: a person's sexual identity or self-identification as bisexual, straight, gay, pansexual, etc. : the state of being bisexual, straight, gay, pansexual, etc.
Last summer a proposal submitted to Family Dollar Stores … persuaded the company's board to adopt a policy prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. William G. Sinkford
Liberace went to extraordinary lengths to hide his sexual orientation from the public.Entertainment Weekly