We know that sometimes, navigating and fully understanding what they mean when they are talking about gender-fluidity or pan people might be a little tricky. However, it is key to fully understand what these terms mean as a way to approach inclusivity and diversity in your everyday life.
That is why here is a complete ABC of the sexual spectrum and LGBTQ+ terms that you should know to embrace diversity. If you want to know more, you can check the Amnesty International glossary or even the Stonewall organization that stands for the LGBTQ+ community.
A
Ally: someone who actively supports the LGBTQ+ community regarding his sexual orientation or identity.
Asexual: a person who does not experience sexual attraction. In some cases, they can experience romantic attraction.
B
Bi: a person with romantic and/or sexual orientation towards more than one gender.
C
Cisgender or Cis: a person whose gender identity is the same as the sex they were assigned at birth.
D
Deadnaming: calling someone by their birth name after they have changed it. It is often associated with trans or non-binary people.
Demi: someone who may only feel sexually or romantically attracted to people with whom they have formed an emotional bond. They can use this term in conjunction with others such as gay, bi, lesbian, straight, or queer.
G
Gay: a man who has romantic and/or sexual orientation towards other men.
Gender: a social and cultural construct expressed in terms of masculinity and femininity that is assumed from the sex assigned at birth.
Gender dysphoria: the experience of discomfort or distress due to a mismatch between their sex assigned at birth and their gender identity.
Gender expression: how someone chooses to express their gender.
Gender identity: the innate sense of one’s own gender that may or may not correspond to the sex assigned at birth.
Gender-fluid: a person who does not identify with a single fixed gender.
Gender reassignment: a term used to describe a person’s transition, usually a medical intervention to undergo a gender reassignment; however it can also mean changing names, pronouns, or the way they dress and self-identify their gender.
H
Heterosexual/straight: someone who has a romantic and/or sexual orientation towards their opposite gender.
Homosexual: someone who has a romantic and/or sexual orientation towards the same gender.
Homophobia: the dislike of someone based on prejudice or negative attitudes, beliefs, or views about lesbian, gay, or bi people.
I
Intersex: a person who may have the biological attributes of both sexes or whose biological attributes do not fit with societal assumptions about what constitutes male or female.
L
Lesbian: a woman who has a romantic and/or sexual orientation towards women.
LGBTQ+: acronym for lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer. The plus sign refers to the whole sexual spectrum.
N
Non-binary: a person whose gender identity doesn’t sit comfortably with ‘man’ or ‘woman’.
O
Orientation: the term used to describe a person’s attraction to other people, whether sexual or romantic.
P
Pan: a person whose romantic and/or sexual attraction towards others is not limited by sex or gender.
Q
Queer: a term used as a way to reject specific labels of romantic orientation, sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
S
Sex: it is determined by their primary sex characteristics (genitalia) and reproductive functions and it can be ‘male’ or ‘female’.
T
Trans: a person whose gender is not the same as the one assigned at birth.
Transitioning: the steps a trans person may take to live in the gender with which they identify. It can range from changing the way they dress or changing official documents to medical interventions such as hormone therapy and surgeries.
Transphobia: the fear or dislike of someone based on the fact they are trans.
Transsexual: a term used in the past to refer to someone whose gender is not the same as the sex they were assigned at birth. Nowadays, it is more common to use the term trans.