LGBTQ Terminology

As Visit Sacramento increases its outreach to and support of the LGBTQ community, we added these terms and definitions to our website to help educate and inform our visitors as well as the community. The definitions below have been provided by GLADD.

  • Gender Identity - A private and personal sense of being along the spectrum of man or woman.
  • Gender Expression -The manner in which each person manifests their own femininity or masculinity. This also includes androgynous.
  • Sexual Orientation - The romantic, emotional, and/or sexual attraction to persons of the same sex or gender,  opposite sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than 1 gender.
  • Gender Affirming - A space, interaction, or experience that supports the spectrum of gender expression and creates a safe platform for all persons.
  • Cisgender - A person who's sense of personal identity or gender identity aligns with the sex in which they were born.
  • Gender Pronouns - The third-person pronoun used to refer to someone directly, based on their gender. Examples: She, her, him, his, they, or them. There are also many gender neutral pronouns. Important note: Gender pronouns, identities, and expressions are not always identical.
  • Gender Neutral - Suitable to, adaptable to, or created for all persons; regardless of gender expression or identity.
  • LGBTQIA - Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans(sexual or gender), Queer (also noted as Questioning), Intersex, Asexual
  • Lesbian - A woman who is emotionally, romantically or sexually attracted to other women.
  • Gay - A person who is emotionally, romantically or sexually attracted to members of the same gender.
  • Bisexual - A term that describes someone who is attracted to both men and women, or to more than one gender identity.
  • Trans(sexual) - A person who's gender identity is inconsistent with, or not culturally aligned with, the sex they were assigned at birth and desire to physically transition to align with their proper gender identity/the opposite sex.
  • Trans(gender) - A person who does not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth and aligns, socially and culturally, with their proper gender. This includes people that identify as gender nonconforming, nonbinary, genderqueer, two-spirited, androgynous, third gender, gender neutral, etc.
  • Queer - Is a term that identifies someone that may have a more fluid gender and sexual experience or orientation. There is no definite defining nature of the term queer. Note: Historically it was used as a derogatory term and is only recently become more socially acceptable.
  • Intersex - A person who's reproductive or sexual anatomy that does not into the typical definitions of male or female.
  • Asexual - A person without sexual feelings or sexual associations. Asexual people can experience attractions, have meaningful relationships, etc. Asexuality does not always correlate to one sexual orientation.
  • Pansexual - Identifies a person that is not limited biological sex, gender identity, or gender expression in terms of sexual, emotional, and mental attraction.
  • Agender - A word that can describe a person who does not identify as any gender. Agender is not synonymous with genderqueer, genderfluid, or nonbinary.
  • Ally - A straight and/or cisgender person who supports and advocates for LGBTQ people.
  • Androgyne- A gender identity in which a person feels their gender is between male and female and feels both masculine and feminine simultaneously. An androgyne person may feel more masculine than feminine, more feminine than masculine, or an equal amount of both at any given time. Presenting androgynously is not a requirement for this gender identity.
  • Androgynous - A person that has both masculine and feminine qualities.
  • Bicurious - Similar to "questioning," bicurious people are exploring whether or not they’re attracted to people of the same gender as well as people of different genders.
  • Bigender - Someone who identifies with two distinct genders, such as man/woman or woman/androgyne. Bigender people don’t necessarily identify with each gender 50 percent of the time, and unlike gender fluid people, they don’t exist on a spectrum, either.
  • Gender dysphoria - Refers to psychological distress that can result from an incongruence between one's sex assigned at birth and one's gender identity. Not all transgender people experience dysphoria, and those who do may experience it at varying levels of intensity.
  • Genderfluid - One who identifies as genderfluid doesn’t have a fixed gender identity—meaning, they may identify as male, female, or nonbinary on a shifting basis. Gender-fluid people choose not to abide by the socially-enforced binaries of male or female.
  • Gender non-conforming - A term used to describe some people whose gender expression is different from conventional expectations of masculinity and femininity. Please note that not all gender non-conforming people identify as transgender, nor are all transgender people gender non-conforming.
  • Latine - A culturally appropriate gender-neutral term used to replace the gender-specific Latino or Latina. It can be used to refer to a group of people or to a single person of Latin-American descent.