Agender (adjective) – Describes a person who identifies as having no gender or does not experience gender as a primary identity component.
Aromantic (adjective) – Describes a person who experiences little or no romantic attraction to others and lacks interest in forming romantic relationships. Aromantic people may still have intimate relationships.
Asexual (adjective) – Describes a person who experiences little or no sexual attraction to others. Asexual people may still engage in sexual activity.
Assigned female at birth/Assigned male at birth (noun) – Refers to the sex assigned to an infant, most often based on the infant’s anatomical and other biological characteristics. Commonly abbreviated as AFAB (assigned female at birth) or AMAB (assigned male at birth).
Bigender (adjective) – Describes a person whose gender identity combines two genders.
Binding (verb) – The process of tightly wrapping one’s chest to minimize the appearance of having breasts. This is achieved through constrictive materials such as cloth strips, bandages, or specially designed undergarments called binders.
Biphobia (noun) – Discrimination towards, fear, marginalization, and hatred of bisexual people or those perceived as bisexual. Individuals, communities, policies, and institutions can be biphobic.
Bisexual/Bi+ (adjective) – Bisexual is a sexual orientation that describes a person emotionally and physically attracted to cisgender women and men. Some people define bisexuality as attraction to all genders and may use Bi+ to indicate this. See Pansexual.
Bottom surgery (noun) – Slang term for gender-affirming genital surgery.
Cisgender (adjective) – A person whose gender identity is consistent in a traditional sense with their sex assigned at birth; for example, a person assigned female sex at birth whose gender identity is woman/female. Cisgender comes from the Latin prefix cis, meaning “on the same side.”
Demigirl and Demiboy (noun) – A demi girl is a person who feels their gender identity partially identifies with a feminine identity but is not wholly binary, regardless of their assigned gender. Likewise, a demi boy is a person who feels their gender identity partially identifies with a masculine identity but is not wholly binary. Like a demi girl, a demi boy may remember this way regardless of their assigned gender. A demi girl and a demi boy fall under the trans umbrella.
Gender-affirming hormone therapy (HRT) (noun) – Feminizing and masculinizing hormone treatment to align secondary sex characteristics with gender identity.
Differences or Variation of Sex Development (DSD)/(VSD) (noun) – Historically referred to as intersex. See Intersex.
Gay (adjective) – A sexual orientation describing people who are primarily emotionally and physically attracted to people of the same sex and gender as themselves. It is commonly used to describe men who are mainly attracted to men but can also describe women attracted to women.
Gender (noun) – The characteristics and roles of women and men according to social norms. While sex is described as female, male, and intersex, gender can be described as feminine, masculine, androgynous, and much more.
Gender affirmation (noun) – The process of making social, legal, and medical changes to recognize, accept, and express one’s gender identity. Social changes can include changing one’s pronouns, name, clothing, and hairstyle. Legal changes can include changing one’s name, sex designation, and gender markers on legal documents. Medical changes can consist of receiving gender-affirming hormones and surgeries. Although this process is sometimes referred to as transition, gender affirmation is recommended.
Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) (noun) – Surgeries to modify a person’s body to align with that person’s gender identity. Types of GAS include chest and genital surgeries, facial feminization, body sculpting, and hair removal.
Gender-affirming chest surgery (noun) – Surgeries to remove and/or construct a person’s chest to align with that person’s gender identity. They are also referred to as Top surgery.
Gender-affirming genital surgeries (noun) – Surgeries that help align a person’s genitals and/or internal reproductive organs with that person’s gender identity.
Gender binary structure (noun) – There are only two genders (girl/woman and boy/man), and a person must strictly fit into one category.
Gender-diverse (adjective) – Describes the community outside the gender binary structure (e.g., non-binary, genderqueer, gender fluid people).
Gender dysphoria (noun) – Distress experienced by some people whose gender identity does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders (DSM-5) include gender dysphoria as a diagnosis for people whose distress is clinically significant and impairs social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. The degree and severity of gender dysphoria are highly variable among transgender and gender-diverse people.
Gender expression (noun) – How a person communicates gender to the world through mannerisms, clothing, speech, behavior, etc. Gender expression varies depending on culture, context, and historical period.
Gender fluid (adjective) – Describes a person whose gender identity is not fixed. A person who is gender fluid may always feel like a mix of more than one gender but may feel more aligned with a specific gender some of the time, another gender at other times, both genders sometimes, and sometimes no gender at all.
Gender identity (noun) – A person’s inner sense of being a girl/woman/female, boy/man/male, something else, or having no gender.
Gender role (noun) – A set of societal norms dictating what behaviors are acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on their actual or perceived gender. These roles change with time, culture, context, and interpersonal relationships.
Genderqueer or Gender queer (adjective) – An umbrella term that describes a person whose gender identity falls outside the traditional gender binary of male and female. Some people use the term gender expansive.
Heterosexual (adjective) – A sexual orientation that describes women who are primarily emotionally and physically attracted to men and men who are primarily emotionally and physically attracted to women and also referred to as straight.
Homophobia (noun) – Discrimination towards, and fear, marginalization, and hatred of lesbian and gay people or those who are perceived as lesbian or gay. Individuals, communities, policies, and institutions can be homophobic.
Intersectionality (noun) – The idea that comprehensive identities are influenced and shaped by the interconnection of race, class, ethnicity, sexuality/sexual orientation, gender/gender identity, physical disability, national origin, religion, age, and other social or physical attributes.
Intersex (adjective) – Describes a group of congenital conditions in which the reproductive organs, genitals, and/or other sexual anatomy do not develop according to traditional expectations for females or males. Intersex can also be used as an identity term for someone with one of these conditions. The medical community sometimes uses the term differences of sex development (DSD) to describe intersex conditions; however, the term intersex is recommended by several intersex community members and groups.
Lesbian (adjective, noun) – A sexual orientation that describes a woman primarily emotionally and physically attracted to other women.
Men who have sex with men/women who have sex with women (MSM/WSW) (noun) – Categories used in public health research and programs to describe people who engage in same-sex sexual behavior, regardless of how they identify their sexual orientation. People rarely use the terms MSM or WSW to express themselves.
Minority stress (noun) – Chronic stress faced by members of stigmatized minority groups, such as sexual and gender minority people. External, objective events and conditions cause minority stress, expectations of such circumstances, the internalization of societal attitudes, and the concealment of one’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Minority stress is compounded when a person holds multiple marginalized identities.
Misgender (verb) refers to a person by a pronoun or other gendered term (e.g., Ms./Mr.) that incorrectly indicates that person’s gender identity.
Non-binary (adjective) – Describes a person whose gender identity falls outside the traditional gender binary structure of girl/woman and boy/man—sometimes abbreviated as NB or by.
Open relationship (noun) – Describes a relationship between two partners who consensually agree to non-monogamy (i.e., intimacy outside the primary partnership).
Pangender (adjective) – Describes a person whose gender identity comprises many genders or falls outside the traditional cultural parameters that define gender.
Pansexual (adjective) – A sexual orientation that describes a person who is emotionally and physically attracted to people of all gender identities or whose attractions are unrelated to other people’s gender.
Polyamorous (noun) – A sexual and romantic relationship comprising three or more people. Polyamorous can also describe a person in a polyamorous relationship. It is sometimes abbreviated as poly.
QTPOC (noun) – An acronym for a queer, trans person of color or queer people of color.
Queer (adjective) – An umbrella term describing people who think of their sexual orientation or gender identity as outside societal norms. Some people view the term queer as more fluid and inclusive than traditional categories for sexual orientation and gender identity. Although queer was historically used as a slur, it has been reclaimed by many as a term of empowerment. Nonetheless, some still find the term offensive.
Questioning (adjective) – Describes a person unsure about or exploring their sexual orientation and gender identity.
Sex assigned at birth (noun) – The sex (male or female) assigned to an infant, most often based on the infant’s anatomical
and other biological characteristics. Sometimes referred to as birth sex, natal sex, biological sex, or sex; however, sex assigned at birth is the recommended term.
Sexual orientation (noun) – How a person characterizes emotional and sexual attraction to others.
Social stigma (noun) – Negative stereotypes and lower social status of a person or group based on perceived characteristics that separate that person or group from other members of a society.
Structural stigma (noun) – Societal conditions, policies, and institutional practices that restrict particular groups’ opportunities, resources, and well-being.
Top surgery (noun) – Slang term for gender-affirming chest surgery.
Transgender (adjective) – Describes a person whose gender identity and sex assigned at birth do not correspond to traditional expectations; for example, a person assigned female sex at birth who identifies as a man or a person assigned male sex at birth who identifies as a woman. Transgender can also include people with gender identities outside the girl/woman and boy/man gender binary structure; for example, people who are gender fluid or non-binary—sometimes abbreviated as trans.
Trans man/transgender man (noun) – A transgender person whose gender identity is boy/man/male may use these terms to describe themselves. Some will use the term man.
Trans woman/transgender woman (noun) – A transgender person whose gender identity is girl/woman/female may use these terms to describe themselves. Some will use the term woman.
Trans feminine (adjective) – Describes a person assigned male sex at birth and identifies with femininity to a greater extent than with masculinity.
Trans masculine (adjective) – Describes a person assigned female sex at birth and identifies with masculinity to a greater extent than with femininity.
Transphobia (noun) – Discrimination towards, fear, marginalization, and hatred of transgender people or those perceived as transgender. Individuals, communities, policies, and institutions can be transphobic.
Transsexual (adjective) – A term sometimes used in the medical literature or by some transgender people to describe people who have undergone medical gender affirmation treatments (i.e., gender-affirming hormones and surgeries).
Trauma-informed care (noun) – An organizational structure and treatment framework that centers on understanding, recognizing, and responding to the effects of all types of trauma.
Tucking (noun) – Hiding one’s penis and testes with tape, tight shorts or specially designed undergarments.
Two-Spirit (adjective) – Describes a person who embodies both a masculine and a feminine spirit. This is a culture-specific term used among some Native Americans, American Indians, and
First Nations people.