LGBTQI+ - DEFINITIONS

General definitions

LGBTQI+: Acronym designating people with minority sexual orientations and/or gender identities.

It stands for: Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans, Queer, Intersex and the “+” to suggest the diversity of existing minority sexual orientation and gender identity.

Self-determination: Everyone is an expert in their body and its feelings. Thus, only oneself can define oneself in terms of one's sexual or emotional orientation or even one's gender identity.

Each of the definitions given here are therefore indicative!

Sexual Orientation: Refers to sexual attraction toward one or more genders.

Affective orientation: Refers to emotional attraction towards one or more genders.

Gender identity: Part of our social identity based on the feeling of belonging to one gender, several or none.

Gender Expression: How a person expresses their gender. This could be through their appearance (clothing, makeup, etc.), their behavior or other social expressions.

Coming-out: Announcing one's sexual orientation and/or minority gender identity. This can be done several times in one's life (to friends, relatives, at work, etc.)

Outing: Revealing another's sexual orientation or gender identity without their consent. It is a form of violence that can endanger the person concerned.

Questioning: Refers to a person questioning their gender identity and/or sexual orientation. This may take time and require experimentation (testing the use of the chosen pronoun and/or first name for example).

Discrimination: Denying someone something or subjecting them to violence because of a difference. To go further: servicepublic.fr

Ally: Made for a person not to be concerned but wishes to support the cause. Being an ally could consist of being interested in the subject, respecting the words of the people concerned or even knowing how to recognize when a comment was inappropriate or violent...

Queer: English word that can mean weird. Initially used as an insult towards people who go beyond the norms (i.e. LGBTI+ people for example), it has been the subject of reappropriation. Term used today by people whose gender identity and/or sexual orientation falls outside of social norms.

Some sexual and romantic orientations

Homosexuality: Orientation of people attracted to the same gender by which they define themselves. Generally speaking, when it comes to a couple made up of women, we speak of a lesbian couple. For a couple of men, we will speak of a gay couple.

Heterosexuality: Orientation of people attracted to a gender different from their own. Traditionally used to refer to female-male couples.

Bisexuality: The orientation of people attracted to two or more genders.

It is not because a bisexual person is in a relationship with a person of a different gender from their own that they are any less bisexual!

Pansexuality: The orientation of people who are attracted to a person regardless of their gender identity.

We can simply say that it’s the person that counts and not their gender!

Asexuality: An umbrella term referring to a multitude of feelings. Generally speaking, asexuality concerns people who are not or only slightly sexually attracted to others. Asexuality does not mean being aromantic (not feeling romantic attraction).

Among the asexual diversity, we could think of demisexuality for example!

Affective orientations: Each of the definitions given above applies to affective orientations.

For example, a homoromantic person will be someone who is romantically attracted to people of the same gender as themselves.

Polyamory: A person being attracted to more than one person. She may interact with one or more people at the same time with the informed consent of each person.

A polyamorous person who is not in a relationship with others is no less polyamorous!

Some gender identities

Transgender: A person whose perceived gender differs from the one assigned to them at birth.

Cisgender : As opposed to transidentity, a cisgender person will be a person whose perceived gender corresponds to the one assigned to them at birth.

Agender : Someone who does not feel gender.

Non-binary: A person whose perceived gender does not fully correspond to the masculine or feminine gender.

Non-binarity is an umbrella term that brings together many different experiences!

Genderfluid or gender fluidity : Person whose perceived gender is not fixed and can change.

Transition : Refers to a process followed by a trans person. This could take several forms.

It is important to note that a trans person does not have to transition and that every journey is different.

Social transition : Consists of a trans person making themselves known as their perceived identity to those close to them. This could be a coming out, a request to use the chosen first name and/or the chosen pronoun.

Administrative transition : Consists of a trans person making their identity known to the administrations (school, marital status, etc.)

Medical transition: Consists of a trans person using medical means to match physical characteristics to their gender identity. This could be taking hormones, operations...

Deadname / morinom: First name given at birth which is no longer used by a person. While some trans people have no problem giving it, it can result in a lot of violence for others.

Gender euphoria / gender dysphoria : Gender euphoria is a feeling of well-being from a person respected in their gender or expressing it freely. Conversely, dysphoria will designate the discomfort arising from the difference between one's gender identity and that which was assigned to oneself at birth.

Intersex

Extract from a definition given by the Intersex Activist Collective

“Intersex people are born with sex characteristics that do not fit typical definitions of masculine and feminine.

Intersex people do not necessarily have both male and female sex characteristics. Only characteristics that don't meet either person's standards.

Variations in sexual characteristics may be visible at birth or appear later, such as adolescence, or be detected in adulthood.

Source: Facebook definition publication

This page does not aim to be exhaustive in the definitions given but to give some of them. If you have any other questions or would like to go further, do not hesitate to contact us or take a look at our documentation page!