The document provides definitions and explanations related to identities, diversity, equity, and inclusion, emphasizing the complex interplay of social identities such as race, gender, and sexuality. It outlines various forms of bias and oppression, including ableism, cissexism, and heterosexism, as well as key terminology related to gender identity and sexual attraction. Additionally, it addresses the concepts of belonging, implicit bias, and microaggressions, illustrating how these factors impact marginalized groups within society.

1. GENERAL
TERMINOLOGY

2. Our identities are who we are as
individuals, including our personal
characteristics, history, personality,
name, and other traits that make us
unique and different from other
individuals.

3. BELONGING
Operationalized when individuals are
considered part of the constitutional
foundation of an organization or
institution. Belonging is achieved when
individuals have the ability to critique and
hold an institution responsible for
advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion.

4. COVERING
Is the coerced
hiding of crucial
aspects of one’s self.

5. DIVERSITY
Diversity is demography
and often representational.
It is a complex interplay of
social identities and issues

6. EQUITY
Fairness and parity in
distribution of resources based
on historical and contemporary
differentials that mitigate
participation in society.

7. IMPLICIT BIAS
Also known as implicit social cognition,
implicit bias refers to the attitudes or
stereotypes that affect our understanding,
actions, and decisions in an unconscious
manner. These biases, reside deep in the
subconsciousness and encompass both
favorable and unfavorable assessments, are
activated involuntarily and without an
individual’s awareness or intentional control.

8. INCLUSIONS
The degree to which
diversity is embedded,
integrated, and involved.

9. MICROAGGRESSION
The subtle ways in which
verbal and nonverbal language
convey oppressive ideology
about power or privilege
against marginalized identities.

10. RACE
A sociopolitical, not biological,
construct that is created and
reinforced by social and
institutional norms and practices,
as well as individual attitudes
and behaviors.

11. Stereotype threat: Stereotype
threat is "the threat of being
viewed through the lens of a
negative stereotype or the fear
of doing something that would
inadvertently confirm that
stereotype". (Steele, 1999)

12. -ISMS
Bias is prejudice in favor of
or against one thing, person,
or group compared with
another, usually in a way
considered to be unfair.

13. ABLEISM
The all-encompassing
system of discrimination
and exclusion of people
with disabilities.

14. CISSEXISM
The system of oppression that
values cisgender people and
upholds the gender binary.
Therefore, cissexism marginalizes
and makes invisible the lives and
experiences of transgender people.

15. CLASSISM
The institutional, cultural,
and individual set of practices
and beliefs that assign
differential value to people
according to their
socioeconomic class.

16. HETEROSEXISM
The system of oppression that values
heterosexuality and assumes that
heterosexuality is the only natural,
normal, or acceptable sexual orientation.
Therefore, heterosexism marginalizes
and makes invisible the lives and
experiences of queer people.

17. HETERONORMATIVITY
The belief or assumption that all
people are heterosexual, or that
heterosexuality is the "norm" state
of human relationships and
behavior. This is one manifestation
of heterosexism.

18. RACISM
A pervasive system of advantage and
disadvantage based on the socially constructed
category of race. Racism is enacted on multiple
levels simultaneously: Institutional, cultural,
interpersonal, and individual. Institutional
structures, policies, and practices interlock with
cultural assumptions about what is right and
proper to justify racism.

19. Individuals internalize and enact these
assumptions through individual behavior
and institutional participation. Woven
together, these interactions create and
sustain systemic benefits for whites as a
group, and structure discrimination,
oppression, dispossession, and exclusion
for people from targeted racial groups.”
(Bell, L.A., Funk, M.S., Khyati, J.Y., and
Valvidia, M. (2016).

20. GENDER-RELATED
TERMINOLOGY

21. CISGENDER
Refers to someone who
identifies their gender identity
with their sex assigned at birth;
the term cisgender is not
indicative of gender expression
and/or sexual orientation.

22. GENDER EXPRESSION
The manifestation of one’s
gender identity through clothing,
hairstyle, voice, and so on.
Person's behavior, mannerisms,
interests, and appearance that
are associated with gender.

23. GENDER IDENTITY
One’s internal sense of
identifying as a woman, man,
neither of these, both, or
another gender(s). Can
correlate with sex assigned at
birth, or can differ from it.

24. GENDER NON-CONFORMING
A term referring to people who do
not identify or express themselves in a
way that conforms to the traditional
norms of the gender binary. Sometimes
considered a term that can include
gender identities like genderqueer,
genderfluid, and androgynous, to name
a few.

25. INTERSEX
A term that describes people born
with differences in their sex traits and/or
reproductive anatomy (e.g., genitalia,
hormones, internal anatomy,
chromosomes) resulting in bodies that
do not fit what society typically defines
as “male” or “female”.

26. NONBINARY
A term used to describe gender identities that
do not fit within the binary of male and female.
Common examples include but are not limited to
agender (having no gender identity or a gender
neutral identity), bigender (reflecting elements of
masculine/feminine gender identities), and
gender fluid (reflecting a gender identity that is
not fixed and does not recognize the traditional
rules of binary gender identities).

27. SEX ASSIGNED
AT BIRTH
Refers to the determination of one’s “biological sex”
on the basis of external genitalia. Chromosomes (such
as XX or XY) and hormones (such as estrogen or
testosterone) are also involved, but are hardly ever
tested in assigning a sex to an individual. People are
generally assigned female at birth (AFAB) or assigned
male at birth (AMAB). This language may be important
for trans and non-binary people, who do not identify
with their sex assigned at birth.

28. TRANSGENDER
A term that describes many gender
identities for people who do not identify
with their sex assigned at birth; the term
transgender is not indicative of gender
expression, sexual orientation, and/or
physical anatomy. Trans identity may
shift throughout a lifetime.

29. TRANSITION
Gender transition refers to the
myriad of actions a person may take to
connect with the gender with which
they identify and, in some cases,
alleviate dysphoria. Transition includes
some or all of the following options:

30. •Medical transition (e.g., hormone
therapy, gender-affirming surgeries)
•Social transition (e.g., using a different
name, pronouns; presenting differently)
•Legal transition (e.g., changing one’s
name and/or gender marker on legal
documents and identification)

31. SEXUALITY-RELATED
TERMINOLOGY

32. AROMANTIC
A term used to describe
identities for people who
experience little to no romantic
attraction for other people
(different from asexual).

33. ASEXUAL
A term used to describe
identities for people who
experience little to no sexual
attraction for other people
(different from aromantic).

34. BISEXUAL
An identity for people who
are sexually and/or
emotionally attracted to people
of the same gender and
gender(s) that differ from their
own.

35. GAY
An identity for people who are
sexually and/or emotionally attracted to
people of the same gender, although
most commonly associated with people
who identify as men who are sexually
and/or emotionally attracted to some
other men.

36. LESBIAN
An identity for people who
identify as women or femmes
who are sexually and/or
emotionally attracted to some
other women or femmes.

37. PANSEXUAL
An identity for people who
are sexually and/or
emotionally attracted to
people of any gender. Some
people use the term fluid to
describe similar attraction.

38. QUEER
Originally a derogatory slur, it has been reclaimed
by some to be an inclusive term for those within
LGBTQ+ communities. Some individuals claim the term
queer as an identity that recognizes the fluidity of sexual
attraction and/or gender identity. For many, this is a
political identity in resistance to heteronormativity and
anything beyond straight/cis. This term is not always
seen as inclusive of trans communities, therefore, we
commonly refer to our communities as “queer AND
trans communities.”