Gay, Lesbian, Queer and other LGBTQ language.
The LGBTQ language is fluid and alwasys evolving. The following definitions are current as of 2008.
- Bisexual
An individual who is sexually attracted to both male and female.
- Cisgendered
A person whose gender is what society considers appropriate for their sex. A person who is not transgendered or transsexual.
- Cross-dresser
This is someone who for personal reasons will occasionally wear clothing that belong to the opposite gender. This doesn't mean the individual identify as that gender.
- Female-to-male
A transsexual who is born in a female body, but identifies as male. This is commonly referred to as transman.
- Gay
Anyone sexually attracted to the same gender (man to man or woman to woman).
- Gender
Gender is how someone identifies or presents within the socially constructed ideas of being masculine or feminine, male or female.
- Gender Identity
This is about who you are, and how you feel inside within the ideas of being masculine or feminine.
- Gender Variant
This is someone who doesn't fit into the traditional gender role. An example would be a "tomboy"; she identifies as female, but acts and dresses herself in a traditional masculine way.
- Heterosexism
A common view that heterosexuality is superior to other sexual orientations.
- Heterosexual
A man or woman who is attracted to the opposite gender (man to woman or woman to man).
- Intersex or Hermaphrodite
An individual who to some degree has the physical characteristics of the male and female sex organs.
- Lesbian
A woman who is sexually attraced to another woman.
- Male-to-female
A transsexual who is born in a male body, but identifies as female. This is commonly referred to as transwoman.
- Non-op
A transsexual who has no intention of surgically transitioning.
- Pansexual
An individual who is capable of being attracted to someone else regardless of their placement along the sex and gender spectrums.
- Pre-op
A transsexual who intends to take sex reassignment surgery, but has not done so as yet.
- Post-op
A transexual who has already gone through sex reassignment surgery.
- Queer
This is an umbrella term that seeks to encompass a broad range of sexual identities, behaviours and expressions. Historically, queer was used in an insulting manner,however, the term has been re-claimed and is now being used in a positive manner.
- Sex
Sex refers to the physical characteristics of someone being male or female, primarily the sexual organs, and the secondary sex characteristics such as, body shape, facial structure, etc.
- Sexual Orientation
This term refers to who you are attracted to, and how that applies to who you are (gay, lesbian, heterosexual, pansexual, bisexual).
- Transgendered
An umbrella term. A transgender can be someone who doesn't identify as the gender of their sex, but doesn't relate to the other gender role. Also apply to someone who feels like they are neither male or female, both male and female, or something else all together.
- Transsexual
This refers to someone whose gender is of the opposite sex, and identifies as that gender over the sex of their birth. An example, a man who thinks or feels he is a woman.
- Two-Spirited
A First Nations concept to describe what we consider gay / lesbian / bisexual / transgendered / transexual. There is the belief that the spirit was to some extent both male and female, and this was used to explain the attraction to the same gender, or the desire to dress and and act as the other gender.
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