The following terms and definitions are sourced from Spectrum Waterloo Region’s Rainbow Community Space. This guide was created for people in Canada and may not reflect the preferences and identities of queer people everywhere. This guide is not exhaustive, and should not be used to police the language used by people to describe themselves.
What does 2SLGBTQIA+ mean?
- AFAB (assigned female at birth): when they were born, the doctor said “it’s a girl!”
- Lesbian: a woman who is attracted to women
- Trans(gender): someone whose biology does not align with the gender they were assigned at birth
- Intersex: someone whose biology has both male and female traits, or whose biology is ambiguous
- 2 (Two)-Spirit: a culture-specific gender identity coming from some Indigenous Canadian traditions
- Bisexual: people attracted to more than one gender (but possibly not all genders)
- Queer: historically used as an insult, reclaimed by some as a positive term meaning anyone who is not cis or straight
- Ace (asexual): someone who doesn’t experience sexual attraction and may or may not experience other kinds of attraction
- Agender: someone who does not have a gender
- AMAB (assigned male at birth): when they were born, the doctor said “it’s a boy!”
- Gay: a man who is attracted to men. Also used more generally referring to people who are not cisgender or straight
- Cis(gender): someone whose biology aligns with the gender they were assigned at birth
- Non-Binary: someone with any gender outside the binary of man or woman
- Pansexual: someone whose attraction is not dependent on gender
- Questioning: someone who is unsure or questioning their gender or sexuality
- Aro(mantic): someone who doesn’t experience romantic attraction and may or may not experience other kinds of attraction
- Ally: someone who is not 2SLGBTQIA+ but supports and advocates for 2SLGBTQIA+ people
Terms to Use
Attraction
There are five types of attraction. People who are allosexual (people not on the asexual spectrum) typically experience multiple types of attraction at the same time:
- Sexual: the desire to have sex with someone
- Sensual: the desire to have physical contact like hugs or handholding with someone
- Romantic: the desire to have a romantic relationship with someone
- Platonic: the desire to have a platonic attraction with someone
- Aesthetic: getting pleasure from someone’s appearance
Gender
- Identity: a person’s internal sense of self and the gender they feel like inside
- Expression: how someone expresses their gender identity to the world
- Binary: the classification of all humans into one of two fixed genders
- Dysphoria: distress caused by the difference between one’s sex assigned at birth and one’s gender identity
- Euphoria: the joy and validation of being seen as one’s true gender
- Nonconforming: someone whose appearance or behaviour doesn’t conform to traditional gender norms (not a synonym for non-binary)
Sexual Orientation
- separate from gender identity, orientation refers to the types of people that someone is attracted to
Biological Sex
- a rough category made up of a number of factors including chromosomes, genitalia, hormones, and internal reproductive organs – which do not define gender
Misgender
- either intentionally or unintentionally using incorrect pronouns or otherwise referring to someone with language that does not correctly reflect their gender
Non-Binary
An umbrella term meaning any person with a gender that is outside the binary of man or woman
- Agender / Neutrois: someone who does not have a gender
- Bigender: someone with two genders that may or may not occur simultaneously
- Demiboy / Demigirl: someone who partially but not completely identifies with a binary gender.
- Genderfluid: someone whose gender identity changes over time
- Genderqueer: an identity that is becoming less common, referring to anyone whose gender is queer or the queering of gender
- Masc / femme: terms used to refer to people whose expression
Out…
- Coming Out: acknowledgement and/or disclosure of a marginalized gender or sexual orientation
- Outing: disclosing someone’s gender identity or sexual orientation without their consent
- Out: someone who describes themselves as 2SLGBTQIA+ in their personal and/or professional life
Transition
- the process of changing one’s gender presentation to better align with their gender identity, which may or may not include medical treatment like surgeries or hormones
Deadname
- using a trans or non-binary person’s birth name without their consent, deadnaming can be accidental, but is often used to intentionally shame or dismiss a person’s gender identity
Terms to Avoid
- Biologically male/female or male/female-bodied: these terms overly simplify the complex biology of sex and focus the conversation on a person’s genitals rather than their identity
- Closeted: this is an outdated term. Say instead that someone is not out or not public
- Gay / Homosexual / Trans Agenda: these terms are rhetoric used by anti-2SLGBTQIA+ extremists to stir up hatred toward 2SLGBTQIA+ who engage in advocacy for equal rights
- Hermaphrodite: an offensive outdated term referring to someone who is transgender or intersex. Do not use.
- Gay / Homosexual / Trans Lifestyle: rhetoric used to stir up hatred toward 2SLGBTQIA+ people. Just as there is no straight lifestyle, there is no one gay or trans lifestyle.
- Preferred Pronouns: implies that pronouns are merely a preference that can be disregarded. Refer instead simply to someone’s pronouns.
- Opposite sex/gender: saying that someone is the opposite sex is binary centric language that implies that the only two possible combinations of gender are same and opposite, which erases non-binary people.
- Sex change / reassignment: an outdated term referring to surgical procedures used for medical transition. Refer instead to gender confirming surgery.
- Stealth / passing: some trans people use these terms among themselves, but should never be used when writing about trans people. If you must, refer to someone as visibly trans or not visibly trans.
- Transgenderism: rhetoric used to stir up hatred toward trans people. Being trans is an identity, not a belief.
- Womxn: an alternate spelling of “women” popularized in 2010. However, it is now considered an offensive term as it implies that trans women aren’t women and that AFAB non-binary people are women.
- TIM (trans-identified-male) / TIF (trans-identified- female): offensive terms used to delegitimize trans gender identity
- Born a man / born a woman: Gender is a social construct. People aren’t born men or women, they are born infants.
- Enby: A term derived from the letters in the abbreviated form of “non-binary”. Some non-binary people self- describe as “enby”, while others feel it’s infantalizing when imposed as a label from outside. Use if quoting someone who refers to themselves as “enby” or “an enby”, but never use to describe someone who has not identified themselves that way.
- FTM (female-to-male) / MTF (male-to-female): this is an outdated term that should not be used because not all trans people have binary genders. Only use if you are quoting someone who is describing themselves and their own experiences.
- Gay marriage / married: marriage equality is (for now) the law of the land. If you’re not talking about the history of marriage equality or comparing straight marriage to gay marriage, then simply use the terms “marriage” or “married”.
- Homosexual / Same-sex: outdated terms that defines sexuality in terms of the gender binary. Use either Gay or Lesbian when referring to people with binary genders who are attracted to people of the same gender.
- Openly gay: an outdated term. Say instead that someone is out or public.
- Pre-op(erative) / Post-op(erative): outdated terms focusing on genitals and the status of someone’s medical transition is a way of delegitimizing trans gender identity. Not all trans people can access medical transition, and not all trans people wish to fully transition. Similarly, some trans people choose some aspects of medical transition while refusing others.
- Rapid onset gender dysphoria: a term used by TERFs and the “gender critical” movement to stir up panic about the “indoctrination” of children into the “trans lifestyle”.
- Sexual preference: implies that attraction is a choice that can be changed, rather than part of who someone is. Refer instead to sexual orientation.
- Transsexual: an offensive outdated term for someone who is transgender that is nonetheless still used by some older trans people. Only use this word if you are quoting someone who is directly talking about their own experiences as a trans person.