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Real definition of Gay & Lesbian

Discussion in 'Coming Out Advice' started by Goofy, Oct 2, 2010.

  1. Goofy

    Regular Member

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    What's the real definition of Gay & Lesbian?

    I hear different things about what they both mean every time at school and on the internet.

    And is there more than Gay & Lesbian? What I mean is stuff like Straight, Gay, Lesbian. More than that?
     
  2. Revan

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    Ah well welcome again to Empty Closets since I haven't had the privilege to welcome you yet. I'll try and do my best to help you out here. First off, there really is no need for labels and sexuality is quite fluid so there isn't necessarily ONE definition for each but I will help you out by giving the general definitions of the terms as well as what else there is aside from just those three.

    Gay - A male who is sexually attracted to another male. (Though it generally is more than just sexual...)
    Lesbian - A female who is sexually (again most often not JUST sexual) attracted to another female
    Bisexual - A male or female who is sexually attracted to both sexes.
    Transgendered - A person who identifies as a man or a woman but their identity does not match that of their "assigned sex" (in other words, one who is born with the anatomy of one gender but identifies as the opposite)
    Intersex - A male or female who may have both male and female biological characteristics
    Two Spirited - Generally is used in the Indigenous community to say that one houses both a masculine and feminine spirit.
    Questioning - one who is questioning their gender, sexual identity or sexual orientation
    Queer - Often used to encompass the LGBT community, though it does have other meanings.

    There are many more identities and terms, and you can learn a lot more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT

    I realize it is Wikipedia and can be updated by anyone, but many of the information of this section of Wiki is quite well researched and sourced.

    I hope this helps!
     
  3. Owen

    In Loving Memory Full Member

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    There are quite a few labels out there, but Revan covered all of the basic ones. I'd just add that sometimes "gay" is used to describe both females and males that are sexually attracted to the same sex, but "lesbian" is only used to describe females.
     
  4. Z3ni

    Z3ni Guest

    Can you go into more detail about Two Spirited ?
     
  5. peaceandlies

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    I've done my own little research on this in the past. Its really quite interesting.

    They believe that each person has a spirit belonging to a certain gender. the two spririted have one of each. they are usually revered
     
  6. haelmarie

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    It's basically a post-colonialistic (is this even an word?) idea. Before white people came to America, it was fairly commonplace in many Native American societies for a biological female to be raised a biological male, or vise versa, and have sexual relations with those of the same birth gender. Of course, Christian Europeans saw this is an example of the heathen barbarians innate depravity and it disappeared over the years.

    With Native American activism and queer-oriented research, the idea of a "Two-Spirited" individual to resist the colonial sexual attitudes of the West has gained some popularity, and several queer Aboriginal people in North America refer to themselves as such.