LGBTQ+
Gender non-conforming
– adj – someone who identifies as gender outside the binary of “man” and “woman”—either because they identify as both masculine and feminine or because they identify as neither masculine nor feminine. They also sometimes refer to themselves with the terms nonbinary or genderqueer.
Genderqueer
– adj – someone who identifies as gender outside the binary of “man” and “woman”—either because they identify as both masculine and feminine or because they identify as neither masculine nor feminine. They also sometimes refer to themselves with the terms nonbinary or gender non-conforming.
Asexual
– adj – A term used to describe a person who experiences little or no sexual attraction. A related term is aromantic, which refers to someone who experiences little or no romantic attraction. Individuals may identify with both, either, or neither of these terms. Importantly, asexual and aromantic people may still pursue sexual and/or romantic relationships for a variety of reasons, and they should still be screened with a full sexual history like any other patient.
Queer
– adj – A reclaimed, positive, and affirming term that is commonly used by people within the LGBTQ+ community despite its historical use as a pejorative slur. Often, the term queer is used to refer to people who are neither cisgender or heterosexual as a unifying umbrella term inclusive of everyone in the LGBTQ+ community. Many (but not all) LGBTQ+ people are comfortable using this term under its reclaimed meaning. In some cases, the term queer is used to describe multiple people (e.g., “the queer community”); in other cases, individuals use it as their term of choice in describing their personal sexual orientation and/or gender identity (e.g., “she is a queer woman”; “they are queer”).
Sexual orientation
– noun –
Sexual orientation is how a person describes the gender or genders of people they are attracted to sexually or romantically. While sex, gender, and sexual orientation are related concepts, it is important to remember that they are distinct from and independent of one another. Common terms used to describe sexual orientation include the following:
- Heterosexual – noun or adj
- Bisexual – adj
- Pansexual – adj
- Gay – adj
- Lesbian – noun or adj
- Queer – adj
- Asexual – adj
- Aromantic – adj
References
General Definitions. LGBT Resource Center. https://lgbt.ucsf.edu/glossary-terms. Accessed March 7, 2021.
Intersex
– adj – A person whose biological sex (chromosomes, and/or reproductive or sexual anatomy) falls outside of or in between the male and female binary.
References
Intersex Society of North America. What is intersex? https://isna.org/faq/what_is_intersex/
Bisexual
– adj or noun – A term used to describe a person who is attracted to partners of their same gender and partners of different genders to their own. In practice, used more or less synonymously with the term pansexual.
References
Gay
– adj – A term used to describe a person attracted mostly or exclusively to someone of their same gender (in research literature, occasionally the outdated term homosexual is still used). This word is used more often by gay men to describe their sexuality than gay women (many of whom identify as lesbian).
References