Welcoming and affirming those who identify as LGBTQIA+ in Christian communities involve recognizing all sexes, genders, and sexual orientations as good and sacred reflections of the divine. One thing that can go a long way toward putting this theological conviction into practice is understanding the terms that queer people use to describe their identities.
Ways of thinking and talking about sex, gender, and sexuality have evolved and are continuing to evolve. New terms and labels are emerging to name people’s experiences. Some definitions have shifted, broadened, narrowed, or multiplied. The growing abundance of meaningful words enables more people to describe themselves and feel less invisible. At the same time, becoming familiar and conversant with the wide array of terms for LGBTQIA+ identities can be a challenging and confusing process in this rapidly evolving context.
This article aims to provide a brief guide for navigating common key terms and ideas for LGBTQIA+ identities and experiences. It is intended as an introductory glossary rather than a definitive lexicon or encyclopedia; if you want to dive deeper into any of these terms, we recommend exploring additional sources, including those offered below. It is by no means representative of how all LGBTQIA+ people think and talk about these terms. It is also designed to be updated, corrected, and improved as needed.
Things to Bear in Mind
This guide is not exhaustive
People may use terms, labels, or definitions to describe their experiences that aren’t listed here.
These terms can mean different things to different people
People who identify with these terms may define and understand them in differing ways, and what the term means to each person will vary from person to person.
People’s relationships to these terms can change
People may change the terms or labels they use as they grow in self-understanding and as language and meanings change. Sometimes social and cultural norms can hinder a person’s discernment about their gender identity or sexual orientation, and they may realize that a different term than one they had previously used better reflects their experience.
These terms point to personal, and sometimes intimate, human experiences
Sex, gender, and sexuality can be highly personal and sensitive matters for people. Thus these terms and labels deserve to be treated with sensitivity and care.
1. Sex Identity Terms
Sex in the context of human identities generally points to characterizations of human bodies based on reproductive body parts. Sex is often presented as two possibilities: male and female. However, sex is more diverse than this either/or indicates.
intersex
Intersex is a term that encompasses sex identities that the binary of male/female does not adequately reflect. As InterACT’s article “What Is Intersex?” indicates, people who identify as intersex can have a range of variations in sex characteristics through “genitalia, hormones, internal anatomy, or chromosomes” (Jan. 26, 2021). For more information on intersex identities, check out InterACT’s “Intersex Variations Glossary.” [1]
2. Gender Identity Terms
Gender generally points to how human beings experience themselves. Gender is not as simple as checking “woman” or “man” boxes based on reproductive body parts. As Gender Spectrum’s “Dimensions of Gender” resource says, “a person’s gender is the complex interrelationship between three dimensions: body, identity, and social gender.” In other words, as this article explains at greater length, a person’s relationship with their own body and its sexual development, their sense of who they are and how they think and feel about themselves, and their negotiation of the socially constructed ideas and norms for gender roles and behavior in their context all play a part in shaping their gender.
Here are some common terms used to describe particular gender identities:
cisgender, cis
Cisgender, or cis for short, refers to gender identities that correlate with the sex assigned at birth. [2]
- Cisgender girls or women are people who are assigned the sex female at birth and identify as girls or women
- Cisgender boys or men are people who are assigned male at birth and identify as boys or men
transgender, trans
Transgender, or trans for short, is commonly used to refer to gender identities that do not correlate with the sex assigned at birth. [3]
- Transgender often refers to people who are assigned male at birth and identify as girls or women (transgender girls or women) as well as people who are assigned female at birth and identify as boys or men (transgender boys or men)
- This term can also overlap with nonbinary as an umbrella term for a wide array of gender identities beyond cisgender identities, depending on context and how a person chooses to identify themselves
nonbinary
Nonbinary is commonly used to refer to gender identities that the gender binary of girl/boy or woman/man does not adequately reflect. This includes people who experience their gender as fluctuating, as being both girl/woman and boy/man, as being neither girl/woman nor boy/man, as having no gender, and more. [4]
agender
Agender refers to people who understand themselves to have no gender. Their experience may involve not identifying with either girl/woman or boy/man or a neutral gender that is neither girl/woman or boy/man. Agender is often included among the various ways of identifying as nonbinary. [5]
bigender
Bigender refers to people who have two or more genders. It is often included among the various ways of identifying as nonbinary. People who identify as bigender may experience two or more genders simultaneously or over time. [6]
genderfluid
Genderfluid refers to people who experience their gender as fluctuating and changing over time. It is often included among the various ways of identifying as nonbinary. [7]
genderqueer
Genderqueer is commonly used to refer to people who identify beyond or between the gender binary of girl/woman and boy/man. It can refer to people whose gender experience does not completely align with girl/woman or boy/man and instead involves aspects of each. It can also refer to people who experience a neutral gender or gender that is completely different than either girl/woman or boy/man. It may also be used interchangeably with nonbinary to encompass various gender experiences that do not reflect the gender binary. [8]
Two-Spirit
Two-Spirit is a term developed by Elder Myra Laramee, as Isabella Thurston explains in “The History of Two-Spirit Folks,” and used among Indigenous peoples to refer to members of their communities whose genders encompass both girl/woman and boy/man identities. It points to identities that have distinctive cultural significance for certain Indigenous communities and is a term that belongs to these communities. [9]
3. Sexual Orientation Terms
Sexual orientation, or sexuality, generally points to if and how human beings experience attraction to other people. Attraction can be physical, sexual, or romantic as well as any combination of these, and it can be tied to or unrelated to gender. Additionally, attraction to a particular gender (or to no particular gender) does not mean attraction to everyone who identifies with that gender.
A person’s sexual orientation is a part of their identity. It is not the same as sexual or romantic activity, and it does not depend upon being romantically or sexually involved with another person. It is also not identical to or determined by gender; in other words, you can’t know a person’s sexual orientation simply by knowing their gender identity.
Some common terms used to describe particular sexual orientations are:
asexual, ace
Asexual, or ace for short, refers to people who experience no sexual attraction to other people or for whom sexual attraction or interest is low or neutral. It may include people who experience no, low, or neutral romantic attraction as well. Cisgender, transgender, and nonbinary people can identify as asexual. It is also used as an umbrella term to encompass a spectrum of experiences. Some asexual people also identify with sexual orientations like gay, lesbian, heterosexual, and bisexual, and asexual people may also use common terms for types of romantic attraction to identify their experiences, like aromantic, biromantic, heteroromantic, homoromantic, or panromantic. [10]
aromantic, aro
Aromantic, or aro for short, refers to people who experience no romantic attraction to other people or for whom romantic attraction or interest is low or neutral. Cisgender, transgender, and nonbinary people can identify as aromantic. Like asexual, it encompasses a range of experiences. [11]
demisexual
Demisexual refers to people who do not experience sexual attraction to other people until they develop an emotional connection with them. Cisgender, transgender, and nonbinary people can identify as demisexual. It is an identity often included within the asexual spectrum. Demisexual people can also identify as gay, lesbian, heterosexual, bisexual, omnisexual, pansexual, and more. [12]
graysexual, gray-asexual, gray-a, gray ace, gray
Graysexual, also called gray-asexual as well as gray-a or gray ace for short, refers to people who experience low or neutral sexual attraction or interest. It is an identity often included within the asexual spectrum. The level or degree of sexual attraction or interest can vary among graysexual people. Cisgender, transgender, and nonbinary people can identify as graysexual, and graysexual people can also identify with other sexual orientations, including gay, lesbian, heterosexual, bisexual, omnisexual, pansexual, and more. [13]
gay
Gay refers to people who identify as men who are attracted to men (or boys who are attracted to boys). It tends to mean attraction solely to men (or boys). Both cisgender and transgender people can identify as gay, and some nonbinary people who are attracted to men also identify as gay. “Gay” is also frequently used as an umbrella term to encompass all who identify as gay and lesbian and even more broadly as a term for all LGBTQIA+ people. Because the term has layers of meaning that point to specific identities within the LGBTQIA+ community, however, not all members of the LGBTQIA+ community use this term to describe themselves. [14]
lesbian
Lesbian refers to people who identify as women who are attracted to women (or girls who are attracted to girls). It tends to mean attraction solely to women (or girls). Both cisgender and transgender people can identify as lesbian, and some nonbinary people who are attracted to women also identify as lesbian. [15]
heterosexual, straight
Heterosexual or straight generally refers to people who identify as women who are attracted to men (or girls who are attracted to boys) as well as to people who identify as men who are attracted to women (or boys who are attracted to girls). It tends to mean attraction that is exclusively women to men and men to women (or girls to boys and boys to girls). Both cisgender and transgender people can identify as straight. [16]
bisexual, bi, bi+
Bisexual, or bi for short, refers to people who are attracted to more than one gender. Cisgender, transgender, and nonbinary people can identify as bisexual. Although the prefix “bi” means two, people who identify as bisexual may be attracted to more than two genders. They may also have a stronger attraction to people of one gender more than another, and attraction to various genders can fluctuate. “Bi+” is often used to encompass all people who experience attraction to more than one gender, including bisexual, omnisexual, and pansexual identities. [17]
omnisexual
Omnisexual refers to people who are attracted to people of all genders. Cisgender, transgender, and nonbinary people can identify as omnisexual. The term often indicates that gender plays a role in their experience of attraction, in contrast to pansexuality (see below). Like bisexual people, those who identify as omnisexual may have a stronger attraction to people of particular genders more than others, and attraction to various genders can fluctuate. [18]
pansexual, pan
Pansexual, or pan for short, often refers to people who are attracted to people of any gender. Cisgender, transgender, and nonbinary people can identify as pansexual. For some, this term also indicates that gender does not play a role in their attraction to other people. Additionally, some who identify as pansexual also use the term “bisexual” to describe themselves. [19]
queer
Queer is a term that was used historically as an insult for LGBTQIA+ people but has been reclaimed by many members of the LGBTQIA+ community and given positive, affirming meaning. It is commonly used as an umbrella term for all who identify as LGBTQIA+. As a reclaimed term, it can also be used to challenge gender- and sexuality-based oppression. Because of the term’s history, however, not all members of the LGBTQIA+ community identify with it. [20]
questioning
Questioning refers to people who are still discerning their gender or sexual orientation. Some people who are grappling with their gender or sexuality may choose to describe themselves as questioning, and some may not. [21]
A Word about “Homosexual”
“Homosexual” is a term that has come to be regarded as “offensive” in some contexts, to quote the “PFLAG National Glossary” and We Are Family‘s “LGBTQI+ Glossary of Terms.” GLAAD lists the word in its “terms to avoid” and provides this clarification:
“Because of the clinical history of the word ‘homosexual,’ it is aggressively used by anti-LGBTQ activists to suggest that people attracted to the same sex are somehow diseased or psychologically/emotionally disordered—notions discredited by the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association in the 1970s” (see “Glossary of Terms: LGBTQ“).
Additional Resources
Notes and References
1. See “What Is Intersex?,” InterACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth (Jan. 26, 2021).
2. See “The Language of Gender,” Gender Spectrum.
3. See “The Language of Gender.”
4. See “Glossary of Terms,” Human Rights Campaign; “Understanding Nonbinary People: How to Be Respectful and Supportive,” Advocates for Trans Equality.
5. See “What’s it like to not have a gender?” in “The GENDER Book.”
6. See “What Is Bigender Identity?” by Leah Campano, “Seventeen” magazine (May 17, 2022).
7. See “The Language of Gender.”
8. See “The Language of Gender“; “Glossary of Terms,” Human Rights Campaign.
9. See “The History of Two-Spirit Folks” by Isabella Thurston, The Indigenous Foundation.
10. See “About Asexuality,” The Asexual Visibility & Education Network.
11. See “Romantic Orientations,” The Asexual Visibility & Education Network.
12. See “General FAQ: Definitions,” The Asexual Visibility & Education Network; “Am I Demisexual?” by Alison Caporimo and Leah Campano, “Seventeen” magazine (Sept. 30, 2022).
13. See “The Gray Area,” The Asexual Visibility & Education Network.
14. See “List of LGBTQ+ Terms,” Stonewall.
15. See “List of LGBTQ+ Terms,” Stonewall.
16. See “List of LGBTQ+ Terms,” Stonewall.
17. See “What Is Bisexuality?,” Bisexual Resource Center.
18. See Lindsay Curtis, “Omnisexual: Meaning, Attractions, Relationships, and Health,” Verywell Health (Feb. 13, 2025).
19. See Sue Cardenas-Soto, “Pansexuality: What It Is, What It Isn’t,” The Trevor Project (May 23, 2023); “What Is Bisexuality?,” Bisexual Resource Center.
20. See “What Does the Term ‘Queer’ Mean? Why Are Younger Generations Reclaiming the Word Queer?,” The LGBTQ Community Center of the Desert (Dec. 12, 2022).
21. See “About the Q” and “PFLAG National Glossary,” PFLAG.
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