On this website, and in the queer community as a whole, there are some terms and phraseology that are used to foster acceptance and inclusion.  Some of these terms are defined, as we mean them on this website, below:

Queer: a catch-all term potentially inclusive of all sexual and gender deviants, based off of a reclaimed insult meaning strange, odd, or different.

Lesbian: a woman who is sexually, emotionally and/or romantically attracted to other women.

Gay male: a man who is sexually, emotionally and/or romantically attracted to other men.

Bisexual: someone who is sexually, emotionally and/or romantically attracted to men & women (though not necessarily to the exclusion of genderqueer or other people that do not identify with binary gender categories).

Binary gender categories: The categories of “male”/”female” or “man”/”woman” represented as though they are the only two options for one?s gender.

Two-Spirit: Refers to Anishinaabe people or other indigenous people who fulfill one of many mixed gender roles found traditionally among the First Nations of the Americas prior to colonization. The term is also used inclusively to refer to any Anishinaabe lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, or transsexual people.

Ogokwe or ogokwenini: Anishinaabemowin word meaning “wise-woman” or “Wisewoman-man,” referring to people who were known to be other-sexed and regarded to have a special closeness with gichi manidoo, acknowledging a balance between female and male essences found in the body.

Ogichidaakwe: Anishinaabemowin word meaning “warrior woman,” referring sometimes to female-bodied two-spirited people.

Transgendered: a catch-all term applying to people who diverge from traditional or normative gender roles or gender identities.

Transsexual: an individual who identifies with a physical sex which is different from that with which they were born.

MTF, Male-to-Female: One who is born male and transitions to female.

FTM, Female-to-Male: One who is born female and transitions to male.

Genderqueer: Someone who identifies as neither male nor female, choosing instead not to place their gender within the male/female spectrum.

Pronouns: Pronouns are the small words that stand-in for other specific nouns, often to avoid repetition. For instance, instead of saying this:

Jim wanted to take the bus down the road because Jim needed to buy some quality cheese for Jim’s dinner party later that evening. On Jim’s way to the bus stop, Jim ran into Sally who also had to take the bus because Sally’s bicycle got a flat tire.

We can say:

Jim wanted to take the bus down the road because he needed to buy some quality cheese for his dinner party later that evening. On his way to the bus stop, he ran into Sally who also had to take the bus because her bicycle got a flat tire.

But Jim might not identify as male, or might just prefer to not have his gender pointed out all the time through pronouns, meanwhile Sally identifies as a man. By asking their preference for pronouns, we know to say:

Jim wanted to take the bus down the road because they needed to buy some quality cheese for their dinner party later that evening. On their way to the bus stop, they ran into Sally who also had to take the bus because his bicycle got a flat tire.