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The First Gay Pride in London 1972

Full Glossary of Terms

  • Bisexual – describes a person emotionally and sexually attracted to both men and women.
  • Consensual sex – adults (over 16 years old) agree (consent) to agreed sexual acts.
  • Conversion therapy – any treatment or psychotherapy which aims to change a person’s sexual orientation or to suppress a person’s gender identity. It is based on an assumption that being lesbian, gay, bi or trans is a mental illness that can be ‘cured’.
  • Gay – used to describe same sex relationships and sexuality, usually for men. Often used as an umbrella term for LGBTQ+ people in the past.
  • Heterosexual – relations and sex between opposite sex, e.g. female/male.
  • Homophobia – fear and hatred of LGBTQ+ people and sexuality.
  • Homosexual – describes men emotionally and sexually attracted to other men.
  • Intersex - an umbrella term for differences in sex traits or reproductive anatomy.
  • Lesbian – describes women emotionally and sexually attracted to other women.
  • LGBTQ+ - An acronym that refers to people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer. The ‘+’ is to acknowledge that there are other genders and sexualities that people may identify with.
  • Queer – used to describe LGBTQ+ emotions, experience and sexuality. It is often used as an umbrella term for people and ideas. It was used as a term of abuse and some older LGBTQ+ people do not use it.
  • Same-sex – relationships and sex between the same-sex (male/male or female/female).
  • Straight – a colloquial / slang term for heterosexual sexuality and relationships.
  • Transgender – a person who lives (or identifies) as a member of a biological sex other than the one they were assigned at birth.