Glossary

Ally:

As allies, we encourage you to research, follow, share, join, sign-up, advocate, learn, volunteer or donate to the community of organisations who represent, support and advocate for young people and trans and gender diverse communities.

While St Martins and Minus18 are the organisations who created and produced Escape Velocity, we are only a fraction of a wider community of organisations that supports LGBTIQ+ people.

Visit our Support page for links to other organisations that can assist you to become an effective ally. 

Cis or Cisgender:

Someone who is not transgender or gender diverse, and who identifies with the sex they were assigned by doctors at birth. The term is derived from Latin meaning ‘on the same side as’ and is used in contrast with ‘trans’ meaning ‘on the other side of’.

Gender diverse or gender non-conforming:

Describes a person who feels that their gender identity does not fit into the categories associated with their birth assigned sex. For example, someone who is raised as a girl may feel as though the categories of female/feminine are restrictive, or don’t apply to them. Questioning how gender stereotypes relate to you is normal. Some people, and many cultures, have more genders than male or female.

Non-binary or gender non-binary or genderqueer:

These umbrella terms describe people who have a gender that doesn’t fit neatly into a binary category of male/ man/ masculine or female/ woman/ feminine. Their identity can be: a mix of genders; genders which are fluid and can change; or something else entirely.

Trans or transgender:

Sometimes gender diverse people feel that their gender doesn’t match the sex they were assigned at birth, i.e. someone born with a penis might identify as a girl – this is referred to as being transgender. Sometimes trans people change their name, pronouns, their clothes, behaviours, or their bodies. Sometimes they don’t.