Many recent research projects have cited respondents’ own self-identification as
‘gay’, ‘lesbian’, ‘bisexual’, ‘transgender’ or ‘other’ as the definition used to
establish eligibility for a study, and for analysis purposes. This means that different
conceptions of what constitutes sexual orientation – including attraction, identity,
lifestyle, partnership and community – may co-exist within a single study. While
this sometimes may not matter, for particular policy areas the definition may be
directly relevant to the topic being studied (p.16).