Words Change Because We Do: The Evolution of Language on Sexuality and Gender

Words Change Because We Do: The Evolution of Language on Sexuality and Gender | by Heather Paterson | Oct, 2025 | Medium All language is made up. That’s literally how it works. It grows, shifts, and adapts to the people who use it. In the 1960s, something might have been described as “groovy.” In the 1990s, it became “sick,” and by the 2010s young people in Britain were calling things “peng.” Nobody panics about this terminology changing. We accept it as part of life.

Yet when language evolves around sexuality or gender, people often act as though something dangerous is happening. It’s strange, really, because this isn’t new. Language has always changed over time, and that includes the words we use to describe love, attraction, and identity.

Centuries ago, European societies used terms like sodomite or pederast, usually in judgmental or legal contexts. In the 1800s, medical writers introduced homosexual. By the 1920s, activists began using homophile to shift the focus from pathology to affection. The gay liberation movements of the 1960s popularised the simple, powerful word gay. Then, in the 1980s, during the AIDS crisis, queer, a word that once meant “strange” or “odd”,was reclaimed as a term of pride, primarily for gay men.

Today, queer often serves as an umbrella for people across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. It will keep evolving, just like all language does. The way we describe ourselves changes as our understanding grows, and as society catches up to realities that have always existed.

When Language Catches Up to Identity

If you were living in the 1960s when gay men started using gay instead of homophile, would you have said they were attention seekers making up words? Would you have argued that homophile was the only valid term forever? Or would you recognise that language was simply catching up to better describe real experiences?

That’s exactly what is happening today with newer terms like non-binary, pansexual, and asexual.

I’m a woman who’s primarily attracted to women. I might describe myself as gay, lesbian, queer, dyke, sapphic, or not use a label at all. None of those words change who I am. They just offer different ways to describe the same truth. Using new language doesn’t create new identities, it gives shape to realities that have always been there.

Gender Beyond the Binary

People who identify or present outside “male” or “female” have always existed. Long before modern labels, cultures around the world recognised more than two genders.

Among Indigenous North American nations, people we now call Two-Spirit held respected spiritual and social roles that combined masculine and feminine qualities. In Indonesia, the Bugis people recognise five genders, including the bissu, who are seen as both male and female and often hold priestly roles.

In Mexico’s Zapotec culture, muxes, people assigned male at birth who live as women or in between, have existed for centuries. South Asia has long recognised Hijras as a distinct third gender, mentioned in ancient Hindu texts. And in Madagascar, the Sekrata have been part of community life for generations.

These identities aren’t new. What’s new is that Western societies are now developing language to understand them.

Even in recent Western history, gender diversity wasn’t unheard of. In the 1980s and 90s, people often described gender nonconformity as “androgynous.” Today we might say “non-binary.” Some use those words interchangeably, while others see androgyny as a form of gender expression or presentation and non-binary as a gender identity. Either way, we’re still talking about something that has always existed.

From Silence to Visibility

The big difference today is visibility. For much of modern history, LGBTQ+ people had to hide. In the UK, homosexuality was illegal until 1967, and even after that, stigma and fear persisted.

Gay men developed Polari, a secret slang mixing Italian, Romani, Yiddish, and theatre jargon, so they could communicate without outing themselves. Polari offered safety and community in a world that criminalised them.

Everything began to change with greater legal protections and, later, the rise of the internet and social media. Suddenly, people could connect, share stories, and explore identity in ways that were never possible before. And when people talk openly about something, the language around it grows and changes quickly.

That’s not because new identities are appearing; it’s because people finally have the freedom to name and share who they’ve always been.

The words we hear more often now, such as non-binary, genderfluid, pansexual, asexual, are not evidence of a trend. They are the language of visibility.

Law, Culture, and the Language of Rights

Language doesn’t evolve in a vacuum. It’s deeply shaped by law, politics, and culture.

In the UK, the legal story of LGBTQ+ people is one of both progress and backlash. Section 28, introduced in 1988, banned local authorities from “promoting homosexuality.” It silenced teachers, erased queer lives from classrooms, and left generations without the language to understand themselves.

Activist groups like Stonewall and OutRage! formed in direct response, fighting for the right to exist and to speak. Section 28 wasn’t repealed until 2003, and its legacy of shame still lingers in our schools and media.

But progress did come. The Civil Partnership Act (2004) gave same-sex couples legal recognition for the first time. The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act (2013) extended that equality to marriage. The Gender Recognition Act (2004) allowed trans people to legally change their gender, and the Equality Act (2010) made it illegal to discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender reassignment.

These laws helped create a space where LGBTQ+ people could live more openly and where language could finally flourish without fear. Words like partner, spouse, and they/them pronouns became normalised in workplaces and institutions. Each change in language reflected a wider social shift: the move from survival to recognition.

The Internet and the Language Boom

Social media has completely transformed how language around gender and sexuality evolves. Platforms like Tumblr, Instagram and TikTok have given people the power to create and share words that describe their experiences.

Social media hasn’t created new identities; it’s revealed ones that were always there. Young people use these platforms to explore gender and sexuality, connect with others, and find community when their offline lives might still be unsafe.

Of course, this visibility also comes with backlash. The same platforms that empower queer voices also spread transphobia, homophobia, and misinformation. The culture wars we see online are not just about semantics, they are about who is allowed to exist.

The Current Climate: A Step Backwards

In recent years, the UK’s reputation as a leader in LGBTQ+ equality has taken a worrying turn. In 2015, the UK ranked first on ILGA-Europe’s Rainbow Map, which tracks LGBTQ+ rights. By 2025, it had fallen to 22nd. That drop reflects growing hostility toward trans people, political scapegoating, and stalled legal progress.

The decline was accelerated by the April 2025 Supreme Court ruling in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers, which held that “man,” “woman,” and “sex” in the Equality Act refer only to biological sex. This means that a trans woman with a Gender Recognition Certificate may no longer be considered legally a woman in contexts like equal pay or single-sex services. It’s a devastating setback that undermines twenty years of progress.

Legal experts have warned that this ruling allows institutions to exclude trans people from certain spaces and may erode protections in employment and healthcare. It sends a chilling message that trans people’s identities are up for debate again.

The Politics of Division

This legal regression didn’t happen in isolation. It’s part of a wider culture war being waged across British politics.

Parties like Reform UK have built campaigns around anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, promising to ban Pride flags on public buildings, remove diversity roles, and outlaw so-called “transgender ideology” in schools. The Labour and Conservative Parties have both increasingly echoed “gender critical” narratives, framing trans rights as a threat to women and children, a tactic eerily similar to the fearmongering of the Section 28 era.

Far-right groups have capitalised on this panic. In 2024, Home Office data showed a 56% rise in reported trans hate crimes. Campaigns against trans inclusion have become louder, and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric has seeped into mainstream debate.

As a queer woman, I find this deeply familiar and deeply frustrating. We’ve seen this before. The same rhetoric that once called gay teachers “dangerous influences” now paints trans women as threats. It’s the same moral panic recycled for a new generation. And just like before, it’s being used to distract from real social and economic issues.

Language as Resistance

In a hostile climate, language becomes a tool of resistance. Being able to name ourselves and use words that reflect who we truly are is powerful.

When politicians and others try to erase words like trans woman or non-binary, they’re not just arguing about grammar; they’re trying to erase people. Section 28 taught us that silence is never neutral. Denying young people the language to understand themselves doesn’t protect anyone, it just breeds confusion and shame.

Younger generations continue to create language that reflects the richness of human experience: pansexual, aromantic, agender, neuroqueer… The reclaimed word queer continues to thrive because it embraces complexity and refuses to fit into boxes.

This is what progress looks like. Language evolving to meet people where they are.

Bringing It Back Home

Britain today is a patchwork of progress and regression. We have equal marriage, anti-discrimination laws, and Pride parades in every major city. But we also have a growing movement determined to roll back those gains.

The UK’s multicultural identity brings with it diverse understandings of gender and sexuality, and that diversity should be celebrated, not feared.

Pride is not just a festival; it’s a reminder of how far we’ve come and how much work remains. From whispered Polari slang to open conversations about pronouns in workplaces, the evolution of language tells the story of survival, creativity, and community.

Keep Learning, Keep Listening

Language is one of the clearest signs of human growth. When someone shares a term you haven’t heard before, pause before dismissing it. Ask what it means. Learn from it.

Just because something is new to you doesn’t mean it’s new. I don’t speak Chinese, but I know it’s a language. I don’t dismiss it because it’s outside my own experience. The same goes for gender and sexuality.

If we want to live in a fair and compassionate society, we have to stay curious:

• Read about sexual and gender diversity in different cultures.

• Understand the laws that protect LGBTQ+ people in the UK.

• Listen to people’s lived experiences, even if they differ from your own.

• Speak up when others spread misinformation or hate.
  

Language is never static, and neither are we. Every new word someone uses to describe themselves adds to our shared understanding of what it means to be human.

So next time you come across a term you don’t recognise, remember this: language evolves because we do, and that evolution is something worth celebrating, not fearing.