LGBTQ+ communication best practices

Spectrum Center leads the University of Michigan community in how we talk to and about LGBTQIA2S+ people. Here, we’ve gathered some better, best, and promising practices that guide us and that we recommend to our colleagues across campus to help them engage with people and tell their stories, share research responsibly, and avoid or mitigate risk and harm.

It’s important to always be mindful and purposeful in how we communicate with one another— across differences and within communities. Language is often highly contested, and language related to identity is complex and changes over time, with meaning shaped by context and individual experience. This guide is not intended as an exhaustive list or glossary, but a living resource for writers, researchers, practitioners, and others.

• Relevance—When to mention someone’s LGBTQIA2S+ identity
• Names and pronouns
• Finding the correct language to use
  • Outdated/common incorrect terms
  • Acronyms and initialisms
  • Mirroring language
• What if I see other people using different terms or acronyms?
   

EDUCATION & RESOURCES

Relevance of LGBTQIA2S+ identity

Despite increasing cultural visibility, we know ‘outness’ is not universally binary. Outing community members—disclosing their LGBTQIA2S+ identity without shared understanding—can put them closer to risk, even unintentionally. We ask that anyone planning to write or speak about individuals within the LGBTQIA2S+ community be thoughtful and intentional about when and how to include their identities, and recognize that while visibility and celebration are important, so are both relevance and the individuals’ rights to safety and privacy.

When to ask

It might make sense to ask if it’s central to the story and/or it’s relevant and enriches the context you’re providing. (It might also come up voluntarily!)

When to mention

Always seek explicit consent before disclosing someone’s LGBTQIA2S+ identity, especially if it could potentially expose the individual to harassment or harm or if it only serves to satisfy personal curiosity.

A few helpful questions to ask yourself:

• Are you interviewing or talking about someone specifically because of their LGBTQIA2S+ identity?
• Is their identity relevant in this context?
• How have they asked to be identified?
• What is/are the risk(s) to the subject of public disclosure, if any?
• Have you gotten permission from the individual to include this information?

If it is not possible to directly contact or otherwise ask the individual, consider these questions:

• Is their identity public information? Have they themselves discussed it publicly before?
• Is their identity relevant to the topic being discussed?
• Are you able to later edit the communication if the individual requests you remove the part about their identity?
• Are you ‘othering’ or creating unnecessary division between the individual and their peers?

Names and pronouns

Using an individual’s correct name and pronouns is vital to LGBTQIA2S+ inclusive communication. Below are some current best practices when communicating about transgender, nonbinary, or gender non-conforming individuals.

“Preferred” name and pronouns

In almost all cases, simply use the straightforward taxonomy of “name” and “pronouns” rather than “preferred name” or “preferred pronouns.” Our names are our names, and our pronouns are our pronouns—even when done with inclusive intentions, adding “preferred” can create confusion or suggest that agency rests with others and not with the person to whom the name or pronoun belongs.

When it comes to names themselves, most of the time, it’s not relevant if someone had a previous name or deadname, or if their legal name differs from how they are otherwise known publicly—simply use the name they provide to you. However, in situations that require making a distinction between previous/legal and current names, here are some suggested ways to phrase it:

• Chosen name / pronouns
• Current name / pronouns
• Correct name / pronouns
• Name / pronouns 
• Lived name / pronouns

Note: U-M units and administrative systems, such as Wolverine Access and MCommunity, use the term “preferred name” when referring to a specific data field established through and named by U-M’s Preferred Name Policy.

Discussing transgender people before transition

When writing about a transgender person’s past, use their current name and pronouns. This applies even if you are writing about a time in their life when they did not identify as transgender or went by different names / pronouns, such as discussing the childhood of a famous trans person who recently came out.

If you are quoting someone who referred to the transgender person with their previous name / pronouns, use brackets to indicate a word has been changed. For example, if the speaker deadnamed and mis-pronouned the subject of the sentence—“Kira was a quiet child, she rarely played with others”—record the quote as “[Devan] was a quiet child, [he] rarely played with others.”

In the rare cases where it is important to include a previous name, use phrases such as “then known as…” or “known at the time as…” and then go on to use the current name and pronouns wherever possible. Avoid using “or” or a slash between names, as it implies the previous and current names are interchangeable. Get in touch with Spectrum Center to consult if you have a case you feel may fall in this area.

Finding the right language

Applicability and specificity

Part of finding the right language is asking if what you’re saying is relevant, appropriately specific or general, and accurate.

• Specify which subgroup(s) of LGBTQIA2S+ communities your information, content, research, event, etc. pertains to. For example, specify “gay men” rather than broadly stating “the LGBTQIA2S+ community” if the findings are specific to them. 
• Recognize and respect the distinction between sex and gender, as they are different concepts.
• When talking about marriage, make sure you’re using the person’s preferred term(s), whether partner, spouse, wife, husband, or something else
• Confirm pronouns.

Outdated or commonly misused terminology and phrases

The words community members use for themselves is ever-evolving, and specific terms can rise and fall in popularity seemingly very quickly. Below are a list of words that are both commonly mistakenly used and have been considered incorrect for a significant amount of time. Sub-bullets are included with clarifications for some items.

(Note: When someone personally claims an identity term we’ve recommended against in your writing about communities, know that their validity doesn’t rest upon our recommendations and it is no one’s place to correct that individual.)

Terms

Phrases

Common misuses of terms and fields

• Treating queer, gay, transgender, nonbinary, or any of the acronyms / initialisms as nouns, i.e. “a transgender” or “the queers” or “an LGBTQ”
  • All of these words are adjectives. Sometimes queer is a verb
  • However, “lesbian” can be a noun or an adjective
• Listing Mr. Ms. Dr., etc as a pronoun
  • These are honorifics, not pronouns. Some people add them to the end of pronoun lists to further explain how they would like to be referred to, but they cannot be listed as a pronoun by themselves

Please note that you may see some of these terms used, and it is not always a mistake or intentionally hurtful. See the section below: “What if I see other people using different practices?”

Which acronym/initialism to use

There are several common variations on the “LGBT” acronym, each one including different letters and with or without a plus sign or asterisk at the end. You’ll notice that we use “LGBTQIA2S+” or “queer and trans” when we’re talking broadly and inclusively about the communities we center in our work. The initialism stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and two-spirit. We also add a plus – the “plus” representing all of the sexual and gender identities not expressly listed and those yet to emerge.

There are also times and contexts in which LGBTQIA2S+ might be overly broad and misrepresentative, and where being more specific is appropriate. When the audience is, or the message is about (or not about), a particular community or subset of experiences, reflect that in your framing and phrasing. Take a moment to consider if “LGBTQIA2S+” is fully accurate, or if you might really be talking specifically to/about:

• trans and gender nonconforming (TGNC) folks; 
• trans and genderqueer (TGQ);
• queer, trans, Black, indigenous people of color (QTBIPOC); 
• sexuality only (LGB, LGBQ, men who have sex with men); or 
• other demographic slices.

What if I see other people using different practices?

While we strive to offer the best practices regarding communication, there are nuances to everything. Our communities are vast and complex and there are many different opinions regarding what the best practices are. Who the writer is, who the subject is, the platform, and the intent of the piece can all influence the kind of language used.

For example:

• Some transgender people are okay with others using a previous name when talking about that person in the past, while many are not.
• An older community member may label themselves as transsexual because that’s the terminology the community used when they entered it.
• An article may leave out the “+” in the acronym because that’s the common practice for the community in their area or the style guide their publication uses.

Be curious! If you feel the need to talk to someone about how they’re writing about LGBTQIA2S+ communities, we encourage you to assume good intentions and approach the conversation with curiosity. Instead of telling someone that they’ve used the wrong language, ask them why they use the words or framing that they do. Maybe the writer was uninformed, or maybe they have their own set of best practices, or maybe they’ve intentionally written “incorrectly” to make a point. Offer alternatives if they’re asked for, but don’t assume you know better than they do immediately. Almost everyone responds better to curiosity over corrections, and you may learn something new yourself.

Additional resources

• National Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists stylebook
• GLAAD Media Reference Guide - 11th edition
• The Radical Copy Editor
  • Sex versus gender and more
  • Abortion and gender diversity
• Michigan State University Gender and Sexuality Campus Center