Style Guide – gal-dem

gal-dem is a magazine and media platform committed to sharing perspectives from people of colour of marginalised genders. We are celebrated for content that supports and gives voice to our varied communities – and brings joy to them too.

Our focus is on the stories of marginalised communities and incorporates everything from social justice and institutional corruption to cultural touchpoints and wellbeing. Our vision is to become widely known as an editorial platform for original analysis and ambitious investigative reporting. We write in a tone of voice that is accessible, conversational, compassionate, progressive and punchy.

gal-dem strives to be inclusive. We avoid othering people and cultures. However, we recognise that language is not fixed. What feels right today might not feel right tomorrow and our differing contexts impact the words we use. Through consultation with members of various communities, we will always strive to use the best language at any given time; while leaving room for individuals to bring their own contexts to the words they use as journalists. To that end, we are open to discussing the language we use and adapting it in the future.

For any questions, comments or suggestions about our style guide, please email suyin@gal-dem.com

The gal-dem style guide exists for the benefit of our editors and writers to create consistency and accuracy across our copy, help readers understand our communications and build trust. We also believe, with the development of our ‘sensitivity and inclusivity’ section, that our style guide offers a particularly progressive approach to language in relation to gal-dem’s aim of sharing perspectives from people of colour of marginalised genders against the backdrop of a whitewashed media landscape.

PRODUCTION NOTES

HOUSE STYLE

SENSITIVITY AND INCLUSIVITY

SPECIFIC WORDS

Anonymising writers and interviewees

The anonymisation of writers and interviewees should be agreed in advance of publication and in conjunction with relevant laws and the editor’s code. Anonymisation should only be granted in specific circumstances and editors should be conscious of explaining this reasoning to writers, just as writers should explain why they can or cannot grant anonymity to their interviewees.

Our general policy is not to anonymise the writers of articles or interviewees within articles pre or post-publication unless:

There is a safeguarding issue
There is a legal concern or complaint
The interviewee or writer who wishes to remain anonymous is providing access to a crucial story in the public interest. In instances of multi-interview features, apart from under exceptional circumstances, no more than half of the interviews should be anonymous.
The article was published when gal-dem was a voluntary publication (pre-March 2019) and the writer makes said request, not the interviewee

On the first occasion a pseudonym is used, a star should appear next to the name i.e Aisha*. An italicised note should appear at the end of the copy reading: *Names have been changed to protect identities.

Removing or moderating articles on our website

Removing or moderating articles sets a precedent that doesn’t align with our values around transparency and the integrity of our journalistic archive in terms of the public record; this is in line with most, if not all, professional media organisations in the UK and beyond.

Our general policy is not to delete articles or moderate them post-publication unless:

There is a factual inaccuracy
There is a safeguarding concern
There is a legal concern or complaint
The article was published when gal-dem was a voluntary publication (pre-March 2019) and the writer makes said request, not an interviewee

If we do make a large factual correction to an article (beyond a typo) we will put a note at the bottom in italics, reading: *This article was amended on DATE to state that XXX. An earlier version mistakenly said XXX.

Article formats

There are roughly five types of article formats that gal-dem publishes. These are:

Comment pieces
Personal essays
Q&A interviews
Profile interviews (where you’re interviewing a single person)
Multi-interview features (where you’re interviewing multiple people within an analysis-led or news-led piece)

More details can be found in our pitching guide.

Headlines

Headlines are written in sentence case, without a full stop.

Single quotes are used around quoted speech in headlines.

Single quotes are also used in headlines around books, films, TV shows etc. ONLY if the meaning is compromised without.

Standfirsts

Standfirsts are written in sentence case, with a full stop.

Captions and credits

Captions and credits should appear directly under the image and are styled in italics as follows:

Illustration by [name of illustrator, linked to their IG or website]

Photography by [name of photographer, linked to their IG or website]

Photography via [Creative Commons / Flickr / Unsplash etc.] / [name of photographer]

Still via [Universal Studios / BBC / Netflix / YouTube] / [name of programme]

Endnotes

Endnotes are styled in italics and take a full stop. If the endnote contains words that are already italicised (e.g. the name of a book), these should be left in italics (not changed to regular).

Suggested endnotes for stories about suicide, domestic abuse, and other types of trauma:

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or you can email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org

In the UK, call Galop’s National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans+ Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0800 999 5428, the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247 or visit Women’s Aid. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org

Text SHOUT to 85258 from anywhere in the UK, anytime 24/7, about any type of crisis, including suicidality.

In the US, TrevorLifeline, TrevorChat, and TrevorText provide LGBTQ+ crisis support. If you are thinking about suicide and in need of immediate support, please call the TrevorLifeline at 1-866-488-7386 or select TrevorChat below to connect with a counsellor.

Pull quotes

Pull quotes are written with double quotation marks, in sentence case, and do not take a full stop. Names should only be added to pull quotes when there are multiple interviewees.

Pull quotes should paraphrase over using parentheses e.g.

NO: “[Growing up with mixed heritage] made me realise that no two groups of people are the same”

YES: “Growing up with mixed heritage made me realise that no two groups of people are the same”

Q&As

gal-dem should not be italicised in Q&As.

Q&A interviews don’t require speech marks.

Question in bold, answer in regular.

Use full names, each in bold, on first mention only.

gal-dem: Question

Poppy Ajudha: Answer

Question

Answer

See also: Italics, Quotation marks

Quotation marks

gal-dem uses double quotation marks for speech and direct quotes.

Single quotation marks are used for song titles, poems, artworks, essays and articles.

Single quotation marks are also used for any examples of emphasis and can be used to highlight certain words or letters e.g. There is no ‘I’ in team.

Single quotation marks are used for quotes within quotes as well as quotes within a Q&A.

Single quotation marks are also used instead of double quotation marks in headlines and standfirsts.

Typically, if direct speech is broken up by information on who is speaking, a comma is needed inside the quotation marks.

“I’m trying to focus on myself for a bit,” she tells me.

When a quote is a full sentence, the full stop should go inside the quotation marks e.g

As X writes in the Guardian, “It’s upsetting but unsurprising that the government has chosen not to U-turn on this decision.”

If a quote does not form a full sentence, the full stop goes outside the quotation marks e.g.

She described her former colleague as “passionate and principled”.

If a quote is broken up but still forms a full sentence, the full stop should still be inside the quotation marks e.g.

“I don’t agree with his decision,” they reply, “but I understand why he did it.”

N.B. When speech runs on to a new paragraph, quotation marks should be left open at the end of the first paragraph and ‘re-opened’ on the next paragraph.

See also: Italics

Semicolons

Semicolons sit between a comma and a full stop, and are used to join together independent clauses (i.e. they could stand alone as sentences) that are related e.g.

She spent her time at university campaigning against the war; he was a member of the Bullingdon Club.

On the final day we went to see the pyramids; they were even bigger than I expected.

They can also be used to break up a long list (where commas don’t quite suffice).

Avoid semicolons in headlines, standfirsts and quoted speech.

See also: Colons, Commas

Singular and plural

Most teams, companies, organisations, collectives, groups and bands take the singular e.g. gal-dem is, Nike has, the government is. However, plural should be used for those whose names are plural e.g The Rolling Stones, Boyz II Men

(However, fine to use ‘we’ for gal-dem.)

N.B. Labour is singular, whereas the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats are plural i.e. Labour has BUT the Conservatives have.

Tenses

Headlines should be written using active language in the present tense.

Body copy of interviews and features should be written in the present tense i.e. ‘they/she/he says’, ‘they/she/he feels’ etc. Use the past tense for news pieces i.e. ‘they/she/he said’, ‘they/she/he felt’ etc.

Titles

Titles are written without a full stop e.g. Mr Johnson, Dr Fauci, Mx Alabanza – although full names are preferred.

As a general rule, gal-dem does not use courtesy titles such as ‘Lord’, ‘Sir’ (unless stylistic or necessary for meaning) e.g. Alan Sugar NOT Lord Sugar, Keir Starmer NOT Sir Keir Starmer. However, for those known widely or exclusively by their titles (e.g. the Queen, Prince Harry), these are fine.

Job titles are written in lowercase (unless acronyms) e.g. founder, editor-in-chief, shadow foreign secretary, leader of the opposition

N.B Joe Biden is the next president of the United States

Former president Barack Obama

The pope made a speech

BUT: He spoke to President Macron OR She met Pope Francis (here, ‘President’ and ‘Pope’ are used like ‘Dr’ or ‘Ms’)

Avoid unnecessarily gendered job titles e.g. actor NOT actress. Likewise, ‘police officer’ is preferred to ‘policeman’, ‘firefighter’ to ‘fireman’ etc.

See also: Names

URLs

URLs are styled without www. and should be linked to open in a new window i.e. gal-dem.com

Disability and mental health

gal-dem as an organisation views disability through the social model, meaning we understand that a person is disabled by the barriers society puts in their way, rather than a medical model which views disability through what may be ‘wrong’ with a person.

As a general rule, disability should only be included when relevant to the story. Disabilities should be used as adjectives, not nouns.

NOT ‘wheelchair-bound’ – instead ‘uses a wheelchair’

NOT ‘the handicapped’, ‘the disabled’ – instead ‘disabled people’

NOT ‘the blind’, ‘the deaf’ – instead ‘blind people’, ‘deaf people’

NOT ‘A person with a visual impairment’ – instead ‘A visually impaired person’

In our reporting we actively seek to avoid the following tropes:

Disabled people as pitiable
Disabled people as inspirational or ‘super-human’
Disabled people as victims

In line with the Social Model of Disability, we know many people choose to refer to themselves as disabled as a political choice and therefore use identity-first language. This may change based on individual preference, and in the US person-first language is more commonly used. Where possible, go with the wording that individuals have specified they are most comfortable with.

Avoid using mental health illnesses as synonyms i.e. ‘anorexic’ does not mean thin, ‘depressed’ does not mean sad etc.

It’s best to refer to people who are not disabled as ‘non-disabled’ and avoid the use of terms like ‘able-bodied’, which implies that all people with disabilities lack ‘able bodies’ or the ability to use their bodies well.

Additional resources: terms to avoid when writing about disability.

N.B. Words such as ‘dumb’ and ‘lame’ are slurs and should be avoided in any context. The words ‘insane’, ‘crazy’ and ‘mad’ should also be avoided in favour of words such as ‘wild’ or ‘unreal’. Steer clear of using disabilities metaphorically e.g. ‘blind spot’, ‘fall on deaf ears’, ‘paralysed by fear’, ‘crippled with work’

Some people choose not to identify as disabled:

• Neurodivergence – do not assume all autistic/Neurodivergent people see themselves as disabled.

• Mental health – people within the Survivors Movement see mental illness as a cultural construct rather than a set of medical conditions with a basis in science. They may not necessarily identify as disabled people.

• D/deaf – a large number of Deaf people whose first language is BSL see themselves as part of a language minority and see Deafness as part of their cultural identity.

‘Deaf’ is capitalised when referring to someone who has been Deaf their whole life to acknowledge that it’s an identity and there’s a Deaf community with its own language and culture.

Additional resources: style guide from The Deaf Health Charity

Gender

As a general rule, gender identity (along with parental and marital status) should only be included when relevant to the story.

Gender identity/pronouns should not be assumed. It’s always better to check than to misgender someone. Clarify which pronouns you should use in your article to avoid outing closeted trans people.

Genderfluid, non-binary, agender people or those who have genders outside the binary use a variety of pronouns for third-person reference. The most common is ‘they/them’, but people may also use neopronouns such as ‘zie/hirs’ e.g. ‘they are very happy with themself’, ‘zie is very happy with hirself’. (N.B. Spelling varies from person to person so always check.)

Sometimes people may use a combination of pronouns or mix them up e.g. ‘she/they’, ‘they/he’, ‘she/he/they’. In this case, check with the person as to how they would like to be referred in your articles. If checking isn’t a possibility, slash their pronouns in the first instances and then use a combination of pronouns throughout the article, keeping a single pronoun per paragraph or section.

For public figures, look at social media and articles to check pronouns.

Avoid language that equates gender with anatomy. Refer to ‘people who menstruate’, ‘people who have periods’, ‘people with prostates’ etc.

When talking about people who are affected by transmisogyny (transphobia and misogyny) – i.e. trans women, transfeminine people – refer to them as ‘transmisogyny-affected’. Refer to those who aren’t affected by it – i.e. trans men, transmasculine people – as ‘transmisogyny-exempt’. This is a useful catch-all without resorting to the tired ‘women and non-binary people’.

assigned male/female at birth (ONLY when relevant)

NOT ‘biological male/female’, ‘born male/female’ or ‘born a man/woman’

Additional resources: GLAAD Media Reference Guide – Transgender, Trans Journalists style guide

cisgender

NOT ‘normal’. Can be abbreviated to ‘cis’. Means ‘same as’ i.e. a cis man was assigned male at birth and feels congruence with that.

deadname

NOT ‘birth name’, ‘original name’ etc. This is the best way to refer to a trans person’s name before they came out and changed it (if at all, as not all trans people do change their names). Generally speaking, you should not record this unless given explicit consent from the person whose deadname it is. Any reference to deadname should be replaced with the correct name – unless there’s explicit consent to keep it in.

For video/audio sources that misgender/deadname someone, every effort should be made to cut around it, block out the misgendering/deadnaming or simply not use that source.

gender confirmation/affirmation surgery

NOT ‘sex change’ or ‘reassignment’

transitioned/transitioning

Use of this word should be led by the author/trans person. ‘Medically/socially transitioned’ can also sometimes be used where relevant.

gender dysphoria

NOT ‘gender identity disorder’

is X gender

NOT ‘identifies as’, unless specifically used by speaker

non-binary

Always write in full. You may sometimes see this abbreviated as ‘nb’, ‘n-b’ or ‘enby’ – however ‘nb’ is often also used to mean non-black and ‘enby’ is not used by everyone. Therefore ‘non-binary’ is best to avoid doubt.

people

NOT ‘men and women’, ‘ladies and gentlemen’ etc. DO use ‘everyone’, ‘reader(s)’ and other gender neutral collective terms.

pronouns

NOT ‘preferred pronouns’

transgender

It is fine for ‘transgender’ to be abbreviated to ‘trans’. Should be used as an adjective i.e. ‘a transgender woman’ or ‘trans people’ NOT ‘a transgender’, ‘a transgendered woman’ or “transgenders”. NOT “transsexual”, unless this is preferred term.

female/male

Using ‘female/male’ should be avoided where possible as an adjective and we do not use ‘female/male’ as a noun.

marginalised genders

An inclusive term used to refer to people pushed to the margins of society or who face economic, political or social inequality as a result of their gender identity. Marginalised genders encompasses people who self-define as women (cis, trans or otherwise), trans men, people have a fluid gender identity or whose gender identity falls outside of the binary, and those who are intersex. N.B. ‘Underrepresented genders’ is another inclusive term that can be used.

For more on language around trans people, refer to Trans Journalists Association’s style guide.

Race and ethnicity

As a general rule, race and ethnicity should only be included when relevant to the story.

There are longstanding debates about the use of collective terms (see: BAME, POC, BPOC and black/Black) as descriptors. While language is always evolving, no term currently in existence is without its flaws, and we should always be as specific as possible when referring to people’s race or ethnicity. At gal-dem we do recognise the importance and political significance of collective organising and shared lived experiences between racialised groups in the UK and beyond. In working together to put the voices of people of colour of marginalised genders to the forefront, we are drawing on the history of organisations such as the United Coloured People’s Alliance and the Organisation for Women of Asian and African Descent.

Additional resources: Why We Have So Many Terms For People of Colour

There are also longstanding debates among linguists about the hyphenation of ethnicities, which some believe connotes not fully belonging to a group or country. As a general rule, gal-dem uses hyphens for nationalities (e.g. she is French-Canadian, the British-American actor) but NOT ethnicities (e.g. African Caribbean, black British) – even if adjectival (e.g. the first African American president). Hyphens should also be used for prefixes such as ‘Anglo-’, ‘Franco-’ etc – although we do not use the prefix ‘Afro-’.

Additional resources: Are names of groups like African American and Native American ever hyphened in MLA style?

African Caribbean

NOT ‘Afro-Caribbean’

antisemitism

No hyphen and lowercase ‘s’.

Additional resources: holocaustremembrance.com/spelling-antisemitism

Arab

Refers to Arabic-speaking nations or people from an Arabic-speaking country. Not synonymous with Muslim, North African or Middle Eastern. When referring to events in a specific country, name the country rather than generalising with ‘Arab’. When ethnicity or nationality is relevant, it is more precise and accurate to specify the country by using Lebanese, Palestinian or whatever is appropriate. Arab is a noun for a person and it can also be used as an adjective, as in Arab country or Arab culture or Arab food.

N.B. Iran is not an Arab country. The majority of Iranian people are Persian and the language is Farsi. Arabian is an adjective that refers to Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Peninsula, or for things, such as an Arabian horse – not Arab people, their language, culture or dress. Arabic is the name of the language spoken in Arab countries and it is generally not used as an adjective. It is never used to describe people or their identities.

Asian

Always used as an adjective i.e. ‘an Asian woman’ rather than ‘an Asian’, ‘is Asian’ rather than ‘is an Asian’. N.B. In the UK, Asian is often used to refer to South Asian people, whereas in the US, it typically refers to East Asian people. When referring to an individual, their country of origin is preferred if known. Specificity is key as the experiences of people vary hugely and this can have huge political significance.

BAME

Black, Asian and minority ethnic. Avoid if possible – while BAME serves a similar function to POC, its usage is more highly contested because of its history of being used in bureaucratic box-ticking exercises. N.B. BAME is not interchangeable with people of colour, as it also includes minority groups racialised as white such as Irish Travellers and Eastern Europeans.

BIPOC / BPOC

BIPOC can be used in the context of the US, where ‘I’ refers to Indigenous/Native American. Leave if the writer is adamant, but specifics are preferred. In the UK, BPOC is used by some writers but POC is preferred unless there is a specific reason for isolating those of black identity within the acronym.

black/Black

Used to refer to those of the black Caribbean and African diaspora, including those of mixed race where relevant. Capitalise at request of writer but used in lowercase across gal-dem comms as standard due to the UK’s history of political Blackness. Always used as an adjective – ‘black people’ not ‘blacks’.

brown

In the UK, most commonly used to refer to those of South Asian heritage, though sometimes used by other communities, including Latinx and black people, especially as a descriptor for skin tone. When speaking of black and South Asian communities in the UK, writers can say, for example, ‘black and brown’. Capitalise at request of writer but used in lowercase across gal-dem comms.

caste

When writing about the caste system, capitalise terminology. Savarnas are those who fall within the system i.e. in the four main castes of Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra. Avarnas are those who fall outside this, including scheduled castes and tribes, notably the Dalit community – the term for the most lowered caste (generally try to avoid use of ‘Untouchables’, unless writer or interviewees are from Dalit background and this is their preferred term).

Central Asian

Used to refer to people whose heritage is from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. ‘Central’ takes capitals.

Indigenous

Commonly used to refer to peoples who are the descendants of those who were there before the country or region was colonised by the dominant society, especially in the Americas and Australia. Always capitalised. N.B. Not all Indigenous peoples are also tribal.

Additional resources: Survival International Terminology.

East Asian

Used to refer to people whose heritage is from China, Taiwan, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea and South Korea. ‘East’ takes capitals. NOT Oriental.

ethnic

Best only to use in the case of ‘ethnic minority’. Use sparingly.

global majority

A term for POC sometimes used as an alternative to ‘ethnic minority’ which recognises that POC represent over 80% of the world’s population.

Gypsy, Roma and Traveller

Always capitalised. Can be shortened to GRT. N.B. Some find ‘Gypsy’ offensive – defer to the writer on preferred terms.

Additional resources: www.gypsy-traveller.org

Latinx/Latino/Latina

Terms used to refer to people of Latin American origin. Latinx often preferred as a gender-neutral term (Spanish is gendered) as it is more inclusive of trans and gender-non-conforming people. However, Latinx can be viewed by some as ‘one-size fits-all’ and doesn’t acknowledge colourism, anti-blackness or address white Latin Americans within this spectrum. Use preferred term.

Afro-Latinx is often a preferred term for the African diaspora in Latin America. Be more specific where possible (e.g. Afro-Indigenous, British-Colombian) and don’t erase more marginalised identities within the Latinx umbrella. N.B. Latinx is not the same as Hispanic, which includes Spanish-speaking people from Spain, Mexico etc. Avoid ‘Latinidad’.

mixed race

NOT mixed-race. Avoid using the world ‘half’ in reference to a person’s identity e.g. half-black, half-Chinese. ‘She is mixed black and Chinese’ is a better alternative. ‘Biracial’ and ‘dual heritage’ are also fine.

Native American

‘Native’ takes capitals. NOT ‘American Indians’. ‘Indigenous’ (capitalised) or ‘Indigenous American’ is also accepted. Always use preferred term. Whenever possible, refer to a specific tribal name (e.g. Navajo, Cherokee).

North African

Refers to people and things from North African countries and regions: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia and Western Sahara. Not synonymous with Arab, Muslim or Middle Eastern. When referring to events in a specific country, name the country rather than generalising with ‘Arab’. ‘North’ takes capitals.

N.B. All countries in North Africa are officially considered Arabic-speaking, but Arabic is not the only language spoken in North Africa. Many Arab people identify as both Arab and North African. However, Arab people are not the only ethnic group who are from North Africa and some individuals from North Africa identify as solely North African and not Arab.

Middle Eastern

Used to refer to people whose heritage is from the transcontinental region centred on Western Asia, Southeastern Europe and Northern Africa: Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the eastern part of Turkey known also as Asia Minor, United Arab Emirates and Yemen, and northeastern Africa: Egypt and Sudan. N.B. ‘SWANA’ is a preferred alternative.

people of colour or person of colour

Preferred term for people not of white ethnicity, which has a political history in activist circles. Use in full on the first instance and then abbreviate to POC. N.B. Only use this term when you mean people of colour in their entirety (i.e. if you are speaking about black people specifically, use ‘black people’ – not ‘people of colour’). NOT ‘coloured people’.

[name] of colour

For example, ‘journalists of colour’. Use sparingly.

women of colour

Shortened to WOC. A political statement first used in 1977 to lobby for recognition of a shared agenda for black, Indigenous, Latinx and Asian women, WOC comes from a different, and arguably more radical, political discourse than POC.

South Asian

Used to refer to people whose heritage is from Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, the Maldives and Sri Lanka. ‘South’ takes capitals. Always used as an adjective when referring to race/ethnicity.

Southeast Asian

Used to refer to people whose heritage is from Brunei, Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. ‘Southeast’ takes capitals. Always used as an adjective when referring to race/ethnicity.

SWANA

SWANA is a decolonial acronym for the South West Asian/North African region in place of ‘Middle Eastern’, ‘Near Eastern’, ‘Arab world’ or ‘Islamic world’ – all of which have colonial, Eurocentric and Orientalist origins and are not suited to encompass such a large region of people who do not share the same countries or continents, sects, religions or languages (e.g. Egypt is home to Arab, Coptic and Amazigh people, and the languages spanning the SWANA region include Arabic, Farsi, Tamazight and more). Several activist groups from the region/s use SWANA as an alternative. SWANA is used to speak to the diversity of communities from the region and to forward the most vulnerable in the communities’ liberation.

Sexuality

As a general rule, sexuality should only be included when relevant to the story. Sexualities should be used as adjectives not nouns e.g. gay people NOT gays, she is bisexual NOT she is a bisexual – although ‘lesbian’ is an exception. Always use preferred terminology and avoid making assumptions.

asexual

Can be abbreviated to ‘ace’ after first mention if put in brackets e.g. an asexual (ace) woman

bisexual

Can be abbreviated to ‘bi’

LGBTQI+

NOT ‘LGBT’ or ‘LGBTQ’ etc., unless quoted from a specific study/person

same-sex marriage

NOT ‘gay marriage’

queer

ONLY when used by someone from the community as a self-definition. It’s ideally not used as a catch-all as not all LGBTQI+ people use it, though it’s often used in POC circles.

Avoid the world ‘homosexual’ as it has clinical connotations. ‘Homosexuality’ can be used if referring to specific policies or laws e.g. The Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Act.

QTPOC

An abbreviation for queer and trans people of colour.

Additional resources: glaad.org/reference/offensive

Slurs

Racist/homophobic/transphobic slurs should be avoided, but if they are used within a piece or directly quoted they should generally be starred from the first vowel i.e n*gger, p*ki.