It has been four years since homosexuality was decriminalised in India, and today, across pop culture, LGBTQIA+ identities are making their presence felt, starting conversations, and making the country think beyond colonial, prejudiced, and “normal” understandings of what gender and sexuality are. Pride Month is celebrated in June as a tribute to those involved in the Stonewall Riots of 1969. Today, the month is packed with colourful pride parades, floats, workshops to spread awareness and a lot more.

Though ever-evolving, we have a list of important terms that will give you a better understanding of how one chooses to identify themselves. Let’s take a look:

Androgyne (n): An androgynous person.

Butch (adj): Having an appearance or other qualities of a type traditionally seen as masculine.

Bi-curious (adj): Characterised by an openness to or curiosity about having sexual relations with a person whose sex differs from that of one’s usual sexual partners.

Bi-gender (adj): A person whose gender identity is a combination of male and female, or is sometimes male and sometimes female.

Gender dysphoria (n): A distressed state arising from conflict between a person’s gender identity and
the sex the person has or was identified as having at birth. This diagnosis is listed in the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders (DSM).

Gender nonconforming (adj): Denoting or relating to a person whose behaviour or appearance does not conform to prevailing cultural and social expectations about what is appropriate to their gender.

Genderqueer (n): A person who does not subscribe to conventional gender distinctions but identifies with neither, both, or a combination of male and female genders.

Transsexual (adj): A person whose gender identity is opposite the sex the person had or was identified as having at birth. Transsexuals may or may not undergo surgery and hormone therapy to obtain a physical appearance typical of the gender they identify as.

Heteronormative (adj): Denoting or relating to a world view that promotes heterosexuality as the normal or preferred sexual orientation.

Sources: Oxford Dictionary, Merriam Webster

Featured Image : Cecilie Johnsen