List of LGBT-related organizations

Historically, bisexuality has largely been free of the social stigma associated with homosexuality, prevalent even where bisexuality was the norm. In Ancient Greece pederasty was not problematic as long as the men eventually married and had children. All over the world among upper-class men of good social standing (i.e., properly married) homosexual affairs were tolerated, and heterosexual marriage was often successf ...

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Bisexuality, Bisexuality - Description, Bisexuality - Bisexuality in history, Bisexuality - Ancient Greece, Bisexuality - Middle Eastern cultures, Bisexuality - Modern Western prevalence of bisexuality, Bisexuality - Social status of bisexuality, Bisexuality - Terminology, Bisexuality - Bisexuality in modern Western entertainment, Bisexuality - Bisexuality in animals

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Main articles: Demographics of sexual orientation and Kinsey Reports Some modern surveys report about 2%-6% of modern western populations as "bisexual", but there are still many methodological difficulties with regard to randomness and size of the sample population, and the accuracy of self-reports of such personal information. (The accuracy of these numbers is disputed.) Different studies also use different standards for bisexuality. Some studies ignore bisexual phenomena entirely, or separate it into same-sex and opposite-sex ...

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Bisexuality, Bisexuality - Description, Bisexuality - Bisexuality in history, Bisexuality - Ancient Greece, Bisexuality - Middle Eastern cultures, Bisexuality - Modern Western prevalence of bisexuality, Bisexuality - Social status of bisexuality, Bisexuality - Terminology, Bisexuality - Bisexuality in modern Western entertainment, Bisexuality - Bisexuality in animals

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Bisexual orientation can fall anywhere between the two extremes of homosexuality and heterosexuality; a bisexual person is not necessarily attracted equally to both genders, and many tend to prefer one or the other. Another view of bisexuality is that homosexuality and heterosexuality are two monosexual orientations, whereas bisexuality encompasses them both. However, some argue that bisexuality is a legi ...

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Bisexuality, Bisexuality - Description, Bisexuality - Bisexuality in history, Bisexuality - Ancient Greece, Bisexuality - Middle Eastern cultures, Bisexuality - Modern Western prevalence of bisexuality, Bisexuality - Social status of bisexuality, Bisexuality - Terminology, Bisexuality - Bisexuality in modern Western entertainment, Bisexuality - Bisexuality in animals

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Main article: Legal aspects of transsexualism Many Western societies, nowadays, have some sort of procedure whereby an individual can change their name, and sometimes, their legal gender, to reflect their gender identity. Medical procedures for transsexual and transgender people are also available in most Western countries. However, transsexual and transgender people make strong challenges to the prevalence of gender roles in many cultures and often face considerable hatred and prejud ...

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Transsexuality, Transsexuality - Definitions, Transsexuality - Terminology, Transsexuality - Causes of transsexualism, Transsexuality - Proposed psychological causes, Transsexuality - Physical causes, Transsexuality - Objections against research of causes, Transsexuality - Gender reassignment therapy, Transsexuality - Psychological treatment, Transsexuality - Requirements for gender reassignment treatment, Transsexuality - Hormone replacement therapy, Transsexuality - Sex reassignment surgery, Transsexuality - Legal and social aspects, Transsexuality - Stealth, Transsexuality - Transsexual youth, Transsexuality - Coming out, Transsexuality - Puberty, Transsexuality - Ensuring the child's security, Transsexuality - Retransitions, Transsexuality - Depictions of transsexuality in the media, Transsexuality - Transsexuals in non-Western cultures

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See also: Terminology of homosexuality The word lesbian originally referred to an inhabitant of Lesbos, an island in Greece where an ancient Greek lyric poet named Sappho lived. Some of her poems imply love between women. Whether Sappho was a lesbian in the modern meaning of the term or a poet who described lesbians is not known. Although she did write poems about love between women, there is some dispute as to how her writings can be interpreted. Sappho's literary association with love between women led to t ...

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Lesbian, Lesbian - Etymology of lesbian, Lesbian - Public policy regarding, Lesbian - Reproduction and parenting rights, Lesbian - Sexuality, Lesbian - Culture, Lesbian - Modern day, Lesbian - Media depictions, Lesbian - Mainstream broadcast media, Lesbian - Cinema, Lesbian - Feminism, Lesbian - Transwomen and trans-inclusion, Lesbian - Magazines, Lesbian - Media depictions

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Most transsexual men and women suffer from great psychological and emotional pain due to the conflict between their gender identity and their original gender role and anatomy. They often find that their only recourse is to change their gender role and undergo gender reassignment therapy. This may include taking hormones to modify their secondary sex characteristics or having sex reassignment surgery to change their primary sex characteristics. < ...

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Transsexuality, Transsexuality - Definitions, Transsexuality - Terminology, Transsexuality - Causes of transsexualism, Transsexuality - Proposed psychological causes, Transsexuality - Physical causes, Transsexuality - Objections against research of causes, Transsexuality - Gender reassignment therapy, Transsexuality - Psychological treatment, Transsexuality - Requirements for gender reassignment treatment, Transsexuality - Hormone replacement therapy, Transsexuality - Sex reassignment surgery, Transsexuality - Legal and social aspects, Transsexuality - Stealth, Transsexuality - Transsexual youth, Transsexuality - Coming out, Transsexuality - Puberty, Transsexuality - Ensuring the child's security, Transsexuality - Retransitions, Transsexuality - Depictions of transsexuality in the media, Transsexuality - Transsexuals in non-Western cultures

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Throughout history, hundreds of lesbians have been well-known figures in the arts and culture. (See List of gay, lesbian or bisexual people.) Before the influence of European sexology emerged at the turn of the twentieth-century, in cultural terms female homosexuality remained almost invisible as compared to male homosexuality, which was subject to the law and thus more regulated and reported by the press. However with the publication of works by sexologists like Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, Richard von Krafft-Ebing, Havelock Ellis, Edward Carpenter and Magnus Hirschfeld, the concept of active female ...

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Lesbian, Lesbian - Etymology of lesbian, Lesbian - Public policy regarding, Lesbian - Reproduction and parenting rights, Lesbian - Sexuality, Lesbian - Culture, Lesbian - Modern day, Lesbian - Media depictions, Lesbian - Mainstream broadcast media, Lesbian - Cinema, Lesbian - Feminism, Lesbian - Transwomen and trans-inclusion, Lesbian - Magazines, Lesbian - Media depictions

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The minimum requirements for a person to be considered transsexual are debated. Some feel that hormone-induced changes, without surgical changes, are sufficient to qualify for the label transsexual. Others, especially health care providers, believe there is a certain set of procedures that must always be completed. The general public often defines "a transsexual" as someone who had or plans to have a "sex change" surgery. The current term in widest use for modification of sexual characteristics is sex reassignment surgery (SRS), a ter ...

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Transsexuality, Transsexuality - Definitions, Transsexuality - Terminology, Transsexuality - Causes of transsexualism, Transsexuality - Proposed psychological causes, Transsexuality - Physical causes, Transsexuality - Objections against research of causes, Transsexuality - Gender reassignment therapy, Transsexuality - Psychological treatment, Transsexuality - Requirements for gender reassignment treatment, Transsexuality - Hormone replacement therapy, Transsexuality - Sex reassignment surgery, Transsexuality - Legal and social aspects, Transsexuality - Stealth, Transsexuality - Transsexual youth, Transsexuality - Coming out, Transsexuality - Puberty, Transsexuality - Ensuring the child's security, Transsexuality - Retransitions, Transsexuality - Depictions of transsexuality in the media, Transsexuality - Transsexuals in non-Western cultures

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In Western societies, explicit prohibitions on women's homosexual behavior have been markedly weaker than those on men's homosexual behavior. In the United Kingdom, lesbianism has never been illegal. Male homosexuality, however, which was criminalised in the late 19th century, occasionally produced a prison sentence and was only legalised in England and Wales in 1967. There are various apocryphal stories about why lesbianism was not criminalised in the UK. One relates that Queen Victoria refused to sign a bill outlawing it, insisting, "ladies did not do such things." However, lesbian publications such as The Well ...

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Lesbian, Lesbian - Etymology of lesbian, Lesbian - Public policy regarding, Lesbian - Reproduction and parenting rights, Lesbian - Sexuality, Lesbian - Culture, Lesbian - Modern day, Lesbian - Media depictions, Lesbian - Mainstream broadcast media, Lesbian - Cinema, Lesbian - Feminism, Lesbian - Transwomen and trans-inclusion, Lesbian - Magazines, Lesbian - Media depictions

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Sexual activity between women is as diverse as sex between heterosexuals or gay men. Some women in lesbian relationships do not identify as lesbian, but as bisexual. As with any interpersonal activity, sexual expression depends on the context of the relationship. Like anyone else (regardless of sexuality), lesbians can be promiscuous or committed, ashamed or proud. There is a wide spectrum of lesbian behavior and generalizations can be misleading. Recent cultural changes in western and a few other societies have enabled lesbians to express t ...

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Lesbian, Lesbian - Etymology of lesbian, Lesbian - Public policy regarding, Lesbian - Reproduction and parenting rights, Lesbian - Sexuality, Lesbian - Culture, Lesbian - Modern day, Lesbian - Media depictions, Lesbian - Mainstream broadcast media, Lesbian - Cinema, Lesbian - Feminism, Lesbian - Transwomen and trans-inclusion, Lesbian - Magazines, Lesbian - Media depictions

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The word started to acquire sexual connotations in the late 17th century, being used with meaning "addicted to pleasures and dissipations". This was by extension from the primary meaning of "carefree": implying "uninhibited by moral constraints". By the late nineteenth century the term "gay life" was a well-established euphemism for prostitution and other forms of sexual behaviour that were perceived as immoral. The first name Gay is still occasionally encountered, usually as a female name although the spelling is often alter ...

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Gay, Gay - Etymology, Gay - Etymology of the modern usage, Gay - Syntax, Gay - Folk etymologies, Gay - Commonly accepted usage, Gay - Sexual orientation, Gay - Gay community, Gay - Descriptor, Gay - Pejorative usage, Gay - Alternate spellings

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When used with a derisive attitude (e.g. "that film was so gay"), the term gay is purely pejorative and can be deeply offensive. The derogatory implication is that the object (or person) in question is inferior, worthless, effeminate, or stupid. This usage has its origins in the 1980s, when homosexuality had already become mainstream but was still taboo. Beginning in the 1990s and especially in the 2000s this usage is common among young people, who may or may not link the term to gay people. See also:

Gay, Gay - Etymology, Gay - Etymology of the modern usage, Gay - Syntax, Gay - Folk etymologies, Gay - Commonly accepted usage, Gay - Sexual orientation, Gay - Gay community, Gay - Descriptor, Gay - Pejorative usage, Gay - Alternate spellings

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Overview article: Terminology of homosexuality Gay is used as an adjective to describe sexual orientation (attraction, preference, or inclination) and is usually chosen instead of homosexual as an identity-label. Gay sex involves acts between or among people of the same sex or gender. Gay is usually used to describe the "gay community" by both insiders and the mainstream media. Gay can be used as a nonspecific derogatory comment towards a person or object. This is ...

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Gay, Gay - Etymology, Gay - Etymology of the modern usage, Gay - Syntax, Gay - Folk etymologies, Gay - Commonly accepted usage, Gay - Sexual orientation, Gay - Gay community, Gay - Descriptor, Gay - Pejorative usage, Gay - Alternate spellings

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