Glossary of Terms:

Bi-sexual: a person who is emotionally, romantically and  sexually attracted to people of either sex.

Biological sex:  The sex someone is born as. Also referred to as birth sex, anatomical sex, physical sex.

Coming out: Disclosing one's sexual orientation or gender identity to others. Some people never come out, some come out to a few individuals, others come out to many people all at once, and for others the coming out process takes place slowly.

Gay: This term is used often to describe both homosexual men and homosexual women, thought it more often refers to men. Gay describes men who are emotionally, romantically and sexually attracted to other men. The word 'gay' didn't come into wide use to describe homosexual people until the 1950s. Before that it was used as a code word for same sex sexuality. 

Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA); A student club for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning students as well as their straight allies. GSA's can provide a social haven and support for queer students. They can also work for positive change on GLBTQ issues within a school or school system. GSA's are legally entitled to exist according to a federal court ruling.

Gender:  While this word may be used to describe anatomy, it's really about a person's identity as feminine or masculine, rather than the physical characteristics that make someone female or male. Gender is made up of many things including, behaviors, cultural traits, and psychological traits that are associated with a specific sex. 

 Gender dysphoria:  A term for the pain, anxiety and confusion that can result when there is a disparity between a person's gender identity and biological sex. Pressure to conform to accepted gender roles and expression, and a general lack of acceptance from society also contribute to it. 

Gender expression:  How you express your gender identity. It includes your clothes, your hairstyle, your body language (how you walk, your posture, your gestures, your mannerisms) and even your speech patterns. In society, people often take their cues from someone's gender expression to decide that person's anatomical sex.

Gender identity:  Your internal sense of being male or female- it's whether you consider or feel yourself to be male or female. A person's gender identity doesn't necessarily reflect his or her biological sex. There are gender activitist, like Kate Bornstein, who believe it's possible to have a gender identity that's male, female or something else entirely. 

Gender Identity Disorder: GID: Mental health professionals often diagnose transgender people with GID. A diagnosis of GID lets transgendered people get mental and physical treatment, which can be especially helpful for people trying to physically transition their gender, but a diagnosis of GID can also carry the stigma of mental illness.

Gender Transitioning: a complex, multi step process of starting to live in a way that accurately reflects a transgendered person's true gender identity. Transitioning primarily involves social issues such as changing your name, dressing differently, altering other aspects of your appearance, like  hair or makeup, and changing your mannerisms, voice and how you move. Transitioning doesn't by definition include surgery or other physical changes though it may depend on the person. A physical transition may include a medical professional. For some transitioning may include surgery.

GLBTQ: An acronym that stands for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning

Intersex: People who are born with a mixture of both male and female genitals or with ambiguous genitalia. In many cases, the doctor or the person's parents "choose" their child's anatomy and the child has a series of surgeries throughout infancy and childhood to definitely assign one anatomical sex.  The surgery doesn't always result in a physical sex assignment that matches the person's gender.  As a result, some intersex people grow up having gender identity issues that mirror those experienced by transgender people. 

 Queer:  Refers to GLBTQ people. Sometimes used as a slur, the term has been reclaimed by many GLBTQ people who use it as an expression of pride. Some prefer to identify as queer rather than gay, lesbian, bisexual, or trangender, because they feel it encompasses more of who they are or gives a greater sense of unity with the entire community. 

Questioning: Being uncertain of one's sexual orientation or gender identity. 

Sexual Behavior: Only describes sexual activity, not sexual identity.  A man may identify as gay but still engage in sexual behavior with women. That's still considered heterosexual behavior. Or a woman may not identify as a lesbian but may take part in sexual activity with a woman. That is homosexual behavior. 

Sexual Identity: How a person views and identifies himself or herself in terms of his or her sexual orientation or behavior. Some people may identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or straight; other people may refuse to identify with a particular label. Some GLBTQ people choose to identify as queer for this reason. A person's identity is decided by the person, so a person who participates in straight sexual behavior may still identify as a gay, lesbian or bisexual and vica versa. A person' sexual identity can change over the course of his/her life. 

Sexual Orientation: a term used to describe who someone is emotionally, romantically, and sexually attracted to. Gay, lesbian, bisexual and straight all describe different forms of sexual orientation. Sexual orientation isn't just about how someone has sex with. A more accurate phrase may be "emotional orientation" or "affectional orientation." But for now it is the common phrase. 

Transgender: a person who has a gender identity or gender expression different than their biological sex. It can include transsexuals, crossdressers, drag queens and kings, and people who are intersex, among many others.

Transsexual: Often used interchangeably with "transgender", thought there has been some controversy over this. This typically refers to someone who was born with a sex that they don't identify with and through hormones and possibly surgery they reconcile their gender identity and physical sex.  All transsexuals are transgender but not all transgender are transsexuals. 

Two Spirit:  Certain Native American cultures described trangender people as having "two spirits". Generally Two Spirited people were born into one sex but took on the gender roles of both sexes. Today some transgender people identify as "Two Spirit." 

(GLBTQ: The Survival Guide for Queer and Questioning Teens by Kelly Huegel (Free Spirit Publishing, 2003) Includes tips from people in national GLBTQ organizations, strategies and advice you can try or share about coming out, responding to homophobia, dating, staying healthy and more). 

DVD: Straightlaced: How Gender's Got Us All Tied Up:   by Ground Spark   www.groundspark.org/straightlaced (2009)