Somebody who aligns himself with the lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgendered community's goals is called an ally. There are levels of comfort with allies, and there is a coming out process for allies as well. An ally is intrinsically interested in and fights for the issues of the LBGT community, and is not merely someone who does not "have a problem with gay people".
Bisexual
A bisexual is a person who is emotionally and physically attracted to members of any sex.
Dyke
Also known as Lesbian. The term dyke is traditionally derogatory, but many lesbians are attempting reclamation of the term. There is great disagreement over whether this is wise.
Gay
Term meaning a homosexual male. Sometimes it is extended to include lesbians as well, as a synonym for "homosexual", as in "gay men and women." Often the mainstream media will speak of the "gay community" or "gay movement," meaning lesbians, bisexuals, and gay men, but there is question as to whether they include people with different gender expressions.
Heterosexual
A person who is primarily emotionally and physically attracted to people of the other gender.
Homosexual
A person who is primarily emotionally and physically attracted to people of the same gender.
Interrex
Not everyone is born strictly male or female, in fact an estimated 1 in 100 babies are sexually ambiguous at birth, and 1 to 2 in 1000 are surgically altered to one sex or the other. These people are called intersexed.
LBGT
Acronym: Lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgendered.
LBGTA
Acronym: Lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgendered and ally.
Lesbian
A female who is primarily emotionally and physically attracted to women.
Monosexual
A person who is emotionally and physically attracted to people of a single gender, i.e., heterosexuals and homosexuals.
Omnisexual
1. Of or relating to any gender.
2. A person who is attracted to people of all genders, but does not believe in a dichotomous sense of gender (Rare).
Pansexual
1. A person who is attracted to people of all genders, but does not believe in a dichotomous sense of gender.
2. A person who participates in BDSM (Rare).
Queer
The term queer is traditionally derogatory, but many people are attempting reclamation of the term. There is great disagreement over whether this is wise
Transgender
A person who identifies as transgendered believes that society's answer to the question of gender is too limited for their identity.
Reclaim
To reclaim a word means to use it within a marginalized community in order to steal away its power. This has happened historically with varying degrees of success to many terms, including black, queer, dyke, bitch, disability/disability, and others. There is great disagreement over whether this is a wise action, and which terms exactly are appropriate to reclaim.
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation is the generally accepted way to describe the set of genders that a given individual is emotionally and physically attracted to.
Sexual preference
Sexual preference has been discarded by many people in favor of sexual orientation in order to convey a lack of choice. However, the term sexual preference is also recently being reclaimed by a minority within the community, precisely in order to indicate that they do feel they have a choice.
All of definitions were found on the following website:
Michigan State University The Alliance of LBGT SA Students
Religion & Spirituality Curriculum Books Articles Videos FAQs Additional Links