Palopa is a term used in Papua New Guinea and the diaspora as a non-heteronormative term for people who may identify in Western nomenclature as either gay, transsexual, or having a third gender role.
[1][2][3][4] LGBTQ+ activist Clint Woolly has described how Western terminology is stigmatised by many in Papua New Guinea and argued that indigenous descriptors, such as palopa, should be adopted and adapted.
[5] For the Sambian people, the phrase kwolu-aatmwol describes a third gender identity.
[5] Terminology is also borrowed from other Pacific communities, for example the term 'sister-girl' from Torres Strait Islanders.
[5] It is reportedly a contraction of the name of the singer Jennifer Lopez.