Sexual Orientation

Detects references to sexual orientation disclosure: the phrase "sexual orientation" itself, LGBTQ+ status fields, explicit identification statements, and same-sex partner/spouse references. GDPR Article 9 lists sex life and sexual orientation as a special category of personal data with no fixed format — it is detectable only by topic vocabulary. Topic-grade detector, low confidence by design.

Type

keyword_list

Engine

universal

Confidence

low

Confidence justification

Low by design. Sexual orientation is a GDPR Article 9 special category with no fixed format, so it is detected purely by topic vocabulary. The bare word "orientation" appears constantly in non-sensitive prose (employee orientation, building orientation); the regex is scoped to full disclosure phrases only, and hits should be paired with corroborative keywords (LGBTQ, partner, pride) to raise precision.

Jurisdictions

global, eu

Regulations

GDPR

Frameworks

ISO 27001, NIST CSF, SOC 2

Data categories

pii

Scope

broad

Risk rating

7

Pattern

(?i)\b(?:sexual\s+orientations?|LGBTQ\+?\s+status|identifies\s+as\s+(?:gay|lesbian|bisexual|transgender)|same-sex\s+(?:partner|spouse)|gender\s+identity\s+disclosure|coming\s+out\s+as)\b

Corroborative evidence keywords

LGBTQ, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, partner, pride

Proximity: 300 characters

Should match

• HR file notes the employee's sexual orientation as part of the diversity survey. — Sexual orientation phrase present
• The profile lists LGBTQ+ status alongside other demographic fields. — LGBTQ+ status field present
• He mentioned coming out as gay to his manager last year. — Coming out as / identifies as gay terms present
• The intake form notes that she identifies as bisexual under optional demographic questions. — Identifies as bisexual term present

Should not match

• The new employee orientation begins Monday morning. — Near-miss ("orientation" alone), no sexual-orientation disclosure
• The building's orientation faces north for solar efficiency. — Unrelated "orientation" (architectural), no disclosure vocabulary
• The team celebrated Pride month with a company-wide event. — Topical mention ("Pride"), no personal disclosure phrase

Known false positives

• The bare word "orientation" appears in unrelated contexts (employee orientation, building/map orientation) that have nothing to do with sexual orientation. Mitigation: The regex targets full disclosure phrases ("sexual orientation", "LGBTQ+ status", "identifies as gay") rather than the bare word "orientation"; require corroborative keywords (LGBTQ, partner, pride) for confidence.
• "Coming out as" can appear in non-disclosure prose unrelated to sexual orientation (e.g. "the album is coming out as a double LP", "the report is coming out as scheduled"). Mitigation: Require corroborative keywords (LGBTQ, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, partner, pride) within the proximity window to confirm a personal-disclosure context.

References

• GDPR Article 9 — processing of special categories of personal data (sex life and sexual orientation)