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LGBT / GLBT
Acronym for ‘Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender’. It is an umbrella term used to refer to the community as a whole.
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Lesbian
A woman whose enduring physical, romantic and/or emotional attraction is to other women. Some lesbians may prefer to identify as gay or gay women.
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Gay
A word describing a man or a woman who is emotionally, romantically and sexually attracted to members of the same sex.
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Bisexual, Bi
An individual who is physically, romantically and/or emotionally attracted to men and women.
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Transgender
An umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or gender expression differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. The term is not limited to transsexuals, cross-dressers, and other gender-variant people. Transgenders may identify as female to male (FTM) or male to female (MTF). Transgenders may or may not choose to alter their bodies hormonally and/or surgically.
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Closeted / Being in the Closet
A metaphor used to describe an LGBT person who has not disclosed his or her sexual orientation or gender identity.
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Coming Out
The process of acknowledging one’s sexual orientation and/or gender identity to other people. For most LGBT people this is a lifelong process.
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Gay Pride
Common name for celebrations commemorating the Stonewall riots and for marches and public demonstrations by the LGBT community in general.
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Gender Identity
One's internal, personal sense of being man or woman (or boy or girl). For transgenders, their birth-assigned sex and internal sense of gender identity do not match.
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Hijra
Biological / anatomical males who reject their 'masculine' identity to identify either as women, or not-men, or in-between man and woman, or neither man nor woman. The term 'hijra' is used in north India while in Tamil Nadu, the terms are 'Aravani' and 'Thirunangai'.
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Homophobia
Fear of lesbians and gay men. Also implies hatred or antipathy toward LGBTs.
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Homosexual
Older term to describe people who are attracted to members of the same sex. Gay and/or lesbian are preferred terms by some.
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Males who have Sex with Males (MSM)
An umbrella term for all biological males who have sex with other males, regardless of sexual / gender identity, and includes transgenders / transsexuals (male to female) as they are biologically male.
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Queer
Originally an abusive epithet for a gay man, it is now used by some academics and activists to refer to anything sexually or gender diverse.
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Sexual Orientation
Describes an individual's enduring physical, romantic, emotional and/or spiritual attraction to members of the same and/or opposite sex including lesbian, gay, bisexual, heterosexual and asexual orientations or neither.