Free LGBT Glossary: What happens when you finally find the words you have been searching for

I want to talk to you about something small that can turn out to be enormous: words.

You know this already. Sometimes you feel the sting when someone gets your name wrong. And you have noticed the warmth when someone gets it right. Language does that. It builds bridges or burns them down.

For you, personally

The right words give permission to exist. I have watched clients sit in my office, searching for language to describe what they feel inside. Sometimes they find it. Sometimes they do not. When they do find it, everything shifts.

The right words let you stop hiding. Using the word 'partner' for your romantic situation is safe. The right word lets you correct someone's assumptions about your gender without a ten-minute explanation. They give you the tools to advocate for yourself in the doctor's surgery, at the school gates, in the break room.

Corporate LGBTQ inclusivity & diversity

For organisations

I work with companies sometimes. They want to be inclusive. They put rainbows on their websites during Pride month. They tick diversity boxes on reports. But when I ask what training their managers have received, I am met with a blank look.

You cannot include people you cannot talk about. It is that simple.

Stonewall reports that 35% of LGBT people hide their identity at work. 35%! That is more than one in three people spending eight hours a day pretending to be someone they are not. Imagine what that does to your mental health, your relationships, your sense of self-worth.

McKinsey found that diverse companies perform better financially. But diversity without inclusion is just window dressing. Inclusion requires competence. It requires managers who know the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity. It requires HR departments that understand why "preferred pronouns" is not the right phrase. It requires colleagues who can have conversations about identity without making it weird.

When organisations get the language right, people stay. They contribute. They bring their whole selves to work instead of leaving half of who they are in the car park. Productivity increases. Innovation flourishes. Staff retention improves. Everyone benefits.

finding the right LGBTQ words

For the people who love you

Your parents want to understand. Your friends want to support you. Your colleagues want to get it right. But many of them are terrified of saying the wrong thing, so it feels safer to them say nothing at all. They change the subject when you mention your life and, they avoid asking questions that might reveal their ignorance.

To you, it feels like rejection.

When the people around you have access to the right language, conversations become possible. Your mum can ask about your partner without stumbling over pronouns. Your best friend can talk about your identity without treating it like a grenade that might explode. Your boss can advocate for you in meetings you are not even in.

The right words turn allies into active participants in your wellbeing.

When you come out later in life

Perhaps you are reading this at forty, fifty, sixty, or beyond. You have spent decades building a life that felt like it belonged to someone else; you married, had children, climbed the career ladder. Deep down, you knew something was not quite right.

Coming out later in life carries its own particular risks. losing your marriage, your relationship, your children, maybe some of your friends. The fear can be paralysing.

And yet, what I see in my practice is the relief when people finally find words that match who they are: A woman in her fifties discovers the term "bisexual" and realises her feelings for women were more than just close friendship; a man in his sixties learns about "gender dysphoria" and understands why he has felt uncomfortable in his own skin since childhood. Someone in their forties hears "asexual" and stops believing they are broken.

The right language does not erase complexity and difficulties. It gives you a foundation. It lets you say: this is real, this has a name. Finally, you can find peace or the kind of bone-deep joy that comes from living authentically.

words for diversity and belonging

Where and when it helps

In doctors' surgeries, where a GP who understands "non binary" can provide better care. In schools, a teacher who knows about asexuality can support a confused teenager. In therapy rooms, a counsellor who gets the terminology can hold space without causing harm. In families, where a grandparent who learns what "genderfluid" means can stay connected to their grandchild.

It helps in job interviews when you can be honest about your life without fear. In restaurants when the waiter does not assume your dining companion's gender. In hospitals when nurses do not look confused by your emergency contact. In everyday moments that cisgender, heterosexual people never have to think about twice.

The right language helps when you are coming out. When you are transitioning. When you are exploring your identity. When you are standing up for someone else. When you are trying to explain yourself to someone who has never questioned their own gender or sexuality.

It helps during the good times and the hard times.

Why I made this glossary

Because you should not have to educate every single person you encounter: Your parents deserve resources that do not make them feel stupid. For therapists empathy starts with words to describe a reality. Because language evolves and we need to keep up.

Words matter as they shape how we think; they influence what we can perceive and understand.

I have put together over 200 entries with notes on sensitivity. Having them in one place makes the work of understanding a bit easier for everyone.

Download it. Share it with your mum. Send it to your therapist. Leave it on your boss's desk. Use it as a starting point for conversations that scare you.

Everyone deserves the right words

This glossary is a small step towards that world.

P.S. The glossary is free. Always will be because access to language should not depend on your bank balance.