This glossary has been produced by members of LGBTQ+ youth groups in England with Dr Lucy Jones from the University of Nottingham. We hope it helps you to understand the language used by many young LGBTQ+ people to describe their lives and their identities, and to support them through their journey into adulthood.
Glossary of words
- Description
- Pronouns which are gender-neutral. They/them pronouns can be used in combination with gendered pronouns (for example, "my pronouns are she/they") to indicate a gender fluid identity or to show that someone doesn't identify as exclusively non-binary or gendered.
- Description
- Short for 'transgender', this is when your gender identity doesn't line up with the sex you were assigned at birth. Some trans people identify with a binary gender (for example, a trans man) and some hold non-binary identities.
- Description
- A flag used to show trans pride, with the light blue and light pink symbolising traditional binary gender and the white representing non-binary and neutral gender identities.
- Description
- A trans person whose gender identity and presentation is primarily feminine. This can include both trans women and non-binary people.
- Description
- The process of changing your gender presentation, whether social (for example, taking a new name and wearing certain clothes), medical (for example, through hormone therapy), or legal (such as. on official documents like passports).
- Description
- A trans person whose gender identity and presentation is primarily masculine. This can include both trans men and non-binary people.
- Description
- Being prejudiced towards people and/or discriminating against them because they're not cisgender. Transmisogyny is a particular form of transphobia against trans women and transfeminine people in particular.
- Description
- A term that's been used historically in medical contexts to refer to a transgender person who has had, or who wishes to have, gender affirming treatment. The term is used less nowadays because there's greater understanding that you can identify as trans without necessarily having gender dysphoria or wanting treatment.