Gender identity and sexual orientation are often talked about together, but they are different. While both are an important part of each person’s identity, the definitions above give you a starting place to understand them individually. 

Gender identity is who you are, sexual orientation is who you are attracted to. Keeping in mind, who someone knows themselves to be, or who they are attracted to, can change throughout their life.

It can be easy to make assumptions about a person’s sexuality based on their gender, or the other way around. Some may assume that because someone is transgender, they are also gay or lesbian, but this is not always true. Different cultures have different social norms and expectations around how gender and sexuality are represented and expressed. Those who differ from those norms can sometimes be subjected to prejudice (a negative attitude toward another person or group formed in advance of any experience with them) and discrimination (an action or a decision that treats a person or a group badly because of unfair negative attitudes). 

We include information about both gender identity and sexual orientation on this page to describe these differences, but also because they can be grouped together. Examples of where gender identity and sexual orientation fall under the same umbrella include policies and plans such as the Federal 2SLGBTQI+ Action Plan 2022, educational tools and resources such as SOGI 123, and community resources such as Qmunity