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GLBT News ArchivePetition Asks for Policy Changes
Teams Talk AHANA, GLBT Concerns
Cheryl Jacques speaks: Alum backs Mass. gay marriage - The Heights
Group promotes awareness of gay staff - The Heights
Events celebrate gay rights - The Heights
Lecturer provokes walkout - The Heights
Princeton Review Fails BC Students - The Heights
Some thoughts on choosing a school - USA Today
Colleges grow gay-friendlier - USA Today
BC Faculty Ban Together to Promote Change - Bay Windows
Gay at BC: More than Fine - Bay Windows
T-Shirts Promote Acceptance - The Heights
GOP Speaker backs gay marriage - The Heights
UGBC Creates GLBT Council - The Heights
Solidarity Debate Sweeps Campus - The Observer at Notre Dame
GLBT Head Speaks at Notre Dame - The Heights
A Continuing Discussion - The Heights
Appalachia Founder Speaks at Allies Event - The Heights
Intellect vs. Emotion: The Gay Marriage Debate - The BC Observer
Panelists Debate Same-Sex Marriage - The Heights
Former President of HRC, Cheryl Jacques '84, Addresses BC
Church in the 21st Century - Check out upcoming events about sexuality
Gay Marriage Columns - The Heights
GLBT Families Speak Out - The Heights
Coverage of Allies First Event - The HeightsAlly: A heterosexual or GLBT person who supports GLBT people.
GLBT: The nationally used acronym referring to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender culture or community. It may also appear as LGBT.
Bisexual: A person who is emotionally, physically, spiritually, and sexually attracted to members of more than one gender.
Closeted: One who has not “come out of the closet” or who has come out to only a few people. One who may not be comfortable enough with their own sexual identity to share it with others.
Coming Out: The life-long process of discovering, defining, and proclaiming ones (non-heterosexual) sexuality.
Hate Motivated Offenses: Assault, rape, arson, and murder are crimes under any circumstance, but when a victim of such a crime was targeted simply because of their affiliation (or perceived affiliation) with a minority group, the FBI considers the crime a “hate crime”. In some states, hate crimes carry an additional penalty beyond the standard penalty for assault, murder, etc.
Heterosexual: a person who has emotional, physical, spiritual, and sexual attractions to persons of the opposite sex.
Homosexual: a person who has emotional, physical, spiritual, and sexual attractions to persons of the same sex.
Homophobia: Fear, anger, discomfort, intolerance, or lack of acceptance toward GLBT people, or experiencing these feelings about one’s own non-heterosexual preference.
Lesbian: A woman who has emotional, physical, spiritual, and sexual attractions to other women.
Lifestyle: How a person chooses to live and behave. Being GLBT is not a choice, and therefore is not considered a lifestyle.
Outing: To declare a person’s identity publicly; people can out themselves, or someone can out them either with or without their permission.
Questioning: The process of exploring one’s own sexual identity, including but not limited to one’s upbringing, expectations from others (family, friends, church, etc.), and inner motivation.
Sexual Orientation: To whom a person is erotically attracted.
Transgender: An umbrella term for people who transgress society’s view of gender and biological sex as necessarily fixed, unmoving, and following from one’s biological sex. They view gender on a spectrum, rather than a polarized, either/or construct. Transgender people can include transsexuals , cross-dressers, drag kings/queens, masculine women, feminine men, and all those who defy what society tells them is appropriate for their “gender”.
Rainbow Flag: In 1978, San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker designed a flag for the city’s Gay Freedom celebration and GLBT movements worldwide have since adopted it as a symbol of gay identity and pride. It has six stripes in the traditional form, but can be seen as streamers, etc, which run in the order or red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. The flag also symbolizes diversity within unity.
Stonewall: On June 28, 1969, NYC police attempted a routine raid on the Stonewall Inn, a working class gay and lesbian bar in Greenwich Village. Unexpectedly, the patrons resisted, and the incident escalated into a riot that continued for several days. Most people look to this event as the beginning of the American Gay Liberation movement and all subsequent GLBT movements.
Triangle: Pink Triangle: This was a symbol used by the Nazi’s to label gay men in the concentration camps. . Black Triangle: This was a symbol used by the Nazi’s to label lesbians and other women deemed “antisocial” in the concentration camps. Both of these triangles have since been adopted as symbols of identity and pride.