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Lesbian
Also written: Lesbian, Lesbians, Lesbian people
self-id-requirednoun-and-adjectivegendered-form
At a glance
Source-by-source
“Avoid defaulting to umbrella terms like gay or homosexual. Use LGBTQ to refer to a broad community or be specific when relevant: lesbian, gay man, bisexual woman, etc.”
SumOfUs treats 'lesbian' as the right specific term to use when describing lesbians, and explicitly rejects defaulting to umbrella terms like 'gay' or 'homosexual' that erase lesbian identity. The accepted-terms list also includes lesbian as part of the LGBQQTIA2-S acronym alongside other specific identity terms.
“LGBTQI stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex. … 'Gay' and 'queer' are also available to people as a self-description of their own community. Ask the person you are referring to how they would like to be described.”
Sierra Club uses 'lesbian' as the first letter of its default LGBTQI umbrella and treats it as a specific identity term subject to self-identification. The operative rule is to ask how the subject identifies before defaulting to any specific letter of the acronym.
“Preferred term, both as a noun and adjective, for women who are attracted to other women. Some women prefer to be called gay rather than lesbian; when possible, ask the subject which term she prefers.”
DSG treats lesbian as the preferred term for women attracted to women and accepts both noun and adjective forms — distinct from the adjective-only rule that holds for transgender or gay. The guide's override is self-identification: ask the subject if she prefers 'gay' over 'lesbian.'
“Women and non-binary people may use this term to describe themselves.”
HRC defines lesbian as a woman attracted to other women, and explicitly extends the term to non-binary people who use it for themselves — a broader opening than the women-only default in older journalism style guides. HRC defers throughout to how the subject describes themselves.
Synthesis
The corpus converges on women attracted to women (HRC: “a woman who is emotionally, romantically or sexually attracted to other women”; DSG: “women who are attracted to other women”) as the operating definition, and on self-identification as the override when preference is known. DSG, Sierra Club, and HRC all instruct: ask the subject which term she prefers. Some women self-describe as gay rather than lesbian; in those cases, gay is the right term to use regardless of the structural default.
The treatment diverges grammatically from most identity terms in this chapter. DSG explicitly accepts lesbian as both a noun and an adjective (“Preferred term, both as a noun and adjective”), which sets it apart from the Transgender, Gay, and Bisexual rule that those terms are adjectives, not nouns. The grammatical asymmetry traces to actual community usage: “lesbians” as a community noun is in active use among lesbians themselves, and the corpus reflects that rather than imposing the broader adjective-only rule.
HRC (2023) extends the term to non-binary people who use it for themselves: “Women and non-binary people may use this term to describe themselves.” Earlier journalism style guides (SumOfUs 2016, Sierra Club 2021) don’t make this explicit. The extension mirrors contemporary lesbian-community usage, where the term has been opened to non-binary lesbians without redefining lesbian as a non-women identity. HRC names it directly; older guides imply it through the “ask how the subject describes themselves” rule but don’t write it out.
Audience notes
- Journalists. When a subject’s gender is described in non-binary terms but the subject self-identifies as a lesbian, use lesbian. HRC’s 2023 reframing supports this directly; the older corpus supports it implicitly through self-identification deference. Don’t override the subject’s self-description with a structural rule that “lesbian = woman.”
- Movement writing. SumOfUs’s specific-over-umbrella rule applies to lesbian as it does to bisexual: don’t write “gay rights” when lesbian women are the specific subjects, and don’t collapse lesbian into a broader “gay” framing where the specificity matters. The “L” in LGBTQ+ acronyms goes first across the major coalition guides.
- The “gay” alternative. Some lesbians prefer to be called gay. DSG surfaces this directly (“ask the subject which term she prefers”) and treats it as a non-issue: the subject’s self-description settles the question. Default to lesbian when the subject’s preference isn’t known; flip to gay without comment when the subject names it.
Related terms