Gender Identity Terms to Know
A person’s gender identity reflects their deeply felt, internal sense of self as far as their gender, whether or not it aligns with the one assigned to them at birth. It applies to all people, transgender or not.
LGBTQIA+: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and more.
Gender: Behavioral, cultural, and/or psychological ideas associated with a particular gender identity.
Gender binary: The idea that there are only two genders, male and female, and everyone must fall into one classification or the other.
Nonbinary: A person whose gender identity doesn’t fit into the traditional gender binary structure of man or woman.
Agender: Adjective that describes someone who identifies as having no gender or who does not experience gender as a primary component of their identity.
Bigender: Adjective used to describe a person whose identity combines two genders or who may be sometimes male and sometimes female.
Cisgender: Adjective used to describe a person whose gender identity is congruent, in a traditional sense, with the sex assigned to them at birth.
Queer: An umbrella term for those who think of their gender identity or sexual orientation as being outside of societal norms. Once considered a derogatory term, “queer” has been reclaimed by many within the LGBTQIA+ community as a term of empowerment, but still may be considered offensive by some, especially if used by a person who is not in the community.
Gender expression: Ways of expressing and interpreting one’s gender through clothes, hairstyles, mannerisms, body modifications, or name. Gender expression varies, depending on culture, context, and historical period.
Gender affirmation: The process of making changes to recognize, accept, and express one’s gender identity. This might include any combination of social, legal, and/or medical changes that might range from changing one’s way of dressing and hairstyle, to having gender-affirming surgery, to changing one’s name and sex designation on legal documents.
Transgender (sometimes shortened to “trans”): Describes the full range of people who identify with a different gender than the sex assigned to them at birth. A trans person may or may not identify on the (traditional male or female) gender binary. They may or may not use hormones or undergo surgery to achieve a new gender identity.
Deadnaming: The practice of calling or referring to a transgender person by the name they used at a previous time in life and are no longer using, whether or not calling them by that name is intentional. The best practice is to use the name the person has chosen.
LGBTQIA+: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and more.
Gender: Behavioral, cultural, and/or psychological ideas associated with a particular gender identity.
Gender binary: The idea that there are only two genders, male and female, and everyone must fall into one classification or the other.
Nonbinary: A person whose gender identity doesn’t fit into the traditional gender binary structure of man or woman.
Agender: Adjective that describes someone who identifies as having no gender or who does not experience gender as a primary component of their identity.
Bigender: Adjective used to describe a person whose identity combines two genders or who may be sometimes male and sometimes female.
Cisgender: Adjective used to describe a person whose gender identity is congruent, in a traditional sense, with the sex assigned to them at birth.
Queer: An umbrella term for those who think of their gender identity or sexual orientation as being outside of societal norms. Once considered a derogatory term, “queer” has been reclaimed by many within the LGBTQIA+ community as a term of empowerment, but still may be considered offensive by some, especially if used by a person who is not in the community.
Gender expression: Ways of expressing and interpreting one’s gender through clothes, hairstyles, mannerisms, body modifications, or name. Gender expression varies, depending on culture, context, and historical period.
Gender affirmation: The process of making changes to recognize, accept, and express one’s gender identity. This might include any combination of social, legal, and/or medical changes that might range from changing one’s way of dressing and hairstyle, to having gender-affirming surgery, to changing one’s name and sex designation on legal documents.
Transgender (sometimes shortened to “trans”): Describes the full range of people who identify with a different gender than the sex assigned to them at birth. A trans person may or may not identify on the (traditional male or female) gender binary. They may or may not use hormones or undergo surgery to achieve a new gender identity.
Deadnaming: The practice of calling or referring to a transgender person by the name they used at a previous time in life and are no longer using, whether or not calling them by that name is intentional. The best practice is to use the name the person has chosen.
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