LGBTQ+ glossary for supporters
About this glossary of terms
This glossary will help you, as a supporter or teacher, to better understand and explain the terms you hear in our You Being You video.
The following definitions are mostly from Stonewall. Their more comprehensive glossary, can be found on their website.
You can find further Easy Reads about LGBTQIA+ from Change UK.
Bi (
Bisexual
A bisexual is someone who fancies men and women.
)
Bi is an umbrella term used to describe a romantic and/or sexual orientation towards more than one
gender
Your gender is how you think of yourself. Most people think of themselves as a man or woman. Some people think of themselves as non-binary.
.
Cisgender
Someone whose gender identity is the same as the sex they were assigned at birth.
Gay
Gay means a man who fancies other men, or a woman who fancies other women.
A man who has a romantic and/or sexual orientation towards men. It is also a generic term for
lesbian
A lesbian is a woman who fancies other women.
and gay
sexuality
Sexuality is how you feel about yourself and your body. It is about finding out and knowing what feels right for you.
- some women define themselves as gay rather than lesbian.
Gender identity
A persons innate sense of their own gender, whether male, female or something else (see non-binary below), which may or may not, correspond to the sex assigned at birth.
Gender expression
How a person chooses to outwardly express their gender, within the context of societal expectations of gender. A person who does not conform to societal expectations of gender may not, however, identify as trans.
Lesbian
A woman who has a romantic and/or sexual orientation towards women.
Orientation
An umbrella term describing a persons attraction to other people (sexual and/or romantic).
Non-binary
An umbrella term for people whose gender identity doesn't sit comfortably with 'man' or 'woman'. Non-binary identities are varied and can include people who identify with some aspects of binary identities, while others reject them entirely.
Pan (Pansexual)
A person whose romantic and/or sexual attraction towards others is not limited by sex or gender.
Heterosexual/"Straight"
A man who has a romantic and/or sexual orientation towards women or a woman who has a romantic and/or sexual orientation towards men.
Pronoun
Words we use to refer to peoples gender in conversation - for example, 'he' or 'she'.
Some people may prefer others to refer t them in gender neutral language and use pronouns like 'they/their' and 'ze/zir'.
Trans
An umbrella term to describe people whose gender is not the same as, or does not sit comfortably with, the sex they were assigned at birth.
Trans people may describe themselves using one or more of a wide variety of terms, including (but not limited to),
transgender
Transgender means someone who feels like they have the wrong body. This could be someone who has the body of a man but feels they are a woman, or the other way around. Some people who feel like this have an operation to change their body.
, gender-queer (GQ), gender-fluid, non-binary, gender-variant, agender, bi-gender.
Queer
Queer is a word some people use if they don’t want to use Lesbian, Gay and other words. It can be used by anyone in the LGBTQIA+
community
A community is the people and places in an area.
to describe themselves. In the past, the word queer was used to hurt people in the LGBTQIA+ community, but now many people in the queer community use it proudly.
Ace
Ace is an umbrella term (this means a word that can mean more than one word). It includes people who have little to no interest in having a sexual relationship. People who are ace can sometimes want a romantic relationship, other people don’t want either.