Ally: A person who is in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community, but who may not be LGBTQ+ themself. This is a title earned and not given.
Cisgender: A gender identity reflecting that a person identifies with the sex they were assigned as birth.
Conversion therapy: A process by which LGBTQ+ people are attempted to be forced into a heterosexual and/or cisgender identity. This type of treatment is highly ineffectual, and can lead to mental illness, suicidality, and substance dependency.
Deadname: A verb, meaning to refer to someone with a name that they no longer use. This is specifically used during instances in which someone refers to a transgender person as their old name, sometimes called their ‘dead name.’
Endosex: A person who is born with primary and secondary sex characteristics that stay within a binary conception of sex (ie. male or female). Used to describe people who are not intersex.
Gay-straight alliance: A gay-straight alliance, or GSA for short, refers to a group of students that support LGBTQ+ identity and causes. These affinity groups may consist of people both within and outside of the LGBTQ+ community, and are often present in middle and high schools. Other names for GSAs include Rainbow Club, Gender and Sexuality Alliance, Queer-Straight Alliance, Pride Club, and more.
Gender affirming care: A type of care in which a person’s gender identity is explored, affirmed, and accepted as valid. Treatment may include any combination of age appropriate gender-related care such as talk therapy with mental health professionals that specialize in gender; peer support groups; vocal training; access to gender affirming products, clothes, and haircuts; exploring different names or pronouns; electrolysis; sometimes hormone replacement therapy or puberty blockers; and, though exceedingly rare, any one of a large number of gender affirming surgery techniques that are not obtained quickly or easily.
Gender non-conforming: An umbrella term describing a person who does not conform to traditional gender roles. This does not necessarily mean that a person has changed their gender or that they are queer, but indicates a defiance of norms associated with their gender, whether self-identified or perceived.
Hormone replacement therapy: A process by which people take artificial hormones prescribed by an endocrinologist or physician in order to regulate or correct the appearance of the body. Hormones include testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, and GnRH (gonadotropin-releasing hormone) analogues (a common type of puberty blocker). Transgender people will sometimes but not always receive hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in their transition. Cisgender people also seek and receive HRT.
Intersex: A person who has been born with a combination of ‘male’ and ‘female’ sex characteristics. People born visibly intersex are often surgically operated on shortly after being born without the individual’s ability to consent. Many also go unnoticed and do not know that they are intersex until later in life. About 2% of the population is intersex, approximately the same as the number of people with red hair, and it is a natural phenomenon that does not inherently cause bodily harm or a decrease to quality of life.
LGBTQ+: An acronym that stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and more. This acronym is typically used as an umbrella term to describe people with identities outside of heterosexual, cisgender, and endosex.
Misgender: A verb, meaning to refer to someone as an incorrect gender. For example, referring to a man with the pronoun ‘she,’ or calling a woman a boy.
Nonbinary: A term describing a person who falls outside of binary gender; this can mean a person who is entirely outside of gender (ie. agender) or fluctuates between genders (ie. bigender, genderfluid, demigender, etc.)
Queer: Though the term ‘queer’ has been used as a slur and can have a negative connotation for some people, many LGBTQ+ folks have reclaimed the word and will sometimes identify themselves with this label. In the world of LGBTQ+ academia and activism, the term ‘queer’ is used to discuss the sociocultural framework and fluidity of sexual orientation, romantic orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and more.
Transgender: A type of gender identity reflecting that a change has occurred. The person in question has moved (emotionally, physically, spiritually, socially, etc.) from one gender to another. This is an umbrella term, with many identities such as ‘nonbinary’ falling under this categorization.