LGBTQ+ @ Williams: Identities & Terms

  • LGBTQ/Queer Community

    Umbrella terms and acronyms that refer to the multiple unique identities that fall under gender and/or sexual minority categories.

  • Lesbian

    A term often adopted to describe women or femme identified folks who are sexually and/or romantically attracted to similarly identified people.

  • Gay

    A term used to describe men or masculine-identified folks who are sexually and/or romantically attracted to similarly identified people. Sometimes used in place of LGBTQ as an umbrella term that refers to the multiple unique identities that fall under gender and/or sexual minority categories (“the Gay Community”).

  • Bisexual/Pansexual

    A term used to describe people whose sexual and/or romantic attraction is not limited by gender identity.

  • Transgender

    An umbrella term for those who are not cisgender and hold a gender identity that does not perfectly align with social expectations of gendered behavior based on their designated sex at birth, grounded in a binary of masculine and feminine.

  • Queer

    An umbrella term that refers to the multiple unique identities that fall under gender and/or sexual minority categories. A gender identity with a malleable definition for those who identify with it, indicative of non-cisnormative gender experience.  A sexual orientation with a malleable definition for those who identify with it. An umbrella term for non-heteronormative experiences of sexual or romantic attraction.

  • Intersex

    A term used to describe people whose experience of biological sex falls outside of a cisnormative understanding of the body.

  • Asexual

    Asexuality is a sexual orientation defined as someone who does not experience sexual attraction toward others. These folks may or may not experience emotional, physical, or romantic attraction. Asexuality differs from celibacy in that it is a sexual orientation, not a choice.