word choice - "Homosexual" or "Gay and Lesbian"?



I have faced a problem with my writing which I could really do with some clarification on. My question applies to both British and American English (which is fairly standard on the internet).


Needless to say the context is a website whereby I allow the user to enter a sexuality and it is the English of choosing the sexuality option which is confusing me.


I see many people no longer mention "homosexual" and when you do a Google search for the right term ("homosexual or lesbian") you actually find that many seem to avoid the use of "homosexual" and even have undue prejudice towards it ( http://www.care2.com/causes/gay-and-lesbian-or-homosexual-does-it-matter.html ). Likewise I have noticed that many charities do not include "homosexual" in their material but instead "Gay and Lesbian" (LGBT). Added on top to this, I notice many websites no longer use "homosexual" either.


So is it better in modern English, taking cultural aspects into consideration, that "gay and lesbian" should be used rather than "homosexual"?




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