5.2 Sexual Orientation 1
Sexual orientation refers to the feelings an individual has for someone they are physically, emotionally, romantically, or sexually attracted to, including having no attractions.
Refer to the direction given by the records’ creator in terms of whether sexual orientation should be included in description or not. Be conscious of inadvertent ways in which you might be sharing this information if their preference is to not include this. If the creator’s identity is unknown, archivists should question whether it’s a key aspect of understanding the records and necessary to note sexuality. Avoid asserting a particular identity based on a relationship-type, e.g. an individual may appear to be in a heterosexual relationship but might not identify as straight.
Choose terminology used by the individual(s) you are addressing. Terms used by some individuals may not be used by others and may be considered offensive. For example, the term queer has been reclaimed by some, though remains problematic to others. When there is a concern that the term might be offensive, include contextual information and an alternative term in note, if not integrated elsewhere.
For example, write:
Prof. York was a queer professor and religious scholar.
Note: Prof. York used the term queer to describe himself. His work may be of interest to researchers also looking for material on gay relationships and culture.
Language may change over time, and archivist-derived terminology will need to be updated in the future, either in the archival description or other access points. Some examples of language choices follow:
| Instead of… 2 | Consider… |
|---|---|
| Sexual preference | Sexual orientation |
| Homosexual | gay or lesbian, to describe people attracted to members of the same gender |
| gay (as a noun, e.g., he is a gay) | gay man/gay person |
| lesbian women | lesbians, to describe individuals who self-identify as lesbian and belong to lesbian communities. Not all lesbians are women, and gender non-conforming people who belong to lesbian communities have often identified as lesbian 3 |
| bisexual – when intending to reference 2SLGBTQIA+ community members attracted to people of all genders or attracted to people regardless of gender | Bi+ people, to describe individuals who are not exclusively sexually and/or romantically attracted to individuals of a single gender (includes bisexual, queer, pansexual, and fluid identities) 4 |
| gay community – when intending to reference 2SLGBTQIA+ community members who aren’t explicitly gay | 2SLGBTQIA+ 5 or be specific when speaking to a particular subset of the community |
Additional resources:
“Homosaurus: An International LGBTQ+ Linked Data Vocabulary.” https://homosaurus.org/.
The 519. “The 519 Glossary of Terms,” February 2020. https://www.the519.org/education-training/glossary/.
Endnotes
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The authors have chosen to address gender and sexual orientation as two distinct categories with the acknowledgement that these two aspects of identity sometimes overlap and are discussed together in different cultures and contexts. ↩
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Western Libraries, “Western Libraries Inclusive Language Guide” (Western Libraries, Western University, 2022), 1, https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/wllanguageguide/1/; “Homosaurus: An International LGBTQ+ Linked Data Vocabulary,” accessed July 15, 2024, https://homosaurus.org/. ↩
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“Lesbians,” in Homosaurus, January 24, 2022, https://homosaurus.org/v3/homoit0000556 ↩
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“Bi+ People,” in Homosaurus, December 8, 2021, https://homosaurus.org/v3/homoit0000108. ↩
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Note that 2S or “Two-spirit” refers to a person who identifies as having both a masculine and a feminine spirit and is used by some Indigenous people to describe their sexual, gender and/or spiritual identity. Definition taken directly from: “Two-Spirit Community,” Re:searching for LGBTQ2S+ Health, n.d., https://lgbtqhealth.ca/community/two-spirit.php ↩