Glossary

Adoption: The legal act of permanently placing a child with a parent(s) other than the birth parent(s). After the finalization of an adoption, there is no legal difference between biological and adopted children.

Artificial Insemination: When donor sperm is placed into the female's uterus or cervix using artificial means.

Bisexuals: A type of sexual orientation where an individual is attracted to the female and male genders.

Chancing Pregnancy: One "method" single women use in order to become pregnant but still remain single. These women have sexual relations either with a partner or with a one-night stand; they choose not to use contraceptive measures in hopes of getting pregnant.

Cross-dresser: A person who dresses in a manner that is typical of people of the other sex.  Cross-dressing is not indicative of sexual orientation and should not be used to describe an individual who chooses to live permanently as the other sex. Cross-dressers are also referred to as transvestites.

Fair Housing Act: Dating back to the 1960s, this act outlawed discrimination in the rental or purchase of homes and other housing-related transactions.

Gender benders: Individuals who live as a gender other than the one assigned to them at birth.  They may be described as cross-dressing if they identify with the gender assigned at birth. They may be described as transsexuals if they identify with another sex and choose to permanently live as member of that sex.

Gender Identity: The gender a transgendered person mostly relates to, whether female, male, other, or neither.

Gender-variant/Gender non-conformist: anyone whose identity and behavior does not follow stereotypical gender norms associated with their assigned birth gender. 

Genderqueer: Individuals whose gender identity and sexual orientation is not permanent and may or may not combine gender identities and sexual orientation.  They may switch between having a male gender representation or female gender representation, or between having sexual orientations towards a male or a female.

Intersex: A person whose biological sex is unclear due to genetic, hormonal, or anatomical variations (e.g. Adrenal Hyperplasia, Klinefelter Syndrome).

Intracervical Insemination: When sperm is placed inside a female's cervix.

Intrauterine Insemination: When sperm is placed inside the female's uterus.

Sexual Orientation: Refers to the gender preference of an individual and the gender that he/she/ze finds physically attractive.

States: California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin have laws prohibiting discrimination against gays or lesbians; Connecticut, Minnesota and Rhode Island also protect transgendered people.

Transgender: An umbrella term used to describe a range of gender identities and sexual orientation.

Transsexual: Most individuals are born with a gender identity that is connected with their physical sex.  For a transsexual, however, there is a conflict between one’s physical sex and one’s gender identity.  Some transsexuals undergo sex-reassignment surgery (SRS) to align their physical sex with their gender identity.

• Female-to-male transsexuals (FTM) are born with female bodies but identity with male gender identity. 
• Male-to-female transsexuals (MTF) are born with male bodes but identity with female gender identity.