Wikipedia:LGBT phrases to be avoided
 | This is an essay on the MOS:GENDERIDENTITY and MOS:Words to watch guidelines. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
Language regarding queer people changes frequently. This essay is meant to discuss some terms that can be contentious or disliked among queer people.
As with MOS:Words to watch: The advice in this guideline is not limited to the examples provided and should not be applied rigidly.
These phrases are rarely included maliciously, nor are they universally considered problematic. Always assume good faith, especially regarding topics that the wider public aren't as educated on.
This page focuses on language in anglophone countries and is believed to be up to date as of 2025[update].
Identifies as
[edit]There's a subtle othering at play when saying that somebody identifies as queer. It comes with the implication that queer people are just "playing pretend" and that their identities are somehow less valid than other people's.
Consider the fact that you seldom hear this term applied to cishet people. A cisgender man doesn't identify as a man, he simply is a man, a heterosexual woman doesn’t identify as heterosexual, she simply is heterosexual. Similarly, queer people don't identify as anything; they simply are queer. This phrase is frequently used in reference to members of the queer community to subtly de-legitimize their identities, whether it's intentional or not.
The decision to keep or remove this phrase should be made on a case-by-case basis. Plenty of queer people are comfortable with the phrase identifies as. Some even prefer to use it, finding it useful for explaining their identities to a cishet audience. If reliable sources in an article (or the subject themself) use identifies as, then it should remain in the article body. However, if those words aren't explicitly used in any references, then the word is works much better and more concisely at conveying the same information.
| − | John Doe | + | John Doe is transgender. |
Openly
[edit]Describing an article's subject as openly queer is generally unnecessary. If they weren't out, then we wouldn't know about it, and it would therefore violate WP:BLP. The phrase can be appropriate sometimes, such as when the subject is the first openly queer member of a political party, etc. Removal of the phrase in those contexts can lead to undue speculation about previous members, so use discretion when choosing to remove the phrase. In most contexts though, openly should be avoided.
| − | Jane Doe is | + | Jane Doe is gay.
|
Transperson (written as one word)
[edit]The following is a quote directly from trans woman at the time of writing this essay. A similar explanation is provided in the article for trans man:
The spelling transwoman (written as a single word) is occasionally used interchangeably with trans woman (where trans is an adjective describing a kind of woman). However, this variant is often associated with views (notably gender-critical feminism) that exclude trans women from women, and thus require a separate word to describe them. For this reason, many transgender people find the spelling offensive. Some prefer to omit trans, and be called simply women.
By using trans as a prefix rather than an adjective, there's an implication that trans women aren't "real women" or that trans men aren't "real men". More egregiously with transperson, it implies that trans people aren't human.
Outside direct quotes, transperson, transman, transwoman, etc. should not be used. Trans person/man/woman conveys the exact same information while remaining respectful. That space between the words is small, but meaningful.
| − | John Doe is a | + | John Doe is a trans man. |
Transgendered
[edit]As noted above in the section on transperson, transgender is an adjective, not a noun. In the case of transgendered it's not a verb either; nobody "gets transgendered". The word comes with an implication that being transgender is something that happens to someone, rather than being a part of their identity. Transgendered is an outdated term that's confusing at best and potentially offensive at worst. Outside direct quotes, transgender should be used instead.
| − | Jane Doe is | + | Jane Doe is transgender.
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Biological man/woman
[edit]Describing transgender individuals in relation to their biological characteristics is often unhelpful and potentially degrading. Biological male/female is imprecise (such as by ignoring the existence of intersex people) and can lend undue weight to a subject's birth sex. Biological man/woman presents further problems by conflating sex as a scientific concept and gender as a social construct, and should not be written in wikivoice.
Per the AP Stylebook: "Avoid terms like biological male, which opponents of transgender rights sometimes use to oversimplify sex and gender, is often misleading shorthand for assigned male at birth, and is redundant because sex is inherently biological."[1]
When possible, describe subjects in terms of their gender identity (e.g. cisgender, trans man, trans woman, etc) rather than scientific terms, or better yet simply refer to them as a man, woman, or otherwise. In situations where a subject's assigned gender at birth is relevant but not implied, consider using the term assigned male/female at birth instead. However, use caution with adjusting biological man/woman, as many alternate descriptions can be equally contentious and potentially unhelpful. (For example, see Cisgender § Critiques)
| − | Jordan Doe | + | Jordan Doe was [[assigned female at birth]]. In 2015, they came out as nonbinary. |
Trans-identified
[edit]Trans-identified male and trans-identified female are derogatory phrases for trans women and trans men respectively. The phrases touch on several problematic phrases described above (§ Identifies as and § Biological man/woman), and are commonly used to "politely" misgender trans people. These phrases should always be removed except in direct quotes, and even then, finding a way to omit that section of a quote is preferable (in the same way that slurs should typically be avoided when possible).
| − | Jane Doe is a trans | + | Jane Doe is a trans woman. |
References
[edit]- ^ "Financial Markets and Transgender Coverage Topical Guides". Archived from the original on 2022-08-01. Retrieved 2025-11-07.