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Anxiety Anxiety is a feeling of unease, such as worry or fear, that can be mild or severe (which is often identified through medical diagnosis). Everyone has feelings of anxiety at some point in their life, but LGBTQ+ people are more than twice as likely to experience. If your anxiety is getting in the way of your everyday life, it's important to seek support from people that you trust, and find holistic tools to help manage the symptoms. See: Grounding, Meditation & Reflection. < Back to Glossary

Tolerance The ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behaviour that one does not necessarily agree with. With tolerance and patience we can often learn new things, and see things more accurately from another perspective ​ < Back to Glossary

Calling Out A way of addressing problematic language and behaviour. When you call someone out, you issue a direct challenge to something they’ve said or done, usually in public. If an individual is unresponsive and doesn’t change their behaviour after someone has ‘called them in’ a few times, then this is when one would raise an issue to colleagues/people they work with (as a last resort). ​ < Back to Glossary

Trans Tax The Trans Tax refers to the financial burdens associated with being transgender that cisgender people are unaffected by. This can encompass the costs of having to change legal documents or privately pay for transition related healthcare that is not covered by insurance or available in a timely manner through public health providers. ​ < Back to Glossary

Binding Chest binding is a gender-affirming practice done by all kinds of different people. Some people bind to reduce gender dysphoria. It involves the use of tight fitting sports bras, shirts, ace bandages, or a specially made binder to provide a flat chest contour. In some people with larger breasts, multiple garments may be used. ​ < Back to Glossary

Man Someone who identifies with manhood. See: Gender Roles, Gender Identity, Cisgender and Transgender. < Back to Glossary

Well-being A complex combination of a person's physical, mental, emotional and social health factors. ​ < Back to Glossary

Gender Assigned at Birth Often associated with the sex (male or female) assigned to a child at birth by a medical doctor, most often based on the child's external anatomy. Also referred to as biological sex, or sex. This can differ from ones self-determined Gender Identity. ​ < Back to Glossary

Non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer is an umbrella term for gender identities that are not solely male or female, or ‌identities that exist outside the gender binary entirely. ​ < Back to Glossary

Trauma “Trauma is not what happens to you; trauma is what happens inside you as a result of what has happened to you”. DR GABOR MATÉ (Canadian Physician) “Trauma is not the story of something that happened back then, it’s the current imprint of that pain, horror, and fear living inside people.” BESSEL VAN DER KOLK (Dutch Psychiatrist) “Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness.” PETER A LEVINE (American Clinical Psychiatrist) ​ < Back to Glossary

Strength Inner Strength refers loosely to the wide range of mental and emotional resources (behaviours, skills and attitudes) that keep us stable and adaptable in life. ​ < Back to Glossary

Misogyny A dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women. ​ < Back to Glossary

Nibling A portmanteau of “niece/nephew” and “sibling”, nibling is a gender-neutral way to refer to the children of your sibling. While it is believed to have been coined in the 1950s, it is still relatively obscure and mainly known by people who actively have a nibling who uses the word. Language is constantly shifting and changing to meet our needs. Creating new words to better describe our experiences is something we have been doing since the emergence of speech. ​ < Back to Glossary

Transgender Man A man who was assigned female at birth. ​ < Back to Glossary

Community Development Community development is often linked with community work or community planning, and may involve stakeholders, foundations, governments, or contracted entities including non-government organisations (NGOs), universities or government agencies to progress the social well-being of local, regional and, sometimes, national communities. More grassroots efforts, called community building or community organizing, seek to empower individuals and groups of people by providing them with the skills they need to effect change in their own communities. ​ < Back to Glossary

Civil Rights / Civil Rights Movement 1. Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of society and the state without discrimination or repression. 2. The civil rights movement was a political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the United States. ​ < Back to Glossary

T4T Initialism standing for Trans for Trans. Referring to trans people who date other trans people, but also used to describe inter-community solidarity between transgender people. ​ < Back to Glossary

Self-inquiry The turning of attention and curiosity inwards towards yourself and away from outward objects, events, and experiences with the ambition of cultivating a deeper knowledge and understanding of who you are. See: Meditation and Journaling. < Back to Glossary

Bodily Autonomy Bodily autonomy is the right to make decisions about your own body. The bodily autonomy of women and trans people is often targeted politically through legislation that targets abortion rights and gender transition. It is essential that we have the final say on decisions about our bodies. ​ < Back to Glossary

Flag The original rainbow Pride flag was created in 1978 in San Francisco by Gilbert Baker, Lynn Segerblom, James McNamara and other activists. Since then the flag has undergone numerous revisions and inspired countless more queer flags for specific identity groups. The Progress Pride flag, designed by Daniel Quasar in 2018 and updated by Valentino Vecchietti in 2021 to be intersex inclusive, has become increasingly popular as a symbol that embraces intersectionality and solidarity within the LGBTQ+ community. ​ < Back to Glossary