A-Z of sexual orientation
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What is sexual orientation?
Sexual orientation is a term that is used to describe what gender, or genders, someone is attracted to. The most common sexual orientations that people identify with are straight, gay, lesbian or bisexual, but there’s a whole pile of other terms and language around it that are important to know too. Make sure not to confuse it with gender identity - sexual orientation describes what gender or genders you’re attracted to, and gender identity describes what gender or genders you are.
Please note, that although we tried to list as many terms as we can here, sexual orientation is a super complex issue, and new terms are being developed to describe different orientations and ways of thinking about sexual orientation and attraction all the time. It’s always important to respect everyone’s sexual orientation, even if they identify as something you’ve never heard of before.
Remember, sexual orientation can be fluid, and many people identify as different orientati...
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