Defining Terms 

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• AIDS - acquired immunodeficiency syndrome; the advanced stage of HIV
   

• Asylum-seeker - someone who is seeking international protection
   

• Bisexual - the sexual orientation of someone whose sexual and romantic attractions are toward people of the same sex as well as a different sex
   

• Gay - used to describe a person whose attraction are to people of the same sex
   

• Gender - the social characteristics assigned to individuals based on perceptions of their sex assigned at birth.
   

• Gender-affirming care - a range of medically necessary social, psychological, behavioral, and medical interventions designed to support and affirm an individual’s gender identity when it conflicts with gender identity assigned at birth
   

• Gender-affirming hormone therapy - a type of gender-affirming care in which people take hormones (e.g., estrogen or testosterone) or hormone blockers to help achieve physical characteristics
   

• HIV - human immunodeficiency virus resulting in immunodeficiency
   

• Intersex - an umbrella term for individuals born with biological sex characteristics that are not typically male or female
   

• Lesbian - a woman whose sexual and romantic attractions are toward women
   

• LGBTQI+ - predominantly used by international NGOs to refer to sexual/gender minorities, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people, as well as people who might be questioning their gender identity and/or sexual orientation. The + refers to the numerous communities worldwide who are not perfectly captured under the umbrella categories of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, etc.
   

• Queer - a once-pejorative word that has been reclaimed to describe people whose sexual orientation is not heterosexual, as well as people who do not adhere to mainstream norms of gender and sexuality
   

• Refugee - someone who was forced to leave their country due to war, persecution, and/or violence
   

• Transgender - an umbrella identity category that refers to people whose gender identity does not conform to their anatomical sex. The term can include transgender women and transgender men, and/or gender-nonconforming, genderfluid, non-binary, genderqueer people who identify as neither female nor male.

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