Bilingual glossary

Assigned sex at birth

The male-or-female call recorded at birth from visible anatomy — "assigned" because someone else made it.

Comphet (强制异性恋)

The structural assumption that everyone is straight until stated otherwise — from Adrienne Rich's 1980 essay.

Gender binary

The idea that gender comes in exactly two mutually exclusive kinds — and the institutional defaults built on it.

Gender expression

How you outwardly present gender — clothing, hair, mannerisms, voice. It can differ from identity and orientation.

Gender identity

A person's deeply felt, ongoing sense of their own gender — which may or may not match the sex assigned at birth.

Gender spectrum

A model of gender as a continuum, not two boxes — the ends still exist, just no longer the only places to stand.

Heteronormativity

The system that treats heterosexuality as the default life script — a critique of the default, not of straight people.

Intersex (间性人)

Born with sex characteristics that don't fit male/female definitions — about bodies, not orientation or identity.

Romantic orientation

The pattern of which genders you fall for romantically — describable separately from sexual attraction.

Sex characteristics

Bodily features tied to sex — chromosomes, gonads, hormones, genitals, secondary traits. The "SC" in SOGIESC.

Sexual attraction

Sexual desire directed at a specific person — the core dimension of orientation, distinct from romance and libido.

Sexual orientation

The enduring pattern of who you're emotionally and sexually drawn to — distinct from the question of who you are.

SOGIE

Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression — plus Sex Characteristics for SOGIESC. Everyone has one.

Split attraction model

A tool treating sexual and romantic attraction as two independently describable axes. Born in asexual communities.

Agender

Identifying with no gender, or finding the category of gender simply inapplicable; not the same thing as asexual.

Aromantic

Experiencing little or no romantic attraction; romantic and sexual attraction are separate axes that need not align.

Asexual

Experiencing little or no sexual attraction — an orientation, not celibacy, coldness, or a disorder; a spectrum.

Biphobia

Prejudice toward bisexual people; its most common form is denying that the orientation is even real ("just a phase," "greedy fence-sitting").

Bisexual

Attraction to more than one gender — not necessarily equally, and not necessarily at the same time.

Cisgender

Having a gender identity that matches the sex assigned at birth — the neutral counterpart to "transgender."

Coming Out

Sharing your sexual orientation or gender identity with others — an ongoing process where safety always comes first.

Demisexual

Sexual attraction that only becomes possible after an emotional bond has formed; part of the asexual spectrum.

FtM / MtF

Directional shorthand — MtF means a trans woman, FtM a trans man. Increasingly replaced by "trans woman / trans man."

Gay

A man emotionally and sexually attracted to men; borrowed directly into Chinese, where it almost always means men.

Genderfluid

A gender identity that moves between positions over time; the pace and range of movement vary from person to person.

Gray-asexual

The gray zone between asexual and allosexual — attraction that is rare, faint, ambiguous, or conditional.

Heterosexual

Attraction to a different gender — an orientation like any other, not a 'default setting'; Chinese yixinglian (异性恋).

Homophobia

Prejudice, aversion, or hostility toward gay people; it can be institutional, or internalized into how LGBTQ people judge themselves.

Homosexual (同性恋)

Attraction to the same gender. Clinical-sounding and dated in English — yet the neutral standard word in Chinese.

Lesbian

A woman attracted to women — named for the Greek island of Lesbos; Chinese community term is lala.

Minority stress

A model for health gaps in sexual minorities: chronic stress from prejudice and concealment, not the identity itself.

Nonbinary

A gender identity outside the man/woman binary — an umbrella covering many distinct experiences.

Outing

Disclosing someone's sexual orientation or gender identity to others without their consent; the opposite of coming out on one's own terms, and potentially risky.

Pansexual

Attraction in which the other person's gender is not a precondition — 'gender is not a filter.'

Queer (酷儿)

A reclaimed umbrella term for people outside sexual and gender norms; the Chinese transliteration ku'er has no sting.

Questioning

Still working out your orientation or gender identity — the Q in LGBTQ+, and a fully legitimate place to stand.

Social transition

The non-medical side of transition — new name, pronouns, presentation, living as oneself. Fully reversible.

Stigma

The social process of marking an identity or condition as shameful; the harm often outweighs the thing itself.

The Closet

Metaphor for keeping one's orientation or gender identity hidden — often a rational survival strategy, not dishonesty.

Transgender

Umbrella term for anyone whose gender identity differs from their assigned sex — including nonbinary people.

Transphobia

Prejudice, exclusion, or hostility toward transgender people — often expressed as denying their gender, refusing their pronouns, and institutional barriers.

Ally

A person outside the LGBTQ+ community who actively supports its equality and safety — zhitongmeng in Chinese.

Bear Culture

Gay subculture celebrating bigger, hairier bodies; Chinese communities adopted it as xiong (bear), with local variants.

Bei Chugui (被出柜)

Being outed: having your orientation or gender identity disclosed without your consent. Coming out is yours to decide.

Chosen Family

Family built by choice rather than blood — a core LGBTQ+ tradition of mutual care, with legal tools varying by region.

Deadname

The name a trans person used before transition and has retired — "dead" because it is not to be revived.

Drag

Performance art built on exaggerated gender codes; drag is a show — not the same thing as being transgender.

Misgender

Referring to someone with pronouns, titles, or gendered words that contradict their gender identity.

Passing

Being read by strangers as one's actual gender (or as cis or straight) — often a matter of safety, not vanity.

PFLAG-Style Parent Groups

Peer-support groups run by parents and friends of LGBTQ+ people — the parent-helping-parent model, worldwide.

Pride Month

June, commemorating the 1969 Stonewall uprising — a month of parades, screenings, and remembrance worldwide.

Pride Parade

Annual marches for equality and visibility dating to 1970; Taipei has hosted one of Asia's largest since 2003.

Pronouns

The words used to refer to a person — he, she, they, or Chinese TA. Getting them right is the cheapest form of respect.

Rainbow Flag

The pride symbol designed by Gilbert Baker in 1978; in the standard six-stripe version each color stands for a value.

Stonewall Uprising

The June 1969 resistance at New York's Stonewall Inn — the catalytic turning point of the modern LGBTQ+ movement.

Visibility

How present LGBTQ+ people are in public life; collective visibility matters, but being out is never an individual duty.

Zhiren (直人)

'Straight person' — the everyday Chinese calque of English 'straight'; neutral, with wan ('bent') as its counterpart.

1 / 0 (Chinese Gay Slang)

In-community shorthand for position preference among Chinese gay men — optional, changeable, unrelated to masculinity.

Bihun (逼婚)

Family pressure to marry, from nagging to coercion — often the heaviest everyday reality for Chinese LGBTQ+ people.

Duanxiu (断袖)

'Cut sleeve': a Han emperor cut his sleeve rather than wake his lover — classical China's most famous gay allusion.

Duoyuan Xingbie (多元性别)

Taiwan's umbrella term for gender and sexual diversity — literally 'plural genders'; standard in education and policy.

Face and Family (面子与家族)

Why coming out is a family affair in Chinese culture: marriage is read as the whole family's face and duty.

Fentao (分桃)

'Shared peach': Mizi Xia gave his half-eaten peach to the Duke of Wei — a classical allusion to love between men.

Lala (拉拉)

The warm everyday self-name of Chinese lesbians, born as 'Lazi' in Qiu Miaojin's 1994 novel Notes of a Crocodile.

Longyang (龙阳)

Lord Longyang, a Warring States royal favorite; 'the love of Longyang' became a classical phrase for male-male love.

Pianhun (骗婚)

Concealing one's orientation to marry an unknowing straight spouse; unlike xinghun, there is no informed consent.

T / P / H (Chinese Lesbian Slang)

Lala community labels — T (tomboyish), P (feminine), H ("half," neither) — optional self-descriptions, not fixed roles.

Tiancai (天菜)

Slang for one's absolute ideal type — literally a "heaven-made dish" for your taste; now mainstream Chinese slang.

Tongfu (同夫)

A straight man unknowingly married to a lesbian — the less-visible mirror of tongqi.

Tongqi (同妻)

A straight woman unknowingly married to a gay man — the Chinese term for a hidden casualty of marriage pressure.

Tongzhi (同志)

The warmest and most widely used Chinese umbrella term for LGBTQ+ people — literally "comrade," repurposed in 1989 from revolutionary vocabulary.

Xinghun (形婚)

A 'marriage in form': a gay man and a lesbian marry, both fully informed, to deflect family and social pressure.

Xingshaoshu (性少数)

The standard Chinese umbrella term for LGBTQ+ people — literally 'sexual minority'; common in media and academia.

Binding

Flattening the chest with a purpose-made binder — common among trans men and nonbinary people; safe if done right.

Gender confirmation surgery

Umbrella term for surgeries aligning the body with gender identity — not one operation, and not required to be trans.

Gender dysphoria

The DSM-5 clinical term for significant distress caused by a mismatch between gender identity and assigned sex.

Gender incongruence

ICD-11's term for a mismatch between gender identity and assigned sex — moved out of the mental-disorders chapter.

Gender-affirming care

Umbrella term for medical and support services that help trans people align body and life with identity.

HRT (hormone replacement therapy)

Estrogen or testosterone therapy that shifts the body toward one's gender identity — prescription, medically monitored.

Puberty blockers

Prescription GnRH analogues that pause puberty; specialist-only for trans youth, with ongoing professional discussion.

Transition

Aligning one's life and body with one's gender identity — social, legal, and/or medical, in any combination.

AIDS

The late stage untreated HIV can reach — not a virus itself, and one most people never reach if treated early.

ART (Antiretroviral Therapy)

The standard HIV treatment — drugs that suppress the virus long-term, enabling a healthy life and an undetectable load.

HIV

A virus that attacks immune cells; with treatment it stays in check for life — and it is not the same as AIDS.

Informed-consent testing

HIV testing done only with the person's knowledge, consent, and confidentiality, plus counseling before and after.

MSM (men who have sex with men)

A public-health term for men who have sex with men — describing behavior, not identity.

PEP (Post-Exposure Prophylaxis)

Emergency medication after possible HIV exposure — the sooner the better, and it must start within 72 hours.

PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis)

Medication taken regularly by someone who is HIV-negative to sharply lower the chance of acquiring HIV through sex.

Serodiscordant couple

A relationship where one partner is HIV-positive, the other negative; with U=U and PrEP, they can love and live safely.

STI (Sexually Transmitted Infection)

Infections passed through sexual contact — chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, HPV; most are preventable and treatable.

U=U (Undetectable = Untransmittable)

When someone on treatment keeps their viral load undetectable, they cannot pass HIV to a partner through sex.

Viral load

The amount of HIV in the blood; treatment driving it to "undetectable" marks success — and no longer being infectious.

Window period

The gap between infection and when a test can reliably detect it; a negative result during it isn't yet proof.

Anti-discrimination law (反歧视法)

Laws explicitly banning unequal treatment based on sexual orientation or gender identity; mainland China has none.

CCMD-3

China's psychiatric diagnostic manual, 3rd edition (2001) — homosexuality no longer classed as a mental disorder.

Civil union (民事结合)

A legal partnership status created outside marriage; rights vary widely by jurisdiction and usually fall short of it.

Conversion therapy (扭转治疗)

Discredited practices claiming to change sexual orientation or gender identity; ineffective and harmful.

Decriminalization (去罪化)

Removal of criminal penalties for same-sex acts; in mainland China marked by the 1997 repeal of "hooliganism."

Depathologization (去病理化)

The medical consensus that sexual orientation is not an illness — WHO 1990, China's CCMD-3 2001, ICD-11 2019.

Hooliganism (流氓罪, liumang zui)

A vague catch-all crime in China's 1979 Criminal Law, once used against same-sex acts; abolished in 1997.

ICD-11

WHO's disease classification, adopted 2019, in force 2022; moved gender incongruence out of mental disorders.

IDAHOBIT (May 17)

May 17, the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia — marking WHO's 1990 declassification.

Legal gender recognition (法律性别变更)

The process of changing one's legal gender marker; in mainland China it currently requires surgery.

Marriage equality (婚姻平权)

Equal access to marriage for same-sex couples; Taiwan became the first place in Asia to achieve it in 2019.

WHO 1990 (May 17)

On May 17, 1990 the WHO-approved ICD-10 removed homosexuality from its classification of mental disorders.

Yiding jianhu (意定监护, voluntary guardianship)

Voluntary guardianship under China's Civil Code — adults may designate anyone, including a same-sex partner.

Yogyakarta Principles (日惹原则)

A 2006 expert document applying international human rights law to sexual orientation and gender identity.