LGBTQ+ Glossary

Understanding Language, Identity, and Respect

Language shapes how we understand the world, and ourselves. For LGBTQ+ people, the words we use to describe our identities and experiences can be empowering and deeply personal. Using inclusive and accurate language helps create safer, more respectful spaces. It shows that we see and value people for who they are. At a time when LGBTQ+ rights are being challenged globally, getting the language right is one way we can all show up in solidarity.

There’s no single ‘correct’ way to talk about LGBTQ+ identities. Language is constantly evolving, and people may use different terms to describe themselves. Everyone has the right to self-identify, and will have differing relationships with the words that people choose to identify themselves with. It is important to ask how a person identifies, and to respect their answer. Identities can be fluid and as life goes on, people often realise new things about themselves, so the words that someone uses at one point in their life may not be words that they will always identify with – and that’s totally ok!

This glossary is not definitive, but below are some of the most common identities and terms used when talking about sexual orientation (who you’re attracted to) and gender identity (how you feel about and see yourself).

• Be kind and respectful. That’s always the most important thing.
• Ask if you’re unsure. If you don’t know how someone identifies or wants to be described, it’s okay to ask – just do so with care.
• Avoid assumptions. Don’t assume someone’s identity based on how they look or sound.
• Stay open to learning. New terms emerge and definitions change. Keep listening and learning.

Abro (sexual and romantic)

A word used to describe people who have a fluid sexual and/or romantic orientation which changes over time, or the course of their life. They may use different terms to describe themselves over time.

Ace

An umbrella term used specifically to describe a lack of, varying, or occasional experiences of sexual attraction. This encompasses asexual people as well as those who identify as demisexual and grey-sexual. Ace people who experience romantic attraction or occasional sexual attraction might also use terms such as gay, bi, lesbian, straight and queer in conjunction with asexual to describe the direction of their romantic or sexual attraction.

Ace and aro/ace and aro spectrum

Umbrella terms used to describe the wide group of people who experience a lack of, varying, or occasional experiences of romantic and/or sexual attraction, including a lack of attraction. People who identify under these umbrella terms may describe themselves using one or more of a wide variety of terms, including, but not limited to, asexual, ace, aromantic, aro, demi, grey, and abro. People may also use terms such as gay, bi, lesbian, straight and queer in conjunction with ace and aro to explain the direction of romantic or sexual attraction if and when they experience it.

Allo (sexual and romantic)

Allo people experience sexual and romantic attraction, and do not identify as on the ace or aro spectrum. Allo is to ace and aro spectrum identities, as straight is to LGB+ spectrum identities. It is important to use words that equalise experience, otherwise the opposite to ace and aro becomes ‘normal’ which is stigmatising.

Ally

A person who fights for, and supports others in their fight for equality, despite not being a member of the marginalised group, e.g. a heterosexual and/or cisgender person who believes in, and fights for equality, for LGBT+ people.

Aro

An umbrella term used specifically to describe a lack of, varying, or occasional experiences of romantic attraction. This encompasses aromantic people as well as those who identify as demiromantic and grey-romantic. Aro people who experience sexual attraction or occasional romantic attraction might also use terms such as gay, bi, lesbian, straight and queer in conjunction with asexual to describe the direction of their attraction.

Aromantic

A person who experiences little to no romantic attraction. Aromantic people may or may not experience sexual attraction. Those who experience sexual attraction might also use terms such as gay, bi, lesbian, straight and queer in conjunction with aromantic.

A-spec

The spectrum of identities on the spectrum of asexuality and aromanticism. For example, demi-sexual.

Asexual

A person who does not experience sexual attraction. Some asexual people experience romantic attraction, while others do not. Asexual people who experience romantic attraction might also use terms such as gay, bi, lesbian, straight and queer in conjunction with asexual to describe the direction of their romantic attraction.

Bi (Bisexual)

Refers to someone who is attracted to more than one gender. Bi people may describe themselves using one or more of a wide variety of terms, including, but not limited to, bisexual, pan and queer. Many use ‘bi’ as an umbrella for these terms.

Biphobia

Discrimination against and /or fear or dislike of bisexual people (including those perceived to be bisexual) or of bisexuality. This also includes the perpetuation of negative myths and stereotypes through jokes and/or through personal negative thoughts about bisexual people.

Butch

A term predominantly used to describe masculine lesbians.

Cisgender or Cis

Someone whose gender is the same as the sex they were assigned at birth. For example, a cis(gender) woman is someone who was assigned female at birth and continues to live and identify as a woman.

Cisnormativity

An emphasis on people being “the norm” if their gender identity and assigned gender at birth match, and therefore having a valued position in society. This often highlights and reinforces expected and more traditional ways of presenting your gender too e.g. the expectation for women to present as “feminine” and men to present as “masculine”.

Coming out

When a person first tells someone/others about their sexual orientation and/or gender identity.

Cross Dresser

This word is usually used by men but can be used by a person of any gender, who dresses in clothes that are usually associated with a different gender.

Cupioromantic

People who do not experience romantic attraction, but do want to be in a romantic relationship.

Deadnaming

Calling someone by their birth name after they have changed their name. This term is often associated with trans people who have changed their name as part of their transition.

Demi-sexual

People who need to form an emotional bond with someone before they experience sexual attraction.

Demi-romantic

People who need to form an emotional bond with someone before they experience romantic attraction.

Discrimination

Treating individuals or a particular group of people differently, especially in a worse way than how a person might generally treat others, because they hold negative views about people with certain characteristics – e.g. a person’s race, faith, sex assigned at birth, sexual orientation, class.

Femme

A term predominantly used to describe feminine lesbians. It is also sometimes used more generally to describe feminine LGBTQ+ people.

Gay

A man who is attracted to other men. Sometimes the word ‘gay’ is used by women who are attracted to women too.

Gender

A person’s innate sense of being a man, woman, non-binary (see below) or another gender. Gendered norms, roles and behaviours exist, which are typically associated with being a woman, man, girl or boy. These are often expressed in terms of masculinity and femininity, and vary across cultures. A person’s gender is typically assumed from the sex they were assigned at birth.

Gender Dysphoria

A term used to describe the discomfort or distress that a person experiences when there is a mismatch between their sex assigned at birth and their gender identity.

Gender Expression

How a person expresses their gender outwardly. This could be through cues such as clothing, haircuts and behaviour.

Gender Fluid

A person who feels that their gender is not static and that it changes throughout their life, this could be on a daily / weekly / monthly basis.

Gender Identity

How a person feels about and knows themselves to be. This might be as a woman, a man, as both, as neither, or in another way.

Gender Incongruence

A term used to describe the mismatch between a person’s gender and the sex they were assigned at birth. This is also the clinical diagnosis used by the NHS for someone who is trans.

Gender Neutral/Agender

A person who does not identity with any gender.

Gender Non-conforming

A person whose gender expression doesn’t align with societal expectations of gender. Both cis and trans people can be gender non-conforming.

Genderqueer

A term for people whose gender identity doesn’t sit comfortably with ‘man’ or ‘woman’. It is also used by people who reject binary gender roles and/or normative gender expression. Genderqueer is often used in a similar way to non-binary (see below).

Gender Reassignment

‘Gender reassignment’ is the phrase used in the Equality Act 2010 to describe the characteristic under which trans people are protected from discrimination in the workplace and wider society. The phrasing of the Equality Act 2010 says that a person is covered by the protected characteristic of gender reassignment if they are ‘proposing to undergo, is undergoing or has undergone a process (or part of a process) for the purpose of reassigning the person's sex by changing physiological or other attributes of sex’.

‘Gender reassignment’ is generally used when referring to the law. It is commonly referred to as ‘transition’ or ‘transitioning’.

Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC)

This enables trans people to be legally recognised in their affirmed gender and to be issued with a new birth certificate, if they choose. You currently have to be over 18 to apply.

Gender Roles and Expectations

People are assigned a sex at birth and this often predetermines a gender role that a person is expected to fulfil e.g. someone assigned female at birth, will be expected to live, identify and outwardly present as a woman. There is also expectation to ‘act’ like a woman and carry out jobs that society deems appropriate for women. Gender roles and expectations are often reinforced by society, people around us and the media. People of all genders can find these expectations limiting and oppressive.

Gillick competence

A term used in medical law to decide whether a child (under 16 years of age) is able to consent to their own medical treatment, without the need for parental permission or knowledge.

Grey (sexual and romantic)

Also known as grey-A, this is an umbrella term which describes people who experience attraction occasionally, rarely, or only under certain conditions. People may also use terms such as gay, bi, lesbian, straight and queer in conjunction with grey to explain the direction of romantic or sexual attraction as they experience it.

Heteroromantic

A person who feels a romantic connection to the opposite gender.

Heterosexism/ Heteronormativity

The assumption that everyone is heterosexual or straight, and that heterosexuality is superior, with an emphasis on heterosexuality being “the norm” and therefore having a valued position in society. The media often reinforces heteronormativity through images used and portrayal of character’s identities and attitudes.

Heterosexual/ Straight

A person who is attracted to people of a different gender e.g. a man who is only attracted to women.

Homophobia

Discrimination against and/or fear or dislike of lesbian and gay people (including those perceived to be gay or lesbian). This also includes the perpetuation of negative myths and stereotypes through jokes and/or through personal negative thoughts about lesbian and gay people.

Intersex

A person is assigned intersex, often at birth, when their sex characteristics don’t align with the medical definitions of “female” or “male”. A person’s external and internal body, as well as chromosomes and hormones, can all be factors when assigning sex.

Lesbian

A woman who is attracted to other women.

LGBTphobia

A term for the collective discrimination against and/or fear or dislike of LGBT+ people (including those perceived to be LGBT+). This also includes the perpetuation of negative myths and stereotypes through jokes and/or through personal negative thoughts about LGBT+ people.

LGBT+

An umbrella expression and an acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (plus other related identities).

Non-binary

An umbrella term for gender identities which are not confined by the gender binary of “women” and “men”. Non-binary people may identify with no gender at all or with more than one gender.

Orientation

A term describing a person's attraction to other people. This attraction may be sexual (sexual orientation) and/or romantic (romantic orientation). Orientations include, but are not limited to, lesbian, gay, bi, ace and straight.

Out/Coming Out

LGBT+ people living openly, and telling people about their sexual orientation and/or gender identity.

Outed

When an LGBTQ+ person’s sexual orientation or gender identity is disclosed to someone else without their consent.

Pan /Pansexual

A person of any gender who is attracted to people of all genders.

Passing

When a trans person is perceived to be the gender with which they identify, based on their appearance.

Person with a trans history

Someone who identifies as male or female or a man or woman, but was assigned the opposite sex at birth. This is increasingly used by people to acknowledge a trans past.

Platonic partnerships

People who are on the ace and/or aro spectrum may have platonic partnerships. These are relationships where there is a high level of mutual commitment which can include shared life decisions, shared living arrangements, and co-parenting of children. These partnerships can include more than two people. Like allosexual and alloromantic people, ace and aro spectrum people may be monogamous or polyamorous.

Pronouns

Words used to refer to someone when their name isn’t used. They usually suggest a person’s gender, although some people prefer, or identify with, neutral pronouns. Common pronouns include her, she, him, he, they, them.

QTIPOC

An acronym that stands for Queer, Transgender and Intersex People of Colour.

Queer

Historically this word was used as a negative insult, however many people feel they have reclaimed the word to have a positive meaning. Some people use it as a collective term for LGBT+ people, and some us it to explain their gender, sexual or political identity. Some people still use this word as an insult, this is LGBTphobia and should be challenged.

Questioning

A person who is uncertain about and/ or exploring their own sexual orientation and/or gender identity.

Romantic orientation

A person’s romantic attraction to other people, or lack thereof. Along with sexual orientation, this forms a person’s orientation identity. Stonewall uses the term ‘orientation’ as an umbrella term covering sexual and romantic orientations.

Sex Assigned at Birth

People are assigned a sex at birth, usually based on observation of external genitals. A person may be assigned “female”, “intersex” or “male”. However, this does not necessarily reflect how a person will identify themselves.

Sexual Orientation

The part of a person’s identity that describes who they experience attraction to, often but not always based on gender, e.g. lesbian, gay, bisexual, straight, pansexual.

Spectrum

A term used to cover a variety of identities that have a root commonality or shared experience.

Stereotype

A fixed idea that people have about what someone or something is like, often based on assumption and myth.

Trans / Transgender

A person whose gender identity is in some way different to the gender they were assigned at birth.

Transgender Man

A term used to describe a man who was assigned female at birth. This may be shortened to trans man, or FTM, an abbreviation for female-to-male.

Transgender Woman

A term used to describe a woman who was assigned male at birth. This may be shortened to trans woman, or MTF, an abbreviation for male-to-female.

Transition

A term that refers to changes a person might make to affirm their gender. These changes might be medical and/ or social. E.g. a person might change their name, pronoun or clothing. A person might start to take prescribed hormones or make surgical changes to their bodies. Everyone’s transition will be different.

Transphobia

Discrimination against and/or fear or dislike of people whose gender identity does not align with the gender they are assigned at birth, or whose gender identity or expression doesn’t appear to align. This also includes the perpetuation of negative myths and stereotypes through jokes and/or through personal negative thoughts about trans people.

Transsexual

This was more commonly used in the past as a more medical term (similarly to homosexual) to refer to someone whose gender is not the same as, or does not sit comfortably with, the sex they were assigned at birth. This term is still used by some today, although many people prefer the term trans or transgender.

Undetectable

HIV medication (antiretroviral treatment, or ART) works by reducing the amount of the virus in the blood to undetectable levels. This means the levels of HIV are so low that the virus cannot be passed on. This is called having an undetectable viral load or being undetectable.

Glossary Source The Proud Trust www.proudtrust.org
Stonewall UK https://www.stonewall.org.uk/resources/list-lgbtq-terms
Inclusive Employers https://www.inclusiveemployers.co.uk/blog/lgbtq-glossary
LGBT Youth Scotland https://lgbtyouth.org.uk/a-spec-101-glossary/