The terminological legacy of Stonewall 51 years on

On Sunday 28 June we celebrate Gay Pride Day LGBTIQ+, more commonly known as Gay Pride Day. Although due to the current safety measures, this year’s festivities have been relegated to social networks, here at BigTranslation we have decided to make a compilation of the terminology we have inherited in the 51 years since the Stonewall riots.

As professional linguists and translators, we value the terminological richness of the LGBTIQ+ collective and we want to share it with you on this special date.

A

Ally: A person who does not belong to the LGBTIQ+ collective but who supports and defends its causes. 

Androgynous: A person who expresses their gender as a mixture of the characteristics of gender binarism.

Coming out (of the closet): The voluntary and individual act of declaring oneself outside the norm in relation to one’s identity or sexual orientation.

Asexual: A person who feels no sexual attraction towards any other person.

B

Biphobia: Discrimination, rejection or even hate of bisexual people.

Binary: A person who considers him/herself defined by the male or female gender. (Non-binary: a person who does not identify with either of the two absolute terms).

Bisexual: The B in the acronym LGBTIQ+. A person who feels sexually or emotionally attracted to more than one gender.

C

Pink capitalism: The incorporation of the LGBTIQ+ movement into the market economy. It comes from the consolidation of profitable commercial LGBTIQ+ projects.

Cisgender: A person who identifies with the gender they are born with.

D

Depathologising transsexuality: All the actions that attempt to make transsexuality become recognised as another manifestation of the diversity of the human being. 

Drag: Is also found accompanied by the term Queen or King. This refers to a man dressed as a woman or to a woman dressed as a man for the purpose of entertainment. It does not have to be related to the person’s sexual orientation.

G

Gay: The G in the acronym LGBTIQ+. A man who feels sexually or emotionally attracted to another man.

 Gender-fluid or Non-binary: A person who does not always self-identify with one gender or the other, but who shifts between both.  

H

Heterosexual: A person who is sexually or emotionally attracted to another person of the opposite gender. 

Homophobia: Discrimination, hate or rejection of homosexual people and even of the whole LGBTIQ+ collective.

Homosexuality: A sexual or emotional attraction, or both, towards a person of the same sex.

I

Gender identity: The inner and personal sense of the gender that a person identifies with. This may not be the one they were assigned at birth.

Intersexual:  The I in the LGBTIQ+ acronym. A person that is born with the sexual characteristics of both genders. 

L

Lesbian: The L in the LGBTIQ+ acronym. A woman who feels sexually or emotionally attracted to another woman. 

LGBTIQ+:  The acronym that brings together the diversity of orientations and gender identities. 

LGBTI phobia: The rejection and discrimination against all identities and orientations represented by the LGBTIQ+ acronym.

M

Same-sex marriage: The right to a marriage union for two people of the same sex.  

Q

Queer:  The Q in the LGBTIQ+ acronym. People within the collective who do not wish to classify their sexual orientation and identity by using the traditional labels.

S

Sexual orientation: A sexual or emotional attraction towards another person. This results in the classification of gay, lesbian, bisexual, heterosexual…

Stonewall: These were protests organised at the Stonewall Bar in New York against a police raid which took place on 28 June 1969. During the police raid, people gathered there to protest against the treatment received from the police. This protest was the first of many and the 28 June 1970 was the date on which the first Gay Pride march took place.

T

Transsexual: A person whose gender assigned at birth does not correspond with their sexual identity. 

Transgender: People who do not identify themselves as being binary gender.

Transition: The process by which a person changes their gender expression in order to adapt to their gender identity.  

Transvestite: A person who dresses and personifies themself as the opposite sex without needing to identify themselves with that gender.

V

Visibility: The action taken by a person to show their sexual orientation or express their gender without fear of LGBTI phobia.

This is just a sample of the enormous terminological richness created by the fight for the rights of the LGBTIQ+ community. With this compilation, we want to do our bit towards increasing their visibility. 

Voici seulement un échantillon de l’énorme richesse terminologique qu’a développé la lutte pour les droits de la communauté LGTBIQ+. Avec cela, nous souhaitons apporter notre grain de sable à sa visibilité.