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A person that publicly and privately affirms the humanity and worth of the GLBTQ community. Allies often play integral roles in social justice movements.
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Individuals who are romantically attracted to both men and women. There are a number of misconceptions about bisexuality: that it's just a phase or a state of sexual confusion (as in "bi now gay later"), or that's it's not a legitimate category of identity. But bisexual activists and individuals recognize that many people have "a deep and lasting sense of themselves as bisexuals".
Bisexual Resource Center
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Straight or gay people who are curious about forms of sexual intimacy that might be classified as "bisexual."
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Fear, hatred, or discomfort with bisexual people or practices.
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A psychological and social space of silence and secrecy. GLBTQ people often remain "in the closet" because they fear rejection, discrimination, and violence, or because they're struggling with shame and internalized homophobia.
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Recognizing, defining, and publicly declaring one's gender identity or sexual orientation.
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These letters are acronyms, shorthand for different identities - gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and intersexed. Q can be a placemarker for both "queer" and "questioning," and A stands for "ally."
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A person who experiences same-sex attraction as part of their identity. This term often refers to men who are romantically attracted to other men, although women can also be described as "gay."
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The word "gay" sometimes circulates as slang for "weird," "lame," "stupid," etc. Although some might argue the slang usage isn't really about sexual orientation, from a GLBTQ standpoint, it's a hurtful use of the word.
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A gendered self-concept. The way we understand our own gender and the image we present to the world. A gender identity can be self- or socially-defined. It can be man, woman, transgender, genderqueer, two-spirited, or some other gender construct.
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The way a person expresses gender in mannerism, dress, speech, etc. An expression may or may not match the stereotypical gender roles that are supposed to come with a "male" or "female" body/persona.
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A person whose gender expression is a conscious rejection of standard gender norms. Gender queer persons may experience a gender that's in-between or outside a man/woman framework and they may prefer gender-neutral pronouns (like "ze").
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Grand Torre, Kiev by Wassily Kandinsky
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The assumption that people should conform to a standard gender role that's determined by biological sex. Genderism can extend to personal prejudices, cultural attitudes, and wider forms of discrimination.
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Originating in the late nineteenth-century, "heterosexual" was a scientific term that distinguished individuals who were sexually attracted to the opposite sex/gender. Although both "heterosexual" and "homosexual" are still widely used, theorists and activists say that they can be reductive, simplistic, and divisive.
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A slang term used to name individuals who identify as heterosexual.
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A scientific term first used in the late nineteenth century, the word "homosexual" made same-sex desire a separate identity (like race or gender). It was part of a larger movement to "medicalize" sexuality, where same-sex attraction was considered a disorder or a disease. Because of its stigmatizing and clinical connotations, this term is source of contention within the GLBTQ community.
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An ideology that punishes and stigmatizes non-heterosexual individuals, practices, and people. Heterosexism often works through the assumption that heterosexuality is "natural" or "moral." The word "heterosexism" helps to show how anti-gay attitudes can fuel forms of hatred and discrimination historically associated with sexism or racism.
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The rights, benefits, and advantages that straight people enjoy in a heterosexist culture. For example, straight people don't have to defend or explain their sexuality; they don't have to worry about harassment, discrimination, or rejection; they won't be denied medical treatment or religious community because of their sexual identity; and they can turn on the tv or open a magazine knowing that their sexuality will be (positively and widely) represented.
Heterosexual privilege informs the pressure to "pass" or remain "closeted" that GLBTQ individuals experience.
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An intense fear, aversion, or discomfort with GLBTQ people and culture.
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Women who are romantically attracted to other women.
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Originating in the African-American community, this phrase refers to men who privately or secretly have sex with other men, but do not identify as "gay" or "bisexual."
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An inclusive, catchall term that describes any individual who resists, challenges, or rejects traditional gender roles. Some transgendered persons feel that they were born into the wrong bod. Others find the distinctions between man/woman or masculine/feminine reductive, limiting, and oppressive. Individuals must self-identify as "transgender" in order for the term to be appropriately used to describe them.
The International Foundation for Gender Education
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Cross-dressers periodically wear the clothing of the opposite gender. The word "transvestite" typically refers to men who occasionally dress in women's clothing, and it's a more stigmatizing label. Drag kings and drag queens adopt the dress and mannerisms of the opposite gender for entertainment purposes.
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Female to male transsexual or transgendered person.
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Male to female transsexual or transgendered person.
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Intersex persons are born with an anatomy that doesn't neatly fit biological standards for a "male" or "female" physiology. Their sexual anatomy might be gender-ambiguous or their sex chromosomes may not be xx or xy. Thus "intersex" is an inclusive term for different forms of biological variance. Through surgery, a sex/gender identity is often "assigned" to intersexed individuals in infancy - without their knowledge or consent. Advocates for the intersex community argue against that practice, saying that it does both psychological and physical harm
Intersex Society of North America
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Individuals who experience chronic, intense discomfort with their body and their socially-assigned gender. Transsexuals may seek hormone therapy or sex-reassignment surgery to alter their physical sex.
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Fear, hatred, or discomfort with transgendered persons or gender expressions.
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Historically, the word "queer" has been used as a derogatory term. More recently, GLBTQ academics and activists have sought to reclaim the word, turning it into a vehicle of pride, resistance, and coalition-building. So phrases like "queer studies," "queer community," and "queer theory" are common. But "queer" hasn't entirely lost its damaging power, so it should be used with care and sensitivity.
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Individuals questioning their sexual identity.
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The sum of our sexual, mental, and emotional attractions; orientation is about more than gender; it's about everything that can fulfill the human need for romantic intimacy.
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Because anti-gay attitudes may not rise to the level of a "phobia," researchers have recently adopted the term "sexual prejudice" to name a full range of negative or hostile attitudes towards GLBTQ culture, practices, and people.
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Although the definition of this term varies across Native American cultures, generally a two-spirited individual is biologically one sex but fulfills the gender roles of the opposite sex or both sexes. Historically, two-spirited persons often had a powerful, respected status in Native American communities, serving as shamans for example.