Guide to Anti-LGBTQ Online Hate and Disinformation

Anti-LGBTQ hate speech, harassment, and disinformation — ranging from overt bigotry to dog whistles — cause real harm to LGBTQ people and to society as a whole. GLAAD continues to document and monitor an alarming rise in such content and behavior across the major social media platforms. The invention of false tropes (often via memes) is a common trend in extremist hate and disinformation, serving as an effective viral strategy for the spread of all kinds of conspiracy theories. The GLAAD Guide to Anti-LGBTQ Online Hate and Disinformation is an ongoing project to identify some of the most prevalent and egregious terms, tropes, and concepts that are used to harass, attack, and spread malicious misinformation about LGBTQ people on social media. We urge social media companies to use this guide as an authoritative resource for identifying and understanding anti-LGBTQ content, especially as they continue to develop and enforce their hate speech and harassment policies.

This is not an exhaustive list. GLAAD will update this guide on an ongoing basis. As much as possible, the entries below have been deeply researched to include citations pointing to fact-checking sites, media coverage, and other civil society organizations.

Click the terms below to jump to their definitions.

Resources

CONTENT WARNING

The examples below include hateful terms, phrases and imagery.

Biological Male | Gender Ideology | Globohomo | Groomer | LGBTP | LGBTQIAS | Super Straight | Transgenderism | Transtrender | Transvestigation | Troon | Unwanted Same-Sex Attraction

“Biological Male” or “Biological Female“

In recent years, anti-LGBTQ politicians and media figures have increasingly employed the phrases “biological male” and “biological female” as derogatory ways of referring to transgender women and transgender men respectively. These phrases are not neutral descriptors; they are rhetorical devices used to deny the validity of transgender identities, to portray trans people as deceptive, and to justify exclusion from public life under the guise of “fact.” Terms such as “biological male” or “biological boy” are deployed to deliberately misgender transgender women and girls while collapsing the important distinction between gender identity and sex assigned at birth. As journalist Erin Reed notes, since the early 2010s, “biological” framings have been deliberately mobilized as part of anti-trans political agendas: “Anti-trans legislators are on the record stating the broader goal is the end of transgender people altogether. If they can convince the public to place an asterisk next to the gender identity of transgender athletes, it becomes much easier to extend that asterisk to bathrooms, youth rights, literature, and beyond.”

What began as a talking point in legislative debates and media coverage quickly spread online, appearing in posts, memes, and coordinated harassment campaigns. On social media, “biological male/female” is frequently used to target individual trans people with harassment, to spread disinformation about transgender athletes, or promote false narratives that trans women are threats in women’s spaces. The repetition of these phrases in comment sections, hashtags, and viral content normalizes misgendering, escalates pile-ons, and creates hostile environments that make platforms unsafe for trans users. Extensive research confirms that sex and gender are complex and cannot be reduced to simplistic “biological” categories. Using these phrases to target trans people is not a matter of accuracy but of animus — language wielded to stigmatize and deny transgender and nonbinary people’s right to live openly and safely.

“Gender Ideology”

Employed by prominent anti-LGBTQ accounts and similar to the trope “transgenderism,” “gender ideology” is a malicious rhetorical construct that falsely asserts that LGBTQ — notably trans — people are an ideological movement rather than an intrinsic identity.

The Southern Poverty Law Center notes: “Like the term ‘gay agenda,’ the term is used as a talking point to demonize LGBTQ+ people. Anti-LGBTQ+ groups often employ the term to claim any kind of positive affirmation of trans young people is a nefarious method of creating or recruiting new trans kids.” On X, for example, far-right outlet The Daily Wire widely promoted a speech by anti-trans commentator Matt Walsh, who said in April 2023, “I truly see the fight against gender ideology as the last stand for Western civilization.” Other extremist accounts have used the phrase as a dog whistle to spread animus against trans people. That same month, Gays Against Groomers posted across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter/X: “Gender ideology must be completely abolished and destroyed.”

According to some studies researching the origin of the phrase, “gender ideology” as an anti-LGBTQ trope can be traced back to Catholic conservative groups in the U.S. in the 1990s. In recent years, anti-LGBTQ groups, commentators, and political figures around the world have employed the phrase — on social platforms, in mass media, and in legal contexts — to dehumanize trans people and oppose LGBTQ rights. As part of an abhorrent coordinated effort to retract the fundamental civil rights of transgender people in the U.S., on January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump issued a hate-filled Executive Order, enlisting this false and harmful trope.

“Globohomo“

Emerging in 2016, this multi-purpose, right-wing troll invention combines homophobia and anti-Semitism. Researcher David Futrelle’s well-known misogyny tracking site We Hunted The Mammoth offers this summary: “Ostensibly, ‘globohomo’ is short for ‘global homogenization,’ an alleged vast conspiracy to destroy ‘traditional’ culture and values and replace them with a sort of global (naturally) corporate uniculture. But it’s rarely used in this way, at least not exactly. For those who’ve seized upon the term, ‘globo’ means ‘globalist’ and therefore Jews; while ‘homo’ (the suffix) means, well, ‘homo’ (the slur). (Some, evidently worried that ‘globohomo’ isn’t gay-sounding enough, add ‘gayplex’ to it — ‘globohomogayplex.’).” According to the Online Hate Research and Education Project, white nationalists and other hate movements use “globohomo” to allege the existence of a global plot to promote the so-called ‘‘LGBTQ+ agenda,” a similarly minded conspiracy theory (promoted by certain sectors of the Christian religious right) alleging that LGBTQ people aim to surpass the rights of other groups and “groom youth into identifying as part of the community.”

“Groomer”

Screenshot, YouTube — Screenshot, Twitter/X

The anti-LGBTQ “groomer” trope (and similar baseless and dangerous rhetoric falsely asserting that LGBTQ people are pedophiles, sexual predators, and threats to children) is dangerous hate speech which has been popularized to foment fear and hatred, and ultimately violence, against LGBTQ people — specifically targeting them in direct violation of the hate speech policies of all social media platforms.

In recent years the term “groomer” has been widely used by far-right figures as an anti-LGBTQ slur. In March 2020, a 4chan thread had urged trolls to reply to tweets from LGBTQ people with “OK groomer,” as a play on the “OK boomer” meme, Harvard Cyberlaw Clinic instructor Alejandra Caraballo writes. A variety of prominent alt-right and anti-LGBTQ accounts, including Jack Posobiec, James Lindsay, Libs of TikTok, and Ben Shapiro, subsequently began popularizing the “groomer” trope. In July 2022 multiple platforms including Meta, TikTok and Reddit issued public statements proclaiming that use of the term as an anti-LGBTQ slur was in violation of their hate speech policies; in 2022-2023, multiple companies including TikTok, Google, PayPal, Venmo, Wix, Printful and others have suspended social media accounts perpetuating the trope for being in violation of their hate speech policies. As a 2023 Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) Global report summarizes: “Around the world today, the use of the term ‘groomer’ is used to justify hate, discrimination and violence against the LGBTQ+ community. In the US particularly, the use of this language, along with conspiratorial thinking around queer people, has led to legislation preventing the discussion of LGBTQ+ issues in schools and preventing trans children from accessing gender affirming healthcare, and has motivated attacks on LGBTQ+ individuals.”

Right-wing extremists have long propagated the term, but in recent years, it has become a mainstream conservative talking point and has been weaponized by politicians such as Marjorie Taylor Greene and Ron DeSantis. ISD further explains: “Part of the success of this mainstreaming lies in the ability of fringe actors to manipulate the general public’s lack of knowledge of queer culture and particularly their insensitivity to the plight of trans people. This has been coupled with the most potent fear — that of people harming children, which has been used to justify hatred and irrationality for centuries.”

“LGBTP”

This fake acronym began circulating as a malignant meme in 2016 and 2017, and had a fresh resurgence in 2020. It promotes the lie that the LGBTQ community is adding a letter “P” for “pedosexual” to the LGBT acronym. Researchers in the field of online extremism have identified this as an example of an anti-LGBT “PsyOps” campaign intended to harm the LGBT community. A 2020 Reuters “Fact Check” reports: “The LGBTQ community does not condone ‘pedosexuals’ and no groups have shared that they do. These claims are false.” A 2020 USA Today fact check also notes: “The assertion that the LGBTQ community condones or supports pedophilia is not only false, but rooted in a history of bigotry.” As writer John Paul Brammer notes in Them, “LGBTP” has connections to “CloverGender,” another invented term originating from 4chan that falsely claims that some trans people “identify” as underage and therefore should be allowed to date minors. The goal is twofold, he writes: “to get cisgender heterosexual people to associate the LGBTQ+ community with sexual predators, and to get the LGBTQ+ community to mount a genuine defense against the accusation that it is harboring pedophiles within our circles, thus, on some level, validating the assertion. These repudiations, while virtuous in intent, still give the trolls what they want. They want to use the preexisting stigma against LGBTQ+ people to demonize us.”

“LGBTS” or “LGBTQIAS”

This anti-LGBTQ conspiracy theory falsely proclaims that the LGBTQ community has recognized “S,” standing for “Satanist” as part of the umbrella term. While the harmful trope of linking homosexuality to “evil” has existed for centuries, this online claim emerged in a September 2022 episode of “The Liz Wheeler Show,” on YouTube. Wheeler also made the claim during a longer segment of her show, in which she denounced the Respect for Marriage Act, a bill that would provide U.S. federal legal protection for same-sex and interracial marriages. An Associated Press fact check confirmed in September 2022 that the claim was false. YouTube subsequently demonetized Wheeler’s channel.

Besides being used as a provocative hate-driven trope to generate online engagement for profit, “LGBTS” aims to incite a moral, religious panic and to foster fear of LGBTQ people. Associating groups of people with demonic or other subhuman figures is a known method of dehumanization, which is prohibited by the hate speech policies of the major social media platforms. Like “LGBTP” (the “P” supposedly standing for pedophile”), the practice of falsely asserting the addition of letters to the LGBTQ acronym is a well-worn anti-LGBTQ hate and disinformation strategy.

“Super Straight”

Launched to prominence in February 2021 by TikTok user Kyle Royce, this particular transphobic trope and corresponding hashtag was quickly taken up by anti-trans social media users. Disingenuously premised on a logical fallacy, the “Super Straight” meme offers a combination of whataboutism and false equivalency. A 2021 Them article offers context and a partial transcription of the video: “Royce said he had ‘made a new sexuality’ because he was tired of being called transphobic for not wanting to date trans women. ‘Now, I’m super straight,’ he continued. ‘I only date the opposite gender, women, that are born women. So you can’t say I’m transphobic now because that is just my sexuality.’” After it found popularity on TikTok, the “Super Straight” meme went viral on 4chan, a forum popular with members of the neo-Nazi movement, with many “Super Straight” posts including “logos or flags similar to the Nazi ‘SS,’” according to Snopes.

Here the speaker disingenuously asserts that this “identity” is a mere neutral (non-hateful) orientation, equivalent to LGBTQ identities and deserving of similar recognition and respect — and further, that the assertion is not an example of transphobia but simply an earnest expression of self. Like “Straight Pride” (and other hate-driven ideologies including “White Power”) these kinds of arguments are built on a feigned ignorance of real-world societal discrimination against marginalized groups and are a well-documented strategy of right-wing extremists for sowing discord and “trolling the Left“. Like the “LGBTP” campaign, “Super Straight” has continued to evolve as a vehicle for anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ conduct and content, including highjacking the #TransgenderDayofVisibility hashtag to troll and bury content by trans people and allies. In March 2021, Them reported that TikTok and Reddit have swiftly responded to the emergence of the trend. Reddit shut down the r/superstraight subreddit and TikTok deplatformed Royce and shadow-banned the hashtag. However, dozens of “Super Straight” accounts remain active across various platforms. This Insider piece offers further in-depth analysis.

“Transgenderism”

The current, popularized usage of the term “transgenderism” arises from anti-trans extremists who seek to delegitimize and dehumanize transgender people by falsely implying that being transgender is an ideology rather than an identity. (See here for a longer history of the term’s usage.)

In her March 2023 essay, “On the Right’s Call to “Eradicate Transgenderism” (It Means Exactly What You Think It Means)” journalist Parker Molloy further explains: “words like ‘transgenderism’ and ‘gender ideology’ are almost exclusively used by anti-trans activists to obscure the fact that trans people are simply people who just happen to be trans. It’s not a belief system.”

For example, the term “transgenderism” was notably weaponized in a speech by far-right commentator Michael Knowles at the 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), where he pronounced: “For the good of society … transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely.” Knowles posted versions of the speech on YouTube, as well as variations of the same rhetoric on his other social media accounts, while disingenuously asserting that his call for violence was not violent.

On social media, Knowles and other far-right media figures employ the term (along with other variations of the trope such as “gender ideology”) to disingenuously evade platforms’ hate speech and harassment policies — which prohibit speech targeting people with hate on the basis of protected characteristics such as gender identity (while speech targeting ideologies is allowed). Anti-trans figures and groups continue to promote the term online and offline as a dog whistle expressing contempt and hatred of transgender people.

“Transtrender“

This misguided and false trope claims that trans and/or non-binary people are not really trans, but are merely following modern “trends” of gender exploration for social or online capital. The trope is also intertwined with the hate-driven conspiracy theories of “gender ideology” and “social contagion” which falsely state that the trans experience is learned, a choice, and is consciously adopted from others, rather than an innate identity. The Trans Language Primer offers a thorough, yet concise debunking: “A derogatory term used most often by transmedicalists and TERFs to imply that certain people only identify as transgender because it is trendy— often trans youth and non-binary people. This is false; the rise in people identifying as trans is due to greater visibility, representation, and education that allows more people to learn about the language that describes their experiences earlier and in places where that language hasn’t been common before.”

Wiktionary accurately describes the term as derogatory (note that there are deeper layers of discussion of the concept within the trans community itself), and a 2017 Quartz article on alt-right neologisms offers a history of its transphobic origins on Reddit. This trope is also another example of how hate and misinformation are often entwined together in a given meme or concept.

“Transvestigation“

This hate-driven conspiracy theory maliciously targets cisgender public figures — from France’s First Lady Brigitte Macron to Michelle Obama to Olympic boxer Imane Khelif — and then “investigates” them offering fake pseudo-scientific “evidence” that they are transgender (with the underlying bigoted and ignorant implication that being a transgender person is a bad thing). This is a notable example of how transphobic hate impacts everyone — as the targets of the harassment are cisgender people. The trope has even been weaponized against right wing figures such as Kyle Rittenhouse and Andrew Tate. Disinformation researcher Dr. Jay Daniel Thompson describes “transvestigation” as “a mash-up of QAnon, celebrity gossip and the myriad anti-trans conspiracies.” A June 2024 analysis by Media Matters for America further contextualizes the trope: “These false accusations come amid a broader ‘trans panic’ encouraged by right-wing media and politicians.” Content related to this form of anti-transgender hate runs rampant across all social media platforms in many forms, ranging from individual posts like this one targeting Jennifer Aniston to YouTube playlist compilations. As an example, this now private, 27-minute video entitled, “TRANSVESTIGATION of MADONNA — Undeniable PROOF!!! ‘SHE’ is a MAN!” constructs this conspiracy theory with a framing asserting that Madonna’s body-type is that of someone assigned male at birth. The video offers a faux-scientific analysis of the pop star’s anatomy which serves as a vehicle for a lengthy diatribe of dehumanizing anti-trans tropes and rhetoric. Although the “transvestigation” trope is not expressly identified as hate speech by social media platforms, experts on anti-LGBTQ hate and disinformation (including GLAAD) are clear that such dehumanizing attacks on peoples’ bodies and identities are a harmful form of bullying and harassment. Such targeting, especially when promoted by high-follower hate accounts online, can result in extreme harms, such as networked harassment, indirect swarming, and offline hate and violence.

“Troon”

The Online Hate Research and Education Project defines this derogatory anti-trans word as: “A slur used by transphobes to refer to and dehumanize transgender women. The term is a portmanteau of the words ‘trans’ and ‘goon,’ and carries the connotation that those accused of being ‘troons’ are using gender identity to hide sinister and potentially violent ends.” According to Harvard Cyberlaw Clinic instructor Alejandra Caraballo, the slur first appeared on the Something Awful internet forum where users referred to themselves as “goons.” This usage became far more targeted and derisive on Kiwi Farms, a notorious anti-trans online forum known for mass-organized stalking, doxxing, stealing, and harassment, including prompting the suicides of three trans people targeted by members. The forum singled out trans and neurodivergent people as part of its harassment campaigns, which in some cases led to dangerous cases of “swatting,” where members would make false calls to law enforcement, who would show up armed to victims’ homes. (In September 2022, Cloudflare blocked the site, which signaled to other internet infrastructure providers that Kiwi Farms was a liability.) The term has reached even broader use in early 2023 as social media accounts that target trans people (such as the formerly-suspended but now re-platformed @Troonytoons X account) use the term “troon” in their profile names as a signifier that they are focused on producing and circulating anti-trans content. The account targets trans people on X by leaking personal information or calling for dogpiling campaigns, and often acts as a laundering service to push networked cyberstalking campaigns from Kiwi Farms to mainstream platforms.

“Unwanted Same Sex Attraction”

“Unwanted same-sex attraction” is a phrase utilized by those who promote so-called “conversion therapy,” the harmful and discredited practice of attempting to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. All major medical, psychiatric, and psychological organizations have condemned “conversion therapy,” and the United Nations has compared it to “torture.”

While “conversion therapy” is the most common term, there are many alternate phrases promoting the practice that continue to gain popularity online. As The Daily Beast reports: “With a new wave of younger, digital-native influencers, the long-discredited ‘ex-gay’ movement—which first surfaced in the 1970s and peaked in the 1990s only to fall away in the early 2000s—is undergoing a rebrand.” So-called ex-gay influencers on TikTok and Instagram “are building social media followings on the back of content that purports to show how it’s possible to ‘overcome’ same-sex attraction.”

One of the primary recommendations of GLAAD’s Social Media Safety Program is that tech companies and social media platforms should better mitigate and moderate these alternate phrases, including: become heterosexual; become straight; cure homosexuality; delivered/deliverance from homosexuality; ex gay, ex lesbian, ex LGBT, ex trans; former gay, former homosexual, former lesbian, former LGBT, former queer, former trans; free from homosexuality, free from same-sex attraction; gay cure; gender confusion, gender identity issues; gender exploratory/exploration therapy; leave homosexuality, leave same-sex attraction; overcome homosexuality, overcome same-sex attraction; overcomers; reintegrative therapy, reparative therapy; same-sex attracted; seeking to change my sexual orientation; sexual orientation change; sexual reorientation therapy; struggling with homosexuality, struggling with same-sex attraction; unwanted same-sex attraction.

As noted in a 2024 Global Project Against Hate & Extremism (GPAHE) report (Conversion Therapy Online: The Ecosystem In 2023), search engines and platforms are failing to adequately reduce the circulation of harmful anti-LGBTQ “conversion therapy” material and providers, and they must urgently implement new solutions. GLAAD is actively working to urge these companies to better address this content, as well as driving thought-leadership in the field with reports such as this one: All Social Media Platforms Should Have Policy Prohibitions Against Harmful So-Called “Conversion Therapy” Content.

Conclusion

There are many additional and ever-evolving examples of hate terms, tropes, memes, narratives, and rhetorical constructions that bad actors continue to develop and amplify. As GLAAD’s Social Media Safety Index has noted, influential accounts promote these terms with the intent of fear-mongering and pushing hate-driven conspiracy theories about LGBTQ people (which can also intersect with hate against other historically marginalized groups).

With inflammatory hate tropes targeting transgender people on the rise, it’s crucial to recognize that these terms are intentionally deployed to fearmonger and dehumanize. While a comprehensive list of such terms and tropes is beyond the scope of this project, some examples include: “41%;” “Biological male/biological female;” Mischaracterizations of transgender health care (including using terms like “chemical sterilization,” “chemical castration,” “chemical mutilation” or “surgical mutilation;” “sex trait modifications for children,” or “radical gender experimentation”); “Parents’ rights;” “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD);” “Social or trans contagion;” “Trans agenda;” “Trans terrorism;” “Transgender Ideology-Inspired Violence and Extremism (TIVE);” “Transhausen by proxy;” “Transing;” “Transmaxxing;” “Womanface.”

These are just a few examples of anti-LGBTQ online hate and disinformation. Every term and concept should be evaluated in context. For instance, LGBTQ people and allies may use hashtags with hate terms as counterspeech, or slurs such as “tranny” or “dyke” may be used self-referentially to reclaim them. This guide will be updated on an ongoing basis. Please see the latest GLAAD Social Media Safety Index report for a deeper exploration of the current social media landscape for LGBTQ people, including GLAAD’s recommendations and thought leadership in the field.

How to Report Anti-LGBTQ Online Hate Speech and Harassment

Every major social media platform has policies which prohibit hate and harassment on the basis of protected characteristics, including sexual orientation and gender identity. To learn how to report potentially violative content, check out GLAAD’s LGBTQ Digital Safety Guide, which includes basic tips on helping our community be more safe online.

About GLAAD’s Social Media Safety Program

As the leading national LGBTQ media advocacy organization, GLAAD is working every day to hold social media platforms, tech, and AI companies accountable, and to secure safer online spaces for LGBTQ people. The GLAAD Social Media Safety Program produces the highly-respected annual Social Media Safety Index (SMSI) and researches, monitors, and reports on a variety of issues facing LGBTQ social media users — with a focus on safety, privacy, and expression.

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