sex change
Avoid this antiquated term. See gender transition, sex reassignment.
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gender transition
The process by which transgender people change their physical, sexual characteristics from those associated with their sex at birth. This process occurs over time and may include adopting the aesthetic markers of the new gender; telling one’s family, friends and/or co-workers; changing one’s name and/or sex on legal documents; hormone therapy; and sometimes, but not …
sexual orientation
Describes an individual’s enduring physical, romantic and/or emotional attraction to another person. Gender identity and sexual orientation are not the same. Transgender people may be straight, lesbian, gay, or bisexual. For example, a person who transitions from male to female and is attracted solely to men would identify as a straight woman.
sexual preference
Avoid. Politically charged term implying that sexuality is the result of a conscious choice. Instead use sexual orientation.
bisexual, bi
A person who has the capacity to form enduring physical, romantic and/or emotional attractions to those of the same gender or to those of another gender. People may experience this attraction in differing ways and degrees over their lifetime. Bisexual people need not have had specific sexual experiences to be bisexual; in fact, they need not …
biphobia
Fear of bisexuals, often based on stereotypes, including inaccurate associations with infidelity, promiscuity, and transmission of sexually transmitted diseases. Intolerance or prejudice is usually a more accurate description of antipathy toward bisexual people. See bisexual.
sodomy laws
Historically used to selectively persecute gay people, the state laws often referred to as “sodomy laws” were ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas (2003). “Sodomy” should never be used to describe gay, lesbian or bisexual relationships or sexuality. See sodomy.
stereotypes
The word comes from the ancient Greek for “fixed impression.” Walter Lippmann (1889-1974), an American journalist, popularized the word, a printing-press term, as a metaphor for “a picture in our heads” that could be true or, more often, false. Examples of stereotypes include geisha, delivery boy, manicurist and Samurai (all used metaphorically).
Stonewall
The Stonewall Inn tavern in New York City’s Greenwich Village was the site of several nights of raucous protests after a police raid on June 28, 1969. Although not the nation’s first gay civil rights demonstration, Stonewall is now regarded as the birth of the modern gay civil rights movement.
straight
Heterosexual; describes a person whose sexual and affectional attraction is to someone of the opposite sex. As a noun, use “heterosexual” or “straight person.”