APPENDIX 1 GLOSSARY Ally: Someone who works to recognize their gender, class, race, or heterosexual privilege, who works in solidarity with oppressed groups to end all forms of oppression, even those from which they themselves may benefit in concrete ways. Abuser: One who engages in a pattern of coercive, exploitative and violent tactics against their intimate partner, in order to establish and maintain power, control and dominance over them. One who feels entitled to not treat their partner as equal human beings. (Used interchangeably with ‘batterer’ or ‘perpetrator.’ See ‘Domestic Violence.’) Bisexual: A person who forms primary affectional relationships with both men and women, either simultaneously or sequentially. Bisexual individuals may or may not see themselves as part of the LGBT community. Some people may be bisexual in their behavior, but identify as heterosexual, lesbian or gay. Others may identify as bisexual, but live in a monogamous relationship which is heterosexual, lesbian or gay. Some bisexual people object to the shortened form 'bi.' Closeted, In the Closet: Hiding one's sexual orientation in some of all situations. Coming Out: The process of recognizing and acknowledging a non-heterosexual orientation (or other stigmatized identity), first to oneself and then to others. Those who are open about their sexual orientation or gender identity in a given situation are ‘out.’ Domestic Violence: A pattern of coercive, exploitative and violent tactics, used by one person against their intimate partner in order to establish and maintain power, control and dominance. Abusive tactics can be physical, sexual, economic, psychological and legal. Social norms often see this differential power and privilege as legitimate, and social institutions do not always intervene effectively to stop such abuse. (Used interchangeably with ‘abuse.’) Gay: Describes men whose primary affectional orientation is toward with other men - men who partner with men. Individual men differ in whether they identify with this label. Some men may have sex with men and not self-identify as gay or bisexual. Others may identify as gay who have never had sex with another man. Some women also identify as gay rather than lesbian. Gender: The different culturally specific social norms of behavior and appearance that are expected of males and females - in contrast to sex, which is physiological femaleness or maleness. Gender Identity: The gender one feels oneself to be, which may or may not correspond with one’s physiological sex. Aspects of behavior and appearance that affect, or are intended to affect, how others perceive one's gender are called gender expression. Heterosexism: The belief that heterosexuality is inherently superior to any other sexual orientation; that everyone is, should be, or would rather be heterosexual; and that LGBT people are sinful, immoral, abnormal, or inferior to heterosexuals. Heterosexist beliefs and practices confer social superiority and unearned privilege on people presumed to be heterosexual. Personal: Presuming that people are heterosexual unless they otherwise identify themselves. Individual behavior that discriminates against LGBT people for behavior, mannerisms, or relationships that don’t fit heterosexual norms. Societal: Institutional practices which discriminate against LGBT people while granting unearned privilege to heterosexuals. (See ‘Oppression.’) Homophobia: Fear, hatred, aversion, contempt, and prejudice toward lesbians and gay men. Fear and hatred of any feelings in oneself that one identifies as lesbian or gay,. Homophobia may lead to abusive behavior toward those one perceives to be lesbian or gay. Heterosexist and homophobic attitudes are often used, by individuals and by institutions, to justify subjecting LGBT people to bias, discrimination, incarceration, forced “treatment,” abuse, violence, and even murder. Intersex: People who, for genetic or homornal reasons, are born with genitalia that appear ambiguous to their health care providers. The gender in which the individual is raised may or may not fit the gender they come to identify with. Intersex people may have any sexual orientation. Some identify as transgender; others do not. Label: A term that identifies an individual as a member of a particular group. Individuals may use different labels to identify themselves than those applied to them by others. The same label can have different connotations when individuals use it to identify themselves than when others apply it to them (e.g. 'queer'). Specific cultural, economic, age, geographic or political groups may label themselves differently What labels are considered acceptable may change over time. Some people prefer not to label themselves at all. Lesbian: Describes women whose primary affectional orientation is toward with other women, or women who partner with women. Individual women differ in whether they identify with this label. One woman may have sex with women and not self-identify as lesbian. Another may identify as lesbian even though she has never had sex with another woman. Some women identify as 'gay' rather than 'lesbian.' LGTB, LGTBQ: A shorthand way of referring inclusively to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people and communities. The letters are often used in different orders. Some people use the Q, some don’t. Oppression: Beliefs and practices that confer social dominance and unearned privilege on one group at the expense of another, usually based on the assumption that the dominant group is naturally superior. This concept is commonly used to describe the experiences of people who are LGBT (heterosexism), transgender (transphobia) people of color (racism), female (sexism), poor (classism), disabled (ableism) or old (ageism). Oppression has both several components. Personal: Beliefs, attitudes, feelings, and assumptions, including fear, hatred, aversion, contempt and prejudice against the dominated group, which may lead to individual discriminatory behavior. Societal: The ways in which social institutions (government, business, churches, health agencies, schools, etc.) discriminate against members of dominated groups and grant unearned power and privilege to dominants, by how they set policies, allocate resources, set behavioral norms, and define social roles. Individual members of dominant groups benefit from this unearned privilege whether or not they personally engage in discriminatory behavior or have negative attitudes and feelings. Internalized Oppression: Shame, self-hatred, and low self-esteem that results when members of an oppressed group share negative societal attitudes, myths and stereotypes about themselves. It may include: holding members of one’s own group to higher standards of behavior; not associating with one’s own group; changing oneself in order to pass or assimilate; identifying with the dominant group; oppressing other members of one’s own group; self-destructive behavior; and inability to be an ally to other oppressed people. Partner: Inclusive term for anyone's primary relationship. Individuals may refer to their partner as their girlfriend, boyfriend, lover, roommate, life partner, wife, husband, spouse or significant other. Privilege: Unearned ways in which members of dominant groups (in the US, those who are male, white, heterosexual, gender-conforming, affluent, young, non-disabled and/or Christian) benefit at the expense of others. Privilege can include economic resources, respect, freedom of behavior, and setting the standard of normality against which others are judged. Dominants are often unaware of their privilege or take it for granted, while those who are denied it are usually acutely aware of that fact. Queer: An inclusive term sometimes used within the LGBT community to refer to everyone who is not heterosexual and gender-conforming. Not all LGBT people identify with this label, and many non-queer people still use it abusively. Sexual Orientation: Who one is sexually attracted to – men, women, or both. Survivor: One who is, or has been, the target of abusive, exploitative or violent behavior. Some people who have been abused dislike this term and feel that it does not adequately represent the extent to which they have been intentionally harmed. Others prefer it over ‘victim’ because it emphasizes their strength, active efforts to cope, and survival skills. (See Victim.) Transgender: An adjective describing people who challenge, defy, play with, or do not buy into their culture’s sex and gender categories, which limit acceptable gender expression to masculine behavior by biological males and feminine behavior by biological females. Transgender applies to both people’s identity and their behavior, and describes several distinct but related groups of people, many of whom identify themselves with a variety of other terms, including: trans, transexual, transgenderist, genderqueer, butch, femme, cross-dresser, third-sex, two-spirit, and intersex. (See also Guide to intersex & Trans Terminologies,at http://www.survivorproject.org/basic.html.) Transphobia: Fear, hatred, aversion, contempt, and prejudice toward people who challenge accepted norms of gender expression, and towards any of one’s own feelings or desires that seem not to fit those norms. The belief that transgender people are abnormal, sinful, or immoral. Individual behavior and institutional practices that discriminate against people perceived to challenge heterosexist gender norms, while granting unearned privilege to those who adhere to them. Transphobic beliefs