Difference between gay and transgender
Nope!
It’s easy to get this confused, particularly because T is included in the LGBTQ+ acronym (T standing for “Transgender”). The key is to remember that transgender is referring to someone’s gender identity and not their sexuality orientation. Transgender people can be gay, straight, pansexual, lgbtq+, asexual, or any other sexual orientation (just fond of cisgender people!).
Recent FAQs
All FAQsWhat about advanced workshops? Safe Zone 201 perhaps?
Our Foundational Curriculum is a designed to create a Safe Zone 101 overview workshop. We recommend this workshop for all audiences – same-sex attracted, straight, queer, allied, and anywhere in between (or outside) those categories. While some of it may be old information for some, we believe that everyone, no matter their knowledge level, will earn something out of the experience.
We do have exercises that can be used for more advanced/specific workshops. Just check out the explore activities tab and search under the “201” levels for more advanced activities!
I have an activity I think you should add to the site. Do you hope to see it?
Yes! One of our goals for this project is to turn it into the go-to resou
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Definitions
Sexual orientation
An essential or immutable enduring emotional, romantic or sexual attraction to other people. Note: an individual’s sexual orientation is independent of their gender identity.
Gender identity
One's innermost concept of self as male, female, a blend of both or neither – how individuals perceive themselves and what they name themselves. One's gender identity can be the same or different from their sex assigned at birth.
Gender expression
External appearance of one's gender identity, usually expressed through behavior, clothing, body characteristics or voice, and which may or may not conform to socially defined behaviors and characteristics typically associated with creature either masculine or feminine.
Transgender
An umbrella designation for people whose gender identity and/or expression is other from cultural expectations based on the sex they were assigned at birth. Being transgender does not imply any specific sexual orientation. Therefore, transgender people may identify as straight, gay, sapphic, bisexual, etc.
Gender transition
The process by which some people aspire to more closely
Glossary of Terms
Many Americans refrain from talking about sexual orientation and gender identity or expression because it feels taboo, or because they’re nervous of saying the wrong thing.
This glossary was written to help give people the words and meanings to support make conversations easier and more cozy. LGBTQ+ people employ a variety of terms to name themselves, not all of which are included in this glossary. Always heed for and respect a person’s self identified terminology.
Ally | A term used to describe someone who is actively supportive of Gay people. It encompasses straight and cisgender allies, as successfully as those within the LGBTQ+ group who support each other (e.g., a lesbian who is an ally to the bisexual community).
Asexual | Often called “ace” for compact, asexual refers to a complete or partial lack of sexual attraction or lack of interest in sexual outing with others. Asexuality exists on a spectrum, and asexual people may trial no, little or conditional sexual attraction.
Biphobia | The apprehend and hatred of, or discomfort with, people who devote and are sexually attracted to more than one gender.
Bisexual | Up until 2015, I’d never met a transgender person. Most of my gay friends hadn’t either, except for some who encountered drag artists in pubs. I’m unsure whether this is indicative of the larger gay collective but if so, maybe it’s because whilst the gay and trans community are grouped together under the LGBT framework, their differences sometimes outnumber their similarities. The former is about sexuality and the latter is about gender, with each sharing other nuances, history and direction. I discovered these facts whilst writing the book and my motive for writing lay sorely with my curiosity as to why a person would seek to change their gender. Trans Voices examines gender dysphoria by looking at the lives of ordinary people who reported having incongruence between their brains and physical bodies from an early age, before deciding the only way to release this mental anguish was to transition to the antonym gender. Gay people do not have to endure these difficulties, which entail lifelong hormone treatment and sometimes multiple surgeries to bring the new gender into physical reassignment. I’m not saying gay people don’t face rejection and homophobia in socie