Within the ACTS community, we frequently use these specific terms:
Gender Identity: An individual’s internal experience of their own gender. This is unrelated to a person’s sexual preference or orientation. (For more, please see “Understanding Gender Identities” from The Trevor Project.)
Cisgender / Cis: Someone whose internal sense of gender exclusively aligns with their binary (female or male) birth-assigned sex.
Transgender / Trans: Anyone who is not cisgender, no matter what their external gender presentation may be.
Gender-Expansive: Anyone whose gender identity is not exclusively and consistently binary (male or female). Many other terms, such as “Gender Non-Conforming” (GNC) or Genderqueer are in popular use, but we use “gender-expansive” to be consistent with language used by OUSD’s LGBTQ+ support programs.
T/GE: Shorthand for everyone identifying as transgender and/or gender-expansive (because it gets long to spell out every time!)
ACTS: Shorthand for our group’s name
Notes:
- Although “transgender” is widely recognized as an umbrella term for anyone whose lived gender, gender identity, or subconscious sex is different from that assigned to them, we include the term “gender-expansive” to explicitly name those who, while not cisgender, have a gender identity that is not exclusively binary. This can include (but is not limited to) students identifying as trans, non-binary, agender, genderfluid, genderqueer, two-spirit, intersex, and anyone whose gender and/or sex identity is non-cis and otherwise marginalized.
- We acknowledge that gender variance is described differently in other times and cultures – our aim is neither to erase or appropriate, but to learn from these ways of describing gender.
For more robust lists:
- Glossary of terms (printable .pdf also available) created by Trans Youth Equality
- LGBTQ+ Terms and Definitions shared by OUSD’s support team
Last Updated on: August 27, 2024