There are a lot of words out there, here is a short list of the ones you will commonly hear amongst LGBT (Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgendered) people, and some historical words which you may be interested to read!
Androgynous
An Androgynous person is somebody who has both masculine and feminine qualities and who has an ambiguous sexual identity or someone who refuses to conform to sexual identity. A more derogatory term for this would be “gender-bender”. There are many famous examples of this; two famous ones would be Annie Lennox and George Michael.
Asexual
A person who lacks desire for sex, or believes they aren’t attracted to any other person. Originally the phrase related to a person who had no sexual organs.
Bi-curious / Experimental
A person who may or may not have a strong attraction to a member of the same sex, but partakes in sexual or physical acts such as kissing to “experiment”.
Some sexually confused people may use the word if they know they are gay but haven’t yet kissed a member of the same sex.
Bisexual
Somebody who is Bisexual is namely a person, physically and sexually attracted to both males and females.
Some argue believe that this state of sexuality does not exist and is only a happy medium for the person until they are ready to accept they are a homosexual.
However others suggest that being bisexual is being so comfortable in your own sexuality that you have no problem in becoming attracted to a member of the same sex.
Again others maintain that a person can be attracted to both sexes, both in equal and in unequal proportions.
Butch / Straight Acting
A Butch lesbian is a woman who acts in a masculine manner or has masculine traits.
A Straight acting gay man is a man who acts in a masculine manner and doesn’t show signs of stereotypical effeminate qualities.
Camp
A man who talks, dresses, walks and acts in an effeminate manner.
Chicken
A young gay male, usually in his teens or early twenties.
Clone
First appearing in the 1970s, it refers to a gay man of a certain, somewhat standardised appearance. The classic look includes short-cropped hair, trim moustache, flannel shirt and Levi’s brand 501 jeans, on a relatively well sculptured body.
Closet case / Not out of the closet / In the closet
A homosexual person who has not yet told other people that they are of a different sexual orientation.
The phrase pertains the meaning that people who are not openly gay are “hiding” in a closet
of their own sexual desires and feelings.
‘Come out’ (of the closet)
To ‘come out’ is to tell another person that you are a homosexual
Community
Describes the sense of finally belonging or identifying with a group of gays.
Cruising
Originating in the so called “gay city” of San Francisco, this phrase is used for gay female / males who go out and find other gay people to partake in sexual activities (generally for one night stands).
Cross-dresser
Someone who dresses in the opposite sex’s clothes.
Drag / Drag Queen
A Drag queen is a person who dresses in a way usually identified with the opposite sex. However this differs from transvestite, whereas drag usually refers to a specific act of cross-dressing, transvestite is applied to the general enjoyment of the act.
Another definition of a drag queen is the specific look of a man who is dressed as a woman but still looks like a man.
Dyke
Originally the word for a dam or an embankment blocking a raging river, the word was adopted to mean a strong or dominant female character who dresses in a strong or masculine way, therefore abiding by the Butch “stereotype” of a gay woman.
Fairy
A fairy is generally associated with a sprite that in Irish mythology wore tiny ballerina like skirts and sprinkled magical dust over a person to intervene in human affairs. This was adopted as a derogatory term for a man who “prances and dances about” in an effeminate way, intervening in the affairs between a man and woman. Also the phrase is associated with Tinkerbelle.
Fag (got)
A faggot originally meant a bundle of sticks. During the reign of the Roman Empire (and later during the rule of the fascist Mussolini) the flag for Rome and Italy was a bundle of sticks tied round a battle axe representing the strength and aggression of the Roman peoples.
However the phrase is now referred to as a homosexual person in a derogatory way. During the years of the Inquisition, heretics and homosexuals were burnt at the stake under a bundle of firewood and sticks tied together (called a faggot) and this is where the phrase originates.
Fag Hag
A Fag hag is a heterosexual female who has a gay male as a close friend/best friend and attends gay clubs/pubs with. Many believe that it is easier to talk to a gay male because they understand female emotions more than a heterosexual male but can also give a male perspective to the female’s problems.
Femme
From the French word femme for sister, it was adopted as slang term for an effeminate male.
Fruit
This is a slang word for a homosexual male. The slang comes from the idea that gay males like the male phallus and therefore like the symbolic phallus of “meat and two veg.” Also the slang represents the hard skin (in most cases) of a fruit, which is symbolic of the strength of man himself or his masculinity and the soft centre of the fruit which represents the softer side of a male, for example the stereotypical view of a gay man being weak or effeminate.
FTM / MTF
FTM means a female to male transvestite
MTF means a male to female transvestite.
Gay
Originally meaning a male or female, who is merry or happy, the word now is the adopted phrase for a homosexual male, implying that the man/woman is happy to partake in sexual acts with other men/women.
Gay Bashing
A form of hate crime and homophobia punishable under the law. Homophobic people (in extreme forms) may go out to gay “hang-outs” to find gay people to verbally or physically abuse.
Gaydar
Gay radar, the sense by which queers identify other queers.
Heterosexism
The belief that heterosexuality is superior to homosexuality or bisexuality, or the tendency to assume that everyone is heterosexual, e.g. asking a boy “do you have a girlfriend” – the assumption being that he’s straight.
Heterosexual
A male or female attracted physically, sexually or emotionally to a member of the opposite sex. During the late 19th century the word was identifiable to a person attracted to both sexes (the C19th name for a bisexual person)
Homo
A shorthand or slang term for a homosexual person.
Homosexual
A male or female attracted physically, sexually or emotionally to a member of the same sex.
Homophobia / Homophobic
A fear or dislike for homosexual peoples.
Lesbian
A women who is physically, sexually or emotionally attracted to another woman.
The word originates from the island of Lesbos where the ancient Greek writer Sappho wrote about a tribe of Amazonians warriors, made up solely of women. Sappho wrote erotic verse about love and lust between these women. Thus the term evolved into meaning two women who partake in sexual activities together.
Therefore to take the term literally lesbian means “of the island of Lesbos”.
Lezzy / Lezzer
A slang/shorthand term for a lesbian.
LGBT
This is an acronym, it stands for Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgendered, so it is used as a kind of umbrella term to represent our community.
Lipstick lesbian
A Lipstick Lesbian is a woman who dresses / acts like a straight woman. (Similar to straight acting)
Mary
During the mid 20th century, this name was one of the most popular female names and was adopted in an offensive term for a gay man (assuming then that all gay men wanted to be women)
Metro-sexual
A heterosexual person who appears to act with homosexual traits. Has become more common as homosexuality has increased in acceptance and viewed by some as fashionable.
Open / Accepting
To be open or accepting is to not have any objections to the homosexual community and to give a homosexual person equal rights as any other human being.
Also under the law, underage LGBT peoples are now protected from bullying and discrimination towards their sexual orientation. Therefore the school/youth group/church group which the child attends has an obligatory duty to allow said child the same rights as any other human being.
Pansexual
Also referred to as omnisexual, a pansexual person is somebody who has sexual desires for a wide range of people – straight people or gay/lesbian/bisexual or transgendered people and also may partake in sexual activities of many kinds.
Poof
Slang word for an effeminate male.
Queer
The word queer literally means weird or different. Normal being heterosexual, being weird was anyone who didn’t conform to this structure, namely homosexual peoples. However many homosexual people have now adopted the word as a means as identifying themselves as different from heterosexual people.
Queen
A male who acts in a feministic or “Camp” way.
Transgender
A transgender person is someone who believes they were born into the wrong body and therefore wishes to be a member of the opposite sex. Using chemical hormones, males may take female oestrogen hormones to develop breasts, whilst females may take male testosterone hormones to grow body and facial hair.
A Transgender person may also wish to live their lives out as the opposite sex by undergoing cosmetic surgery to change different parts of their body e.g. breast implants.
Transvestite
A person who dresses in the clothing of the opposite sex for pleasure or fun, complete with makeup, hair and mannerisms, however this doesn’t always mean that the transvestite is homosexual.
Scene queen
A gay man who conforms to the homosexual stereotype by acting in a “camp” manner and by being a regular to the gay scene / gay pubs / clubs, as well as also knowing allot of other gay people.
Stereotype
Some believe that there is a stereotypical way in which gay men and women act, notably all gay men love pink and all lesbians act like men. This can and cannot always be the case. However some people conform to this stereotype to attract other people of the same sex to them as they believe by acting “straight” other gay people may not notice them and approach.
Some argue that being flamboyant or Camp is a person acting like that to tell others they are gay and henceforth attract other gay people. However another argument is that being camp or the stereotypical gay person is a hereditary feat. (They were born like that) and is not environmental (they were brought up like that).
is a part of Cara-Friend 