Words used to refer to a person without using their name (e.g. she/her, he/him, they/them, ze/zir). Because pronouns imply the gender of the person being referred to, they are a form of gender expression. A person’s pronouns should never be assumed based on appearance; when a person is misgendered, it can make them feel disrespected, invalidated, and dysphoric.

Medications that temporarily postpone puberty by halting the production of sex hormones (e.g., estrogen, testosterone). In addition to various other medical uses, puberty blockers are frequently used by transgender and gender expansive children to delay the development of secondary sex characteristics (e.g. breast growth, facial hair, body hair, deepening voice) that do not align with their gender identity. Because puberty is irreversible, this delay allows trans and gender expansive youth more time to explore their identity, live in the experienced gender, and decide if they will begin hormone replacement therapy. All legitimate research proves that puberty blockers are safe, effective, and lead to optimal outcomes for trans people (e.g., improved mental health, decreased gender dysphoria, reduced need for expensive gender-affirming operations as adults). Puberty blockers have been used for several decades by youth experiencing precocious (early) puberty, and are the standard of care in treating transgender youth according to leading international health organizations. See more.

The subtextual coding of a character as queer by using recognizable LGBTQIA+ traits, stereotypes, and tropes (e.g., exaggerated femininity or masculinity, vanity, hypersexuality, intimate same-gender friendships and/or rivalries) without explicitly confirming it in the story. Queer coding stems from censorship regulations like the Hays Code, which banned most onscreen portrayals of queer characters (unless they were evil and/or punished) for several decades. Despite these negative representations and the harm they have caused, queer coding itself isn’t inherently negative; it’s often used by queer creators to express their identity and experience when they are restricted by industry censorship, and queer coded characters have historically been the only form of representation for many LGBTQIA+ people. Note: Queer coding is never an acceptable replacement for explicit, authentic representation, and is typically only used in modern storytelling due to anti-LGBTQIA+ censorship. For more, see here and here.

A word with many meanings. In the context of bi+ identity, queer is used by some people as a way to explain that they aren’t straight but don’t feel like their sexual orientation falls into categories like gay, lesbian, bi, or pan.

A marketing technique in which creators allude to the presence of queer characters or relationships in their content in order to attract LGBTQIA+ audiences but fail to include actual representation so as to not lose discriminatory straight and cisgender audiences.

An umbrella term for a partnership/relationship that defies the divide between romantic and “just” friends. It may involve a greater degree of intimacy or commitment than platonic friendship but doesn’t often include sexual or romantic elements. For more.