What’s in a word?

In an effort to bring together sexually and gender diverse communities, the word “queer” is a non-exhaustive term for all experiences outside of a cis-heteronormative experience of gender and sexuality. “Queer” was primarily used as a derogatory slang term against homosexuals in the 19th and 20th centuries and has been increasingly used with pride since the 1980s.

A reclaimed word is a word that was formerly used as a slur but that has been proudly and defiantly taken back in its original meaning by members of the maligned group. Sometimes reclaimed words can be offensive to folks who were called that name and when used by outsiders. For example, not all people who fall under the umbrella of queer have reclaimed the word for themselves and prefer to identify within a more specific category (eg: gay, lesbian, trans, bi, Two-Spirit). 

We recognize that not everybody is comfortable with the use of queer, nor does it capture perfectly the diversity of our community. That being said, we have chosen to use the word as an imperfect means to talk about the community in broad terms.

Queer includes gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, Two-Spirit, asexual, demi-romantic, pansexual, intersex, androgynous, non-binary, genderqueer, genderfluid, gender creative, gender non-conforming and other identities.

CampOUT! uses the term trans to be inclusive of people who overlap (or move beyond) rigid gender definitions and the gender binary. Trans and transgender can also include people whose gender identity does not match their assigned sex at birth. Trans does not imply a sexual orientation and some trans folks do not identify as queer. Gender non-conforming and non-binary describe people whose gender expression differs from normative expectations based on their perceived sex.

CampOUT! uses the term “trans” to be inclusive of transgender, transsexual, Two-Spirit, trans-identified, non-binary, intersex, androgynous, bi-gender, crossdressing, genderqueer, genderfluid, and gender creative folks.

Two-Spirit was a term adopted in Winnipeg during a pan-Indigenous gathering in the early 1990’s. Traditionally, people who are Two-Spirit are thought of as being “born in balance” and hold specific roles within their communities. Two-Spirit is what the “2S” stands for in 2SLGBTQIA+ and is an umbrella term that includes gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans and gender non-conforming identities.

The term is employed by some Indigenous peoples and is an act of resistance against settler colonial forms of sex/gender, meaning that only Indigenous people can identify as being Two-Spirit. (Definition adopted from the Montreal Urban Aboriginal Community Strategy Network‘s Indigenous Ally Toolkit),

Allies may identify as straight/heterosexual and/or cisgender (people who do not identify with a gender diverse experience). They are identified as allies by queer and trans communities because of their ongoing commitment to challenging heterosexism and cissexism. At CampOUT! we strive to provide opportunities for folks to engage with allyship across all axes of diversity (such as gender, race, sexuality, class, ability, religion, and experience).

Intersectionality is a term that describes how a number of social variables (such as gender, race, sexuality, class, and ability) intersect when considering our lived experiences and relationships with privilege and oppression. Black civil rights advocate Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw coined the term when she noticed that anti-discrimination laws often failed to address overlapping forms of discrimination – such as simultaneous heteronormativity and racism – and wanted to come up with an accessible way to explain how folks with different identities have different experiences with power structures.

An acronym for queer, trans, intersex, mixed-race, Black, Indigenous, people of colour. QTIMBIPOC often experience intersecting oppressions on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation and other factors.