LGBTQIA+ definitions Part 1: A - K.

Hello everyone. As the theme of the month for this month and June is LGBTQIA+, I wanted to post some words with their definitions. I know sometimes people do not necessarily understand what certain words mean. But if we know more then we can be more understanding. It can also help us to better support people who may face challenges such as the LGBTQIA+ community.

It does not matter how you identify or what labels you choose to use, if you do choose to you any. You do not have to but any labels and identity of either sexuality or gender is valid. For example you might decide you are gynesexual or gyneromantic where you sexual/romantic attraction women and femininity.

You could identify as multigender where you experience multiple gender identities. Polygender could be an alternative term too. If you experience all genders then you might use either omnigender or pangender for any gender.

There might be words here that are familiar to you, maybe some that are new to you. However, it is not up to anyone to tell someone how they identify. Is it up to you as an individual person to identify in whatever way makes you feel comfortable. Be yourself and never let anyone switch off your light! Also, if you are in the closet and not ready to come out then that is fine. You can come out whenever you feel ready to and no one should judge you.

Now I hope this helps people...

AFAB: Assigned Female At Birth.

Agender: ‘an agender person is neither a woman, a man, nor any other gender. Being agender can be defined as having no gender identity. Some feeling that they identify more as a person rather than a gender, or feeling genderless, or maybe just not in the gender binary. Agender or genderless people can also self-identify as gender-neutral, not identifying whatsoever as male or female.’¹

Alloromantic/zedromantic: ‘someone who does experience romantic attraction. An alloromantic person may be allosexual as well but necessarily.’²

Allosexual/zedsexual: ‘someone who does experience sexual attraction, and therefore is not on the ace spectrum.’³

AMAB: Assigned Male At Birth.

Androgynous: ‘A gender expression that has elements of both masculinity and femininity; also occasionally used in place of “intersex” to describe a person with both female and male anatomy.’⁴

There was a human definition and an official definition on the website. I took the official definition to reference here.

Aromantic: ‘This term is used to describe a person that does not experience romantic attraction. An aromantic person might still experience sexual attraction or desire and describe their sexual orientation in a particular way, for example, ‘aromantic lesbian’ (see ‘Lesbian’).’⁵

Aromantic can be abbreviated to aro.

Asexual: ‘Often called “ace” for short, asexual refers to a complete or partial lack of sexual attraction or lack of interest in sexual activity with others. Asexuality exists on a spectrum, and asexual people may experience no, little or conditional sexual attraction.’⁶

Asexual can abbreviated to ace. Also, someone can identify as apothisexual when they are asexual and are sex-repulsed.

Bi (sexual or romantic): ‘These are umbrella terms used to describe a romantic and/or sexual orientation towards more than one gender. Bi people may describe themselves using one or more of a wide variety of terms, including but not limited to, bisexual, pan, queer, and some other non-monosexual and non-monoromantic identities.’⁷

Cisgender: ‘This describes someone who aligns with the gender they were assigned at birth for example cis woman or cis man.’⁸

Cupioromantic: Someone who is cupioromantic wants a romantic relationship but does not experience romantic attraction.

Cupiosexual: ‘Cupiosexuality falls under the larger asexual spectrum as a more specific label of asexuality. While asexuality describes someone who feels little to no attraction to others, cupiosexuality describes someone who still desires a sexual relationship despite feeling little to no attraction. So basically they want to have a sexual relationship, but they don’t experience sexual attraction.’⁹

Demigender/Bigender/Genderflux/Genderfluid: I found a link that provided a definition to all four of these terms in one go. This is why I have put them together.

‘Demigender is an umbrella term for people who identify partly, but not fully, with a certain gender. The prefix demi- means “half.” People who identify as demigender may use identifying terms like demigirl or demiboy.

Demigender is distinct from bigender, which indicates two genders or a combination of two. The term demigender is sometimes considered to overlap with genderflux, which is used by people who experience a range of intensity within a gender identity.

This means that a genderflux individual may experience the feeling of multiple genders on any given day (or moment). The term gender-fluid is sometimes used synonymously with genderflux.’¹⁰

Demiromantic: This is similar to demisexual [see below] except people only experience a romantic attraction once they form a deep emotional connection. This is unlike demisexual which is based on the experiencing of a sexual attraction as mentioned in the next definition.

Demisexual: ‘People who only experience sexual attraction once they form a strong emotional connection with another person.’¹¹

FIN: Feminine in Nature.

This includes the gender identity of fingender which includes anyone who identifies as having a feminine gender such as feminine presenting non-binary people.

Finsexual is another identity which refers to someone who is sexually attracted to feminine in nature people. This includes women, feminine presenting non-binary people and could include feminine men. Finromantic on the other hand, is someone who is romantically attracted to feminine in nature people.

FTM: Female to male, meaning a trans man.

Gay: ‘A term used to describe people who are emotionally, romantically, and/or physically attracted to people of the same gender (e.g., gay man, gay people). In contemporary contexts, lesbian is often a preferred term for women, though many women use the term gay to describe themselves. People who are gay need not have had any sexual experience. Attraction and self-identification determines sexual orientation, not the gender or sexual orientation of one’s partner. The term should not be used as an umbrella term for LGBTQ+ people, e.g. “the gay community,” because it excludes other sexual orientations and genders. Avoid using gay in a disparaging manner, e.g. “that’s so gay,” as a synonym for stupid or bad.’¹²

Gender: Gender is a social construct based on the stereotypes, expectations, and societal roles of which are assigned to one's biological sex. A person's gender can change over time and is not necessarily fixed.

Gender identity: ‘a person's deep sense of their own gender as being man, or woman or something else (non-binary), which may or may not accord with their sex assignment at birth.’¹³

Gender non-conforming: ‘Gender nonconforming is an umbrella term that includes “anyone or anything that challenges gender expectations,” says [Courtney] D’Allaird. In other words, gender nonconforming people “challenge and subvert gender stereotypes and expectations.” In some societies, there is a set of expectations that come with each gender—like women wear pink and men wear blue—but those who identify as gender nonconforming reject that way of thinking entirely.’¹⁴

Genderqueer: ‘an older term for 'non-binary', which some non-binary people may prefer to use about themselves’.¹⁵

Bimini summed up the definition of genderqueer perfectly so I referenced her again.

Greyromantic: ‘Someone who doesn’t experience feel romantic attraction very often, or doesn’t experience strong romantic attraction to other people.’¹⁶

Greysexual: ‘Someone who doesn’t experience sexual attraction very often, or who doesn’t have strong feelings of sexual attraction.’¹⁷

Heterosexual: ‘Refers to a person who identifies as man who is sexually and/or emotionally attracted only to people who identify as women. It also refers to a person who identifies as woman who is sexually and/or emotionally attracted only to people who identify as men.’¹⁸

Intersex: ‘A term used to describe a person who has biological attributes of both male and female sexes or whose biological attributes do not fit with societal or medical assumptions about what constitutes male or female.

Intersex people may identify as male, female, non-binary or otherwise.’¹⁹

I hope you have found this useful. I shall do another post with terminology for the letters L - Z. There was too many to fit into one post.

Until next time,

Thomas.

Footnotes:

¹ "Agender," Dictionary of queer terminology, Pronouns.page, accessed 7 May 2025, Dictionary of queer terminology • Pronouns.page.
² "Identities," Ace and aro spectrum definitions, OU LGBT SOCIETY, accessed 7 May 2025, Ace/ Aro Spectrum Definitions.
³  OU LGBT SOCIETY, "Identities."
⁴ "Androgynous," Queer dictionary, Queer Events, accessed 7 May 2025, Queer Dictionary | QueerEvents.ca.
⁵ "Sexual orientation glossary," LGBTQ+ Glossary, Mind OUT, accessed 7 May 2025, LGBTQ+ Glossary - MindOut LGBTQ Mental Health Service.
⁶ "Glossary of terms," Resources, HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN, accessed 7 May 2025, HRC | Glossary of Terms.
⁷ "LGBTQIA+ Glossary," LGBTQIA+, NHS Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, accessed 7 May 2025, LGBTQIA+ Glossary - Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
⁸ LGBT A to Z, LGBT Youth Scotland, accessed 7 May 2025, LGBT A to Z - LGBT Youth Scotland.
⁹ "45 Gender- and Sexuality- Related Terms You Need to Know," Sex & Intimacy, Cosmopolitan, accessed 7 May 2025, 45 Sexual Orientation and Gender Terms You Should Know - Sexual Orientation Definitions.
¹⁰ "Demigender, Maverique and gender terms you may not know," Dictionary.com, accessed 7 May 2025, Maverique And Other Gender Terms You May Not Know | Dictionary.com.
¹¹ "Understanding asexuality," Sexual Orientation resources, Resources, THE TREVOR PROJECT, accessed 7 May 2025, Understanding Asexuality: FAQs & Supportive Resources.
¹² "PFLAG NATIONAL GLOSSARY," PFLAG, accessed 7 May 2025, PFLAG National Glossary - PFLAG.
¹³ Bimini Bon Boulash, Release the BEAST, (Viking, 2021), 228.
¹⁴ "20 Gender Identity Definitions to Know and Understand," Lifestyle, Cosmopolitan, accessed 7 May 2025, 20 Gender Identity Definitions and Terms to Know and Understand.
¹⁵ Boulash, Release the BEAST, 229.
¹⁶ "Gender and Sexuality definitions," LGBTQ+ Terms, Childline, accessed 7 May 2025, LGBTQ+ terms | Childline.
¹⁷ Childline, "Gender and Sexuality definitions."
¹⁸ "OUR GLOSSARY," Who we are, About Us, ILGA EUROPE, accessed 7 May 2025, Our glossary | ILGA-Europe.
¹⁹ "List of LGBTQ+ Terms," Resources, Stonewall, accessed 7 May 2025, List of LGBTQ+ terms | Stonewall.

Bibliography:

Boulash, Bimini Bon. Release the BEAST.  Viking, 2021.

Childline. "Gender and Sexuality definitions." LGBTQ+ Terms. Accessed 7th May 2025. LGBTQ+ terms | Childline

Cosmopolitan. "20 Gender Identity Definitions to Know and Understand." Lifestyle. Accessed 7th May 2025. 20 Gender Identity Definitions and Terms to Know and Understand

Cosmopolitan. "45 Gender- and Sexuality- Related Terms you Need to Know." Sex and intimacy. Accessed 7th May 2025. 45 Sexual Orientation and Gender Terms You Should Know - Sexual Orientation Definitions

Dictionary.com. "Demigender, Maverique, And Gender Terms You May Not Know." Accessed 7th May 2025. Maverique And Other Gender Terms You May Not Know | Dictionary.com

HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN. "Glossary of Terms." Resources. Accessed 7th May 2025. HRC | Glossary of Terms

ILGA EUROPE. "OUR GLOSSARY." Who we are, About us. Accessed 7th May 2025. Our glossary | ILGA-Europe

LGBT YOUTH SCOTLAND. LGBT A to Z. Accessed 7th May 2025. LGBT A to Z - LGBT Youth Scotland

Mind OUT. "Sexual Orientation Glossary." LGBTQ+ Glossary A to Z. Accessed 7th May 2025. LGBTQ+ Glossary - MindOut LGBTQ Mental Health Service

NHS Hull University Training Hospitals. "LGBTQIA+ Glossary." LGBTQIA+. Accessed 7th May 2025. LGBTQIA+ Glossary - Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

OU LGBT SOCIETY. "Identities." Ace and aro spectrum definitions. Accessed 7th May 2025. Ace/ Aro Spectrum Definitions

PFLAG. "PFLAG NATIONAL GLOSSARY." Accessed 7th May 2025. PFLAG National Glossary - PFLAG

Pronouns.page. "Agender." Dictionary of queer terminology. Accessed 7th May 2025. Dictionary of queer terminology • Pronouns.page

Queer Events. "Androgynous." Queer Dictionary. Accessed 7th May 2025. Queer Dictionary | QueerEvents.ca

Stonewall. "List of LGBTQ+ Terms." Resources. Accessed 7th May 2025. List of LGBTQ+ terms | Stonewall

THE TREVOR PROJECT. "Understanding asexuality." Sexual Orientation resources, Resources. Accessed 7th May 2025. Understanding Asexuality: FAQs & Supportive Resources