LESSON 13:

LGBT
PSYCHOLOGY
 Definition of Terms
LGBT- Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender; an
acronym used to refer to different genders.
Lesbian- women who are emotionally or sexually
attracted to women.
Gay- men who are emotionally and sexually attracted
to men.
Bisexual- man or woman who are emotionally and
sexually attracted to men or men.
Transgender- when your gender identity (how you
feel) is different from your physical sex.
Views On LGBT In History
In China 600 BCE they used the terms ‘pleasures
of bitten peach’ and ‘broke back’.
In Japan, they have ‘shudo’ or ‘nanshoku’.
‘Kathoey’ is used in Thailand to refer to lady boys.
 In the Philippines we have the ‘babaylan’ and the
‘catalonan’ who were mostly women priests, but
some are males who lived their lives as women.
In ancient Greek, all males are expected
to take on a younger male lover in a
practice called pederasty.
Some societies, like the indigenous
Native Americans, accepted and
celebrated what they called ‘two-spirited’
person in a dance to the ‘Berdache’.
However, later cultures see it a “sin”
following the Abrahamic Religion which
branded it as sodomy, a crime against
nature.
 Homosexuality was classified as an illness
in the 19th century as a basis for them to
legally persecute homosexuals, imprison,
and commit them to a mental institution.
The ABC’s of the LGBTQIA+
Lesbian- Women who are emotionally and
sexually attracted to women.
Gay- man or woman who are emotionally and
sexually attracted to men or women.
Bisexual- man or woman who are emotionally
and sexually attracted to men or women.
Transgender- when your gender identity (how
you feel) is different from your physical sex
(male/female).
Queer- used by people who celebrate all gender identities, can
also mean someone who do not want to be restricted as Lesbian,
gay, or Bi.
Intersex- people who were born with sex genitals or
chromosomes patterns that do not fir the typical male or female
body.
Asexually- asexual are people who do not feel sexual attraction
to anyone, but it does not mean that they do not engage in
romantic or sexual relationships. Allies are straight or
heterosexual people who are fighting for LGBT rights.
Plus +- the plus sign refers to all sexualities that do not fit in
the LGBTQI.
 Knowledge on the human sexuality is still evolving so there many
terms that pops up. Here are a few more to help us become more
inclusive:

Androgynous- people whose gender

expression (their physical appearance)
may or may not be distinctly male or
female.
Gender- your internal sense of being
masculine or feminine or neither.
Gender identity- how you feel, man,
women, or neither.
Gender expression- how you express
your sense of being male or female or
neither, maybe through hairstyle,
clothes, etc.
Sexual orientation- your emotional
and sexual attraction to a person.
Sex assigned at birth- your given sex
when were born based on your sex
organ.
Cisgender- when your gender
identity matches with the sex you
are assigned at birth.
Non-binary- people who do not
feel like a boy or a girl; they may
feel like they are both or neither, so
sometimes they use the pronouns
they, they, them, and theirs.
Understanding Transgenderism
Parents unknowingly set up a gender-based
pattern of raising their children upon knowing the
biological sex of their babies. This limited view on
sexuality makes it harder for those who do not fit
in the box of masculinity and femininity, like the
lesbians, gays, and bisexuals. However, it makes
it so much more difficult for the transgender
people, those who feel like they were born on the
wrong body or given the wrong biological sex.
Who is a transgender?
•The APA defines transgender as “an
umbrella term for persons whose gender
identity, gender expression, or behavior does
not conform that typically associated with
the sex to which they were assigned at birth.”
•The word transgender is also used as an
umbrella term, this means that there are
many identities under this term.
Other sexualities under the transgender
umbrellas term include:
FTM- female to male, a person whose
biological sex is female and has
transitional to living his life as a male;
MTM- male to female, a person whose
biological sex is male and has
transitioned to living her life as a
female;
Crossdressing- some people want to dress as
the opposite gender from time to time, however,
unlike the transexual, they are comfortable
identifying with their biological sex;
Drag kings and queens- these are people who
dress as the opposite gender for entertainment
which they do out of passion or for work; and
Gender queer- these are people who feel like
their gender does not fit the gender binary view
that is limited to the male or female category
because they feel that these are too restrictive.
The Transitioning Process
When a person realizes that he or
she may be a transgender, a
psychologist can guide the person
through the transition especially
when a person wants to go
through permanent changes like
sex reassignment surgery.
In some countries, transitioning
is covered by their medical
insurance, and they get support
from their employers and families
which is very crucial during
transitioning because it takes
years to fully transition.