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What is 2SLGBTQ+?

You may be hearing all kinds of new words and acronyms related to sexuality and wonder what they mean. Although language is often changing to help explain feelings, these kinds of feelings and identities have always existed. Historically, we would have used different words to describe them.

As someone begins to explore who they are, they may try using different words or labels to describe their feelings. We often hear from people who are confused about these labels changing. For example, if someone was once identifying as bisexual but has changed words and is now identifying as a lesbian. This doesn’t mean the person is confused, only that they were on a search to find the label that felt best for them.

It can be hard to keep up with the ever-changing vocabulary. All we can do is try our best and use the words our friends, family, or co-workers ask us to. It is never okay to use these words to name call or label others. If someone tells us they use one of these words then it may be okay to use it to describe them moving forward. Check in with them to be sure! The definitions listed here are generally respectful and acceptable for everyone to use with good intentions.

Common Concepts

2SLGBTQ+

A acronym that stands for “Two Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and other identities”. Sometimes you will see this expanded as 2SLGBTQIA to include “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, two-spirit, queer, intersex, and asexual” or ordered differently like GLBT. As you can tell, the terms people use continue to grow and so many people use a + sign to include all of the unnamed identities in the acronym. This term is often used to broadly refer to all members of this community.

Gender Identity

A person’s internal sense of their own gender. This can include feeling like a man, a woman, or another gender outside of these 2 genders. If someone feels like their gender is the same as the gender a doctor assigned them with at birth that person is considered cisgender. If someone feels that their gender is different than what the doctor assigned that person is considered transgender.

Orientation

Labels people use to explain who they are attracted to. Orientation and gender are different from one another (who you are vs. who you like). A person’s gender does not determine who they will be attracted to. Orientation can include different levels of attraction such as: emotional attraction, romantic attraction, sexual attraction, platonic attraction, intellectual attraction.

Sex

At birth, the organs between a person’s legs, called genitals, are used to assign a baby’s sex (male or female). Some babies have genitals that do not fit the categories of male or female. If sexual or reproductive organs fall outside of these categories, the baby is assigned intersex.

Many people agree with the label the doctor assigned them at birth. If you agree, you are considered cisgender. Some people do not feel the label the doctor assigned them at birth fits their gender. If you disagree with the label the doctor assigned you at birth, you are considered transgender.

Common Language & Terms

Aromantic: Someone (cisgender or transgender) who experiences little to no romantic attraction to others.

Asexual: Someone (cisgender or transgender) who experiences little to no sexual attraction.

Bisexual: A name for a type of sexual orientation. People (cisgender or transgender) who are attracted to people of their own gender and to genders different from their own. Commonly shortened to bi.

Cisgender: A term to describe a person whose sex assigned at birth and felt sense of gender identity are aligned. Can be shortened to cis. For example, someone with a penis who was assigned male at birth and who identifies as a boy or man could be called a cisgender man. Someone with a vulva who was assigned female at birth and who identifies as a girl or woman could be called a cisgender woman.

Gay: Someone (cisgender or transgender) who is attracted to people of the same gender. Can be used for any gender, but is most often used for men who are attracted to men.

Gender: Gender is both an individual’s innate knowledge of who they are and a socially constructed system based on norms, roles, expectations and cultural ideas about what it means to be a particular gender. This is often understood in Western contexts to be a binary system of two options – man/boy or woman/girl – but this understanding differs across culture and time.

Gender Expression: How a person publicly presents their gender. This can include behaviour and outward appearance, such as how someone dresses, how they wear their hair, whether they use make-up, their body language, and their voice.

Gender Fluid: A term used to describe someone who moves between binary constructions of gender, and whose gender identity and expressions vary over time.

Gender Identity: The labels that people use to describe their sense of gender. Some examples we often hear are man/boy, woman/girl, and non-binary, but you may also hear others. Gender identities are defined by and may be unique to a certain culture or place.

Intersex: An umbrella term to describe a person whose sex assigned at birth does not fit into the traditional boxes of male or female. This can be any combination of differences in sexual and reproductive anatomy, chromosomes or hormones. It is estimated that approximately 1.7% of the global population could be described as intersex.

Lesbian:A  sexual orienation label used specifically by women who are attracted to other women. Some women may use gay or lesbian to describe themselves.

Non-Binary: A gender identity label to describe a person whose identity doesn’t fit into the binary concepts of man/boy and woman/girl. They may feel like both, neither, somewhere in between or something else entirely. It can be used as an umbrella term for a multitude of identity labels.

Pansexual: A sexual orientation label to describe someone (cisgender or transgender) who is attracted to a person regardless of that person’s sex and/or gender.

Queer: It is an umbrella term to describe sexual orientations and gender identities other than heterosexual and cisgender. Historically, the term queer was used in a derogatory and stigmatizing way and was intended to harm and hurt individuals belonging to the 2SLGBTQ+ community. However, in recent times the word queer has been reclaimed by people of diverse sexualities and gender identities and is used as a positive and powerful self-identifying term.

Sex:A  label used to categorize people based on their sexual and reproductive anatomy (or genitals), chromosomes and/or hormones. It is assigned to people at birth by a medical professional.

Sexual Orientation: The way that people describe or label their attraction, whether sexual or romantic, specifically the gender(s) of those they may be attracted to. Some examples of sexual orientations are straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual and asexual, but there are many other terms.

Straight/Heterosexual: A sexual orientation label used to describe people (cisgender or transgender) who are attracted to genders different than their own. This is often used to describe men attracted to women, or women attracted to men.

Transgender: A name for a type of gender identity. The term describes a person whose sex assigned at birth is different from their felt sense of gender identity. For example, someone with a penis who was assigned male at birth but who identifies as a girl or woman could be called a trans woman. Someone with a vulva who was assigned female at birth but who identifies as a boy or man could be called a trans man. This is something that is determined by the person for themselves, not determined by others. It is often shortened to trans.

Two Spirit: An Indigenous-specific term that is used to describe a culturally specific understanding of identity that can include gender, sexual orientation and spirituality. It is only used by Indigenous people.

Two Spirit is not used in all Indigenous communities, nations or regions. It is a term that is used and described differently by each person and community. Not all Indigenous people with diverse sexual and gender identities consider themselves Two Spirit and many may identify with other identities such as LGBTQ+.