Sexuality
Sexuality and sexual orientation is about who you are physically and emotionally attracted to. Everyone has a sexual orientation – lesbian, straight, bisexual, gay or one of many other types. And this might change over time.
Some people know when they’re very young who they fancy. For other people, it’s not so simple. And it can take a while to work out.
People whose sexuality is something other than straight are often called LGB (short for lesbian, gay or bisexual) or LGBT’ – the ‘T’ stands for transgender (a gender identity rather than an orientation). But there are many more different kinds of sexuality.
It might take some time to work out what your sexual orientation is. Remember there’s no such thing as normal. And you don’t have to feel pressured or rushed to give yourself a label.
What is trans?
Trans is an umbrella term. It includes cross-dressers, transgender and transsexual people as well as anyone else who is in any way gender variant.
It’s important to understand that sex is between the legs and gender is between the ears. Sex is male, female, and intersex, and has to do with your chromosomes, genitalia, hormones, etc. Gender is man, woman, boy, girl, androgynous (gender-neutral), and has to do with your internal sense of self and how you choose to express yourself.