It's Pride Month! It's time to celebrate LGBTQ+ people and their identities. One way to show support is by educating yourself on the various sexual orientations and gender identities. I compiled a list of various identities and defined them to the best of my ability and understanding. Enjoy!
Agender
A gender identity where an individual does not identify with any gender. They may describe themselves as genderless.
Androgynous
An adjective that describes someone who has both male and female characteristics. A synonym can be gender ambiguous.
Aromantic
A romantic orientation where an individual does not feel romantic attraction to anyone.
Asexual
A sexual orientation where an individual does not experience sexual attraction. People who identify as asexual may still be in romantic relationships and may still participate in sex, they just experience little to no sexual attraction.
Bigender
A gender identity for someone who identifies as two genders, either simultaneously or not.
Biromantic
A romantic orientation of someone who experiences romantic attraction towards men and women.
Bisexual
A sexual orientation of an individual who experiences sexual attraction to both men and women.
Cisgender
A gender identity where an individual identifies with the gender they were assigned at birth.
Demigirl/Demiboy
A gender identity where an individual identifies as partially, but not wholly, a man or woman.
Demisexual
A sexual orientation in which an individual does not experience sexual attraction without first establishing a strong emotional bond with another individual.
Gay
A word used to describe someone, most commonly a man, who identifies as homosexual. In addition, it can also be used to describe any sort of same-sex attraction or relationship. This comes as a result of terms such as "gay marriage" and "gay rights."
Gender Binary
The classification of male and female as two distinct and opposite genders.
Genderfluid
A gender identity in which a person does not have a fixed gender. At any time they can identify as male, female, agender, another non-binary identity, or a combination of them, but it varies from person to person.
Genderqueer
An umbrella word used to describe someone who identifies outside the gender binary.
Heteroromantic
A romantic orientation in which an individual is romantically attracted to the opposite gender, in regard to the gender binary.
Heterosexual
A sexual orientation where an individual is sexually attracted to the opposite gender, in regard to the gender binary.
Homoromantic
A romantic orientation where an individual is romantically attracted to the same gender, in regard to the gender binary.
Homosexual
A sexual orientation where an individual is sexually attracted to the same gender, in regard to the gender binary.
Intersex
A person who is born with sex characteristics (such as chromosomes, sex hormones, genitalia) that do not fit society's typical definitions of male and female.
Lesbian
A woman who is attracted, romantically and/or sexually, to other women.
Monogamous
In which an individual has only one partner during their life or at any one time.
Non-binary
Any gender identity that does not fit into the male and female binary.
Panromantic
A romantic orientation in which a person is romantically attracted to people of all genders.
Pansexual
A sexual orientation where an individual is sexually attracted to people of all genders.
Polyamorous
In which an individual has or is open to having more than one partner at a time with the knowledge and consent of all partners involved.
Polysexual
A sexual orientation in which an individual is attracted to multiple genders.
Queer
This word is an umbrella term for potentially all LGBT+ identities. It can be used to describe anyone who identifies as anything outside of being heteroromantic heterosexual and/or cisgender.
Questioning
Someone who is questioning is unsure of their romantic and/or sexual orientation and/or their gender identity.
Transgender
An adjective that describes a man or woman who identifies as the opposite gender, in regard to the gender binary, of the one they were assigned at birth.
Trigender
A gender identity in which an individual identifies as three genders, either simultaneously or not.
Of course, this is not every identity out there. There are many more sexualities and gender identities that exist and they are not any less important than the ones listed. Also, the definitions I provided are not concrete nor extensive. The important thing to recognize is that everyone defines themselves differently. Some definitions are even under scrutiny for what they do or do not mean, such as bisexuality and queer. Regardless, you should always respect a person's identity and how they choose to define themselves.
