LGBTIQ – Useful Terms
Autohomophobia – Hatred or fear of homosexuals, most often by members of the same community i.e. homosexuals.
Biphobia – Aversion of bisexual people. A frequent type of discrimination that can be found in groups or individuals with different sexual or gender identities. This is a usual cause for discrimination against Bisexual people because of unjustified fear and perpetuation of stereotypes about bisexuality.
Bisexuality – Bisexuals, or Bi for short are people who are attracted emotionally and sexually to both sexes.
Coming Out – Process of revealing one’s sexuality to the people close to us or in public. This is a long process that for some people takes a lifetime, and for some it is constant repetition in the varying environments where they are, family, friendships, work etc. Unfortunately only LGBTIQ people are imposed to have to come out.
Gay (Homosexuality) – Person(s) attracted to people from the same sex. Even though these terms are used mostly to describe men attracted by men, both terms can apply to indicate gay women.
Gender identity – Marks the felt gender identity as male, female, something in between or something outside these divisions of gender identities.
Gender role – Socially imposed gender identity. Most often defined as either male or female.
Homophobia – Hatred or fear against homosexuals usually by heterosexuals. This is a common reason for discrimination against homosexuals.
Intersex – People born with varying degrees of bodily organs, hormones and other biological indicators of both sexes, both male and female.
Lesbian (Homosexuality) – Women who are attracted by women, It is very important to know this division between gay and lesbian identity as, unfortunately, women’s rights is a battle, shared by lesbians, who as women face different challenges and are often less privileged than men.
LGBT – In short, the most used acronym to point to the sexual identity and gender identity differences intersections when working with human rights to explain and point to Lesbians, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people.
Queer – Queer is not really a sexual identity per se. On the contrary it is a sort of a logic that returns to the constantly ongoing process of reformulating and re-creating one’s given identities as well as the felt identities. Queer is used in political terms to help increase visibility of LGBTI, as well as inside the movement to point to the idea that the work on each individual’s identity may not necessarily be fixed, but instead fluid and multilayered in time.
Sexual orientation – Describes a person’s sexual, emotional, romantic, physical, psychological and/or spiritual attraction.
Straight (Heterosexuality) – People attracted to people of the opposite sex.
Transgender – A more general term describing people whose gender identity and gender expression is different from the biological, i.e. the one assigned at birth.
Transphobia – Hatred or fear against transgender people. Unfortunately this type of discrimination involves often physical and psychological violence against transgender people. This type of discrimination is not limited to heterosexuals and may appear regardless of one’s gender or sexual identity.
Transsexuality – People with a gender identity different from the one assigned at birth. Trans (in short) can be either MTF (male-to-female) or FTM (female-to-male). Their sexuality is not directly linked nor explained by their gender and can vary throughout the spectrum of known sexual identities.