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Sexual & Gender Identity

Can you choose your sexual orientation?
There is increasing evidence that sexual orientation has at least some biological basis, and most people report that their sexual orientation is not something they have chosen. Instead, most people, regardless of their sexual orientation, feel that their sexual orientation is something that has always been there as it is.

It is normal to question your sexual orientation. Many people do this during their college years, when they are exposed to new people and new experiences. Of course, some people explore their sexual orientation at a younger or older age. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual people are any age, gender or racial/ethnic group. Of course, cultural and social differences may alter the way a lesbian, gay, or bisexual person manages her/his feelings and identity because these dictate the way others will perceive and react to them. (Information courtesy of the University of Cincinatti Web site)

LGBT Definitions
Lesbians: Women who are attracted (sexually and/or romantically) to other women.
Gay: Men who are attracted (sexually and/or romantically) to other men.
Bisexual: People who are attracted (sexually and/or romantically) to both women and men.
Transgender: People whose gender identity or gender expression contrast with traditional social norms and expectations for their physical sex. “Transgender” is a broad term that includes various identities such as, pre-operative; post-operative; non-operative transsexuals, who report feeling that they have been born into the wrong physical sex; cross-dressers, who wear opposite-sex clothing as a means of expressing their inner cross-gender identity and/or as a method to become sexually aroused; and intersexed individuals, who have both female and male reproductive organs.

People who identify as transgender, may or may not be lesbian, gay, or bisexual. Transgenderism has to do with one’s gender identity, as opposed to one’s sexual orientation. LGBT people are often grouped together because these groups are all considered sexual minorities. They each face issues of identity that make them susceptible to homophobia, physical violence, personal rejection, and more, largely because of misinformation, prejudice, and discrimination. (Information courtesy of the University of Cincinatti Web site)

What is gender identity and is it the same as sexual identity?
Sexual identity and gender identity are similar in some ways and very different in others. Both refer to how one thinks of a person. The existence and perpetuation of gender and sexual identities is based in the historic and continuing oppression of people do not conform to certain aspects of society's gender roles. Gender roles refer to the clothing, behaviors, thoughts, feelings, relationships, etc., that are considered appropriate or inappropriate for members of each sex.

Gender identity refers to how one thinks of one's own gender, whether one thinks of oneself as a masculine or feminine. Sexual identity refers to how one thinks of oneself in terms of whom one is sexually and romantically attracted to, specifically whether one is attracted to members of the same gender as one's own or the other gender than one's own (Information courtesy Feminism and Women's Studies Web site)