*Aggressives (abbrev. AGs)

A term used primarily in Black and Latina lesbian and queer communities to describe masculine-presenting women or people assigned female at birth who adopt a dominant, masculine gender expression. Often associated with urban LGBTQ+ communities in the northeastern United States, AGs occupy a distinct cultural identity that blends gender presentation with community belonging. .

*Ally

Someone who is not traditionally part of the LGBTQ+ community (cisgender/heterosexual) who uses their voice to support and advocate for the LGBTQ+ community.

*Androgynous

A gender expression that blends or sits between conventional masculine and feminine presentations, without clearly aligning with either. In LGBTQ+ contexts, an androgynous presentation may reflect a nonbinary gender identity or simply a deliberate aesthetic choice that defies binary gender expectations.

Aromantic (abbrev. Aro)

A person who does not experience any romantic attraction to others.

Asexual (abbrev. Ace)

A person who does not experience any sexual attraction to others.

*Assigned "Sex assigned at birth"

The binary sex designation—male or female—recorded for a person at birth, based on a visual inspection of external genitalia. For many transgender, intersex, and nonbinary people, the sex assigned at birth does not align with their gender identity or lived experience. Also written as AMAB (assigned male at birth) or AFAB (assigned female at birth).

*Autigender

A gender identity used by some autistic people to describe a gender experience that is inseparable from or significantly shaped by their autism. Autigender acknowledges that neurodivergence can influence how a person perceives and relates to gender in ways that neurotypical frameworks may not capture.

*Ball [Culture]

A vibrant underground performance and community tradition originating in Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ communities in New York City in the late 20th century. Emerging at a time when Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ people were largely excluded from both mainstream gay spaces and their own families and neighborhoods, ball culture developed into a self-sustaining world with its own aesthetics, language, kinship/relational structures, and codes of recognition. It gave rise to voguing as a dance form, introduced a rich vocabulary of identity and expression that has sense entered broader LGBTQ+ and popular culture, and created spaces where gender and sexuality could be performed, celebrated, and judged on their own terms.

*Bears

A subculture and self-identifying gender-sexual identity within gay and bisexual male communities that celebrates larger, hairier body types and traditionally masculine presentations. Bears often emphasize community, body positivity, and a rejection of mainstream gay culture’s narrower beauty standards.

*Brister

A portmanteau of ‘bro’ and ‘sister,’ used in some transgender and nonbinary communities to describe a person who identifies somewhere between brother and sister, or who moves fluidly between brotherly and sisterly relational roles. It reflects the creativity within trans communities in developing language for identities that resist binary categories.

Biphobia

Negative attitudes and reactions directed toward people who are thought to be bisexual, presumably driven by fear of bisexual sexual orientations. Bi-erasure is an example of biphobia and is when bisexual identities are ignored or denied.

Bisexual

A Person who experiences romantic, emotional, and/or sexual attraction to both people of their own gender and people of other genders. The attraction doesn't have to be equal or simultaneous for all genders.

*Butch

A term describing a masculine gender expression, most historically associated with lesbian communities. Butch is both a gender presentation and, for many, a deeply felt identity unto itself—not merely a descriptor of how one looks, but of who one is relationally and socially. Butch identities have been central to lesbian cultural history and continue to evolve across queer communities.

*Butch-Queen

A term used in ball culture and House communities, typically referring to a gay man who presents in a masculine way but may walk categories ranging from masculine to femme in the ballroom scene. Butch queens are often considered the foundation of ball culture and may embody a wide spectrum of gender expression depending on context.

*Cisgender

A person whose gender identity corresponds with the sex they were assigned at birth. The prefix ‘cis’ (Latin for ‘on the same side’) was introduced to name this experience explicitly, rather than treating it as a default, and to place it in conversation with transgender identities as one of many gender experiences.

*Cissexism

The belief that cisgender identities are the default or norm, and that transgender or gender-nonconforming people are somehow less valid. It shows up in everyday assumptions, language, and systems that center cisgender experiences while marginalizing those who fall outside of them.

*Cisnormativity

The pervasive cultural assumption that everyone is, or should be, cisgender. Cisnormativity structures institutions, language, and everyday interactions in ways that center cisgender experience as the default and render transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive people invisible or aberrant.

*Conversion Therapy

Any practice that attempts to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity — typically targeting LGBTQ+ individuals in an effort to make them straight or cisgender. It has been widely condemned by medical and psychiatric organizations as ineffective and harmful, with documented links to depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation.

*Cross-Dresser

A person who wears clothing or adopts a gender presentation typically associated with a gender other than their own, often for personal expression, comfort, or pleasure. Cross-dressing does not necessarily reflect a transgender identity or sexual orientation. The term is preferred by many over older, more stigmatized language.

*Daughter (House)

A member of a House community who is in a mentee or younger sibling role, receiving guidance and care from House parents. Daughters are welcomed into the chosen family structures regardless of their assigned sex or gender identity.

*Demigirl

A gender identity in which a person feels a partial but not full connection to girlhood or femininity. A demigirl may be assigned any sex at birth and may or may not present in traditionally feminine ways. The ‘demi-’ prefix signals a partial or conditional relationship with a gender category.

Demisexual

Someone who experiences sexual attraction only when an emotional bond is formed with another person.

*Drag

A performance practice in which a person—often but not exclusively gay or queer—adopts an exaggerated, gender presentation, typically associated with the opposite binary gender. Drag has deep roots in LGBTQ+ cultural history and exists on a spectrum from theatrical entertainment to a lived identity.

*Drag Kings

Masculine-presenting drag performers who are typically lesbian or queer women. Drag Kings have deep roots in said communities and represent a distinct tradition from drag queen culture, though the two frequently intersect. Drag kinging explores and often satirizes masculinity, making visible the constructed nature of male gender performance.

*Drag Queens

Feminine-presenting drag performers who are typically but not exclusively gay or queer men. Drag queens have been central figures in LGBTQ+ nightlife, activism, and cultural history, from the Stonewall uprising to contemporary mainstream visibility.

*Drag Monsters

Performers who reject both masculine and feminine drag conventions in favor of avant-garde, creature-like, or wholly invented gender presentations. Drag monsters occupy a deliberately un-gender or post-gender aesthetic space, pushing performance beyond the binary into the surreal, grotesque, or fantastical. The form is increasingly celebrated in contemporary queer performance culture as a rejection of all normative gender categories.

*Endosex

A term describing a person who is not intersex—whose physical sex characteristics (chromosomes, hormones, genitalia, reproductive anatomy) align with what is typically categorized as entirely male or entirely female. Endosex was coined to name this experience explicitly, parallel to how ‘cisgender’ names a non-transgender experience.

*Expansiveness

One’s felt sense of gender authentically encompasses a broader or narrower range of gender positionalities. A person with high gender expansiveness may identify with many genders, move across the gender spectrum, or resist all categorization, while someone with low expansiveness may feel their gender is singular and stable.

*Face (Ball Culture)

In ball culture and House communities, ‘face’ refers to a category walked in competition based on the beauty, symmetry, and compelling quality of a person’s facial appearance. It is a high-stakes category that celebrates natural aesthetic power and is distinct from categories emphasizing styling, body, or realness.

*Family and House Communities

A social structure originating in Black and Latino LGBTQ+ communities, particularly in New York City, in which chosen family members organize into ‘Houses’ led by Mothers and Fathers. Houses provide community, belonging, mentorship, and protection—especially for LGBTQ+ youth rejected by biological families. Houses compete in ballroom events and catty names that become legacies.

*Father (House)

A leadership role within a House community, typically filled by an older, experienced LGBTQ+ person who provides mentorship, protection, and guidance to younger House members. Fathers model masculine-aligned community care and are responsible for the well-being and development of their chosen family.

*Felt Sense of Gender

A person’s internal, embodied experience of their own gender—developed through the process of making sense of authentic forms of relating and being in contrast to local social and cultural gender norms. The felt sense of gender is the foundation from which people evaluate whether a given gender identity or expression is a good fit for who they are.

*Femme

A term describing a feminine gender expression and, for many, a deeply felt identity within LGBTQ+ communities. Femme is not simply ‘feminine’ – it is a queer reclamation and reinterpretation of femineity, often with an intentional, political, and self-defined quality. Femme identity is claimed across a wide range of LGBTQ+ people, including lesbians, gay men, nonbinary people, and trans women.

*Femme Queen

A term used in ball culture for trans women or those who identify with hyperfeminine presentation, particularly within Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ communities. Femme queens walk femme categories in ballroom competitions and occupy a celebrated place within House culture.

*Fluidity

The quality of a gender identity or expression that shifts—more or less noticeably—across time, relationships, or contexts within a person’s range of expansiveness. Gender fluidity does not mean instability or confusion; rather, it describes an authentic mode of being in which gender is experienced as dynamic rather than fixed.

Gay

An identity or sexual orientation that signifies a person who is attracted to people of the same sex.

Gender

Sets of characteristics that are grouped together culturally and may be associated with a sexual identity (e.g., Southern Belle femininity) or formed in reaction to prior sets of gender characteristics that hold cultural meaning (e.g., drag genders)

*Gender Dysphoria

Clinically defined as significant distress arising from an incongruence between a person’s gender identity and their sex assigned at birth, including associated roles or physical characteristics. In LGBTQ+ and trans communities, the term is often used more broadly to describe the discomfort or distress that can arise from living in a body, role, or social position that does not align with one’s gender identity.

Gender Expression

The ways a person outwardly communicates their gender through appearance, behavior, clothing, voice, and mannerisms. Gender expression may or may not align with a person’s gender identity and exists on a spectrum. LGBTQ+ communities have been central to expanding the range of recognized and celebrated gender expressions.

*Gender Identity

A person’s deeply felt, internal sense of their own gender—whether as a man, woman, nonbinary person, or another gender--similarly to "felt sense of gender". Gender identity is distinct from sex assigned at birth and from gender expression. It is not determined by others and may or may not be disclosed or visible to the world.

*Gender Incongruence

A marked difference between a person’s experienced or expressed gender and the gender associated with their sex assigned at birth. Gender incongruence (as defined by the ICD-11) does not itself imply distress or disorder; rather, it is a descriptive term for an experience common among transgender and nonbinary people. Distress, when present, may arise from social stigma rather than the incongruence itself.

*Gender Minority

An umbrella term for people whose gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth, whose gender expression varies significantly from societal norms, or who reject binary gender categories.

*Gender Noncomformity

The degree to which a person’s gender expression or identity differs from societal expectations for their sex assigned at birth. Gender nonconformity is a broader descriptor that encompasses LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ people alike, though it has often been a site of both celebration and stigma within queer communities.

*Gender Performativity

A theoretical concept that gender is not a fixed essence but is produced through repeated enactments of gendered acts, language, and norms. It proposes the idea that the enactment of gender via claiming gender identities and expressions is what creates gendered people. LGBTQ+ identities and practices like drag, camp, and gender-crossing have often been used to illustrate how gender is constructed and can be subverted.

Genderqueer

An umbrella non-binary identity term for people who experience their gender as neither exclusively nor fully masculine or feminine. Genderqueer people may identify outside the binary entirely, combine elements of multiple genders, or resist categorization altogether. It emerged as a political and personal identity within queer activist communities.

*Gender Sexuality

The ways that gender identity and sexual orientation intersect, interact, and mutually shape one another. In LGBTQ+ experience, gender and sexuality are often understood as distinct but deeply interrelated dimensions of selfhood—neither reducible to the other, yet frequently experienced as intertwined.

*Gender Stereotype

A generalized belief or expectations about characteristics, behaviors, or roles considered natural or appropriate for people of a given gender. Stereotypes contain both cisgender and gender-expansive people

*Gender Relationality

The idea that people have relational stances—ways of being with others—that are associated with power, intimacy, and care, and that these stances are socially gendered. For many LGBTQ+ people, certain forms of relational authenticity feel natural and safe, and noticing incongruence between one’s authentic relational style and socially prescribed gender roles is a key part of gender development.

*Hegemonic (gender/masculinity)

The dominant, idealized form of a gender—particularly masculinity—that is culturally privileged and normalized. Hegemonic masculinity defines itself in opposition to femininity and queerness, often at the expense of LGBTQ+ people and gender-nonconforming individuals. Understanding hegemonic gender norms is central to analyzing the social forces LGBTQ+ people navigate.

Heteronormativity

The belief that heterosexuality, predicated on the gender binary, is the norm or default sexual orientation. It assumes that sexual and marital relations are most fitting between people of opposite sex.

*Heterosexism

The systemic assumption that everyone is—or should be—heterosexual, embedded in laws, institutions, cultural practices, and everyday interactions. Like cisnormativity, heterosexism renders LGBTQ+ people invisible, marginalizes same-sex relationships, and frames queerness as deviant or inferior.

*Homonormative

A critique of mainstream LGBTQ+ culture that mirrors heterosexual norms—such as valuing marriage, monogamy, gender conformity, and assimilation. Homonormativity names the ways some LGBTQ+ spaces can themselves replicate exclusions based on race, class, gender expression, or relationship structure.

Homophobia

A fear, hatred, or hostility toward gay, lesbian, or bisexual people, or toward same-sex attraction more broadly. It can range from overt discrimination and violence to subtler forms of bias, and is often rooted in cultural, religious, or social norms that treat heterosexuality as the only acceptable orientation.

Intersectionality

The idea that aspects of a person's identity — such as race, gender, sexuality, class, and disability — don't exist independently of one another, but overlap and interact in ways that shape their experiences of privilege and oppression. Coined by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, it recognizes that people can face multiple, compounding forms of discrimination that can't be fully understood by looking at each identity in isolation.

Intersex

A term that refers to someone’s biological or physiological sexual characteristics (e.g., genetics, physiology, hormones) being neither entirely in accordance with what is considered to be male nor female at birth. tersex is a naturally occurring biological variation. Intersex people may identify with any gender and any sexual orientation, and many advocate against non-consensual medical interventions on intersex infants.

*Leathermen

A subculture within gay male communities centered on leather, kink, BDSM, and masculine sexual identity. Leathermen have a rich political and organizational history in LGBTQ+ activism and culture, with leather bars and leather organizations playing important roles in queer community-building, especially during the AIDS crisis.

Lesbian

An identity that signals a person identifies as a woman, or sometimes feminine-leaning non-binary, and is romantically and/or sexually attracted to other women.

LGBTQ+

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, and other people with diverse sexual orientation and gender identities.

*Man

A gender identity in which a person understands and experiences themselves as a man. Within LGBTQ+ frameworks, manhood is not determined by assigned sex at birth or by any particular body. Gay men, bisexual men, trans men, nonbinary people who partially identify as men, and others all hold valid relationships to the identity of 'man.'

Microaggression

Subtle, often unintentional comments or actions that communicate hostile or negative messages to members of marginalized groups. Though they may seem minor in isolation, microaggressions accumulate over time and have documented impacts on mental health and wellbeing.

Minority Stress

The excess stress experienced by members of stigmatized minority groups—including LGBTQ+ people—as a result of prejudice, discrimination, concealment, and internalized stigma. Minority stress theory helps explain health disparities between LGBTQ+ and heterosexual or cisgender populations and highlights the social roots of these disparities.

*Mother (House)

The primary feminine-aligned leadership role within a House community. Mothers are foundational to the emotional and organizational life of the House, offering guidance, advocacy, and nurturing to members. Being a House Mother is a prestigious identity, and a form of honored community labor within ballroom culture.

*Multigender

An umbrella term for identities in which a person experiences multiple genders, either simultaneously or over time. Multigender identities include bigender, pangender, genderfluid, and others. These identities challenge the assumption that gender is singular and stable.

Neurodiversity

The recognition that neurological differences—such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and others—are natural variations in human brain function rather than deficits or disorders. Neurodiversity advocates for the inclusion and accommodation of all neurological experiences rather than trying to normalize or fix them.

*Neuroatypical / Neurotypical

Neuroatypical refers to people whose neurological development or functioning differs from what is considered standard—including those who are autistic, ADHD, or otherwise neurodivergent. Neurotypical refers to those without such differences. Within LGBTQ+ communities, there is growing recognition of the overlap between neurodivergence and gender diversity, and of the importance of centering neuroatypical voices in gender discourse.

*Non-Binary Gender Identities

Identities that challenge the gender binary—the idea that gender is exclusively either man or woman. Non-binary genders open possibilities for experiencing and expressing gender outside of, between, or beyond these two categories, including identities such as agender, genderfluid, and genderqueer.

Nonbinary

A gender identity that does not fit within the binary categories of exclusively man or woman. Nonbinary is used both as a specific identity and as a broader umbrella for identities including genderqueer, agender, genderfluid, demigender, and others. Many nonbinary people use 'they/them' pronouns, though pronouns vary widely.

*Ontology of Gender

The philosophical study of what gender fundamentally is—whether it is a biological fact, social construction, a performance, a felt experience, or some combination. Different ontological frameworks shape how LGBTQ+ identities are understood, validated, and challenged within both academic and community contexts.

*Pageant / Ball

Competitive events within ballroom culture in which participants—primarily Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ people—walk in various categories judged on criteria including fashion, dance, beauty, and realness. Balls are simultaneously cultural celebrations, artistic competitions, and community gatherings with deep roots in LGBTQ+ history.

Pansexual

A sexual orientation characterized by attraction to people regardless of their gender identity or expression. Unlike bisexuality (which some define as attraction to two or more genders), pansexuality explicitly includes attraction across all genders, including nonbinary, trans, and gender-expansive people.

Queer

An umbrella term reclaimed by LGBTQ+ communities to describe sexual and gender identities outside of heterosexual and cisgender norms. Once a slur, 'queer' has been transformed into a term of pride, political solidarity, and theoretical inquiry. It is embraced by many who resist rigid identity categories while remaining contested by those who experienced it as a harmful term.

*Realness (Ball Culture)

A ballroom category in which participants are judged on how convincingly they embody a particular identity or social role—often a normative, cisgender, heterosexual presentation (e.g., 'executive realness,' 'schoolboy realness'). Realness reflects both the artistry of the ballroom community and the labor required of LGBTQ+ people to navigate a heteronormative world.

Romantic Attraction

An emotional response that results in a desire for a romantic relationship with the recipient.

Romantic Orientation

An individual's pattern of romantic attraction based on a person's gender; considered distinct from sexual orientation.

Sex

A classification—typically male, female, or intersex—based on a combination of chromosomal, hormonal, gonadal, and anatomical characteristics. Sex is often treated as binary and biologically fixed but is better understood as a spectrum with natural variation. Sex is distinct from gender identity and gender expression.

Sexual & Gender Minorities

Groups whose sexual identity, sexual orientation, gender, or practices differ from the majority of the surrounding society—that is, heterosexual and cisgender people.

Sexual Attraction

An emotional response that sexual people experience when they find someone sexually appealing and have the desire for sexual contact with the recipient.

*Sexual Orientation

An enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attraction toward others, which may be toward people of the same gender, different genders, multiple genders, or no gender. Sexual orientation is distinct from gender identity and expression. LGBTQ+ orientations include gay, lesbian, bisexual, asexual, and queer, among others.

*Sexuality

A broad term encompassing sexual orientation, sexual identity, erotic practices, and the ways desire and intimacy are experienced and expressed. In LGBTQ+ contexts, sexuality is understood as a dimension of personhood that interacts with gender, culture, and embodiment in complex ways.

*Son (House)

Like daughters, sons are members of a House community in a younger or mentee role. The masculine framing of the title may reflect the member's gender identity or expression, or simply their relational positioning within the chosen family structure.

Stigma

A mark of social disgrace associated with a particular characteristic, identity, or circumstance that sets a person apart and leads to discrimination, shame, or exclusion. For LGBTQ+ people, stigma is a key driver of minority stress and related health disparities.

*Stone "Touch-Me-Not"

A term within lesbian and queer communities—particularly butch culture—for a person who prefers not to be touched sexually or who derives satisfaction primarily from giving pleasure rather than receiving it. Stone identity is considered a valid sexual and relational identity, not a pathology.

*Studs

A term used primarily in Black lesbian communities for masculine-presenting lesbian or queer women. Similar to 'butch' but with its own cultural specificity rooted in Black LGBTQ+ community language and history.

*Third Gender

A category used in various cultural and legal contexts for people whose gender is neither exclusively male nor female. Third gender identities exist across many cultures worldwide—including Hijra in South Asia, Muxe in Oaxaca, and Fa'afafine in Samoa—and reflect the diversity of gender systems beyond Western binaries.

*Trans Man

A person who was assigned female at birth and who identifies as a man or as masculine-aligned. Trans men may or may not pursue medical transition, and their experiences of masculinity and manhood are shaped by the intersection of identity and their unique experiences and history.

*Trans Normativity

A set of dominant expectations within some transgender communities and clinical frameworks about how trans people should present, transition, and narrate their identities—often emphasizing a binary transition and a particular kind of gender narrative. Trans normativity can marginalize nonbinary, genderfluid, and other gender-expansive trans people.

*Trans Woman

A person who was assigned male at birth and who identifies as a woman or as feminine-aligned. Trans women may or may not pursue medical transition and their experiences of femininity and womanhood are shaped by the intersection of identity and their unique experiences and history.

*Transmasculine

An umbrella term for people assigned female at birth whose gender identity or expression leans masculine. Transmasculine people may identify as trans men, nonbinary, butch, masculine-of-center, boi, or other identities. The term captures a range of experiences without requiring a binary trans identity.

Transgender

An adjective describing people whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. Transgender is an umbrella term that encompasses a wide diversity of identities and experiences, including trans men, trans women, nonbinary people, and others. It does not imply any particular body configuration, sexual orientation, or path of transition.

*Transgender Identities

The diverse range of identities held by people whose gender differs from the sex assigned to them at birth, including trans men, trans women, nonbinary, and genderqueer people. The term 'transgender' has functioned as a unifying political category while also encompassing a wide diversity of gender experiences.

*Transsexual

An older clinical and identity term referring to people whose gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth, particularly those who seek to align their bodies with their gender through medical transition. Some people still use this term; others prefer 'transgender' or other language.

*Transsexual Female

A person who was assigned male at birth and who identifies as female, typically within a binary gender framework, and who may pursue or have pursued medical transition. The term reflects an older clinical and identity vocabulary; many people it once described now use trans woman or simply woman.

*Transsexual Gender Identities

Identities rooted in the experience of a fundamental mismatch between one's gender and one's body, in which physical transition—through hormones, surgery, or other means—is understood as central to gender authenticity and wellbeing. Some people continue to identify with transsexual identity terms; others have moved toward broader transgender or nonbinary terminology.

*Transsexual Male

A person who was assigned female at birth and who identifies as male, typically within a binary gender framework, and who may pursue or have pursued medical transition. Many people it once described now use trans man or simply man.

*Two-Spirit

A term used by some Indigenous North American peoples to describe a person who fulfills a traditional third-gender or other gender-variant role in their culture. Two-spirit is a culturally specific identity rooted in Indigenous traditions and is not synonymous with Western LGBTQ+ identity categories.

Woman

A gender identity in which a person understands and experiences themselves as a woman. Within LGBTQ+ frameworks, womanhood is not determined by sex assigned at birth or any anatomy. Lesbian, bisexual, trans, queer, and nonbinary women each hold valid and distinct relationships to the identity of 'woman.'