‘BEING LGBT IN SCHOOL’

GLOSSARY
Bisexual: A man or woman who is
romantically, sexually and/or emotionally
attracted to people of either sex.
Coming Out: A term used to describe the
process through which a person realises that
they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender
and may begin to disclose this aspect of their
identity to others.
Gay: A man or woman who is romantically,
sexually and/or emotionally attracted to
people of the same sex. Many gay men prefer
to be called ‘gay’ rather than homosexual.
Many women who are gay prefer to be
identified as ‘lesbian’.
Gender: A term that is often used to refer to
ways that people act, interact or feel about
themselves, which are associated with boys/
men and girls/women. The term ‘gender’ is
distinct from ‘sex’, see definition below.
Gender Dysphoria: Refers to strong
persistent feelings of identification with the
opposite gender and discomfort with one’s
own assigned sex that results in significant
distress.
Gender Expression: This refers to the way
a person expresses gender to others through
behaviour, clothing, hairstyles, mannerisms,
voice, physical characteristics, social
interactions, etc.
Gender Fluid: This refers to a gender identity
which varies over time. A gender fluid person
may at any time identify as male, female,
gender neutral, or any other non-binary
identity, or some combination of identities.
Some individuals refer to themselves as
gender fluid, gender queer, or gender nonbinary.
Gender Identity: A person’s internal feeling
of being male or female, regardless of the sex
listed on their birth certificate (assigned birth
sex). Some individuals may have a sense that
they are some other gender, or a combination
of genders.
Gender Non-binary / non-binary: An
umbrella term for gender identities that fall
outside the gender binary of male or female.
This includes individuals whose gender
identity is neither exclusively male nor
female, a combination of male and female
or between genders. Similar to the usage of
transgender, people under the non-binary
umbrella may describe themselves using one
or more of a wide variety of terms.
Gender Recognition Certificate: This is
provided for in the Gender Recognition Act
(2015) and issued by the state to an individual
who requests to have his/her preferred
gender recognised. The Gender Recognition
Certificate can be used to retrospectively and
prospectively amend all official certificates
to reflect the preferred gender. For further
information on the specific requirements
necessary to apply for a Gender Recognition
Certificate see section 8.1.
Gender Transition / Transition: These are
terms to describe the experience by which
a person goes from living in the gender
assigned at birth to living and identifying
in their preferred gender. For most young
people this transition does not involve
medical intervention but does involve a
process of ‘social transition’ whereby the
young person begins to live and identify as
the gender consistent with their preferred
gender identity. Transition might include
social, physical or legal changes such as
coming out to family, friends, co-workers
and others; changing one’s appearance;
changing one’s name, personal pronoun and
sex designation on legal documents (e.g. birth
A Resource for Post-Primary Schools to Prevent Homophobic and Transphobic Bullying and Support LGBT Students
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