status with others (to “come out” to friends, etc.). This can be a continual, life-long
process for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, asexual and intersex individuals.
Crossdresser/ Freedresser – Somebody who wears clothing that falls outside of
what is expected for their gender. Some identify as trans, some do not, depending on
whether their dress is an aspect of their gender identity. “Transvestite” is now falling
out of usage.
Discrimination – occurs when members of a more powerful social group behave
unjustly, cruelly or in an excluding or marginalising way to members of a less
powerful social group. Discrimination can take many forms, including both individual
acts of hatred or injustice and institutional denials of privileges normally accorded to
other groups. Ongoing discrimination creates a climate of oppression for the affected
group.
Drag queen/king – someone who dresses as the opposite sex for performance
purposes. This term does not place people in either the LGB or trans communities.
Gay – Term used in some cultural settings to represent males who are attracted to
males in a romantic, erotic and/or emotional sense. Not all men who engage in
“homosexual behaviour” identify as gay, and as such this label should be used with
caution. An alternative term is MSM; “men who have sex with men”. Some women
also use the term gay, but “lesbian” is more generally used for women.
Gender Binary – The idea that there are only two genders – male/female or
man/woman and that a person must be strictly gendered as either/or. (See also
‘Identity Sphere.’)
Gender Dysphoria – Gender dysphoria is a diagnosable condition in DSMV
(“disorder” condition has now gone). It is not simply gender non-conformity, but
“clinically significant distress” due to a persistent mismatch between assigned
gender/sex and gender identity/subconscious sex.
Gender Identity – A person’s private sense, and subjective experience, of their own
gender. This may or may not align with the sex or gender a person was assigned at
birth.
Gender Normative – A person who by nature or by choice conforms to gender
based expectations of society. (Also referred to as ‘Genderstraight’.)
Gender Recognition Certificate – a person’s gender identity can be recognised if
they are over 18, have lived as their gender for 2 years and been diagnosed with
gender dysphoria.
Gender Variant – A person who either by nature or by choice does not conform to
gender-based expectations of society.
Heteronormativity—The assumption, in individuals or in institutions, that
everyone is heterosexual, and that heterosexuality is superior to homosexuality and
bisexuality.
Heterosexism – Prejudice against individuals and groups who display non
heterosexual behaviours or identities, combined with the majority power to impose
such prejudice. Usually used to the advantage of the group in power. Any attitude,
action, or practice – backed by institutional power – that subordinates people
because of their sexual orientation.
Heterosexual – A person primarily emotionally, physically, and/or sexually attracted
to members of the opposite sex.
Heterosexual Privilege –Those benefits derived automatically by being
heterosexual that are denied to homosexuals and bisexuals. Also, the benefits
homosexuals and bisexuals receive as a result of claiming heterosexual identity or
denying homosexual or bisexual identity.
HIV-phobia – The irrational fear or hatred of persons living with HIV/AIDS.
Homophobia – The irrational fear or hatred of homosexuals, homosexuality, or any
behavior or belief that does not conform to rigid sex role stereotypes. It is this fear
that enforces sexism as well as heterosexism.
Homosexual – A person primarily emotionally, physically, and/or sexually
attracted to members of the same sex. Some gay people find this term offensive or
overly clinical if used in a non-clinical context.
Identity Sphere – The idea that gender identities and expressions do not fit on a
linear scale, but rather on a sphere that allows room for all expression without
weighting any one expression as better than another.
Intersex – a general term used for a variety of conditions in which a person is born
with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t fit the typical definitions of female
or male. E.g. a person female-appearing on the outside, but with male-typical
anatomy on the inside. Or a person may be born with genitals that seem to be inbetween the usual male and female types (in many cases, surgery is performed on
infants to align their genitalia with more typical male or female anatomy). Or a person
may be born with mosaic genetics, so that some of their cells have XX chromosomes
and some of them have XY. Many intersex conditions lie unseen until puberty, and
some are only discovered after a person dies. The term “hermaphrodite” is not
acceptable for intersex people but is correctly used in nature for some species.
In the Closet – Refers to a GSM person who will not or cannot disclose their sex,
sexuality, sexual orientation or gender identity to their friends, family, co-workers, or
society. An intersex person may be closeted due to ignorance about their status
since standard medical practice is to “correct,” whenever possible, intersex
conditions early in childhood and to hide the medical history from the patient. There
are varying degrees of being “in the closet”; for example, a person can be out in their
social life, but in the closet at work, or with their family.
Lesbian – Term used to describe female-identified people attracted romantically,
erotically, and/or emotionally to other female-identified people. The term lesbian is
derived from the name of the Greek island of Lesbos and as such is sometimes
considered a Eurocentric category that does not necessarily represent the identities
of African-Americans and other non-European ethnic groups. This being said,
individual female-identified people from diverse ethnic groups, including AfricanAmericans, embrace the term ‘lesbian’ as an identity label.
MTF/FTM – male to female, female to male, describes the direction of transition
Non-binary – many transgender people identify outside of the “gender binary”, i.e
they do not experience themselves as entirely male or female – there are a variety of
terms for this, including agender, bigender, pangender gender fluid, androgyne,
neutrois and genderqueer.
Outing – Involuntary disclosure of one’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or
intersex status. Outing another person is seen as disrespectful and potentially
dangerous or discriminatory to the individual.
Pansexual – A person who is sexually attracted to all or many gender expressions.
Passing – A term used to describe how a member of the GSM community might not
be visibly recognised as a member of that community. For instance, a gay person
who appears heterosexual or a transgender person who “passes” as cisgender. Such
people may experience less prejudice, as a result, but may also experience a lack of
recognition. Not all transgender people consider that passing is the goal of transition,
but for many it makes life much safer and more comfortable.
Prejudice – A conscious or unconscious negative belief about a whole group of
people and its individual members.
Pronouns – It is polite to ask transgender people what their preferred pronouns are,
rather than making an assumption based on their appearance, as not everybody
“passes” as their identified gender. Many non-binary trans people prefer gender
neutral pronouns, such as singular they/them/their or other individual pronouns they
have chosen.
Queer – An umbrella term for the GSM community. For decades ‘queer’ was used as
a derogatory adjective for gays and lesbians, but in the 1980s the term began to be
reclaimed by GSM people as a term of self-identification. Many people might still hold
‘queer’ to be a hateful insult, and its use by heterosexuals is often considered
offensive. Similarly, other reclaimed words are usually offensive to the in-group when
used by outsiders, so extreme caution must be taken concerning their use when one
is not a member of the group.
Sex - A medical term designating a certain combination of gonads, chromosomes,
external gender organs, secondary sex characteristics and hormonal balances.
Because usually subdivided into ‘male’ and ‘female’, this category does not recognize
the existence of intersex bodies. The assignment of a sex at birth, based on external
appearance of genitalia, is also problematic for transgender people, who may not
experience alignment with what was assigned.
Sex Identity – How a person identifies physically: female, male, in between, beyond,
or neither.
Sexual Orientation – The desire for intimate emotional and/or sexual relationships
with people of the same gender/sex, another gender/sex, or multiple genders/sexes.
Sexual Reassignment Surgery (SRS) – A term used by some medical
professionals to refer to a group of surgical options that alter a person’s primary and
secondary sexual characteristics to align with their gender identity. Not all
transgender people have any surgery; some undergo hormone replacement therapy
to induce the secondary sexual characteristics of their identified gender, without
having surgery, and some transgender people choose not to have any medical
treatment at all. In the UK a person may be legally recognised as their identified
gender without surgery. “Gender Confirmation Surgery.” Is seen as a more accurate
term that moves us away from old fashioned ideas of “changing sex”.
Sexuality – A person’s exploration of sexual acts, sexual orientation, sexual
pleasure, and desire.
Stereotype – A preconceived or oversimplified generalisation about an entire group
of people without regard for their individual differences. Though often negative, can
also be complimentary. Even positive stereotypes can have a negative impact,
however, simply because they involve broad generalizations that ignore individual
realities.
Straight – Another term for heterosexual.
Trans - An abbreviation that is sometimes used to refer to a gender variant
person. This term is sometimes used to refer to the gender variant community as a
whole, in which case it may appear with an asterisk to denote inclusivity: Trans*.
Transgender – (never use “transgendered”) – Somebody whose assigned gender
does not match their gender identity (not everyone will use this term). Transgender
people can be gay, straight, bisexual or asexual - sexual orientation is not dependent
on gender identity.
Transhate – The irrational hatred of those who are gender variant, sometimes
expressed through violent and often deadly means.
Transition – This term is primarily used to refer to the process a gender variant
person undergoes when changing their appearance and/or body either to be more
congruent with the gender/sex they feel themselves to be and/or to be in harmony
with their preferred gender expression.
Trans man/ woman – a trans man’s gender identity is male; a trans woman is a
woman, and you could also simply say “man” or “woman” – trans is just an adjective
denoting someone’s history and should only be used with the person’s permission.
Transphobia – The irrational fear of those who are gender variant and/or the inability
to deal with gender ambiguity. It is this fear that reinforces cissexism, which are ideas
that revolve around cisgender priorities and exclude consideration of trans people.
Transsexual – A person who identifies psychologically as a gender/sex other than
the one to which they were assigned at birth. Transsexuals often wish to transform
their bodies hormonally and surgically to match their inner sense of gender/sex.
Further Sources of Information
You might it useful to read the University guidance “Supporting our LGB Employees”
and “Guidance for Managers: Supporting Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Employees”.