Janelle Monae and Miley Cyrus have openly identified as pansexual. Pansexual adjective: someone who is attracted to all kinds of people - who don’t limit their sexual choices to biological sex, gender presentation or gender identity. (example: lady-loving lesbians).īisexual adjective: a person who is into, emotionally and/or sexually, more than one sex and/or gender. Lesbian adjective: a woman who is emotionally and/or sexually attracted to other women. Sometimes used as an umbrella term to refer to the queer community as a whole (example: Toronto’s gay community). a sexual orientation term used to describe someone who is emotionally and/or sexually attracted to people of their own sex or gender. You may also like: YouTuber Rowan Ellis on LGBTQ+ advocacy and authoring a book for Queer girls. Individuals who identify as queer use it as a way to own identities and sexual orientations outside of heteronormative ideals. Queer noun: though this used to be a derogatory term, it has been reclaimed by the queer community to address folks who reject binary gender and sexual orientations. “Gender stereotypes” is a thing and it refers to how we expect men (and boys) and women (and girls) to behave and/or act. Gender noun: a social role or construct we assign to people - often in a binary way: male and female. Sex noun: a medical term that speaks to the biological difference between a male and female. This is an umbrella term for queer (or non-normative) folks who have alternative sexuality or gender identity. LGBT acronym: lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans. LGBTQ+ acronym: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transexual, queer, questioning plus. LGBTQIA acronym: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transexual, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual/aromantic/agender. Note: in Canada, a similar acronym may also be 2SLGBTQIA+ (placing 2-spirited people first in the order as they are indigenous to this land). LGBTTIQ2SA+ acronym: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transexual, intersex, queer, questioning, 2-spirited, asexual/aromantic/agender (some folks even use the “A” for ally).
Read: don’t try and correct someone when they tell you who they are. And, at the end of the day, trust the person who may use these terms and their definition. While we’ve put together a glossary and provided definitions for a number of terms, just remember that the best terms to use may change and evolve over time. Related: Celebrity coming out stories that will make you cry tears of Pride.