Glossary

This list will help you to understand some of the more common terms you might come across when tackling homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying and talking about lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBTQ+) people. 

SEXUAL ORIENTATION A person’s sexual attraction to other people, or lack thereof. Along with romantic orientation, this forms a person’s orientation identity.

Stonewall uses the term ‘orientation’ as an umbrella term covering sexual and romantic orientations.

ROMANTIC ORIENTATION A person’s romantic attraction to other people, or lack thereof. Along with sexual orientation, this forms a person’s orientation identity.

GENDER IDENTITY A person’s innate sense of their own gender, whether male, female, non-binary or something else, which may or may not correspond to their sex assigned at birth.

SEX assigned to a person on the basis of primary sex characteristics (genitalia) and reproductive functions. Sometimes the terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ are interchanged to mean ‘male’ or ‘female’

LESBIAN Refers to a woman who has a romantic and/or sexual orientation towards women. Some non-binary people may also identify with this term.

GAY Refers to a man who has a romantic and/or sexual orientation towards men. Also a generic term for lesbian and gay sexuality - some women define themselves as gay rather than lesbian. Some non-binary people may also identify with this term.

BI Bi is an umbrella term used to describe a romantic and/or sexual orientation towards 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, queer, and some other non-monosexual and non-monoromantic identities.

TRANS An umbrella term to describe people whose gender is not the same as, or does not sit comfortably with, the sex they were assigned at birth.

Trans people may describe themselves using one or more of a wide variety of terms, including (but not limited to) transgender, transsexual, genderqueer (GQ), gender-fluid, non-binary, gender-variant, crossdresser, genderless, agender, nongender, third gender, bi-gender, trans man, trans woman, trans-masculine, trans-feminine, and neutrois.

LGBTQ+ the acronym for lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, questioning and ace.

HOMOPHOBIA the fear or dislike of someone, based on prejudice or negative attitudes, beliefs or views about lesbian, gay or bi people. This can also include denying somebody’s lesbian, gay or bi identity or refusing to accept it. Homophobia may be targeted at people who are, or who are perceived to be, lesbian, gay or bi.

BIPHOBIA is the fear or dislike of someone who identifies as bi based on prejudice or negative attitudes, beliefs or views about bi people. This can also include denying somebody’s bi identity or refusing to accept it. Biphobia may be targeted at people who are, or who are perceived to be, bi.

TRANSPHOBIA is the fear or dislike of someone based on the fact they are trans, including denying their gender identity or refusing to accept it. Transphobia may be targeted at people who are, or who are perceived to be, trans.

At Stonewall, we use ‘trans’ as an umbrella term to describe people whose gender identity is not the same as, or does not sit comfortably with, the sex they were assigned at birth. This includes non-binary people.

GENDER STEREOTYPES The ways that society expects people to behave according to their gender, or what is commonly accepted as ‘normal’ for someone of that gender.

COMING OUT when a person first tells someone/others about their identity as lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans

QUESTIONING the process of exploring your own sexual orientation and/or gender identity

QUEER Queer is a term used by those wanting to reject specific labels of romantic orientation, sexual orientation, and/ or gender identity. It can also be a way of rejecting the perceived norms of the LGBTQ+ community (racism, sizeism, ableism etc). Although some LGBTQ+ people view the word as a slur, it was reclaimed in the late 80s by the queer community who have embraced it.

CISGENDER refers to someone whose gender identity is the same as the sex they were assigned at birth. Non-trans is also used by some people

NON-BINARY An umbrella term for people whose gender identity doesn’t sit comfortably with ‘man’ or ‘woman’. Non-binary identities are varied and can include people who identify with some aspects of binary identities, while others reject them entirely.

TRANSSEXUAL This was 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 although many people prefer the term trans or transgender.

 ACE is an umbrella term used to describe a variation in levels of romantic and/or sexual attraction, including a lack of attraction. Ace people may describe themselves using one or more of a wide variety of terms, including, but not limited to, asexual, aromantic and demisexual.

ASEXUAL is used to refer to someone that does not experience sexual attraction.

GREY-A is used to describe someone who identifies somewhere between sexual and asexual.

AROMANTIC is used to refer to someone that does not experience romantic attraction.

GREY-ROMANTIC is used to describe someone who identifies somewhere between romantic and aromantic.

DEMISEXUAL is used to describe someone who only experiences sexual attraction after an emotional bond has been established.

DEMIROMANTIC is used to describe someone who only experiences romantic attraction after an emotional bond has been established.

TRANSGENDER MAN A term used to describe someone who is assigned female at birth but identifies and lives as a man.

TRANSGENDER WOMAN A term used to describe someone who is assigned male at birth but identifies and lives as a woman.

INTERSEX A term used to describe 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. Intersex people can identify as male, female or non-binary.

GENDER DYSPHORIA Used to describe when a person experiences discomfort or distress because there is a mismatch between their sex assigned at birth and their gender identity. This is also the clinical diagnosis for someone who doesn’t feel comfortable with the gender they were assigned at birth

GENDER NON-CONFORMING Someone who does not conform to stereotypical gendered expectations

PRONOUN words we use to refer to people’s gender in conversation – for example, ‘he’ or ‘she’. Some people may prefer others to refer to them in gender neutral language and use pronouns such as they/their and ze/zir