LGBTQA+ 101

LGBTQA+ Center Author

10/29/2020 Added

30 Plays

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Exploring the basic terminology of LGBTQA+ identities, inclusive language, pronouns, and LGBTQA+ Center offerings

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[00:00:01.610]All right, everyone,
[00:00:02.570]welcome to the LGBTQA+ 101 presentation.
[00:00:07.210]My name is Shyla Kallhoff,
[00:00:09.130]and I am the graduate assistant
[00:00:11.260]for the LGBTQA+ Resource Center
[00:00:13.840]at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
[00:00:16.370]I wanted to thank you all for the time
[00:00:18.470]you've taken out of your day to be here.
[00:00:21.270]We'll just go ahead and get started.
[00:00:24.400]So who are we? The LGBTQA+ Resource Center.
[00:00:27.610]We are located on the third floor of the Union.
[00:00:31.050]Our room number is 346.
[00:00:33.420]We're at the end of the hallway,
[00:00:34.640]past the Women's Center and the CARE Center.
[00:00:38.170]So if you're looking to visit us,
[00:00:40.510]you can feel free to set up an appointment,
[00:00:42.260]just because during COVID we're appointment only,
[00:00:46.390]even for library, checking out books.
[00:00:49.330]So our website, as you can see is lgbtqa.unl.edu.
[00:00:54.740]And on there, you can find lists of resources,
[00:00:57.750]upcoming programming,
[00:01:00.890]accommodations that we can do for students,
[00:01:03.220]and ways that we can support you as faculty and staff.
[00:01:07.020]The center in general does a lot of different things.
[00:01:09.270]We kind of have our hands in a lot of different pots.
[00:01:12.910]So we do presentations like this one.
[00:01:15.630]You can request those on the presentations form
[00:01:18.620]via our website, and then it'll send to us
[00:01:21.210]and we'll get back to you within a few days,
[00:01:23.300]setting up a time and date for a presentation.
[00:01:26.640]We also have volunteer opportunities.
[00:01:29.470]Students can work with us to complete projects for classes,
[00:01:33.040]or they can volunteer in or programming
[00:01:35.370]or help us out around the office to fulfill volunteer hours.
[00:01:40.020]Some of our programming, typically,
[00:01:42.090]is the History Month Dinner, drag shows,
[00:01:46.460]smaller community-building events like that.
[00:01:50.020]A lot of our programming has moved virtually this semester.
[00:01:53.730]And we're hoping that in the spring,
[00:01:56.240]we can have some in-person events.
[00:01:58.490]But stay tuned to our website and our social media
[00:02:00.740]for those updates.
[00:02:04.030]The next thing that we do is the Lavender Graduation.
[00:02:09.120]So at the Lavender Graduation,
[00:02:11.020]we have various awards, scholarships,
[00:02:14.140]and we really just like to recognize
[00:02:16.050]all of our LGBTQA+ graduates.
[00:02:20.600]The library with resources.
[00:02:22.190]We have a library, I mean probably over 1,500 books,
[00:02:26.130]CDs, DVDs, movies, really, anything that you can imagine
[00:02:30.930]that is related to LGBTQA+ communities.
[00:02:36.810]The Peer Mentor Program is shifting into
[00:02:40.330]a Living Learning Community for fall 2021.
[00:02:44.560]So we're really excited about that opportunity
[00:02:46.750]and we hope that students will engage with it
[00:02:49.740]just as much as they did with the Peer Mentor Program
[00:02:53.070]that we've had previously.
[00:02:54.680]And then obviously, we have support and advocacy.
[00:02:58.470]If students are experiencing issues in the classroom
[00:03:01.260]or in their workplace, they can come to us.
[00:03:05.237]But we also just want to be able to provide
[00:03:07.130]a supportive environment for students.
[00:03:09.900]And we hope that we can do that virtually this semester
[00:03:12.620]as we keep having our programming.
[00:03:17.990]So what is this acronym?
[00:03:22.180]The LGBTQA+ acronym is what we typically see and use,
[00:03:27.060]especially in the UNL community.
[00:03:30.360]So lesbian is the L in the LGBTQA+ acronym.
[00:03:36.340]And lesbian means a woman who was attracted to other women.
[00:03:41.520]The G stands for gay.
[00:03:43.110]And that typically means man who is attracted to other men,
[00:03:46.760]but you'll see gay a lot of the times
[00:03:48.360]being used as sort of an umbrella term,
[00:03:53.230]just to encompass the entire community.
[00:03:55.990]Some people would rather just say gay
[00:03:58.010]then say their specific identity.
[00:04:01.870]Bi and pansexual, there is variation between the two,
[00:04:06.210]but for our purposes today,
[00:04:08.530]they can typically mean around the same thing.
[00:04:11.910]It's just kind of up to the person
[00:04:13.060]on how they want to identify,
[00:04:14.150]but typically means attraction to two or more genders.
[00:04:18.370]The T in LGBTQA+ is transgender,
[00:04:22.800]and that is a person whose gender differs from
[00:04:25.460]the sex they were assigned at birth.
[00:04:28.478]And we'll talk a little bit more about that later.
[00:04:32.070]But...
[00:04:35.250]Transgender is an umbrella term as well,
[00:04:37.330]and it can make up genderqueer, non-binary,
[00:04:40.630]other gender diverse identities as well.
[00:04:46.130]The Q stands for queer, which is another umbrella term,
[00:04:49.520]similar to gay and questioning for those
[00:04:52.460]who don't feel like they have an identity yet
[00:04:54.670]or don't know if they want to identify
[00:04:56.760]in the community at all.
[00:04:58.750]The A stands for asexual, aromantic, and ally.
[00:05:04.810]The asexual and aromantic means a lack of
[00:05:08.350]sexual or romantic attraction.
[00:05:10.660]And then the ally is somebody who supports the LGBTQA+
[00:05:15.430]community in activism and in their actions.
[00:05:20.900]And then the + stands, or we use it for,
[00:05:24.570]to signify other diverse sexual orientations/gender
[00:05:28.660]identities not included in the acronym.
[00:05:31.830]So a few examples of the + would be demisexual,
[00:05:34.370]which is little or no capacity to experience
[00:05:37.900]sexual attraction until a strong romantic connection
[00:05:40.290]is formed with someone.
[00:05:42.830]Genderqueer, which I mentioned earlier
[00:05:44.660]under the trans umbrella means...
[00:05:48.230]it's a label used for people who do not identify
[00:05:51.110]within the binary of man/woman.
[00:05:53.850]And this term is generally more political
[00:05:56.750]in nature than non-binary.
[00:05:59.060]And then non-binary is someone who rejects the gender binary
[00:06:02.770]as being continuum from male to female.
[00:06:07.442]And anyone under the trans umbrella,
[00:06:08.900]regardless of how they identify, really anyone in general,
[00:06:13.280]can present as more androgynous, masculine, or feminine,
[00:06:17.910]And their identity is still valid and should still be upheld
[00:06:23.370]and used with identifying them.
[00:06:28.690]Some other important terms to know.
[00:06:31.690]So we've talked about all of these terms, LGBTQA+,
[00:06:36.110]and then these are ones that are honestly,
[00:06:38.700]less frequently used just because we never
[00:06:40.730]really have to think about these identities.
[00:06:43.630]So cisgender means a person whose gender identity
[00:06:47.080]corresponds with the sex they were assigned at birth.
[00:06:51.720]So if I was born and the doctor said,
[00:06:56.047]"Oh, it's a female. It's a girl,"
[00:06:58.360]and I still identify as a girl,
[00:07:02.230]then that means I'm cisgender.
[00:07:04.990]Heterosexual is a person primarily attracted
[00:07:08.210]to members of a different gender.
[00:07:10.500]You also hear this referred to as straight,
[00:07:14.020]but just keeping in line with the other terms,
[00:07:17.300]heterosexual is the most widely used one.
[00:07:23.950]So these are just more examples of gender identities.
[00:07:26.930]So I said, when we were going over the acronym previously,
[00:07:31.860]that we would talk about this more in depth,
[00:07:34.560]and here we are.
[00:07:35.393]So transgender, obviously, a person who identifies
[00:07:38.870]as something other than the gender assigned at birth.
[00:07:42.630]A cisgender female and male,
[00:07:46.230]we mentioned them in the previous slide,
[00:07:48.160]and that is a person who identifies
[00:07:49.870]with the binary gender assigned to them at birth.
[00:07:54.000]Non-binary, again, someone who's gender identities
[00:07:57.310]don't fit into the gender binary.
[00:08:01.192]Demigirl, demiboy are someone who only
[00:08:04.190]partially identifies as a girl or a boy.
[00:08:08.293]Genderfluid is someone who identifies
[00:08:12.470]with different genders depending on how they feel.
[00:08:15.080]And this is can also be known as genderqueer.
[00:08:18.430]Third gender is someone who identifies with a gender
[00:08:21.260]completely different from the binary genders.
[00:08:24.280]And then agender are individuals that have
[00:08:26.950]a neutral or lack of gender identity.
[00:08:32.840]So this slide explains the differences between gender
[00:08:35.640]identity, gender expression, and sex assigned at birth.
[00:08:39.930]It also refers to sexual orientation
[00:08:42.420]and romantic attraction.
[00:08:44.950]So starting at the top, gender identity is one's
[00:08:50.110]internal sense of being a man, woman, neither, or both.
[00:08:54.470]For transgender people, their sex assigned at birth
[00:08:57.380]and their own internal sense of gender identity
[00:08:59.610]are not the same.
[00:09:02.550]Gender expression or presentation
[00:09:03.383]is the physical manifestation of one's gender identity,
[00:09:10.130]their clothing, hairstyle, voice, body language, etc.
[00:09:16.090]Sex assigned at birth is the assignment and classification
[00:09:20.260]of people as male, female, or intersex,
[00:09:23.780]based on a combination of anatomy, hormones, chromosomes,
[00:09:29.130]Chromosomes are frequently used to determine sex
[00:09:32.310]from prenatal karyotyping,
[00:09:35.000]although not as often as genitalia,
[00:09:37.760]and chromosomes do not always determine genitalia.
[00:09:43.060]So let's say our unicorn on the screen,
[00:09:47.370]their name is Morgan.
[00:09:49.350]Morgan identifies as a female,
[00:09:52.050]as you can see on the chart where the black dots are,
[00:09:54.730]but her sex assigned at birth was male.
[00:09:58.300]What term from the list of definitions
[00:10:01.870]would Morgan most likely fall into
[00:10:03.740]in regards to describing her transgender identity?
[00:10:07.850]Think about that for a few seconds.
[00:10:12.510]If you were thinking transgender, you're right.
[00:10:16.180]Now, Morgan, as we can see on the chart,
[00:10:19.980]often presents is more feminine,
[00:10:22.550]but sometimes, as we can see on the chart,
[00:10:24.690]Morgan presents somewhere in the middle
[00:10:26.270]of the masculine spectrum.
[00:10:28.300]If you remember from the definition of gender expression,
[00:10:31.000]gender expression is how one dresses,
[00:10:32.860]talks, and presents themselves.
[00:10:35.450]This can match up with their gender identity,
[00:10:37.590]but sometimes it does not.
[00:10:39.810]For example, I identify as female.
[00:10:43.020]If I came in wearing a traditional masculine
[00:10:46.480]clothing piece, like a suit and a tie,
[00:10:49.500]that wouldn't change my gender identity,
[00:10:51.620]that would just be me adjusting
[00:10:53.040]my gender expression that day.
[00:10:56.520]If we look towards the bottom of the screen,
[00:10:59.180]Morgan is mostly sexually attracted to women,
[00:11:02.480]then is attracted to other genders,
[00:11:04.410]such as non-binary and genderqueer people, and then men.
[00:11:08.490]Romantic attraction isn't as high up on a scale for Morgan,
[00:11:12.050]maybe indicating that Morgan doesn't
[00:11:13.710]normally experience romantic attraction,
[00:11:16.250]or it may just take her a while
[00:11:17.790]to feel comfortable getting to that point.
[00:11:23.580]So this is an easy guide for you to use
[00:11:27.080]when trying to remember how to use
[00:11:28.530]the proper pronouns for someone.
[00:11:30.720]The bottom chart is a layout of some pronouns
[00:11:33.530]that are more popular now,
[00:11:35.330]but it is not an exhaustive list.
[00:11:38.000]You don't have to remember these,
[00:11:39.710]but you should make a conscious effort
[00:11:41.670]to remember someone's pronouns when they tell you.
[00:11:44.740]For example, if I see a mother and her child
[00:11:48.710]walking down the street and the child waves to me,
[00:11:52.040]I may be inclined to make a judgment
[00:11:53.580]about their gender identity.
[00:11:55.060]But instead of just assuming,
[00:11:56.880]I could say, "They are so cute."
[00:12:02.480]They/Them/Their pronouns are gender neutral
[00:12:05.340]and are a good default to use
[00:12:06.850]if you don't feel comfortable asking.
[00:12:09.270]And we use these various forms of pronouns in everyday life.
[00:12:13.120]Like when describing your day at work,
[00:12:15.290]you already use gender neutral pronouns.
[00:12:18.270]You may say, "Today at work, my boss went on
[00:12:21.040]about a project I needed to complete,
[00:12:22.840]but they didn't realize that I was waiting on them
[00:12:25.360]to turn in their part."
[00:12:27.420]I just used "them" and "their" to indicate
[00:12:29.590]talking about one person.
[00:12:31.470]And it sounded, I mean, it was a completely normal sentence.
[00:12:35.490]They/Them/Their pronouns are grammatically correct
[00:12:38.590]in sentences and writing,
[00:12:40.460]and we all just need to work on reframing
[00:12:42.250]what is acceptable and what isn't
[00:12:44.260]when related to societal norms.
[00:12:46.530]And you can see on the chart, if you wanna practice,
[00:12:49.700]you can pause here and practice the different pronouns,
[00:12:54.960]putting them in the top part of the slide.
[00:12:59.560]So subject, he laughed at the notion of a gender binary.
[00:13:03.750]They tried to convince him that asexuality does not exist.
[00:13:08.070]His favorite color is unknown.
[00:13:11.290]The pronoun card is his and he thinks highly of himself.
[00:13:17.220]So if you want to go through and practice
[00:13:18.660]or maybe even make up some practice sentences
[00:13:21.590]and say them out loud, just to get more practice in
[00:13:27.380]before you actually talk with students
[00:13:29.170]or talk with a fellow peer about their pronouns,
[00:13:33.010]I think that can be really beneficial.
[00:13:37.910]So there are some LGBTQA+ related issues.
[00:13:42.800]There is a lot of anti-LGBTQA+ bias,
[00:13:47.610]like in housing and public accommodation,
[00:13:50.060]and then again with anti-LGBTQA+ legislation.
[00:13:54.900]Recently this past summer,
[00:13:59.516]there were a few wins,
[00:14:02.610]like with employment and employment rights.
[00:14:06.670]There were also some major losses like with transgender
[00:14:11.370]people, no longer being...
[00:14:14.550]they don't have to be accepted into a medical facility
[00:14:19.100]just because they're trans.
[00:14:23.090]Nebraska law specifically also doesn't address
[00:14:26.220]discrimination in general,
[00:14:28.180]on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
[00:14:33.570]And just going back over the anti-LGBTQA+ legislation,
[00:14:39.480]we saw it with the trans military ban
[00:14:41.470]that happened a few years ago.
[00:14:45.713]And then again, more recently, again mentioned
[00:14:47.910]with the legislation was passed so that trans people
[00:14:52.840]are no longer protected in medical professions.
[00:14:57.220]And then on the right side,
[00:14:58.370]we see that there are issues related to coming out.
[00:15:02.610]So families shun and even disowned children,
[00:15:06.250]their own children over their gender identity,
[00:15:09.000]sexuality, and expression.
[00:15:13.170]Employers and landlords may deny people jobs and homes
[00:15:17.230]because they don't conform to gender norms,
[00:15:19.630]which is actually legal to do under most states laws.
[00:15:24.470]And in the 2011 National Transgender Discrimination Survey,
[00:15:28.710]they found that trans and gender nonconforming people
[00:15:31.270]are nearly four times as likely to live
[00:15:33.770]in extreme poverty as the general population.
[00:15:37.030]A 2014 study by the Williams Institute
[00:15:40.400]and American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
[00:15:43.220]found that 46% of trans men and 42% of trans women
[00:15:49.400]have attempted suicide at some point in their lives,
[00:15:52.320]compared with 4.6% of the general population.
[00:15:56.730]I also just want to reiterate that just because
[00:15:58.990]the suicide rate for this population is so high,
[00:16:01.880]doesn't mean that there's something
[00:16:03.070]inherently wrong with them.
[00:16:04.950]These people are having normal reactions
[00:16:07.550]to being discriminated against, being hate crimed,
[00:16:10.410]being shunned, etc.
[00:16:14.810]So now, we move on to how to be inclusive.
[00:16:19.270]So we have nine steps here,
[00:16:22.424]and you've already done the first one,
[00:16:24.030]which is being educated on basic LGBTQA+ information.
[00:16:30.163]The second one is do not assume that one speaks for all.
[00:16:33.710]So while I'm giving this presentation,
[00:16:36.410]I gave you general guidelines and basic definitions
[00:16:40.840]of how maybe different people identify
[00:16:43.580]or how to use pronouns for someone,
[00:16:45.410]but it really does vary from every person.
[00:16:47.420]Just like every, I mean...
[00:16:49.790]Just like we know that race is not a monolith,
[00:16:52.120]neither is sexuality and gender identity.
[00:16:55.260]Third step is to listen to those in the community.
[00:16:59.950]So clearly, the people in the LGBTQA+ community
[00:17:03.770]who identify within that community know it best
[00:17:07.150]and know what they need and want better than,
[00:17:11.980]for example, government or lawmakers or allies.
[00:17:17.400]So it's really important to listen to those in the community
[00:17:19.820]when they tell you that they need you to be an ally
[00:17:23.190]and need you to stick up for them.
[00:17:26.960]The fourth is using inclusive language.
[00:17:29.860]So there are some outdated words that you probably heard
[00:17:34.400]like transsexual and homosexual,
[00:17:37.250]and you will see some of the older generations
[00:17:40.190]still using these words, but for our purposes,
[00:17:43.690]we have moved away from those as a community.
[00:17:47.560]And then also, another outdated way of saying things
[00:17:51.450]is using transgender and gay as adjectives.
[00:17:56.480]And then the third is using the word queer.
[00:18:02.557]So queer is used as an umbrella term
[00:18:05.020]to describe individuals who don't identify as straight.
[00:18:09.040]And then it also can be used...
[00:18:10.820]It also can be used to describe people
[00:18:12.630]who have non-normative gender identity
[00:18:14.920]or as a political affiliation.
[00:18:18.220]But due to its historical use as a derogatory term,
[00:18:21.710]it is not necessarily embraced or used
[00:18:24.890]by all members of the LGBTQA+ community.
[00:18:28.440]The term queer can often be used interchangeably
[00:18:31.350]with the LGBTQA+.
[00:18:33.560]But if you personally are unsure
[00:18:35.070]if you should or shouldn't use it,
[00:18:38.560]here are two helpful rules.
[00:18:40.390]So using it as an adjective that works,
[00:18:45.671]So for example, "Meg is a queer educator," that works.
[00:18:49.540]You're describing something that Meg does.
[00:18:52.340]But not using it as a noun, so not saying, "Meg is a queer."
[00:18:58.888]And then if you do use it, make sure you're comfortable
[00:19:01.220]explaining why you use it.
[00:19:04.810]But also check in with the LGBTQA+ community,
[00:19:07.660]maybe in your classroom or the people around you,
[00:19:10.080]to make sure they're comfortable with it too.
[00:19:13.540]The fifth step to being inclusive is to not out others.
[00:19:17.440]As we talked about in the previous slide,
[00:19:19.440]there are a lot of issues with coming out.
[00:19:22.420]So we want to make sure that...
[00:19:25.260]we don't take somebody's identity
[00:19:29.790]and show it to the world without their consent.
[00:19:33.920]The sixth one is to be intentionally inclusive,
[00:19:38.130]just like we're aiming to do in all parts of UNL.
[00:19:42.150]We want to be intentionally inclusive
[00:19:44.440]of the LGBTQA+ community as well.
[00:19:48.030]Seven, be open to learning and being corrected.
[00:19:53.080]I've identified in the LGBTQA+ community for...
[00:19:57.690]I don't know, eight years,
[00:19:59.360]and there are still things I can learn,
[00:20:02.570]still things that I get corrected on.
[00:20:06.720]So don't be ashamed if you do, maybe for example,
[00:20:10.170]mess up on someone's pronouns.
[00:20:13.700]Just apologize, correct yourself, and then move on.
[00:20:17.150]If you do make a mistake about pronouns,
[00:20:18.980]it's really important to not like dwell on it
[00:20:20.880]and draw attention to it,
[00:20:23.420]especially in like a group setting,
[00:20:25.360]because you never know if the person is or isn't out
[00:20:27.900]to the other people.
[00:20:30.870]Eight is reporting incidents of bias.
[00:20:33.700]So at the bottom of every UNL web page,
[00:20:35.700]there's a Tips icon that you can click on
[00:20:38.500]and then fill out a form if you see
[00:20:40.060]any anti-LGBTQA+ discrimination happening.
[00:20:43.860]And even if you're not sure if it's really discrimination
[00:20:46.720]or harassment or whatever it may be,
[00:20:48.840]you can still fill out a report
[00:20:50.130]and we can have a conversation about whether or not
[00:20:54.680]it rises to the level of something needing to be done.
[00:20:57.870]And then the ninth is treat everyone with respect.
[00:21:03.430]This is kind of, I mean, the golden rule, right?
[00:21:06.920]Treat everyone with respect is just a good rule to follow
[00:21:11.280]when you're trying to be inclusive
[00:21:12.760]of the entire LGBTQA+ community.
[00:21:16.060]Treat them as you would any other person that you run into
[00:21:19.830]because we really aren't any different.
[00:21:24.920]So where do we go from here?
[00:21:27.870]Remember that there's no right way to be LGBTQA+.
[00:21:31.840]There are people who you interact with daily
[00:21:34.070]that you likely don't know are a part
[00:21:35.640]of the LGBTQA+ community,
[00:21:38.020]and just because you can't tell from their appearance,
[00:21:40.330]based on your perceptions of what a queer person
[00:21:42.580]should look like, doesn't mean you can
[00:21:44.700]write them off as being straight.
[00:21:47.380]Continue to educate yourself.
[00:21:49.320]It's important to have conversations with
[00:21:50.807]the LGBTQA+ people in your life,
[00:21:53.460]but it is also important for you to seek out
[00:21:55.270]resources and information on your own.
[00:21:58.920]The third thing that we can do is using the language
[00:22:02.660]an LGBTQA+ person uses for themselves.
[00:22:05.900]For example, if a male-identified person
[00:22:08.430]describes himself as pansexual,
[00:22:10.741]make sure you are using the same language
[00:22:13.750]and not replacing pansexual with gay
[00:22:16.090]in order to make yourself or others more comfortable.
[00:22:19.910]And then the four, if you don't know
[00:22:22.440]what pronouns to use, just ask.
[00:22:25.810]This normalizes the conversation around pronouns
[00:22:28.660]and will allow you to address people
[00:22:30.260]in the way that they want to be addressed.
[00:22:34.790]And then our last slide.
[00:22:36.960]So if you have any questions,
[00:22:38.570]feel free to email us as lgbtqa@unl.edu,
[00:22:44.430]or you can ask questions on our social media,
[00:22:46.440]which is also listed here.
[00:22:50.300]But thank you for tuning in and feel free
[00:22:52.870]to share this video with others.
[00:22:55.760]We hope to see you at one of our future presentations.
[00:22:58.970]Thank you.

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LGBTQA+ 101

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