Gender continuum, also called gender spectrum, in the study of human sexuality, the thesis that gender is not “binary,” or limited to the specific genders “man” and “woman” (or “boy” and “girl”), but continuous, forming a spectrum of differing degrees and combinations of the mental, emotional, behavioral, and biological traits commonly possessed by or attributed to members of the male or female sex. Such characteristics include gender identity (one’s self-conception as a man, woman, or other gender or genders); sexual orientation; scalable personality traits such as assertiveness, inquisitiveness, empathy, and kindness (see also five-factor model of personality); the observance of culturally defined behaviors such as dress, social interaction, and social roles; and the physical traits associated with biological sex—including external genitalia, sex chromosomes, sex-related gene expression, sex hormones, and brain structure and activity—which vary along a continuum ranging from male to intersex to female.
Gender identity, an individual’s self-conception as a man or woman or as a boy or girl or as some combination of man/boy and woman/girl or as someone fluctuating between man/boy and woman/girl or as someone outside those categories altogether. It is distinguished from actual biological sex—i.e., male or female.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community (LGBTQ community), also called LGBTQ+ community, in any country, region, city, or other locality, a group of persons who identify as lesbian, gay (in the narrow sense of being a male who is sexually or romantically attracted to other males), bisexual, transgender, or queer and who feel some degree of empathy and solidarity with each other based on their shared experience of prejudice, discrimination, and disrespect or their awareness of the historical and contemporary oppression of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) persons.
Sexual orientation, the enduring pattern of an individual’s emotional, sexual, and/or romantic attraction. In science, sexual orientation is often divided into the three components of attraction, behaviour, and self-identification. There are myriad ways to describe sexual orientation, but the most common include: heterosexual, being attracted to the opposite gender; homosexual, being attracted to the same gender; and bisexual, being attracted to more than one gender. People who do not experience sexual attraction are sometimes called asexual; people who do not experience romantic attraction are sometimes called aromantic.
Homosexuality, sexual interest in and attraction to members of one’s own sex. The term gay is frequently used as a synonym for homosexual; female homosexuality is often referred to as lesbianism.
Transgender, term self-applied by persons whose gender identity varies from that traditionally associated with their apparent biological sex at birth. In its original and narrower sense, transgender referred to males and females who respectively gender-identify as females and males.
Same-sex marriage, the practice of marriage between two men or between two women. Although same-sex marriage has been regulated through law, religion, and custom in most countries of the world, the legal and social responses have ranged from celebration on the one hand to criminalization on the other.
Gay rights movement, also called gay liberation movement, civil rights movement that advocates equal rights for LGBTQ persons (i.e., for lesbians, gays [homosexual males], bisexuals, transgender persons, and queer persons); seeks to eliminate sodomy laws; and calls for an end to discrimination against LGBTQ persons in employment, credit, housing, public accommodations, and other areas of life.
Gay Pride, also called LGBT Pride or LGBTQ Pride, byname Pride, annual celebration, usually in June in the United States and sometimes at other times in other countries, of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) identity. Gay Pride commemorates the Stonewall riots, which began in the early hours of June 28, 1969, after police raided the Stonewall Inn bar in New York City’s Greenwich Village neighbourhood. Gay Pride typically involves a series of events and is often capped by a parade involving marchers and colourful floats from the LGBTQ community and its supporters.
For additional terms, their definition and background, check the database: Encyclopedia Britannica Academic Edition
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