opposite gender; (2) behavior, which relates to the sex of sex partners (individuals of the same sex, different sex, or both sexes); and self-identification of a person.<sup>7</sup> _Lesbian (women) and gay (men)_ refer to people who have an enduring emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction primarily or exclusively to people of the same gender. _Homosexuality_ is another term frequently used to describe this attraction (compared to _heterosexual_ or _straight)_ . _Bisexual_ individuals can have the same emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction to another person regardless of gender.<sup>8</sup> For the purposes of data collection by way of a quantitative survey, it’s important to take into account that these elements do not always align. For example, it is common to find men who have sex with men (MSM), who might also be married to women and who would not self-identify as gay or bisexual. Here one behavior (sex) is seemingly in contrast to another (marriage to an opposite sex spouse) as well as identity. It is therefore important to include questions related to all three dimensions of sexual orientation in a survey.<sup>_9_</sup> _Gender identity_ refers to a person’s deeply felt, internal identification as a man, woman or some other gender, which can be different to the sex assigned at birth. _Gender expression_ refers to a person’s outer appearance, speech, social interaction and how others may perceive this. _Transgender_ refers to an individual whose gender identity is different from the biological sex that was assigned at birth.<sup>10</sup> By contrast, _cisgender_ refers to people whose gender identity and sex assigned at birth are the same.

_Intersex_ is a scientific term which describes a variety of chromosomal, hormonal, and anatomical conditions or _sex characteristics_ in a person that do not to fit the typical definitions of male and female.

In countries around the world, there are many different understandings of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression.<sup>11</sup> Facebook’s 51 options for gender identity is just one indicator of this variety.

Further complexity is added to the above definitions for a number of reasons:

> 7 Park, Andrew. 2016. Reachable: Data collection methods for sexual orientation and gender identity. 8 Other terms include pansexual: attraction to all sexes, genders and gender identities; and asexual: attraction to none.

> 9 “Identity, behavior, attraction, and relationships all capture related dimensions of sexual orientation but none of these measures completely addresses the concept.” (Gates, 2011)

> 10 There are other terms used to describe gender identity, most commonly transsexual. Terms such as transvestite should not be confused with transgender, since it only refers to a person who dresses in clothes traditionally associated with the other gender. The term also has a negative connotation, with cross-dressers often preferred.

> 11 These include (among many, many others): third gender, a term common in Asia; two-spirited, a term used by Native Americans to describe a person that can fulfill both gender roles; Hijra a term used in India to describe transgender people mostly transgender-women. Because of its scientific character this does not necessarily apply to intersex which can be considered as a more static concept compared to sexual orientation, gender identity and expression.

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