Homosexual

Homosexual is a formal term for a person whose primary sexual and romantic attraction is to people of the same gender. For much of the twentieth century it was the standard clinical word, and it carried the weight of a time when same-sex attraction was treated as an illness. The American Psychiatric Association listed homosexuality as a mental disorder until 1973, when it was removed from the diagnostic manual. Because of that pathologized history, many LGBTQ+ people and organizations now find the word cold or distancing and prefer gay, lesbian, or queer. GLAAD and others advise using homosexual only in direct clinical or historical contexts, and using people's own chosen words otherwise.