LGBTQIA+ Resources
Intersex Society of North America
World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH)
Cisgender – Gender identity matches the gender assigned at birth
Intersex – An umbrella term to describe a wide range of natural body variations that do not fit into conventional definitions of male or female. Intersex variations may include, but are not limited to, variations in chromosome compositions, hormone concentrations, and external and internal characteristics. Many visibly intersex people are mutilated in infancy and early childhood by doctors to make the individual’s sex characteristics conform to society’s idea of what normal bodies should look like. Intersex people are relatively common, although society’s denial of their existence has allowed very little room for intersex issues to be discussed publicly. Hermaphrodite is an outdated and inaccurate term that has been used to describe intersex people in the past.
LGBTQIA – Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual
Queer – A term people often use to express fluid identities and orientations. Often used interchangeably with “LGBTQIA.”
Cisgender – gender identity matches the gender assigned at birth
Transgender – the gender identity does not match the gender assigned at birth
Gender Expression – the external appearance of one’s gender often expressed through clothing, behavior, hair cut or voice. This may or may not align with society’s expectations of masculine or feminine.
Gender-expansive – Conveys a wider, more flexible range of gender identity and/or expression than typically associated with the binary gender system.
Genderqueer – Genderqueer people typically reject notions of static categories of gender and embrace a fluidity of gender identity and often, though not always, sexual orientation. People who identify as “genderqueer” may see themselves as being both male and female, neither male nor female or as falling completely outside these categories.
Non-binary – A person who does not identify exclusively as male or female. Non-binary people may identify as being both male and female, somewhere in between or falling completely outside of these categories. While many may identify as transgender not all non-binary people do.
Gender Fluid – According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a person who does not identify with a single fixed gender; of or relating to a person having or expressing a fluid or unfixed gender identity.
Sexual orientation – An inherent or immutable enduring emotional, romantic or sexual attraction to other people.
Gender transition – The process by which some people strive to more closely align their internal knowledge of gender with its outward appearance. Some people socially transition, whereby they might begin dressing, using names and pronouns and/or be socially recognized as another gender. Others undergo physical transitions in which they modify their bodies through medical interventions.