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LGBTQ Terms
First and foremost, we would like to thank all who follow us! Without you there would be no need for a forum such as this! Also, how awesome are all of the contributors here for taking out the time for this? =) I wanted to do a kind of LGBTQ Dictionary. There are always tons of meaning for one simple little word, but we tried to be as general as possible. It is what it is. If you have any questions about anything we ever post, just ask! We would be happy to expand on what we meant. We just didn’t want to monopolize the whole board with this. We tried to use generalized meaning and what we have encountered personally in our community. Hope this helps!
Peace, Love, Happiness
Ally: someone who advocates and supports a community other than their own
Androgyne: A person with traits ascribed to males and females. Androgyny may be physical, presentational, or some combination.
Asexual: Having no sexual attraction to either gender. Asexual people may still enjoy romantic companionship, but they do not desire sexual contact.
Bias: an inclination or preference. Especially when it interferes with impartial judgement.
Bigendered: Having two genders; exhibiting cultural characteristics of male and female roles.
Biphobia: the irrational fear and intolerance of people who are Bisexual.
Bisexual: a person who is attracted to both male and female persons, but not necessarily equally.
Boi: also known as a ‘soft butch’. Not necessarily less of a butch, it is just a completely different attitude/style. Boi’s are more of the ‘new-age’ butch. There is a different type of swagger and style than Butch. Also used as a term of affection from a Femme.
Butch: generally used to describe a masculine energy either man or woman (generally woman). Butch tends to denote masculinity displayed by a female beyond what would be considered typical of a tomboy
Cisgendered: A gender identity that society considers to “match” the biological sex assignment 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.
Coming Out: to recognize one’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or sex identity, and to be open about it with oneself and others.
Crossdresser (CD): the most nuetral word to describe a person who dresses, at least partially or part of the time, and for any number or reasons, in clothing associated of 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 historically used to diagnose medical/mental health disorders.
Discrimination: the act of showing partiality or prejudice
Domestic Partner: one who lives with their beloved and/or is at least emotionally and financially connected in a supportive manner with another. Another word for spouse, lover, significant other, etc.
Drag: the act of dressing in gendered clothing as part of a performance. Drag Queens perform in highly feminine attire, while Drag Kings preform in highly masculine attire. Drag may be performed as a political comment on gender, as parody, or simply entertainment. Drag performance does not indicate sexuality, gender identity, or sex identity.
Drag King: A women who appears as a man on temporary basis; she may or may not have any masculine expression in her usual life. Generally in reference to an act or performance.
Drag Queen: A man who appears as a woman on temporary basis; he may or may not have any feminine expression in his usual life. Generally in reference to an act or performance.
Dyke: although once used negatively, this term has been reclaimed by some in the LGBTQ Community to refer to Lesbians.
Family: Colloquial term used to identify other LGBTQ community members. For example, and LGBTQ person saying, “that person is family” often means that the person they are referring to is LGBTQ as well.
Femme: mostly used to describe women in the Lesbian community who are very feminine. Femme is an energy and lifestyle. Femme is strictly used when referring to a Lesbian, not a bisexual or heterosexual. Femme is considered to be the flip side of Butch. They are a ying/yang match. Not necessarily always. Some Femmes are attracted to other Femmes and visa verse. Femme is not to be confused with labels such as Lipstick Lesbian.
FTM (F2M): Female to Male Transsexual.
Gay: Men attracted to men. Colloquially used as an umbrella term to include all LGBTQ people.
Gender: one’s sense of self as masculine or feminine regardless of external genitalia. Gender is often conflated with sex. This is inaccurate because sex refers to bodies and gender refers to personality characteristics.
Genderism: Holding people to traditional expectations based on gender, or punishing or excluding those who don’t conform to traditional gender expectations.
Gender Conformity: when your gender identity and sex “match” (i.e. fit social norms)
Gender Expression/Presentation: How one express oneself, in terms of dress and/or behaviors that society characterizes as “masculine” or “feminine”. May also be adrogynous or something else altogether. Some people differentiate between two terms.
Genderfluid: 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.
Genderfuck: A form of gender identity or expression, genderfuck is an intentional attempt to present a confusing gender identity that contributes to dismantling the perception of gender binary.
Gender Identity: the gender that a person sees themselves as. This can include refusing to label oneself with a gender. Gender identity is also often conflated with sexual orientation, but this is inaccurate. Gender identity does not cause sexual orientation. For example, a masculine woman is not necessarily a lesbian. Gender identity disorder: The term used for a condition defined in the DSM4 by the American Psychiatric Association.
Genderism: The belief that there are, and should be, only two genders and that one’s gender or most aspects of it are inevitably tried to the assigned sex.
Gender-neutral: Nondiscriminatory language to describe relationships-e.g. “spouse” and “partner” are gender-neutral alternatives to the gender specific words “husband” and “wife”.
Gender Non-conforming (GNC): A person who does not subscribe to gender expressions or roles expressions or roles expected of them by society.
Gender Outlaw: A person who refuses to define by conventional definitions of men and women. A term popularized by Kate Bornstein in her book of the same name.
Gender queer: A person who redefines or plays with gender, or who refuses gender altogether. A label for people who bend/break the rules of gender and blur the boundaries.
Gender role: How masculine or feminine an individual acts. Gender-variant: displaying gender traits that are not normally associated with their biological sex.
Gender Variant: A person whose gender identity and/or gender expression varies from the culturally-expected characteristics of there assigned sex.
Hate Crime: Hate Crime legislation often defines a hate crime as a crime motivated by the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, or sexual orientation of any person.
Heterosexism: assuming every person to be heterosexual therefore marginalizing persons who do not identify as heterosexual. It is also believing heterosexuality to be superior to homosexuality and all other sexual orientations.
Heterosexuality: Sexual, emotional, and/or romantic attraction to a sex other than your own.
Homophobia: the irrational fear and intolerance of people who are homosexual or of homosexual feelings within one’s self. This assumes that heterosexuality is superior.
Homosexuality: Sexual, emotional, and/or romantic attraction to the same sex.
Hy, Hys, Hym: used mostly in an online format to designate a butch/masculine quality. Shows respect to the Butch community.
Internalized Homophobia: 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: Intersexuality is a set of medical conditions that feature congenital anomaly of the reproductive and sexual system. That is, intersex people are born with “sex chromosomes”, external genitalia, or internal reproductive systems that are not considered “standard” for either male or female. The existence of intersexuals shows that there are not just two sexes and that our ways of thinking about gender is socially constructed.
In the closet: Keeping one’s sexual orientation and/or gender or sex identity a secret.
Invisible minority: A group whose minority status is not always immediately visible, such as some disabled people and the LGBTQ people.
Lamda: the Gay Activist Alliance originally chose the Lambda, the Greek letter ‘L’, as a symbol in 1970. Organizers chose the letter to signify liberation.
Lesbian: A woman attracted to a woman.
LGBTQ: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer.
Lipstick Lesbian: a term used to describe a Femme Lesbian who only dates other Femme Lesbians (90% of the time this is the only definition). Think L Word. The media kind of Lesbians.
MTF (M2F): Male to Female Transsexual.
Non-monosexual: People who have romantic, sexual, or affectional desire for more than one gender. Bisexuality is the most well-known form of non-monosexuality.
Omnigendered: Possessing all genders, exhibiting cultural characteristics of male and female. The term is specifically used to refute the concept of only two genders.
On T: When a FTM takes the hormone testosterone.
Out: meaning out of the closet, being open about ones sexuality
Pansexual, Omnisexual: A person who is fluid in sexual orientation and/or gender or sex identity.
Polyamory: Polyamory is the practice of having multiple open, honest love relationships.
Polygendered, Pangendered: Exhibiting characteristics of multiple genders; deliberately refuting the concept of only two genders.
Queer: an umbrella term to refer to all LGBTQ people. A sexual orientation.
Sex: A categorized 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.
Sexual Orientation: an aduring 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.
SRS: Acronym for Sexual Reassignment Surgery, the surgery done by transsexuals to make their bodies and their identity match.
Stone Butch/Stone Femme: by adding Stone to a title it makes the meaning a little more specific. Stone is a Butch/Femme who does not perform sexual acts that they enjoy receiving. Such as a Stone Butch normally enjoys giving oral pleasure to their Femme, reciprocation from the Femme is a No No.
Straight: A person (or adjective to describe a person) whose primary sexual and affectional orientation is toward people of the “opposite” gender.
Stud: this term like most in our community means several different things depending on who/where you are. In the Southern States, this term generally means an African-American Butch. Others use it as a substitute for Butch and others use it to refer to a Stone Butch.
Transgender: (sometimes shortened to Trans or TG) people whose psychological self differs from their biological selves.
Transgenderist: a person who lives either full time, or most of the time, in a gender rold different from the role associated with their biological sex
Transition: A complicated, multi-step process that can take years as transsexuals align their anatomy with their sex identity; this process may ultimately include sex reassignment surgery (SRS).
Transphobia: Fear or hatred of transgender people; transphobia is manifested in a number of ways, including violence, harassment, and discrimination.
Transvestite: Individuals who regularly or occasionally wear the clothing socially assigned to a gender not their own, but are usually comfortable with their anatomy and do not wish to change it (i.e. they are not transgender). Cross-dresser is the preferred term for men who enjoy or prefer women’s clothing and social roles. Contrary to popular belief, the overwhelming majority of male cross-dressers identify as straight and often are married. Very few women call themselves cross-dressers.
Triangle: A symbol of remembrance. Gay men in the Nazi concentration camps were forced to wear the pink triangle as a designation of being homosexual. Women who did not conform to social roles, often believed to be lesbians, had to wear the black triangle. The triangles are worn today as symbols of freedom, reminding us to never forget.
Tweener: also referred to as a ‘softball lesbian’, not femme and not boi or butch
Twink: gay male version of ‘Tweener’
