LGBTI

The acronym LGBTI stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (viz. individuals whose gender identity and/or expression of their gender differs from social norms related to their gender of birth) and intersex (viz. a variation in sex characteristics including chromosomes, gonads, and/or genitals that do not allow an individual to be distinctly identified as male or female). In use since the 1990s, the acronym has become mainstreaming as a self-designation and has been adopted by the majority of sexuality and gender identity-based community worldwide.

Despite the fact that LGBTI does not nominally encompass all individuals with different gender identity, the term is generally accepted to include those not identified in the five-letter acronym.

SOGI

SOGI is an acronym which stands for sexual orientation and gender identity.

Sexual Orientation

Sexual orientation refers to an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic and/or sexual attractions to people of the opposite sex (heterosexual), same sex (homosexual) or both sexes (bisexual). The terms lesbian describes women who are sexually attracted to other women, gay describes men who are sexually attracted to other men, and bisexual describes women or men who are sexually attracted to both sexes. Sexual orientation also refers to a person’s sense of identity based on those attractions, related behaviors and membership in a community of others who share those attractions. Research over several decades has demonstrated that sexual orientation ranges along a continuum, from exclusive attraction to the other sex to exclusive attraction to the same sex.

Gender Identity

Based on the Yogyakarta Principles, gender identity refers to each person's deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth, including the personal sense of the body (which may involve, if freely chosen, modification of bodily appearance or function by medical, surgical or other means) and other expressions of gender, including dress, speech and mannerisms.

Sexual orientation and gender identity are separate concepts and should not be confused. This implies that transgender people as anyone else in society may be heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual. For example, a transgender woman (a person who was assigned at birth being a man but whose affirmed gender is a woman) may be attracted to men and described as heterosexual. If she was attracted to other women, she may be described as homosexual.

 

(Source: Feasibility Study on Legislating against Discrimination on the Grounds of Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Intersex Status – Study Brief, By Equal Opportunities Commission)