Words We Live By: A Guide to LGBTQ+ Language is part of a project led by Dr Lucy Jones, University of Nottingham. It has been co-produced by young people aged 12-20, who attend LGBTQ+ youth groups in England. The project was funded through a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship, during which Lucy has researched the role of language in young people’s identities not only on the basis of their gender and sexuality, but also their race, socioeconomic class, age, family situation, and where they live. The full project will be published as a book - Language and LGBTQ+ Youth - with Bloomsbury in 2025. 

This research included interviews with more than 30 young LGBTQ+ people from different locations in the North and Midlands. During these interviews, the young people talked about feeling misunderstood by the adults in their lives; this included their parents, teachers and school staff, social workers, and mental health providers. A big part of this was the language people used to refer to them (such as pronouns) and a lack of understanding about the labels they used to describe themselves. This glossary is a response to this problem: all the words included within it have been chosen and defined by the young people themselves. People from different places and from other social groups might use or define these words differently and, of course, language changes all the time. However, the aim of this glossary is to provide an account of how many young people today talk about their lived experiences being LGBTQ+. It is intended to help those working with young people to be more informed and therefore to provide better support to those who are LGBTQ+. 

Words We Live By: A Guide to LGBTQ+ Language follows on from earlier work with the same LGBTQ+ youth groups, including a social media campaign (the LGBT+ Youth Manifesto) and a policy brief detailing the main findings of Lucy’s research. The LGBT+ Youth Manifesto was co-produced with young people and launched in May 2021. It detailed their vision of their vision for a world in which they could live safer, more confident, happier lives. The policy brief was sent to MPs, policy-makers, and those with influence over policy in the UK during LGBT+ History Month 2022. 

The glossary is being exhibited in a free installation at the National Justice Museum in Nottingham, opening on 27 July 2024 – the day of Nottinghamshire Pride – and running until 29 September 2024. Visitors can suggest words that they’d have included if they were compiling their own glossary of LGBTQ+ words. If you’d like to get involved but can’t make it to the installation, you can submit your own suggestions to our online archive - use this form. At the installation, visitors can also learn key LGBTQ+ words in British Sign Language, via this glossary produced by the charity Deaf Rainbow.

Graphics designed by Gill Williamson.

Funding

Project funded by the British Academy.