LGBTQ Terms

Transgender and Transsexual are individuals who do not identify with the sex they are born into. "Transgender" individuals feel a lack of fit between their own internal gender and the gender roles made by their society. Some transgender people's sense of difference is so strong that they identify as "transsexual," someone who believes their assigned sex at birth is wrong and their correct sex is one that aligns with their internal feelings.     FtM or F2M or F-->M - someone who was born genetically female but identifies as male
    MtF or M2F or M-->F - someone who was born genetically male but identifies as female

Gender Fluid - someone who identifies as more male at some times and more female at others. Some genderfluid people will have a preferred single pronoun and gender from which they shift to varying degrees, others are very fluid and may prefer to be called "him" at some times and "her" at others.

Bi-Gender - used by some individuals who have both clearly male identification at some times, and at other times clearly female, (some of whom may use different names for each identity), but who do not identify as fluid across the range of the gender spectrum.

A-gender or Gender Neutral - an individual who does not strongly identify as either female or male, most of the time. They may choose to present an androgenous appearance, or may not, but this refers to their personal self-identification.

Intersex - a person born with chromosomal or anatomical features of both sexes (the old term, "hermaphrodite", is now considered discourteous.) Intersex people are usually "assigned" a single gender at birth by parents or doctors, to affect the way in which they will be raised.

Cis-Gender - someone who does identify as the same gender as their chromosomal or birth gender

Gender-Queer - a debated term for all individuals of non-cis-gendered identification. Some people, particularly older individuals, do not like the term "queer" as an inclusive term (and may find its use offensive), some do like it and find it useful shorthand.

Heterosexual - a person attracted to the opposite sex

Homosexual - a person attracted to individuals of the same sex. ** be aware that the use of this word in derogatory ways has made it feel offensive to many individuals ** gay and lesbian are the accepted terms, with "gay" sometimes being used by women as well as men for their same-sex attraction..

Bi-sexual - a person attracted to both men and women

A-sexual - a person with no strong sexual attraction to either men or women

Cross-Dressing - someone who prefers, at least at times, to wear clothing strongly identified with their non-birth gender. They may or may not have any same-sex attraction, or trans-gender identification. (ie. it is possible for a cis-gender heterosexual man to simply like cross-dressing in female clothing.)

GSM, for Gender-Sexual Minority (an inclusive term), sometimes proposed as an alternative to LGBTQ

AFAB/FAAB/CAFAB: Assigned Female at Birth, Female Assigned at Birth, coercively assigned female at birth (for trans/intersex situations)

AMAB/MAAB/CAMAB: Same thing, but with male instead of female