LGBTQ+ Studies Cheat Sheet

The core ideas of LGBTQ+ Studies distilled into a single, scannable reference — perfect for review or quick lookup.

PiqCue — piqcue.com/lgbtq-studies/cheatsheet

Quick Reference

Queer Theory

A critical theoretical framework that challenges fixed categories of sexual and gender identity, arguing that these categories are socially constructed and maintained through cultural norms and power structures rather than being natural or inevitable.

Heteronormativity

The assumption that heterosexuality is the default, normal, or preferred sexual orientation, embedded in social institutions such as marriage laws, media representation, and educational curricula.

Gender Performativity

Judith Butler's theory that gender is not an innate quality but is constituted through the repetition of stylized acts, gestures, and behaviors that create the appearance of a stable gender identity.

Intersectionality

A framework for understanding how overlapping social identities such as race, gender, sexuality, class, and disability interact to create unique experiences of privilege and oppression that cannot be understood by examining each identity separately.

Cisnormativity

The societal assumption that all people identify with the gender they were assigned at birth, which renders transgender and nonbinary identities invisible or abnormal and structures social institutions around a binary gender model.

Coming Out

The process by which LGBTQ+ individuals disclose their sexual orientation or gender identity to others. Scholars study this as both a personal experience and a socially constructed event shaped by cultural norms, safety concerns, and community support.

Homonationalism

A concept developed by Jasbir Puar describing how certain nations use their acceptance of LGBTQ+ rights to frame themselves as modern and progressive while simultaneously justifying xenophobic or imperialist policies against other nations or communities.

Sexual Orientation

A person's enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and sexual attraction to others. Major recognized orientations include heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, pansexual, and asexual, though scholars emphasize that sexuality exists on a continuum.

Gender Identity

A person's deeply held internal sense of their own gender, which may or may not correspond to the sex they were assigned at birth. Gender identity encompasses identities such as man, woman, nonbinary, genderqueer, agender, and many others.

Minority Stress Theory

A framework developed by Ilan Meyer explaining that LGBTQ+ individuals experience chronic stress resulting from stigma, prejudice, and discrimination, which contributes to higher rates of mental health challenges compared to the general population.

Key Terms at a Glance

Asexual:A sexual orientation characterized by a lack of sexual attraction to others, or low interest in sexual activity. Asexuality exists on a spectrum and is distinct from celibacy.

Bisexual:A sexual orientation describing attraction to people of one's own gender and other genders. Bisexuality does not require equal attraction to all genders.

Cisgender:A term describing a person whose gender identity corresponds to the sex they were assigned at birth. Coined to provide a non-stigmatizing complement to 'transgender.'

Cisnormativity:The societal assumption that all people identify with the gender assigned to them at birth, structuring institutions around a binary gender model.

Coming Out:The process of disclosing one's LGBTQ+ identity to others. Often described as an ongoing process rather than a single event.

Compulsory Heterosexuality:Adrienne Rich's concept that heterosexuality is enforced as a political institution through social and cultural mechanisms rather than being a purely natural orientation.

Conversion Therapy:Discredited practices aimed at changing an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity, condemned by major medical organizations as harmful and ineffective.

Drag:The performance of gender, often in exaggerated form, typically for entertainment purposes. Drag has deep roots in LGBTQ+ culture and history.

Gender Binary:The classification of gender into two distinct and opposite categories of masculine and feminine, which queer theory and LGBTQ+ Studies critique as overly restrictive.

Gender Dysphoria:Clinically significant distress experienced when a person's gender identity does not align with their sex assigned at birth. Replaced 'Gender Identity Disorder' in the DSM-5.

Gender Expression:The external manifestation of gender through clothing, behavior, hairstyle, voice, and other characteristics that may or may not conform to societal expectations.

Gender Identity:A person's internal, deeply held sense of their own gender, which may be man, woman, nonbinary, or another identity.

Gender Performativity:Judith Butler's theory that gender is produced through repeated acts and behaviors rather than being an innate or essential quality.

Heteronormativity:The assumption that heterosexuality is the standard or default sexual orientation, embedded in social institutions, laws, and cultural norms.

Homonationalism:Jasbir Puar's concept critiquing how some nations use LGBTQ+ rights acceptance to justify nationalistic, racist, or imperialist agendas.

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