List of LGBTQI+ Terms and Identities
Agender: Describes a person who identifies as having no gender.
Ally: A person who is not LGBTQ but shows active support for LGBTQ people and promotes equality in a variety of ways.
Androgynous: Identifying and/or presenting as neither distinguishably masculine nor feminine.
Aromantic: An orientation that describes a person who experiences little or no romantic attraction to others and/or a lack of interest in forming romantic relationships.
Asexual: Experiencing little to no sexual attraction or desire.
Bisexual: A person attracted to more than one sex or gender, though not necessarily simultaneously, in the same way, or to the same degree.
Cisgender: A term used to describe a person whose gender identity aligns with those typically associated with the sex assigned to them at birth.
Gay: A person who is attracted to members of their same gender.
Gender expression: External appearance of one’s gender identity, usually expressed through behavior, clothing, haircut or voice, and which may or may not conform to socially defined behaviors and characteristics typically associated with being either masculine or feminine.
Gender-fluid: According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a person who does not identify with a single fixed gender; of or relating to a person having or expressing a fluid or unfixed gender identity.
Gender identity: One’s innermost concept of self as male, female, a blend of both or neither. How individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves. One’s gender identity can be the same or different from their sex assigned at birth.
Gender non-conforming: A broad term referring to people who do not behave in a way that conforms to the traditional expectations of their gender, or whose gender expression does not fit neatly into a category.
Genderqueer: Genderqueer people typically reject notions of static categories of gender and embrace a fluidity of gender identity and often, though not always, sexual orientation. People who identify as “genderqueer” may see themselves as being both male and female, neither male nor female or as falling completely outside these categories.
Intersex: Some individuals have reproductive organs, genitals, chromosomes, and/or hormones that are different from what is expected in the male-female binary. Intersex is also used as an identity term by some community members and advocacy groups.
Lesbian: A woman who is attracted to other women.
LGBTQ: An acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer.
Nonbinary: An umbrella term describing people who do not identify with the gender binary of men or women.
Queer: A term used to express various identities and orientations. Sometimes used interchangeably with “LGBTQ.” This term has been used derogatorily in the past, but some people are now reclaiming it.
Questioning: A term used to describe people who are in the process of exploring their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Pansexual: A sexual orientation that describes a person who is attracted to people regardless of gender.
Sex assigned at birth: The sex assigned to a person when they are born, typically based on visible genitalia, with male corresponding to a penis and female corresponding to a vulva. Some genitalia is not easily categorized as male or female, and may be assigned intersex (described above).
Sexual orientation: An inherent or immutable enduring emotional, romantic or sexual attraction to other people.
Transgender: An umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or expression is different from cultural expectations based on the sex they were assigned at birth. Being transgender does not imply any specific sexual orientation. Therefore, transgender people may identify as straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, etc.
Two-Spirit: An umbrella term for various Indigenous North American genders that do not translate to mainstream cultural conceptions of men or women. Two-spirit is a culturally significant identity, and thus is not interchangeable with terms like “nonbinary.” Sometimes abbreviated as 2S.