What is the difference between gay and transgender
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Definitions
Sexual orientation
An inherent or immutable enduring emotional, romantic or sexual attraction to other people. Note: an individual’s sexual orientation is independent of their 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 distinct from their sex assigned at birth.
Gender expression
External appearance of one's gender individuality, usually expressed through deed, clothing, body characteristics or voice, and which may or may not conform to socially defined behaviors and characteristics typically linked with being either masculine or feminine.
Transgender
An umbrella designation 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, gender nonconforming people may identify as straight, gay, lesbian, bi, etc.
Gender transition
The process by which some people aspire to more closely
List of LGBTQ+ terms
A
Abro (sexual and romantic)
A word used to explain people who have a fluid sexual and/or love-related orientation which changes over time, or the course of their life. They may use different terms to describe themselves over time.
Ace
An umbrella term used specifically to describe a lack of, varying, or occasional experiences of sexual attraction. This encompasses asexual people as well as those who identify as demisexual and grey-sexual. Ace people who experience sentimental attraction or occasional sexual attraction might also utilize terms such as male lover, bi, lesbian, straight and queer in conjunction with asexual to describe the direction of their love-related or sexual attraction.
Ace and aro/ace and aro spectrum
Umbrella terms used to portray the wide group of people who experience a lack of, varying, or occasional experiences of lovey-dovey and/or sexual attraction, including a lack of attraction. People who identify under these umbrella terms may describe themselves using one or more of a wide variety of terms, including, but not limited to, asexual, ace, aromantic, aro, demi, grey, and abro. People may also use terms such as gay,
Nope!
It’s easy to get this confused, particularly because T is included in the LGBTQ+ acronym (T standing for “Transgender”). The key is to remember that transgender is referring to someone’s gender identity and not their sexuality orientation. Transgender people can be gay, straight, pansexual, homosexual, asexual, or any other sexual orientation (just fond of cisgender people!).
Recent FAQs
All FAQsWhat about advanced workshops? Safe Zone 201 perhaps?
Our Foundational Curriculum is a designed to create a Safe Zone 101 overview workshop. We recommend this workshop for all audiences – homosexual, straight, queer, allied, and anywhere in between (or outside) those categories. While some of it may be old information for some, we believe that everyone, no matter their knowledge level, will gain something out of the experience.
We do have exercises that can be used for more advanced/specific workshops. Just check out the explore activities tab and search under the “201” levels for more advanced activities!
I have an activity I think you should add to the site. Do you need to see it?
Yes! One of our goals for this project is to turn it into the go-to resou
Glossary of Terms
Many Americans refrain from talking about sexual orientation and gender identity or statement because it feels taboo, or because they’re scared of saying the untrue thing.
This glossary was written to help give people the words and meanings to help make conversations easier and more cozy. LGBTQ+ people use a variety of terms to identify themselves, not all of which are included in this glossary. Always listen for and respect a person’s self identified terminology.
Ally | A word used to describe someone who is actively supportive of LGBTQ+ people. It encompasses straight and cisgender allies, as well as those within the Diverse community who support each other (e.g., a womxn loving womxn who is an ally to the bisexual community).
Asexual | Often called “ace” for short, asexual refers to a complete or partial lack of sexual attraction or lack of interest in sexual action with others. Asexuality exists on a spectrum, and asexual people may exposure no, little or conditional sexual attraction.
Biphobia | The fear and hatred of, or discomfort with, people who love and are sexually attracted to more than one gender.
Bisexual | .