Terminology

Lesbian - A woman whose primary attraction is to other women.

Gay – A man whose primary attraction is to other men. Also used as an inclusive term referring to LGBT individuals.

Bisexual – A person who is attracted to both men and women.

Transsexual - a person who identifies with and lives as a gender opposite than the one they were assigned at birth

Transgender - a person with identifies with a gender other than the one assigned at birth; or a person who views their gender as more fluid than strictly male or female

Two-Spirited – A term used by North American Aboriginals referring to both sexual orientation and gender identity/expression.

Inter sexed – A medical diagnosis describing a person who is born with physical and/or chromosomal features in which sexual characteristics belonging to both sexes are combined in a single body.

Asexual - Asexuals are people who do not experience sexual attraction.  Many asexuals experience romantic attraction to some degree, many do not. A large portion of romantic asexuals are not hetero-romantic.

Pansexual (sometimes referred to as omnisexuality) - Pansexuals are individuals open to the potential attraction for anybody, including people who do not fit into the gender binary of male/female implied by bisexual attraction. Pansexuality is sometimes described as the capacity to love a person romantically irrespective of gender.

Queer – A term used by some to describe their sexual orientation or gender identity, as they do not associate with all or some other terms. Also an inclusive term used to refer to the LGBT community.

LGBTQ - An acronym that stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender/Transsexual and Queer.

Questioning – Term used to refer to anyone who is unsure of their attractions and/or sexual orientation.

Straight Allies – Members of the straight community who are supportive of the LGBT community.

For a complete list of terms please see:

http://www.ok2bme.ca/terms 

as well as

http://www.ok2bme.ca/content/glossary-symbols

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