Johns Hopkins University has removed an online glossary of LGBT terms, following criticism against the school’s decision to define a lesbian as “a non-man attracted to non-men.”
It is only recently that the glossary came under scrutiny, after prominent figures including Harry Potter series author J.K. Rowling criticized the school for giving the word lesbian an updated definition.
Meanwhile, the glossary defined “gay man” as “a man who is emotionally, romantically, sexually, affectionately, or relationally attracted to other men, or who identifies as a member of the gay community.”
“At times, ‘gay’ is used to refer to all people, regardless of gender, who have their primary sexual and or romantic attractions to people of the same gender. ‘Gay’ is an adjective (not a noun) as in ‘He is a gay man,’” the glossary added.
On June 13, Rowling took to Twitter to voice her criticism of the school’s new definition of the word lesbian.
“Man: no definition needed. Non-man (formerly known as woman): a being definable only by reference to the male. An absence, a vacuum where there’s no man-ness,” Rowling wrote.
Sarah Parshall Perry, a senior legal fellow at the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation, shared Rowling’s post and added her own criticism.
“@JohnsHopkins has updated their #LGBTQ glossary. #Woman has been completely eliminated,” Perry wrote. “Now, you are either a ‘man’, or a ‘non-man.’ Cultural Marxism has now gone peak chauvinism.”
“Any woman who signs on to this garbage is complicit in her own destruction,” she added, before adding the hashtag #Pride2023.
Johns Hopkins University has taken down the glossary and replaced it with a statement saying the school “strives to create a campus culture that is inclusive and welcoming for all gender identities, sexual orientations, experiences and viewpoints.”
“The LGBTQ Glossary serves as an introduction to the range of identities and terms that are used within LGBTQ communities, and is not intended to serve as the definitive answers as to how all people understand or use these terms,” the statement says.
It adds: “Upon becoming aware of the language in question, we have begun working to determine the origin and context of the glossary’s definitions. We have removed the page from our website while we gather more information.”
The survey, which queried 5,438 Americans from May 9 to May 23, found that 65 percent of respondents said there are only male and female, up from 59 percent in 2021.
Fifty percent of respondents “feel strongly” that there are two genders, while 15 percent think there are two genders but “do not feel strongly” about it. The percentage who believe there are many possible gender identities dropped from 40 percent in 2021 to 34 percent in 2023.
“We’re seeing a hardening of position in support of a gender binary nationally, informed largely by partisanship and news consumption,” Melissa Deckman, PRRI’s CEO, said in a statement accompanying the survey. “It’s those who feel the most strongly about gender who are driving these conversations.”
The increasing support for gender binary exists across party lines, according to the survey.
Ninety percent of Republicans believe there are two genders, up from 87 percent in 2021. Meanwhile, 44 percent of Democrats, up from 38 percent in 2021, believe in gender binary.
As for Independents, 66 percent believe in two genders, up from 60 percent in 2021.
