Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has erased the term homosexuals from its media guide and called for them to referred to as same-gender loving people. “GLAAD also introduces the terms ‘androsexual’ and ‘gynesexual,’” tweeted Czech artist Eggen on Sunday. .GLAAD said same-gender loving people is a term used by some African American people “as an Afrocentric alternative to what are considered Eurocentric or white identities like gay and lesbian.” “Coined by activist Cleo Manago in the 1990s, the term and its usage explicitly recognizes the histories and cultures of people of African descent,” it said. While people might want to say homosexuals, it said it is derogatory and offensive. The Associated Press, the New York Times, and the Washington Post have restricted its usage. It defined androsexual/androphilic as an adjective used to describe a person who is attracted to masculinity. Additionally, it said gynesexual/gynephilic is a person attracted to femininity. It asked people to avoid using terms such as biological male and biological female, as they are reductive and oversimplify a complex subject. This is because a person’s sex is determined by a number of factors outside of genetics and biology does not trump gender identity. The terms people should use are those such as assigned male at birth and assigned female at birth. Because of the clinical history of the word homosexual, it is often used by anti-sexual minority extremists to suggest people attracted to the same sex are diseased or have psychological and emotional disorders. Therefore, homosexual should not be used except when in direct quotes. If people want to be more specific, it said they can use words such as gay and lesbian. It said identifying a same-sex couple as a homosexual one is offensive and should be avoided. This construction is used by anti-sexual minority extremists to denigrate these people. As a rule, journalists should avoid trying to label an activity for sexual minorities unless they would say the same for straight people. In most cases, readers, viewers, and listeners will be able to discern people’s sexes and sexual orientations through the names of the parties involved, their depictions of their relationships, and their pronouns. It called for journalists to not confuse and conflate sexual orientation and gender identity. They are not the same. Sexual orientation describes a person’s attraction to another person. Gender identity is a person’s innate understanding of his or her gender. Like everyone else, transgender people have sexual orientations. For example, a transgender woman could refer to herself as a lesbian if she loves women or straight if she is attracted to men.It said most people do not think about pronouns, as their sexes and gender identities are aligned. For transgender and non-binary people, social transition might be require others refer to them with different pronouns. GLAAD concluded by saying people should respect pronouns like they would with name pronunciations. If people are uncertain which pronouns to use, they can ask. “It is also acceptable to use the singular they to describe someone when you do not wish to assign a gender,” it said. “Please note that the trans and non-binary community no longer use the phrase ‘preferred pronouns,’ as it implies people’s pronouns are a preference, not a fact.” This incident comes after British author JK Rowling said in June Johns Hopkins University is erasing women with its new definitions for sexual orientations. READ MORE: Johns Hopkins University changes definition of lesbian“Non-man (formerly known as woman): a being definable only by reference to the male,” said Rowling. “An absence, a vacuum where there's no man-ness.”
