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{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}
] families like these in a 2007 ] are labelled as ''non-heterosexual'' by researchers for various reasons.<ref name="The Spectre of Promiscuity">{{cite book
| last = Klesse
| first = Christian
| title= The Spectre of Promiscuity: Gay Male and Bisexual Non-Monogamies and Polyamories
| publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
| isbn = 0-7546-4906-7
| year= 2007
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=_UR77Hw2WLYC
| accessdate=24 July 2008}}</ref>]]
{{Sexual orientation}}
'''Non-heterosexual''' is a ] or ] that is not ].<ref name="Queer Man on Campus">{{cite book
| last = Dilley
| first = Patrick
| title= Queer Man on Campus: A History of Non-Heterosexual College Men 1945-2000
| publisher=Routledge
| pages = 4–16
| isbn = 0-415-93337-4
| year= 2002
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=lIGpuBmhvFwC
| accessdate=24 July 2008}}</ref><ref name="Working Out: New">{{cite book
| last = Hinds
| first = Hilary
|author2=] |author3=Jackie Stacey
| title= Working Out: New Directions For Women's Studies
| publisher=Routledge
| pages = 85–95
| isbn = 0-7507-0043-2
| year= 1992
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=iVeHr1R-TeoC
| accessdate=24 July 2008}}</ref> The term helps define the "concept of what is the ] and how a particular group is different from that norm".<ref name="Journal of College St">{{cite web
|last=Stevens
|first=Richard A Jr
|title=Queer Man on Campus: A History of Non-Heterosexual College Men, 1945-2000
|publisher=Journal of College Student Development
|date=May–June 2005
|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3752/is_200505/ai_n13640713
|accessdate=24 July 2008
|deadurl=yes
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081014103045/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3752/is_200505/ai_n13640713
|archivedate=14 October 2008
|df=
}}</ref> ''Non-heterosexual'' is used in ] and ] fields as well as general academic literature to help differentiate between sexual identities chosen, prescribed and simply assumed, with varying understanding of implications of those sexual identities.<ref name="Living with Contradictions">{{cite book
| last = Jaggar
| first = Alison M.
| title= Living with Contradictions: Controversies in Feminist Social Ethics
| publisher=Westview Press
| pages = 499–502
| isbn = 0-8133-1776-2
| year= 1994
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=ph-2F94pR_0C
| accessdate=24 July 2008}}</ref><ref name="Butch/femme: Inside">{{cite book
| last = Munt
| first = Sally
| title= Butch/femme: Inside Lesbian Gender
| publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group
| pages = 93–100, 226, 228
| isbn = 0-304-33959-8
| year= 1998
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=1G5M13Xida0C
| accessdate=24 July 2008}}</ref><ref name="Big Brother Intern">{{cite book
| last = Mathijs
| first = Ernest
|author2=Janet Jones
| title= Big Brother International: Format, Critics and Publics
| publisher=Wallflower Press
| pages = 1945–55
| isbn = 1-904764-18-5
| year= 2004
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=lQ2wzDullVkC
| accessdate=24 July 2008}}</ref><ref name="Dot.Cons: Crime">{{cite book
| last = Jewkes
| first = Yvonne
| title= Dot.Cons: Crime, Deviance and Identity on the Internet
| publisher=Willan Publishing
| pages = 59–65
| isbn = 1-84392-000-X
| year= 2002
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=j5Uz_eD9AuMC
| accessdate=24 July 2008}}</ref> The term is similar to '']'', though less politically charged and more clinical; ''queer'' generally refers to being ] and non-heterosexual.<ref name="Same Sex Intimacies">{{cite book
| last = Weeks
| first = Jeffrey
|author2=Brian Heaphy |author3=Catherine Donovan
| title= Same Sex Intimacies: Families of Choice and Other Life Experiments
| publisher=Routledge
| isbn = 0-415-25477-9
| year= 2001
| pages = viii
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=kHDH6qwvolsC
| accessdate=24 July 2008}}</ref><ref name="Encyclopedia of Postmodernism">{{cite book
| last = Taylor
| first = Victor E.
|author2=Charles E. Winquist
| title= Encyclopedia of Postmodernism
| publisher=Taylor & Francis
| pages = 327
| isbn = 0-415-15294-1
| year= 2001
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=XgxrixQuYnUC
| accessdate=24 July 2008}}</ref><ref name="Gender & Sexuality: Critica">{{cite book
| last = Beasley
| first = Chris
|author2=Charles E. Winquist
| title= Gender & Sexuality: Critical Theories, Critical Thinkers
| publisher=Sage Publications Inc
| pages = 161
| isbn = 0-7619-6979-9
| year= 2005
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=f2qM2ULqDK0C
| accessdate=24 July 2008}}</ref> Some view the term as being contentious and ] as it "labels people against the perceived norm of heterosexuality,
thus reinforcing ]".<ref name="Queering Religious Txts">{{cite web
|last=Yip
|first=Andrew K.T.
|title=Queering Religious Texts: An Exploration of British Non-heterosexual Christians’ and Muslims’ Strategy of Constructing Sexuality-affirming Hermeneutics
|publisher=Nottingham Trent University
|year=2004
|url=http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/757/2/Queering_Religious_Texts.pdf
|accessdate=24 July 2008
|deadurl=bot: unknown
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140513223006/http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/757/2/Queering_Religious_Texts.pdf
|archivedate=13 May 2014
|df=
}}; </ref><ref name="Negotiations and Fieldworkings">{{cite web
| last = Browne
| first = Kath
| title= Negotiations and Fieldworkings: Friendship and Feminist Research
| publisher=University of Brighton
| year= 2003
| url =
http://google.com/search?q=cache:gCeN-3tM2qoJ:www.acme-journal.org/vol2/Browne.pdf+%22+term+non-heterosexual%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=10&gl=us
| accessdate=24 July 2008}}; </ref> Still others note ''non-heterosexual'' is the only term useful to maintaining coherence in research and suggest it "highlights a shortcoming in our language around ]"; for instance, its use can enable ].<ref name="Queer Theory Goe">{{cite web
|last=Parker
|first=Blaise Astra
|title=Queer Theory Goes To College
|publisher=Journal of Sex Research
|date=May 2004
|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2372/is_2_41/ai_n6112879/pg_2
|accessdate=24 July 2008
|deadurl=yes
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081014154033/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2372/is_2_41/ai_n6112879/pg_2
|archivedate=14 October 2008
|df=
}} "He includes interviews of some men who have a behaviorally bisexual pattern, but none of men who self-identify as bisexual. Therefore, the term non-heterosexual was inherently problematic to me, given that I am sensitive to issues of bisexual exclusion."</ref>

==Background==
Many gay, lesbian and bisexual people were born into cultures and religions that stigmatized, repressed or negatively judged any sexuality that differed from a ] identity and orientation.<ref name="Liberation Theology">{{cite book
| last = Althaus-Reid
| first = Marcella
|author2=Ann Phoenix |author3=Jackie Stacey
| title= Liberation Theology and Sexuality
| publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
| pages = 10–16
| isbn = 0-7546-5080-4
| year= 2006
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=LD5nkd_1iKcC
| accessdate=24 July 2008}}</ref><ref name="The Subcultures Reader"/> Additionally the majority of heterosexuals still view non-heterosexual acts as ] and non-conventional sexual desires are generally hidden entirely or masked in various ways.<ref name="Big Brother Intern"/> ''Non-heterosexual'' is more fully inclusive of people who not only identify as other than heterosexual but also as other than gay, lesbian and bisexual.<ref name="A Bioethical Analysis">{{cite book
| last = Svensson
| first = Travis K.
|author2=Charles E. Winquist
| title= A Bioethical Analysis of Sexual Reorientation Interventions: The Ethics of Conversion Therapy
| publisher=Sage Publications Inc
| pages = 23
| isbn = 1-58112-415-5
| year= 2004
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=11xQew8O0NYC
| accessdate=24 July 2008}}</ref> Some common examples include '']'', ''] (MSM)'', '']'' (WSW), '']'' and '']''.<ref name="Dot.Cons: Crime"/><ref name="Social Work Practice">{{cite book
| last = Joseph
| first = Sherry
| title= Social Work Practice and Men who Have Sex with Men
| publisher=Sage Publications Inc
| pages = 27
| isbn = 0-7619-3352-2
| year= 2005
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=U121JhKyR_4C
| accessdate=24 July 2008}}</ref><ref name="Encyclopedia of Primar">{{cite book
| last = Gullotta
| first = Thomas P.
|author2=Martin Bloom
| title= Encyclopedia of Primary Prevention and Health Promotion
| publisher=Springer
| isbn = 0-306-47296-1
| year= 2003
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=Elx37xzO0bsC
| accessdate=24 July 2008}}</ref> ''Non-heterosexual'' is considered a better general term than ''homosexual'', ''lesbian and gay'', ''LGBT'' or ''queer'' for being more neutral and without the baggage or gender discrimination that comes with many of the alternatives.<ref name="Same Sex Intimacies"/> For instance, until 1973, the ] listed ''homosexual'' as a mental illness, and it still has negative connotations.<ref name="Spectrum trains members">{{cite book
| last = Gaddy
| first = Jim
| title= Spectrum trains members to educate students: Group to host sexual identity discussions
| publisher=The Daily Reveille
| isbn = 0-306-47296-1
| date= 3 February 2003
| url =http://media.www.lsureveille.com/media/storage/paper868/news/2003/02/03/News/Spectrum.Trains.Members.To.Educate.Students-2044920.shtml
| accessdate=24 July 2008}}</ref>

==Usage==
''Non-heterosexual'' is found predominantly in research and scholarly environments possibly as a means to avoid terms deemed ] like '']'', '']'', '']'', '']'', etc. that lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people use as self descriptors.<ref name="The Subcultures Reader">{{cite book
| last = Gelder
| first = Ken
|author2=Sarah Thornton
| title= The Subcultures Reader
| publisher=Routledge
| pages = 421–9
| isbn = 0-415-34416-6
| year= 2005
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=USl1G-903EwC
| accessdate=24 July 2008}}</ref><ref name="Social Services f">{{cite book
| last = Quam
| first = Jean K.
|author2=Sarah Thornton
| title= Social Services for Senior Gay Men and Lesbians
| publisher=Haworth Press
| pages = 11–40, 93, 113
| isbn = 1-56024-808-4
| year= 1997
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=ocSnwsIv35QC
| accessdate=24 July 2008}}</ref><ref name="Social Policy Revi">{{cite book
| last = Clarke
| first = Karen
|author2=Tony Maltby |author3=Patricia Kennett
| title= Social Policy Review 19: Analysis and Debate in Social Policy, 2007
| publisher=The Policy Press
| pages = 145
| isbn = 1-86134-941-6
| year= 2007
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=Wo9QEG_u54sC
| accessdate=24 July 2008}}</ref> When used by those who don't identify as LGB or when used by LGB people disparagingly, the terms are generally considered ], so ''non-heterosexual'' is a default and innocuous term unlikely to offend readers.<ref name="The Spectre of Promiscuity"/> For example, the ] can be divided between those exclusively ] and everyone else.<ref name="Sexuality Repositioned">{{cite book
| last = Brooks-Gordon
| first = Belinda
|author2=Andrew Bainham |author3=Loraine Gelsthorpe
| title= Sexuality Repositioned: Diversity and the Law
| publisher=Hart Publishing
| pages = 164
| isbn = 1-84113-489-9
| year= 2004
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=MFGBBAmRpI8C
| accessdate=24 July 2008}}</ref> The term has come into more prominence in the academic field starting in the 1980s and more prominently in the 1990s with major studies of identities of non-heterosexual youth and a smaller number of studies specifically looking at non-heterosexual college students.<ref name="JOHE">{{cite web
| last = Dilley
| first = Patrick
| title= Which way out? A typology of non-heterosexual male collegiate identities.
| publisher=Journal of Higher Education
| date= 1 January 2005
| url =http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/summary_0199-3710899_ITM
| accessdate=24 July 2008}}</ref> ''Non-heterosexual'' is also used to encompass ] and ] people, because although these are gender identities rather than sexual identities, they are within the LGBT and queer umbrella communities.<ref name="The Subcultures Reader"/><ref name="Transforming Gender: T"/> Additionally, ''non-heterosexual'' encompasses a wide variety of terms used by different cultures whose own terms might never neatly translate to a homosexual or bisexual identity; for researching and extrapolating data it is a practical and accepted term.<ref name="Anthropologica">{{cite book
| last = Murray
| first = David A. B.
| title= Anthropologica: Who Is Takatapui? Maori Language, Sexuality and Identity in Aotearoa/New Zealand
| publisher=Canadian Anthropology Society
| pages = 233–245
| issn = 0003-5459
| year= 2003
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=2ycZjQeZ278C
| accessdate=24 July 2008}}</ref>

In a 2004 book that integrates "the academic disciplines of cinema studies, sociology, cultural and critical studies" regarding the ] phenomena, ''non-heterosexual'' was used as a universal term to help compare information from over thirty countries.<ref name="Big Brother Intern"/> In exploring and studying the emerging field of gay, lesbian and bisexual seniors, ''non-heterosexual'' is a default term to demonstrate that the "vast majority" of literature assumes that older people are heterosexual and makes "no effort" to explore the experiences and attitudes of those who are not.<ref name="Sexuality, Sexual Hea">{{cite book
| last = Gott
| first = Merryn
| title= Sexuality, Sexual Health and Ageing
| publisher=McGraw-Hill International
| pages = 30, 82–9, 134
| isbn = 0-335-22554-3
| year= 2005
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=tEgJzGaXY-MC
| accessdate=24 July 2008}}</ref> In ''Welfare and the State'' the authors describe the perceived advantages of lesbians in the workplace as they, in theory, wouldn't have children so would be advantageous to the labor force.<ref name="Welfare and the State">{{cite book
| last = Deakin
| first = Nicholas
|author2=Catherine Jones Finer |author3=Bob Matthews
| title= Welfare and the State
| publisher=Taylor & Francis
| pages = 80–90
| isbn = 0-415-32770-9
| year= 2003
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=FvFVAdGSLQUC
| accessdate=24 July 2008}}</ref> The authors point out, however, that not only do many lesbians have children but they routinely identify as heterosexual through much of their lives or at least until their children are old enough that a non-heterosexual identity would not greatly impact their families negatively.<ref name="Welfare and the State"/>

''Non-heterosexual'' is also used when studying lesbian and gay families and family structures.<ref name="Transforming Gender: T"/><ref name="Living difference">{{cite book
| last = Dunne
| first = Gillian A.
| title= Living "difference": Lesbian Perspectives on Work and Family Life
| publisher=Haworth Press
| pages = 1–12, 69–83
| isbn = 0-7890-0537-9
| year= 1998
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=vjr0XoHrBR8C
| accessdate=24 July 2008}}</ref> It came into wider use in this context when the ] pandemic's impact on gay male communities was being explored as many gay men created families out of extended networks of friends and these became their support systems.<ref name="Transforming Gender: T">{{cite book
| last = Hines
| first = Sally
|author2=Catherine Jones Finer |author3=Bob Matthews
| title= Transforming Gender: Transgender Practices of Identity, Intimacy and Care
| publisher=The Policy Press
| pages = 32–41, 103–115
| isbn = 1-86134-916-5
| year= 2007
| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=takj5LTFIigC
| accessdate=24 July 2008}}</ref>

==Critique of==
The use of the term ‘non-heterosexual’ to refer to ] people as a blanket term could perpetuate ] as the ]. It implies that any identity that cannot be defined as ‘]’ is abnormal. {{citation needed|date=March 2017}} The term means the opposite of heterosexual, thus implying a deviance from the social norm.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}} Historically the term was used to force people into one of two distinct identities; the “normalization of a sex that was ‘hetero' proclaimed a new heterosexual separatism — an erotic apartheid that forcefully segregated the sex normals from the sex perverts.” <ref name="Katz">{{cite journal|last1=Katz|first1=Jonathon Ned|title=The Invention of Heterosexuality|journal=Socialist Review|date=January–March 1990|issue=20|pages=231–142|url=https://english101sp2015.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/jonathan-katz_the-invention-of-heterosexuality.pdf|accessdate=5 December 2016}}</ref> The heterosexual-homosexual binary that is implied by using the term ‘non-heterosexual’ as a variation of ‘]’ is often interpreted as a stand in for ‘the opposite of heterosexual’ rather than a description of various identities.<ref name="Killerman">{{cite web|last1=Killerman|first1=Sam|title=4 Reasons You Should Stop Saying 'Non-Straight'|url=http://www.itspronouncedmetrosexual.com/2012/05/reasons-you-should-stop-saying-non-straight-and-say-queer/|website=It’s Pronounced Metrosexual,|accessdate=5 December 2016}}</ref> This ignores those who identify as ], ], ], etc. The term ‘heterosexual’ is a relatively new term that was created to separate the majority from the ], and the continued use of ‘non-heterosexual’ as an umbrella term for those in the LGBTQ community perpetuates the notion of the normal versus the Other. Non-heterosexual is also rather problematically used as a catch-all term, encompassing ] as well as ].<ref name="Killerman">{{cite web|last1=Killerman|first1=Sam|title=4 Reasons You Should Stop Saying 'Non-Straight'|url=http://www.itspronouncedmetrosexual.com/2012/05/reasons-you-should-stop-saying-non-straight-and-say-queer/|website=It’s Pronounced Metrosexual,|accessdate=5 December 2016}}</ref> The term ‘non-heterosexuality’ continues the erasure of bisexuality from discussions around sexuality and identity because of its roots in the heterosexual-homosexual binary. Sexuality and gender are different concepts and by labelling the entire LGBT+ community as being within the category of non-heterosexual it prioritizes certain groups as the term is sexuality specific.<ref name="Killerman">{{cite web|last1=Killerman|first1=Sam|title=4 Reasons You Should Stop Saying 'Non-Straight'|url=http://www.itspronouncedmetrosexual.com/2012/05/reasons-you-should-stop-saying-non-straight-and-say-queer/|website=It’s Pronounced Metrosexual,|accessdate=5 December 2016}}</ref> This encompassment of identities leads to the erasure of differing gender identities in the conversations around ‘non-heterosexual’ communities.

By referring to LGBTQ people as non-heterosexual, it enforces the idea of “]” and that anyone who does not fit into that category is going against the ].<ref name="Katz">{{cite journal|last1=Katz|first1=Jonathon Ned|title=The Invention of Heterosexuality|journal=Socialist Review|date=January–March 1990|issue=20|pages=231–142|url=https://english101sp2015.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/jonathan-katz_the-invention-of-heterosexuality.pdf|accessdate=5 December 2016}}</ref> “As Patrick Hopkins has argued, ] and ] are founded on and sustained by binary gender categories, specifically the assumption that there are distinct and proper masculine and feminine gender roles and identities against which deviation is measured.” <ref name="Denike">{{cite journal|last1=Denike|first1=Margaret|title=Religion, Rights, and Relationships: The Dream of Relational Equality|journal=Hypatia|date=2007|volume=22|issue=1|pages=71–91|jstor=4640045}}</ref> The use of the term non-heterosexual indicates a departure from what is acceptable in society while highlighting the juxtaposition between the ideal heterosexual and unideal non-heterosexual. “Heterosexism is about dominance, and the practices that support it are often replicated, reinforced, and reflected by the attitudes, behaviors, and practices of even best-intentioned allies.” <ref>{{cite journal|last1=Feigenbaum|first1=Erika Faith|title=Heterosexual Privilege: The Political and the Personal|journal=Hypatia|date=2007|volume=22|issue=1|pages=1–9|jstor=4640040}}</ref> Presenting heterosexuality as the norm frames ‘non-heterosexuality’ as the abnormal. Heterosexuality as a categorization and as a term, was not created until the late nineteenth century, prior to this relations between the sexes were not believed to be overtly sexual. In the ] sex was seen as an act between “manly men and womanly women, procreators, not specifically as erotic beings or heterosexuals.” <ref name="Katz">{{cite journal|last1=Katz|first1=Jonathon Ned|title=The Invention of Heterosexuality|journal=Socialist Review|date=January–March 1990|issue=20|pages=231–142|url=https://english101sp2015.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/jonathan-katz_the-invention-of-heterosexuality.pdf|accessdate=5 December 2016}}</ref> The division between the heterosexual and the non-heterosexual came in the 1860s after the “growth of the consumer economy also fostered a new pleasure ethic,” <ref name="Katz">{{cite journal|last1=Katz|first1=Jonathon Ned|title=The Invention of Heterosexuality|journal=Socialist Review|date=January–March 1990|issue=20|pages=231–142|url=https://english101sp2015.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/jonathan-katz_the-invention-of-heterosexuality.pdf|accessdate=5 December 2016}}</ref> the erotic became a commodity to be bought and sold. At the same time the ”rise in power and prestige of medical doctors allowed those upwardly mobile professionals to prescribe a healthy new sexuality.” <ref name="Katz">{{cite journal|last1=Katz|first1=Jonathon Ned|title=The Invention of Heterosexuality|journal=Socialist Review|date=January–March 1990|issue=20|pages=231–142|url=https://english101sp2015.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/jonathan-katz_the-invention-of-heterosexuality.pdf|accessdate=5 December 2016}}</ref> Men and women were now meant to enjoy sex. Relations between those of the ‘opposite sexes’ was seen as healthy and encouraged by medical professionals. This creation and celebration of the ‘Normal Sexual’ ultimately resulted in its counterpart: the ‘Sexual Pervert,’ anyone who fell outside of the heterosexual ideal. “In its earliest version, the twentieth-century heterosexual imperative usually continued to associate heterosexuality with a supposed human ‘need,’ ‘drive,’ or ‘instinct’ for propagation, a procreant urge linked inexorably with carnal lust… giving praise to vent to heteroerotic emotions was thus praised as enhancing baby-making capacity, marital intimacy and family stability.” <ref name="Katz">{{cite journal|last1=Katz|first1=Jonathon Ned|title=The Invention of Heterosexuality|journal=Socialist Review|date=January–March 1990|issue=20|pages=231–142|url=https://english101sp2015.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/jonathan-katz_the-invention-of-heterosexuality.pdf|accessdate=5 December 2016}}</ref> The basic oppositeness of the sexes was seen as the basis for normal, healthy sexual attraction. The term heterosexuality was created as a way to subjugate and other anyone who did not confirm to mainstream ideals of sexuality. It was a term that created a sense of validation that heterosexuality was the normal, healthy version of human sexuality.<ref name="Katz">{{cite journal|last1=Katz|first1=Jonathon Ned|title=The Invention of Heterosexuality|journal=Socialist Review|date=January–March 1990|issue=20|pages=231–142|url=https://english101sp2015.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/jonathan-katz_the-invention-of-heterosexuality.pdf|accessdate=5 December 2016}}</ref> The use of non-heterosexual today continues this history of othering people based on a belief that anyone who is not heterosexual is inherently abnormal.

Although “non-heterosexuality” is considered a blanket term for all LGBTQ identities, it is often interpreted as another word for homosexual which contributes to the continuation of systematic bisexual erasure. ] has a long history of being overshadowed and ignored in favour of the belief in ], it “ a blind spot in sex research.” <ref name="A History of Bisexuality">{{cite journal|last1=Angelides|first1=Steven|title=A History of Bisexuality|journal=The University of Chicago Press Chicago and London|date=2001|pages=1–19|url=http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Steven_Angelides/ publication/290436980_A_History_of_Bisexuality/links/56a06e2c08ae21a56428a537.pdf.|accessdate=5 December 2016}}</ref> The term non-heterosexual suggests a division between heterosexual and homosexual, the heterosexual-homosexual dichotomy, rather than the ], which accounts for identities that are not exclusively heterosexual or homosexual. By separating identities into ], bisexual identities are left in a place of ambiguity, “bisexuals transgress boundaries of sexually identified communities and thus are always both inside and outside a diversity of conflicting communities.” <ref>{{cite journal|last1=Daumer|first1=Elisabeth D|title=Queer Ethics; Or, The Challenge of Bisexuality to Lesbian Ethics|journal=Hypatia|date=1992|volume=7|issue=4|jstor=3810080}}</ref> The implied homosexual-heterosexual dichotomy that the term puts in place negates its use as a truly inclusive term; “ categories are constructed in such a way as to allow everyone access to one and only one, and to insist that anyone who is not already neatly situated in one category or the other had best be on the way to one.” <ref>{{cite journal|last1=Held|first1=Lisa|title=In Praise of Unreliability|journal=Hypatia|date=1997|volume=12|issue=3|pages=174–182|jstor=3810228}}</ref> This focus on either/or logic, heterosexuality or non-heterosexuality, where non-heterosexuality is closely associated with homosexuality rather than general queerness, slights those that the term attempts to describe; “where bisexuality does rate a mention, it is almost always rendered an epistemological and incidental by-product, aftereffect, or definitional outcome of the opposition of hetero/homosexuality.” <ref name="A History of Bisexuality"/>

Non-heterosexuality is often used to describe those in the LGBT+ community with non-cisgender identities. This is seen as problematic as sexual orientation and gender identity are different. However the distinction between the two is relatively modern. Historically “ were classified as homosexuals by everyone, including the physicians who specialized in their treatment, and it is only in the past fifty years or so that transgender has been theorized as different in kind from homosexuality.” <ref>{{cite journal|last1=Weiss|first1=Jillian Todd|title=GL vs. BT: The Archaeology of Biphobia and Transphobia Within the U.S. Gay and Lesbian Community|journal=The Journal of Bisexuality|date=2004|pages=25–55|url=https://phobos.ramapo.edu/~jweiss/glvsbt.htm|accessdate=5 December 2016}}</ref> Many people still fail to understand or make the distinction between gender minorities and sexual minorities.<ref name="phobos.ramapo.edu">{{cite journal|last1=Weiss|first1=Jillian Todd|title=GL vs. BT: The Archaeology of Biphobia and Transphobia Within the U.S. Gay and Lesbian Community|journal=The Journal of Bisexuality|date=2004|pages=25–55|url=https://phobos.ramapo.edu/~jweiss/glvsbt.htm|accessdate=5 December 2016}}</ref> The term itself is sexuality specific as it contains the word “sexual” with no mention of “gender.” <ref name="Killerman">{{cite web|last1=Killerman|first1=Sam|title=4 Reasons You Should Stop Saying 'Non-Straight'|url=http://www.itspronouncedmetrosexual.com/2012/05/reasons-you-should-stop-saying-non-straight-and-say-queer/|website=It’s Pronounced Metrosexual,|accessdate=5 December 2016}}</ref> Much in the way the term non-heterosexuality erases sexual minorities through its implied notion of the hetero/homosexual binary, it also ignores gender minorities. While trans* people and people with non-binary gender identities are part of the LGBTQ community, having been subjected to many of the same injustices,<ref name="The 'T' Within LGBT">{{cite web|title=The 'T' Within LGBT+|url=http://www.lgbt.cusu.cam.ac.uk/resources/trans/the-t-within-lgbt/|website=CUSU LGBT+|accessdate=5 December 2016}}</ref> labelling trans* and genderqueer identities under the term non-heterosexual blurs the important differences between sexual orientation and gender identity. Not all ] people would identify their sexuality as being non-heterosexual, many trans* people are attracted to the ‘opposite’ sex and therefore identify as heterosexual.<ref name="The 'T' Within LGBT"/> Additionally “those with non-binary gender identities are likely to place in a position in which heterosexuality is nonsensical, due to there being no “opposite” gender to their identities” <ref name="The 'T' Within LGBT"/> While a non-binary person is less likely to identify as heterosexual, the assumption that as someone with a ‘non-heterosexual’ identity, they must be homosexual is also problematic as it ignores sexual orientations that are not dictated by the gender of the person but rather who they are (or are not) attracted to such as bisexual, pansexual, queer, ], ], ], or ].<ref name="The 'T' Within LGBT"/>

Queer people “are often expected to account for sexual identifications by either proving normality (that is, are inside the sphere of heteronormativity), or by accepting that difference from the heterosexual norm constitutes some form of essence.” <ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite journal|last1=Riggs|first1=Damien W|title=Reassessing the Foster-Care System: Examining the Impact of Heterosexism on Lesbian and Gay Applicants|journal=Hypatia|date=2007|volume=22|issue=1|pages=132–148|jstor=4640048}}</ref> The term non-heterosexual is used to highlight the absolute difference between heterosexual and queer identities. The language needs to change to describe LGBTQ people as autonomous beings “rather than considering solely as sexual beings constituted within a heterosexual logic of sameness or difference.”<ref name="ReferenceA"/> The implied binary that the term non-heterosexual perpetuates erases those whose identities fall in the spectrum between heterosexuality and homosexuality. The hetero/homosexual dichotomy continues the systematic erasure of bisexual identities by emphasizing an assumed oppositeness with nothing allowed in between.<ref name="phobos.ramapo.edu"/> Although non-heterosexual is meant to encompass the entire LGBTQ community it has a continued use outside of the community as another word for homosexual.<ref name="Killerman">{{cite web|last1=Killerman|first1=Sam|title=4 Reasons You Should Stop Saying 'Non-Straight'|url=http://www.itspronouncedmetrosexual.com/2012/05/reasons-you-should-stop-saying-non-straight-and-say-queer/|website=It’s Pronounced Metrosexual,|accessdate=5 December 2016}}</ref> It emphasizes sexual orientation over gender identity because the term itself is sexuality specific although it is used for identities that are unrelated to sexuality.<ref name="Killerman">{{cite web|last1=Killerman|first1=Sam|title=4 Reasons You Should Stop Saying 'Non-Straight'|url=http://www.itspronouncedmetrosexual.com/2012/05/reasons-you-should-stop-saying-non-straight-and-say-queer/|website=It’s Pronounced Metrosexual,|accessdate=5 December 2016}}</ref> The interpretation of the term continues a history of gender identity being overlooked in discourse surrounding the LGBTQ community in favour of prioritizing sexual orientation.<ref name="The 'T' Within LGBT"/> It ignores those who identify as non-binary, as the term non-heterosexuality has been interpreted as categorizing those who are sexually attracted to people of the ‘same sex’ as opposed to those who are attracted to those of the ‘opposite sex.’ <ref name="phobos.ramapo.edu"/> Because if the broad spectrum encompassed by the term, general use favours sexual orientations that are defined by their reliance of the gender binary such as gay or lesbian rather than promoting orientations that are not dictated by the gender of the person identifying their sexuality. Non-heterosexual also implies that one can not be part of the LGBT+ community and identify as heterosexual as it ignores the differences between sexual orientation and gender identity.<ref name="The 'T' Within LGBT"/> The term “non-heterosexual” is too broad yet at the same time it is routinely interpreted as pertaining to a minority category of people within the intended group of identities. Because it is so non-specific it is open to interpretation by those outside of the LGBTQ community or by those who are not as educated about the spectrum of sexual orientations and gender identities leading to a greater emphasis on the identities that are already well known and an erasure of the identities that are already not a large part of mainstream dialogues.<ref name="Killerman">{{cite web|last1=Killerman|first1=Sam|title=4 Reasons You Should Stop Saying 'Non-Straight'|url=http://www.itspronouncedmetrosexual.com/2012/05/reasons-you-should-stop-saying-non-straight-and-say-queer/|website=It’s Pronounced Metrosexual,|accessdate=5 December 2016}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|LGBT}}
* ]
* ]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}
{{Sexual identities}}
{{LGBT|main=expanded}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Non-Heterosexual}}
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Revision as of 08:31, 26 August 2017