Glossary

2SLGBTQIA+

A common initialism used to describe the rainbow community. It stands for 2-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual +.

Agender

Someone who may see themselves as being genderless, or lacking a gender.

Ally

An ally is someone who collaborates with a minoritized community to provide support, assistance, and/or advocacy. Allies are only allies when someone from the community verifies them.

Amatonormativity

The assumption that all human beings pursue love or romance, especially by means of a monogamous long-term relationship.

Aromantic

Someone whose experience of romantic attraction lies outside of “the norm”. This may include a lack or lessened experience of romance; it could also include a different expression of romantic attraction, and is ultimately defined by the self.

Asexual

Someone whose experience of sexual attraction lies outside of “the norm”. This may include a lack or lessened experience of desire for intimacy; it could also include a different expression of sexual attraction, and is ultimately defined by the self.

Bigender

Someone who has or experiences multiple genders (e.g., a woman and non-binary, a man and agender, etc.).

Bisexual

Someone who experiences attraction to multiple genders.

Cisgender (Cis)

A person whose gender aligns with the sex they were assigned at birth. (i.e. if someone is not transgender, they are cisgender).

Cisnormativity

The assumption that a person’s gender should match their sex assigned at birth, and that anything else is “deviant”.

Colonization

When one country violently invades and takes control of another country, claims the land as its own, and sends people — “settlers” — to live on that land.

Deadnaming

Referring to a transgender person by a name other than their current name (i.e., using the name assigned to them at birth).

Gay

Someone who experiences attraction primarily to members of the same gender. This term is also used by members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community to refer to themselves as part of the community – context is important!

Gender

An individual’s personal, internal sense of gender. This is not about how others perceive a person: it is who they know themselves to be.

Genderflux

Someone whose intensity of gender changes over time, similar to a thermometer.

Genderqueer

Someone who identifies outside of the gender binary, or “queers” gender.

Gender Binary

An institutional system of classification into two distinct, opposite forms of “male” and “female”.

Gender Dysphoria

A feeling of discomfort, distress, or self-hatred stemming from a disconnect between one’s internal sense of gender and the gender that they are perceived as or assigned by society. 

Gender Euphoria

The comfort or joy experienced when one feels and/or presents themselves as their true self.

Gender Fluid

Someone whose sense of gender may change over time.

Heteronormativity

The cultural bias that assumes all relationships are automatically between people of the so-called “opposite” gender – between a man and a woman.

Heterosexual

A person who is primarily attracted to those who are not the same gender as them. While “straight” is more commonly used, this creates an unconscious bias and promotes heterosexuality as the “norm”.

Intersex

A person who is born with a combination of genitals, chromosomes, hormones, and/or reproductive organs that don’t fit into the male/female sex binary.

Lesbian

Generally refers to a woman who experiences attraction primarily to other women.

Microaggressions

The everyday, subtle, intentional — and oftentimes unintentional — interactions or behaviors that communicate some sort of bias toward minoritized groups and individuals.

Minoritized

A person or group that is treated as distinct from, or less important than the dominant population. This is sometimes used as an alternative to “marginalized” as it places the onus on the dominant group and the systems of oppression, rather than the victims (who are affected by things out of their control).

Misgendering

Referring to another person using the incorrect name, pronouns or other gender-related identifiers (e.g., man/woman, sir/ma’am). 

Misogyny

Dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women.

Nonbinary

A person who does not identify as part of the gender binary (i.e., does not identify as a man or woman). This is also an umbrella term.

Omnisexual

Someone who experiences attraction to all genders, but may have a preference for certain gender(s).

Outing

Disclosing another person’s identity (e.g., gender, sexuality) without their consent. This is a highly problematic practice that violates people’s rights, autonomy, and can even pose safety risks.

Pangender

Someone who experiences many or all genders.

Pansexual

Someone who experiences attraction to all genders, where gender does not play a role in attraction (i.e., hearts not parts).

Patriarchy

A system of society or government in which men hold the power, and women and other genders are largely excluded from it.

Privilege

Unearned advantages and benefits that individuals receive because of social groups of which they are perceived to be part of. Having privilege does not mean that an individual is immune to life’s hardships, but they do have an unearned advantage in life.

Queer

An identifier for individuals and/or the community of people who are not cisgender heterosexual (straight). Thus, “queer” is considered an umbrella term – it is also a reclaimed slur.

Sex Assigned at Birth

Refers to the sex that an individual was assigned when they were born (female, male, or intersex).

Systemic Discrimination

Patterns of behaviour, policies or practices that are part of the structures of system, and which create or perpetuate disadvantage for minoritized populations.

Transgender (Trans)

An umbrella term for people who are not cis, including people who are (or identify as) non-binary as well as trans men and trans women.

Transition

The steps a transgender person takes to affirm their gender for themselves. This can include changing one’s pronouns, name, and/or appearance socially, legally, and/or medically.

Two-Spirit

An umbrella term used strictly by Indigenous people as a way of describing their sexual, gender, and/or spiritual identity. Traditionally, this describes a person who is viewed as having both a masculine and feminine spirit.

White Supremacy

The institutionalization of Whiteness and White privilege and the historical, social, political and economic systems and structures that contribute to its continued dominance and subordination.