Sex: Sex is the physiological makeup of a human being, referred to as their biological or natal sex. Sex is usually thought of in a bipolar way, dividing the world into males and females. In reality, sex is a complex relationship of genetic, hormonal, morphological, biochemical and anatomical determinates that impact the physiology of the body and the sexual differentiation of the brain. Although everyone is assigned a sex at birth, approximately 2% of the population are intersex and do not easily fit into a dimorphic division of two sexes that are "opposite."

Gender: Gender is a social construct that divides people into "natural" categories of men and women that are thought to derive from their physiological male and female bodies. Gender attributes vary from culture to culture, and are arbitrarily imposed, denying individuality. Most people's gender identity is the same as their sex but people who exhibit opposite gender roles are often labeled as deviant. A person's self concept of their gender (regardless of their biological sex) is called their gender identity.

Gender Role: Gender role is the expression of masculinity and femininity and has often been referred to as "sex roles." Gender roles are thought to be a reflection of one's gender identity and are socially dictated and reinforced. Gender roles are how gender is enacted or "performed" (consciously or unconsciously) and may or may not be related to gender identity or natal sex.

LGBT: An acronym for "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered," also referred to as queer. Sometime a "Q" is added for those "questioning" their sexual and gender identities.

Lesbian: Lesbians are women who are sexually and emotionally attracted to members of the same sex, and who form their primary loving and sexual relationships with other women. Lesbians can also refer to themselves as gay women or dykes. Some lesbians identify with feminist politics, and other do not.

Gay: A man who is sexually and emotionally attracted to other men and form their primary loving and sexual relationships with other men. The term "gay" is sometimes used generically to include both men and women, but many women prefer to identify as lesbian.

Bisexual: A woman or man who is, or feels s/he has the potential to be, sexually and emotionally attracted to members of either the same or other sex. Bisexuality can be viewed as a continuum in that degrees of attraction can vary; some bisexuals feel equally attracted to members of either sex, and others feel a preference. Bisexuals can be in long-term monogamous relationships with members of either sex. Some are strongly identified with the gay political movement, and others are not.

Butch: Butch is a word commonly used in the lesbian and gay communities to identify masculine females or sometimes masculine gay men. The spectrum of identity within the lesbian community can include "soft butches" who identify masculine women, to transgender butches who often do not identify as "women" and are somewhat bi-gendered in their identity," to those who identify as transmen/FTM's but still retain an identity as "butch."

Femme: Femme is a word commonly used in the lesbian community to identify feminine lesbians. These are women who are lesbian-identified who are often, although not exclusively, attracted to masculine females or butches.
Femmes often feel invisible as lesbians, since they pass in the world as normative heterosexual women. Femme is not an identity of passivity, but one of strength and power.

Coming Out: The process, often lifelong, where LGBT people become aware of, acknowledge, accept, appreciate, and let others know about their sexual or gender identity. Coming out can involve self-knowledge, or sharing this information with friends, family and employers.

Heterosexism: The institutionalized set of beliefs that heterosexuality is normal, natural and superior to homosexuality. Homophobia (a fear and hatred of gays and lesbians) is an outgrowth of heterosexism, as is biphobia (a fear and hatred of bisexuals) and transphobia (a fear and hatred of transgendered people). Heterosexism confers certain privileges such as legal protection, the rights to marry, and freedom to be publicly affectionate, on people who are heterosexual, or appear to be.

Transgender: Transgender is an umbrella term including many categories of people who are gender variant. This can include people who identify as transsexuals, crossdressers, masculine identified females, feminine identified males, MtF's, FtM's, transmen, transgendered women, intersexed, and other differently-gendered people. Transgender people can be heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual or non-sexual. Transgenderist is a term used for some crossdressers, who feel they are more than crossdressers, but not quite transsexuals.

Transsexuals (TS or T's): Transsexuals are people who believe that their physiological body does not represent their true sex. Most transsexuals desire sexual reassignment surgery (SRS) but transsexuals may be pre-operative, post-operative, or non-operative (i.e., choosing to not have surgical modification). Some transsexuals prefer to not have their birth sex known and to "pass," and others are comfortable been seen as transsexuals and take pride in this identity. Most transsexuals prefer to be referred to simply as men or women, regardless of their surgical status.

Crossdressers: Crossdressers (CD's) are people who wear the clothes usually assigned to the opposite sex. They have been referred to in the clinical literature as "transvestites (TV's)," but most prefer the term cross-dresser. Some crossdress for erotic fulfillment, some for social fun (i.e., doing "drag") and still others just for comfort. Since women have more freedom of dress in American culture, crossdressers are by definition males who dress in women's clothing, and most are heterosexually identified. Many crossdressers purge their female clothing periodically as a way to try to cure themselves of their behavior. Drag queens are often gay men who dress as women, in a extreme feminine manner, for fun or "camp." Drag kings are the female version of drag queens, and are often butch lesbians. Female impersonators are men who work as entertainers and who dress as women as part of their job; they may be crossdressers or transgendered but not necessarily; male impersonators are their female counterpart.

Female-to-male transsexuals (FtM or FTM): Female born people who live as men. This includes a broad range of experience from those who identify as "male" or "men" and those who identify as transsexual, "transmen," "female men" or as FTM as their gender identity. FtM's are often contrasted with "biomen" or biologically born men. Some transsexuals are comfortable being included in the category of transgender and others are not.

Male-to-female transsexuals (MtF or MTF): Male born people who live as women. This includes a broad range of experience including those who identify as "female" or "women" and those who identify as transsexual women. Some words used to refer to transsexual women are "Tgirl" and "new women" as compared to "GG's" or genetic women. Some transsexuals are comfortable being included in the category of transgender and others are not.

Bi-gender: Some gender variant people reject the choices of male/female, man/woman and feel their gender encompasses "both" genders. Some feel that they are androgynous, simultaneously exhibiting masculine and feminine traits, and others feel they are neutral, or without gender. This steps outside of a "changing sex" paradigm and allows for more flexibility of gender expression and identity. Bi-gender people often identify as being of both genders. Transsexuals normally do not consider themselves to be bi-gendered. Within some American Indians cultures, expressing both genders is referred to as "Two-Spirited." Within contemporary urban life, bi-gendered people often refer to themselves as "gender queers," "gender benders," "third sex" and "gender perverts" as terms of pride.

Emergence: The process of become aware of, acknowledging, accepting, appreciating, and letting others know about one's (trans)gender identity. It is similar to the "coming out" experience for LGB people, but can also involve body modification and changes in pronoun use; it can, therefore, be less easily hidden socially or vocationally. Emergence is normative within a culture that allows only dimorphic immutable gender expressions; it describes an adaptive process that is necessary within a confining social system.

Transition: The process that transgender people move through in accepting their gender identity, particular the physical, legal and psychological experience of moving from one gender identity to another, or allowing others to see one's true identity. Transition is similar to a re-birthing experience, where the person re-emerges with a social identity that is the best expression of their internal core gender identity. Part of this process is cross-living as the other gender or going through the real life experience — or real life test — to see what living as the other gender will be like. This is necessary before being referred for sexual reassignment surgery.

Passing (to pass): To be able to successfully assume the gender role opposite of physical sex when interacting with society and being able to function in public situations as a member of that gender. When you do not pass well, or are read as a member of your genetic sex, it can invite public ridicule and harassment. Some transgender activists reject the idea of trying to pass, seeing it as playing into a dual-gender system, however for many transsexuals passing well is seen as the ticket to their re-integration into society.

SRS (Sexual Reassignment Surgery): SRS, also referred to as GRS (Gender Reassignment Surgery) is the surgical processes involved in changing one's sex. These most often refers to genital surgeries, but also can include mastectomy and chest reconstruction for female-to-male transsexuals, and can include a variety of cosmetic surgeries to enhance one's gender presentation. Genital surgeries for male-to-female's is currently more advanced than the surgeries for female-to-male's.

Gender Community: This is a colloquial term for the transgender community. It often includes the significant others of transgender people, referred to as SOFFA's (significant others, family, friends and allies).