Library and Academic Services: Intercultural Competence & Diversity: Gender & Sexual Diversity

A Note About Terminology

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We’re committed to fostering a safe campus environment by ensuring everyone has the chance to work, learn, and access services in an inclusive and welcoming manner.

The terms outlined in this guide are for navigating search tools that may be external to Red River College Polytechnic and may use alternative terms that are not reflective of the values at Red River College Polytechnic.

Gender and Sexual Diversity

When talking about the complexities of cultural identities, we sometimes focus on ethnicity, language, or religion. However, gender and sexual diversity also play a key role in our identities and day-to-day lives. As part of our efforts to foster respect and inclusion, we need to recognize our cultural biases or assumptions, regarding expectations of gender roles/expressions. Rather than either/or, gender and sexual identities are unique, fluid and complex.

Featured Titles

Am I Safe Here?: LGBTQ Teens and Bullying in Schools by Donn Short
Location: LC 2576 .C2 S56 2017 (Notre Dame Campus)
"Am I safe here?" Every day, LGBTQ students ask this question within the school system. This book shines a light on the marginalization and bullying faced by LGBTQ youth, offering a new conceptualization of school safety. Donn Short treats students as the experts on what happens in their schools, giving them a chance to speak for themselves. They identify what it would take to make a school truly safe--insightfully explaining that safety doesn't come merely from security cameras, ID tags, and dress codes, but from a culture that values equity and social justice. Revealing the reality of going to school in an environment that implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) endorses homophobia, heterosexism, and heteronormativity, the students share their ideas about how to change school culture. "-- Provided by publisher.
Authentic Leadership by Lemuel W. Watson
Location: eBook
Publication Date: 2013
This book provides new insights about the roles in which LGBTQ individuals contribute in society and various organizations. The literature is divided into two sections. Section one includes three chapters from higher education administrators, faculty and community activists. The chapters share personal narratives describing the life experiences of those who are often marginalized within academia. Each chapter provides personal and professional aspects of the authors'lives. Section two includes four chapters which, shares voices of people whom are normally excluded from research. Each author's identity is shared as an aspect of their research.

Featured Streaming Video

LGBTQ2+ NFB Channel

This channel from the National Film Board of Canada has 37 documentaries from 1986 to 2019. This channel seeks to show a full picture of the LGBTQ+ community through the lives of the people profiled. The stories range from homosexuality during WWII, disability with the community, Indigenous views, and more.

Coming Out

Finally Out by Loren Olson; Jack Drescher
Location: eBook
Publication Date: 2017
Dr. Loren A. Olson has frequently been asked two questions: How could you not know that you were gay until the age of forty? Wasn't your marriage just a sham to protect yourself at your wife’s expense? In Finally Out, Dr. Olson answers these questions by telling the inspiring story of his evolving sexuality, into which he intelligently weaves psychological concepts and gay history. This book is a powerful exploration of human sexuality, particularly the sexuality of mature men who, like Dr. Olson, lived a large part of their lives as straight men—sometimes long after becoming aware of their same-sex attractions.--Book Description
It Gets Better by Dan Savage (Editor); Terry Miller (Editor)
Location: HQ 76.27 .Y68 I74 2011 (Notre Dame Campus)
Summary: A collection of original essays and expanded testimonials written to teens from celebrities, political leaders, and everyday people. While many of these teens can't see a positive future for themselves, we can. We can show LGBT youth the kind of happiness, potential, and satisfaction their lives hold if they can just get through these early years.--Book Description

Featured eBook Titles: Transgender

Beyond Trans by Heath Fogg Davis
Location: eBook
Publication Date: 2017
Beyond Trans pushes the conversation on gender identity to its limits: questioning the need for gender categories in the first place. Whether on birth certificates or college admissions applications or on bathroom doors, why do we need to mark people and places with sex categories? Do they serve a real purpose or are these places and forms just mechanisms of exclusion? Heath Fogg Davis offers an impassioned call to rethink the usefulness of dividing the world into not just Male and Female categories but even additional categories of Transgender and gender fluid. Davis, himself a transgender man, explores the underlying gender-enforcing policies and customs in American life that have led to transgender bathroom bills, college admissions controversies, and more, arguing that it is necessary for our society to take real steps to challenge the assumption that gender matters. --Publisher's website.
The Lives of Transgender People by Genny Beemyn; Susan Rankin
Location: eBook
Publication Date: 2011
Beemyn and Rankin track the formation of gender identity across individuals and groups, beginning in childhood and marking the "touchstones" that led participants to identify as transgender. They explore when and how participants noted a feeling of difference because of their gender, the issues that caused them to feel uncertain about their gender identities, the factors that encouraged them to embrace a transgender identity, and the steps they have taken to meet other transgender individuals. Beemyn and Rankin's findings expose the kinds of discrimination and harassment experienced by participants in the U.S. and the psychological toll of living in secrecy and fear. They discover that despite increasing recognition by the public of transgender individuals and a growing rights movement, these populations continue to face bias, violence, and social and economic disenfranchisement.--Amazon Description
The Remedy by Zena Sharman (Editor)
Location: eBook
Publication Date: 2016
"To remedy means to heal, to cure, to set right, to make reparations. The Remedy invites writers and readers to imagine what we need to create healthy, resilient, and thriving LGBTQ communities. This anthology is a diverse collection of real-life stories from queer and trans people on their own health-care experiences and challenges, from gay men living with HIV who remember the systemic resistance to their health-care needs, to a lesbian couple dealing with the experience of cancer, to young trans people who struggle to find health-care providers who treat them with dignity and respect. The book also includes essays by health-care providers, activists, and leaders, with something to say about the challenges, politics, and opportunities surrounding LGBTQ health issues. -- Provided by publisher.

Featured Print Titles: Transgender

Beyond Trans by Heath Fogg Davis
Location: HQ 77.95 .U6 D39 2017 (Notre Dame Campus)
Beyond Trans pushes the conversation on gender identity to its limits: questioning the need for gender categories in the first place. Whether on birth certificates or college admissions applications or on bathroom doors, why do we need to mark people and places with sex categories? Do they serve a real purpose or are these places and forms just mechanisms of exclusion? Heath Fogg Davis offers an impassioned call to rethink the usefulness of dividing the world into not just Male and Female categories but even additional categories of Transgender and gender fluid. Davis, himself a transgender man, explores the underlying gender-enforcing policies and customs in American life that have led to transgender bathroom bills, college admissions controversies, and more, arguing that it is necessary for our society to take real steps to challenge the assumption that gender matters. --Publisher's website.
Gender Ambiguity in the Workplace by Alison Ash Fogarty; Lily Zheng
Location: HD 6285 .F64 2018 (Exchange District Campus)
The transgender community is more visible now than ever before, but the diversity within this community has remained obscure in the workplace as organizations, corporations, and institutions struggle to keep up with the rate at which transgender communities are gaining visibility. For leaders seeking best practices related to bathroom access, workplace transition, hiring practices, inclusive workplace culture, and more, this book offers guidance and novel policy recommendations designed to ensure the success of transgender employees.--Book Jacket.
The Lives of Transgender People by Genny Beemyn; Susan Rankin
Location: HQ 77.95 .U6 .B44 2011 (Notre Dame Campus)
Beemyn and Rankin track the formation of gender identity across individuals and groups, beginning in childhood and marking the "touchstones" that led participants to identify as transgender. They explore when and how participants noted a feeling of difference because of their gender, the issues that caused them to feel uncertain about their gender identities, the factors that encouraged them to embrace a transgender identity, and the steps they have taken to meet other transgender individuals. Beemyn and Rankin's findings expose the kinds of discrimination and harassment experienced by participants in the U.S. and the psychological toll of living in secrecy and fear. They discover that despite increasing recognition by the public of transgender individuals and a growing rights movement, these populations continue to face bias, violence, and social and economic disenfranchisement.--Amazon Description
The Remedy by Zena Sharman (Editor)
Location: RA 564.9 .H65 R44 2016 (Notre Dame Campus)
"To remedy means to heal, to cure, to set right, to make reparations. The Remedy invites writers and readers to imagine what we need to create healthy, resilient, and thriving LGBTQ communities. This anthology is a diverse collection of real-life stories from queer and trans people on their own health-care experiences and challenges, from gay men living with HIV who remember the systemic resistance to their health-care needs, to a lesbian couple dealing with the experience of cancer, to young trans people who struggle to find health-care providers who treat them with dignity and respect. The book also includes essays by health-care providers, activists, and leaders, with something to say about the challenges, politics, and opportunities surrounding LGBTQ health issues. -- Provided by publisher.
Transgender 101 by Nicholas M. Teich
Location: HQ 77.9 .T45 2012 (Notre Dame Campus)
Written by a social worker, popular educator, and member of the transgender community, this well-rounded resource combines an accessible portrait of transgenderism with a rich history of transgender life and its unique experiences of discrimination. Chapters introduce transgenderism and its psychological, physical, and social processes. They describe the coming out process and its effect on family and friends, the relationship between sexual orientation and gender, and the differences between transsexualism and lesser-known types of transgenderism. Each chapter explains how transgender individuals handle their gender identity, how others view it within the context of non-transgender society, and how the transitioning of genders is made possible. --Book jacket.
Transgender Children and Youth by Elijah C. Nealy
Location: HQ 77.9 .N43 2017 (Notre Dame Campus)
Summary: A comprehensive guide to the medical, emotional, and social issues of trans kids. These days, it is practically impossible not to hear about some aspect of transgender life. Whether it is the bathroom issue in North Carolina, trans people in the military, or on television, trans life has become front and center after years of marginalization. And kids are coming out as trans at younger and younger ages, which is a good thing for them. But what written resources are available to parents, teachers, and mental health professionals who need to support these children? Elijah C. Nealy, a therapist and former deputy executive director of New York City's LGBT Community Center, and himself a trans man, has written the first-ever comprehensive guide to understanding, supporting, and welcoming trans kids.

Organizations

Pride Winnipeg
Pride Winnipeg's mission is creating an annual festival that is reflective of our values, advocates for equality, and celebrates Winnipeg’s gender, sexual, and relationship diverse communities.
Rainbow Resource Centre
*Local Resource*
Rainbow Resource Centre offers support to the LGBT2SQ+ community in the form of counselling, education, and programming for individuals ranging from children through to 55±. It also supports families, friends, and employers of LGBT2SQ+ individuals.

Featured Websites

Closeted Stories
*Local Resource*
Created by Molly Karp, Closeted Stories is a collection of stories by and about LGBT Winnipeggers and their high school experiences. The goal of this project is to strengthen gay-straight alliance in Winnipeg and beyond, and to generate a deeper conversation about homophobic bullying in Winnipeg high schools. Drawing from the experiences of LGBT Winnipeggers of all ages, Closeted Stories will attempt to document and explore what still needs to be done to make our high schools a safer place for students of all sexual orientations.
Courage in the Face of Hate
To continue the fight to prevent discrimination, bullying and hate crimes based on sexual orientation, gender identity and/or gender expression, Egale Canada presents the project Courage in the Face of Hate, including video and accompanying lesson plan.
It's Pronounced Metrosexual
Created by social justice advocate Sam Killermann, the purpose of this free online resource is learning, teaching and making positive change in the realms of social justice, gender, and sexuality. The site offer uncopyrighted resources, including edugraphics and printables about terminology related to sexual orientation and gender identity.
Love Intersections
Love Intersections is a media arts collective made up of queer artists of colour, who use artistic practice to share stories of queer, trans and intersex people. This collection of films are anchored on the belief that intersectionality is a verb and a call to action.
The Devotion Project
The Devotion Project is filmmaker Antony Osso’s two-part campaign: a series of short documentaries celebrating the love and commitment of LGBTQ+ couples, and a social media platform focused on amplifying “Good Gay News,” stories of LGBTQ+ people thriving in relationships, politics, sports, the arts and beyond.