Terminology
Disclaimer
These are our explanations and definitions. This is not a dictionary - it is the beginning of your learning journey.
If there is any information we have got wrong in any way, please do get in touch with us and let us know.
| Term | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Lesbian | 'Lesbian' refers to a woman who is romantically or sexually attracted to another woman. The word is derived from the name of the island of Lesvos in Greece where the great poet Sappho lived around 600BCE. She wrote poetry about love between women and we also get the more recent term 'sapphic' from her name. The Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) was the first known lesbian rights organisation in the United States, forming in San Francisco in 1955. The Minorities Research Group was the UK's first lesbian social and political organisation, and published a monthly journal called Arena Three. Lesbians have had to fight to be heard alongside gay men mainly because of misogyny. In fact, There has never been a law in the UK specifically criminalising lesbianism; In 1921, there was an attempt to add a clause to the Criminal Law Amendment Act that would have made acts of indecency between women a misdemeanour. However, the House of Lords rejected the proposal. This was not in support of lesbian rights. Instead, this was purely a case of the denial of the relevance of Lesbianism to the patriarchy. Unlike most other LGBT+ identities, Lesbianism continues to suffer from being fetishised and so misogyny and sexism are additional oppressions they face. |
| Gay | 'Gay' originally comes from the 12th Century CE French word 'gai', meaning 'full of mirth or joy' (and possibly the German 'gahi' meaning 'impulsive') but it wasn't until the 16th Century that it began to be associated with same-sex relationships. In the 1600s, the word became associated with decadence and promiscuity. By the late 16th Century there were records of 'gai' men in Paris. In the UK, the term didn't really get used in this context until the 20th Century and entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 1951. In the 1990's it began to be used again as an insult, meaning 'stupid' or 'undesirable'. This use is now beginning to fade. In the 1980's, the word was reclaimed by the LGBT+ community as G.A.Y. ('good as you') and is a commonly accepted term for not just men who are attracted to men but to a wider section of the LGBT+ community, although some people reject this, feeling it lessens their own identity. |
| Bisexual | Bisexuality is defined in the Bisexual Manifesto (1990) as a fluid identity. "Bisexuality is a whole, fluid identity. Do not assume that bisexuality is binary or dougamous in nature; that we must have "two" sides or that we MUST be involved simultaneously with both genders to be fulfilled human beings. In fact, don't assume that there are only two genders. Do not mistake our fluidity for confusion, irresponsibility, or an inability to commit. Do not equate promiscuity, infidelity, or unsafe sexual behavior with bisexuality. Those are human traits that cross ALL sexual orientations. Nothing should be assumed about anyone's sexuality—including your own." Despite this, many people very wrongly believe that bisexuality is an attraction to binary genders - men and women. A new term became popular in the1970s and gained common usage in the early 2000s, 'Pansexual' - simply defined as an attraction regardless of gender. In fact, the term "Pan-sexual" was first used in 1914 in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology to describe the much contested (especially by bi/pan people) idea that sex is the primary motivator of all human activity. Many people in the community now use the terms 'bi' 'pan' and 'poly' interchangeably, whereas many others identify using just one of those (or another) term for their sexuality, seeing the terms as significantly different. |
| Transgender | Being transgender simply means that you know you are a gender that differs from the sex you were assigned at birth. A person's sex is recorded at birth through observation in the delivery room, based purely on the appearance of the genitals of the baby. A person's gender may or may not align with that observation. Most commonly, it does. For at least 1 in 100 people, it doesn't*. Gender Dysphoria is when your body does not match your gender. The waiting time for an initial appointment for gender dysphoria ranges across the UK from two to six years. In actuality, this is often longer. Until 2013, the term used was 'gender identity disorder' and considered a mental illness. The 2024 Cass Review has re-introduced the concept that being trans could be a symptom of a medical condition. Until 2024, it was possible (but difficult) for trans people under the age of 18 to be prescribed puberty blockers so that irreversible changes to the body during puberty could be delayed until the young person was older and could choose as an adult to go through more effective surgical transition or let puberty resume. The Labour government in 2024 permanently banned the prescription of puberty blockers for under 18s. *In the 2021 UK Census, 1 in 200 people identified as trans and 1 in 20 people refused to answer the question. It is highly likely, therefore that at least 1% of the population of the UK have a gender that does not match their sex assigned at birth. And that only covered people over the age of 16. The number of people age 16 to 25 who identified as trans was double that of everyone over the age of 25 so the number of trans people in the UK is likely to grow and a figure of 1 in 50 is likely to be increasingly more accurate. |
| '+' | The '+' is in LGBT+ is an an inclusive symbol to mean 'and everyone else in the community'. It is there to keep the acronym simple. |
| Non-Binary | This is another umbrella term that covers all people who do not fit into a binary gender of man or woman. Some people who are neither a man or a woman do not feel they are non-binary and some non-binary people also consider themselves to be a man and/or woman. Identities such as 'genderfluid', 'genderqueer', 'demigender', and many others fall under this political umbrella term. |
| Queer | The term 'Queer' has been reclaimed by the LGBT+ community. Not everyone is comfortable with this. |
| Questioning | The 'q' in LGBTQIA+ can also refer to 'questioning' - a process of being unsure of your gender and/or sexuality. This is a natural developmental stage for the majority of people and most common amongst teenagers but may happen earlier or later in life. |
| Intersex | Intersex is an umbrella term for people born with sex traits that don't fit the typical binary definitions of male or female. These traits can include variations in internal or external genitalia, chromosomes, and/or hormones. It is estimated that 1 in 50 people are intersex but many of them will never know it as their genitals align with a binary sex. |
| Asexual | This term refers to not being sexually attracted to anyone. This doesn't mean that asexual people don't have relationships or sex - it means that they don't feel sexual attraction. It also doesn't mean that they don't feel romantic love. |
| Aromantic | This describes people who may or may not be sexually attracted to others but do not have romantic love for others. This does not mean that an aromantic person cannot love another person - it just means that that feeling is different to romantic love. |
