LGBT Glossary
Below is a concise glossary of terms, offering several definitions for you to choose from for some terms. It can also be downloadt as a PDF document, at the bottom of the page, note that you will need Adobe Acrobat reader to open it. Please feel free to propse alternatives and additions, by emailing us.
LGBT GLOSSARY
A B C D F G H I L M O P Q S T
ALLY:
A person who confronts heterosexism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, heterosexual privilege, and so on, in themselves and others out of self-interest and a concern for the well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other queer-related people, and who believes that heterosexism is a social injustice.
A person who supports and honours sexual diversity, acts accordingly to challenge homophobic and heterosexist remarks and behaviours, and is willing to explore and understand these forms of bias within him or herself.
ANDROGYNE:
A person with traits ascribed to males and females. Androgyny may be physical, presentational, or some combination.
ANDROGYNOUS:
Exhibiting approximately equal proportions of masculine and feminine characteristics simultaneously. Adolescents are often described by this term, because their sexual differentiation is incomplete, and so the word is often used as a derogatory term, to indicate that a person is immature.
ACQUIRED GENDER (UK):
A term used in the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (UK), to mean the gender role that a person has transitioned to live their life in and which matches their self-perceived gender identity. Therefore, the acquired gender of a Male-to-Female trans woman is female. The acquired gender of a Female-to-Male trans man is male.
ASEXUALITY:
A sexual orientation generally characterised by a lack of sexual attraction or a desire for partnered sexuality and distinct from celibacy, which is the deliberate abstention from sex.
BIGENDERED:
Having two genders; exhibiting cultural characteristics of male and female roles.
BIPHOBIA:
Fear or hatred of people who are bisexual, pansexual, omnisexual, or non-monosexual. Biphobia is closely linked with transphobia and homophobia.
BISEXUAL:
A person whose primary sexual and affectional orientation is toward people of the same and other genders, or towards people regardless of their gender.
A person (male or female) who has significant sexual and or romantic attractions to both males and females or someone who identifies as a member of this community.
BULDAGGER (UK)/BULLDYKE(US):
Unacceptable and derogatory, if somewhat outdated terms used by heterosexuals to describe or insult women who dressed like men, primarily in a negative context.
BYKE:
An unacceptable, derogatory term to describe a bisexual woman, derived from the slang word for bicycle “bike” combined with the word Dyke (see below), to signify “someone anyone can ride”.
CISGENDER:
A gender identity that society considers to “match” the biological sex assigned at birth. The prefix cis- means “on this side of” or “not across from.” A term used to call attention to the privilege of people who are not transgendered.
CLOSET:
Used as slang for the state of not publicising one's sexual identity, keeping it private, living an outwardly heterosexual life while identifying as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender, or not being forthcoming about one's identity. At times, being in the closet also means not wanting to admit one's sexual identity to oneself.
COMING OUT:
Describes voluntarily making public one’s sexual behaviors, or sexual or gender identity. Related terms include: “being out,” which means not concealing one’s sexual behaviors or preference or gender identity, and “outing,” a term used for making public the sexual behaviors or preference or gender identity of another who would prefer to keep this information secret.
To disclose one's own sexual identity or gender identity. It can mean telling others or it can refer to the time when a person comes out to him/herself by discovering or admitting that their sexual or gender identity is not what was previously assumed. Some people think of coming out as a larger system of oppression of LGBT people- that an LGBT person needs to come out at all shows that everyone is presumed heterosexual until demonstrated otherwise. But this word need not apply only to the LGBT community. In some situations, a heterosexual may feel the need to come out about their identity as well.
CROSSDRESSER (CD):
The most neutral word to describe a person who dresses, at least partially or part of the time, and for any number of reasons, in clothing associated with another gender within a particular society. Carries no implications of “usual” gender appearance, or sexual orientation. Has replaced “transvestite,” which is outdated, problematic, and generally offensive, since it was historically used to diagnose medical/mental health disorders.
DRAG ACT:
A specific kind of cabaret performance, often modelled on the lines of the old Music Hall tradition, usually featuring one or more ‘female impersonators’, that is, men most commonly dressed in very theatrical costumes that overemphasise the female attributes and mime to recorded music, impersonating famous female singers.
DRAG KING:
A woman who appears as a man on a temporary basis; she may or may not have any masculine expression in her usual life. Generally in reference to an act or performance.
A female performer whose act consists of dressing like a man and parodying male attitudes and body language. Often termed ‘male impersonators’ and given to impersonating male singers and celebrities.
DRAG QUEEN:
A man who appears as a woman on a temporary basis; he may or may not have any feminine expression in his usual life. Generally in reference to an act or performance.
A specific kind of male-to-female crossdresser, usually given to wearing very theatrical attire or a performer in a “Drag Act”,
DYKE:
An unacceptable derogatory slur for lesbians referring to the Dutch folk tale about a little boy who saved his village from flooding when he discovered a whole in the sea defences that held back the sea - “dykes” - and plugged it with his finger… “stick your finger in a dyke”.
The term has been reclaimed by some lesbian women, as a term of pride, but when used by people who are not lesbians, it is viewedas an insult. This parallels similar appropriation of racist terminology by people from Black and Minoroty Ethnic communities and is a way of taking ownership and so defusing the efficacy of discriminatory insults/put downs.
F
FAG(GOT) (mostly US):
An unacceptable derogatory slur for gay men. Reclaimed by some as a term of pride. Derived from the word faggot (literally "small bundle of sticks"), an allusion to the practice of burning people at the stake for suspected homosexual practices.
FAG HAG:
An uncomplimentary term referring to heterosexual women who enjoy and often choose the company of gay men.
FTM (F2M):
Female-to-male transsexual or transgender person. Someone assigned female at birth who identifies on the male spectrum.
A female-to-male (FTM) transsexual man (trans man) is someone who was labelled female at birth but has a male gender identity and therefore is currently seeking to transition, or has already transitioned, to live permanently as a man.
GAY:
A person (or adjective to describe a person) whose primary sexual and affectional orientation is toward people of the same gender; a commonly-used word for male homosexuals.
A man who has significant sexual and or romantic attractions to other men, or who identifies as a member of the gay community. At times, "gay" is used to refer to all people, regardless of sex, who have their primary sexual and or romantic attractions to people of the same sex, e.g. 'Gay women', but many Lesbians and bisexuals do not identify with this term.
UK: An unacceptable derogatory/pejorative adjective that has come into common usage amongst younger people in recent years to mean that something is tacky, weak, disgusting or sub-standard, e.g. “that is so gay!”. In the past the term “lame” was used in the same way and is also now considered an unacceptable, discriminatory term used as a put-down in reference to people with disabilities.
GENDER:
A social construct used to classify a person as a man, woman, or some other identity. Fundamentally different from the sex one is assigned at birth.
Note: many use the 'biodeterminst' argument that gender is not a social construct but a biological attribute.
The counterargument is similar to that used to challenge the 'social model of disabiliy', which proposes that disability is simply a diferent kind of ability, but that social hostility to those who are diferently abled and a consistent refusal to make the necessary adaptations and allowances to ensure that their differences do not become impediments, is the root cause for the victimisation, social exclusion, physical obstacles, economic difficulties, unhappiness and even despair people who are diferently abled experience.
Similarly, while people who have 'gender dysphoria would experience absolutely no negative effects from this difference, the social hostility, discrimination and exclusion they are subjected to makes their lives difficult and extremely unhappy, often to the point of driving them to commit suicide. Yet, just as people with a physical disability that seriously impairs their everyday life or causes physical or psycho-emotional pain may be corrected by surgery, treatment of pharmaceutical management, 'gender dysphoria' is treatable by surgical 'gender re-alignment' and hormone treatment.
GENDER EXPRESSION/PRESENTATION:
How one expresses oneself, in terms of dress and/or behaviours that society characterises as “masculine” or “feminine.” May also be androgynous or something else altogether. Some people differentiate between the two terms.
GENDERFLUID (US):
Being fluid in motion between two or more genders; shifting naturally in gender identity and/or gender expression/presentation. May be a gender identity itself. Refers to the fluidity of identity.
GENDER IDENTITY:
A person’s internal sense or self-conceptualisation of their own gender. Used to call attention to the self-identification inherent in gender. Cisgender, transgender, man, woman, genderqueer, etc. are all gender identities.
One’s internal sense of whether one is male or female. This is an individual's internal self-perception of their own gender. A person may identify as female, male, or as androgynous/polygender.
'GENDERISM' (US):
The belief that there are, and should be, only two genders and that one’s gender or most aspects of it are inevitably tied to the biologically assigned sex.
NB: It is worth noting that this polarisation of gender is often associated, amongst bigots, with the view that those who do not fit in one or the other gender are "deviants", while in genetics we often find references to the search for one or more "faulty genes" associated with gender disphoria or 'homosexuality'. It is equally interesting to note that no such value judgements are associated with heterosexual "deviations", such as say sadomasochism or a preference for 'non orthodox' forms of sexual activity.
GENDER DYSPHORIA:
This is a recognised medical issue for which gender reassignment treatment is available on the National Health Service in Scotland, England and Wales. Gender Dysphoria is distress, unhappiness and discomfort experienced by someone about their physical body not fully matching their gender identity.
GENDER EXPRESSION/PRESENTATION:
This is an individual's external gender-related appearance (including clothing) and behaviour (including interests and mannerisms). A person may have masculine, feminine, or androgynous aspects of their appearance or behaviour.
GLBT (US):
Acronym for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender. (American for LGBT).
GENDER OUTLAW:
A person who refuses to be defined by conventional definitions of men and women. A term popularised by Kate Bornstein in her book of the same name.
GENDERQUEER:
A person whose gender identity and/or gender expression falls outside of the dominant societal norm for their assigned sex, is beyond genders, or is some combination thereof.
GENDER RE-ASSIGNMENT / GENDER RE-ALIGNMENT:
Surgical procedure to adapt the physical gender characteristics to ‘re-align them’ with a transperson’s perception of their true gender identity. Some reject the term “re-assignment” as a way of rejecting society’s and surgeon’s appropriation of control over their gender… “assignment”.
GENDER VARIANT:
A person whose gender identity and/or gender expression varies from the culturally-expected characteristics of their assigned gender.
HETEROPHOBIA:
The [ir]rational hatred, dislike or fear of heterosexual people by non-heterosexuals, usually those who have exprienced extreme homophobia, biphobia or transphobia.
HETEROSEXISM:
The assumption that all people are or should be heterosexual. Heterosexism excludes the needs, concerns, and life experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and other non-monosexual people as well as asexual, transgender, and intersex people, while it gives advantages to heterosexual people. It is often a subtle form of oppression which reinforces realities of silence and invisibility.
The individual person, group, or institutional norms and behaviours that result from the assumption that all people are heterosexual. The system of oppression, which assumes that heterosexuality is inherently normal and superior, negates LBGT peoples' lives and relationships.
The belief that heterosexuality represents a standard of some kind, and that all other sexual orientations, if acknowledged at all, are merely a deviation from this. Heterosexist statements are statements that assume all people are straight or that fail to recognise the variety of sexual orientations that exist. For example, referring to husbands and wives rather than partners can be heterosexist, depending on the context of the statement.
HETEROSEXUALITY:
A sexual orientation in which a person feels physically and emotionally attracted to people of the “opposite” gender.
A person (male or female) who has significant sexual and or romantic attractions to primarily members of the other sex.
HOMOPHOBIA:
The irrational hatred and fear of homosexuals or homosexuality. In a broader sense, any disapproval of homosexuality at all, regardless of motive. Homophobia includes prejudice, discrimination, harassment, and acts of violence brought on by fear and hatred. It occurs on personal, institutional, and societal levels, and is closely linked with transphobia, biphobia, and others.
The fear, hatred or discomfort of people who love and sexually desire members of the same sex. Homophobic reactions often lead to intolerance, bigotry, and violence against anyone not acting within heterosexual norms. Because most LGBT people are raised in the same society as heterosexuals, they learn the same beliefs and stereotypes prevalent in the dominant society, leading to a phenomenon known as "internalized homophobia".
HOMOSEXUALITY:
A word that describes the sexual orientation of a person who feels physically and emotionally attracted to people of the same gender. This term originated within the psychiatric community to label people with a mental illness, and still appears within the current discourse, but is generally thought to be outdated.
The formal or clinical term that was coined in the field of psychology, sometimes meaning only "gay male," but at times encompasses lesbians and occasionally bisexuals. The word is often associated with the proposition that same sex attractions are a mental disorder, and is therefore distasteful to some people.
INDEFINITE / INDETERMINATE GENDER:
A derogatory term used in English to indicate a person exhibiting androgynous characteristics, and therefore not “fully developed” or sexually “sub-standard”.
INTERNALISED HOMOPHOBIA:
A form of 'internalised self-opression' that results in the fear and self-hate of one’s own homosexuality or non-monosexuality that occurs for many individuals who have learned negative ideas about homosexuality throughout childhood. One form of internalized oppression is the acceptance of the myths and stereotypes applied to the oppressed group.
INTERSEX:
People who naturally (that is, without any medical interventions) develop primary and/or secondary sex characteristics that do not fit neatly into society’s definitions of male or female. Many visibly intersex babies/children are surgically altered by doctors to make their sex characteristics conform to societal binary norm expectations. Intersex people are relatively common, although society’s denial of their existence has allowed very little room for intersex issues to be discussed publicly. Has replaced “hermaphrodite,” which is inaccurate, outdated, problematic, and generally offensive, since it means “having both sexes” and this is not necessarily true, as there are at least 16 different ways to be intersex.
This is a term used to describe people born with external genitals, internal reproductive systems or chromosomes that are in-between what is considered clearly male or female. There are many different intersex variations.
LESBIAN:
A woman whose primary sexual and affectional orientation is toward people of the same gender.
A woman who has significant sexual and or romantic attractions to other women, or who identifies as a member of the lesbian community. Bisexual women may not feel included by this term.
LESBIAN FEMINIST:
A woman whose sexual and political orientation are towards women. See lesbian.
LGBT:
Abbreviation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender. An umbrella term that is used to refer to the community as a whole.
An acronym for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender. At times, a Q will be added for 'Queer' and/or 'Questioning'.
Acronym for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender. This is the term most commonly used in the UK when referring to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. LGBT or GLBT is recognised in many countries in Europe, and around the world, as the preferred term to use when speaking formally.
LIFESTYLE:
This is a word that is often used outside the LGBT community to describe living life as an LGBT person, i.e. the "gay lifestyle." Many people do not find this word particularly appropriate or positive because it seems to trivialize personal identity, as well as not make space for the large variety of lifestyles that lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people live.
MSM:
Men having sexual relations with other men, though not necessarily identifying as gay or bisexual and often describing themselves as able to experience sexual pleasure with, but not inclined to form emotional attachment for other males.
MTF (M2F):
Male-to-female transsexual or transgender person. Someone assigned male at birth who identifies on the female spectrum.
A male-to-female (MTF) transsexual woman (trans woman) is someone who was labelled male at birth but has a female gender identity and therefore is currently seeking to transition, or has already transitioned, to live permanently as a woman.
OMNIGENDERED (US):
Belonging to all genders; exhibiting cultural characteristics of male and female. The term is specifically used to refute the concept of only two genders.
OUT/COMING OUT/OUTING:
Being ‘out’ means being open about being lesbian, gay, bisexual orientation or transgender identity.
‘Coming out’ is the process of disclosing one’s LGBT identity to others/the world.
‘Outing’ means revealing/disclosing someone’s lesbian, gay, bisexual orientation or or transgender identity, usually without their prior knowledge and consent.
PANSEXUAL, OMNISEXUAL:
Terms used to describe people who have romantic, sexual, or affectional desire for people of all genders and sexes. Used by many in place of “bisexual,” which implies that only two sexes or genders exist.
PEDERAST:
An odious, vile term that means 'pedophile' and that was used to mean gay men, owing to the mistaken belief that they prey on young boys, while in fact the practice originated in ancient Greece, where older men would take young boys as lovers and induct them into military practice.
Note: during many historical periods being accused of pederasty was enough to send someone to the stake, yet the most abiding practices regarding pederasty persisted amongst the clergy.
PANSY (UK):
A derogatory term for a gay man.
POLYGENDER[ED], PANGENDER[ED]:
Exhibiting characteristics of multiple genders; deliberately refuting the concept of only two genders.
POOF/POOFTER (UK):
A derogatory term for a gay man.
QUEER:
Anyone who chooses to identify as such. This can include, but is not limited to, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered people, intersex people, asexual people, allies, leather fetishists, freaks, etc. Not all the people in the above subcategories I.D. as queer, and many people NOT in the above groups DO. This term has different meanings to different people. Some still find it offensive, while others reclaim it to encompass the broader sense of history of the gay rights movement. Can also be used as an umbrella term like LGBT, as in “the queer community.”
Originally a derogatory slur, it has recently been reclaimed by some to be an inclusive word for all of those within the sexual minority community. Because of the original derogatory nature of the word, it is not necessarily accepted by all.
Sometimes now used as an umbrella term that includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people, as well as other kinds of “sexual deviants”, but not pedophiles.
SEX: (dual meaning" GENDER and SEXUAL ACTIVITY):
Gender; a categorisation based on the appearance of genitalia at birth. Refers to the biological characteristics chosen to assign humans as male, female, or intersex.
SEXUALITY:
The components of a person that include their biological sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, sexual practices, etc.
Sometimes used by some interchangeably with ‘sexual orientation’, but actually having a much broader meaning, relating to human sexual activity, eroticism etc.
SEXUAL ORIENTATION:
an enduring emotional, romantic, sexual, and/or affectional attraction. Terms include homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, pansexual, non-monosexual, queer, and asexual, and may apply to varying degrees. Sexual orientation is fluid, and people use a variety of labels to describe their own. Sometimes sexual preference is used but can be problematic as it implies choice.
A descriptive term comprised of three elements - attractions, behaviour, and identity. Many individuals have romantic or sexual relationships that correspond to their attractions, but attractions, behaviour, and identity do not always match. A man who considers himself heterosexual or straight may occasionally have sexual relationships with other men. A woman who has relationships with women, but who feels attraction for men, may identify as bisexual, lesbian, heterosexual, or in some other way
Note: the 'biodeterminst' argument that ios deployed against the notion that gender is not a social construct also applies to sexual orientation.
The same counterargument applies here, in that people attracted to their own or to both/all genders would experience absolutely no negative effects from this difference, but for the the hatred/hostility, discrimination and exclusion they are subjected to makes their lives difficult and extremely unhappy, often to the point of driving them to commit suicide. As recent history has demonstrated, once heterosexual and cis-gendered people are educated into overcoming these social constructs, most LGBTQI people easily integrate into society, becoming useful and well-adjusted members of their communities.
STRAIGHT:
A person (or adjective to describe a person) whose primary sexual and affectional orientation is toward people of the “opposite” gender.
TRANSFAG (US):
A trans male-identified person who is attracted to/loves other male-identified people.
TRANSGENDER:
Used most often as an umbrella term, and frequently abbreviated to “trans” or “trans*” (the asterisk indicates the option to fill in the appropriate label, i.e.. Transman). It describes a wide range of identities and experiences of people whose gender identity and/or expression differs from conventional expectations based on their assigned biological birth sex. Some commonly held definitions:
- Someone whose behaviour or expression does not “match” their assigned sex according to society.
- A gender outside of the man/woman binary.
- Having no gender or multiple genders.
- Some definitions also include people who perform gender or play with it.
- Historically, the term was coined to designate a transperson who was not undergoing medical transition (surgery or hormones).
An umbrella term for those individuals whose gender identity does not match with that assigned for their physical sex. Includes transsexuals, both operative & non-operative, bigendered people, intersexed, & transgenderists.
Some people describe themselves as transgender when they experience a gender identity different from their birth sex. For example, a person born into a male body, but who feels female and may live as a woman, may describe herself as transgender. Some transgender individuals alter their physical appearance through attire and/or the use of hormones and surgery to match their internal sense of gender, including male-to-female, and female-to-male.
Abbreviated to ‘T’, ‘TG’ and ‘trans’) refers to a whole range of people whose gender self-identity or gender expression differs in some way from the gender assumptions made by others about them when they were born. The umbrella terms transgender people and trans people can include: androgyne/polygender/genderqueer people, crossdressing/transvestite people, intersex people, and others.
TRANSITION:
An individualised process by which transsexual and transgender people ‘switch’ from one gender presentation to another. There are three general aspects to transitioning: social (i.e. name, pronouns, interactions, etc.), medical (i.e. hormones, surgery, etc.), and legal (i.e. gender marker and name change, etc.). A trans* individual may transition in any combination, or none, of these aspects.
TRANS MAN:
A man who has transitioned from female to male, whether fully - through gender re-alignment - or partially. Also referred to as FTM.
TRANSSEXUAL (TS):
A person who perceives themselves as a member of a gender that does not “match” the sex they were assigned at birth. Many pursue hormones and/or surgery. Sometimes used to specifically refer to trans* people pursuing gender or sex reassignment.
Someone born biologically male or female and who has gone through a surgical procedure to alter or change their birth sex, “gender reassignment” - some transpeople prefer the term “gender realignment”.
Abbreviated to ‘T’, ‘TS’ and ‘trans’, this is a term used to describe people who consistently self-identify as the opposite gender from the gender they were labelled at birth based on their physical body. Depending on the range of options and information available to them during their life, most transsexual people try to find a way to transition to live fully in the gender that they self-identify as. Transitioning is also known as gender reassignment. Many, but not all, transsexual people take hormones and some also have surgery to make their physical bodies match their gender identity better.
TRANSPHOBIA:
A reaction of fear, loathing, and discriminatory treatment of people whose identity or gender presentation (or perceived gender or gender identity) does not “match,” in the societally accepted way, the sex they were assigned at birth. Transgendered people, intersex people, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and other non-monosexuals are typically the target of transphobia.
TRANSVESTITE/'TRANNY':
An outdated, often pejorative term used by heterosexuals to describe cross-dressers, usually men who dressed as women.
TRANS WOMAN:
A woman who has transitioned from male to female, whether fully - through gender re-alignment - or partially. Also referred to as MTF.
TRYKE:
A trans female-identified person who is attracted to/loves other female-identified people.
A 'trans dyke' that is, a transwoman who views herself as a lesbian and relates mostly to cis or trans women, both sxually and emotionally.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| LGBT Glossary.pdf | 67.65 KB |
- Login to post comments
Printer-friendly version- Send to friend
- PDF version
