Ableism: The system of oppression that stigmatizes, marginalizes, and dehumanizes people on the basis of their perceived lack of “normal” abilities.
Bias: Treating someone negatively because of their actual or perceived age, creed, (dis)ability, ethnic or national origin, gender/gender identity/gender expression, marital status, political or social affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation. Some examples of bias incidents include telling jokes, name calling, stereotyping, offensive graffiti or posters, avoiding and/or excluding others. Bias stems from fear, misunderstanding, hatred and stereotypes.
Classism: The institutional, cultural, and individual set of practices and beliefs that society uses to assign different values to people according to their socioeconomic status; and an economic system which creates excessive inequality and causes basic human needs to go unmet.
Cissexism: The system of oppression that privileges and normalizes cisgender people while punishing and exploiting transgender people, treating them as deviant, wrong, and unacceptable.
Discrimination: The unequal treatment of members of various groups based on race, gender, social class, sexual orientation, physical ability, religion and/or other social identities.
Heterosexism: A system of oppression that privileges heterosexual identities, relationships and characteristics while marginalizing, stigmatizing, and invalidating queer ones.
Hate Crime: a hate crime is a criminal offense committed against a person or property that is motivated by the offender’s bias against the actual—or perceived—age, ancestry, color, disability, gender, gender identity, national origin, race, religion, religious practices or sexual orientation of the targeted person or group. Examples include graffiti, destruction of property, the threat of violence or intent to harm.
Homophobia: The fear, hatred, or intolerance of lesbians and gay men and/or behaviors that fall outside of traditional gender roles. Homophobic acts can range from name calling to violence targeting LGBTQ+ people.
Microgressive Behaviors: Behaviors associated with microaggressions are insults, actions or comments that contribute to an environment or experience that is not welcoming to a person or group based on their age, ancestry, color, disability, gender, gender identity, national origin, race, religion, religious practices or sexual orientation.
Prejudice: A prejudgment or unjustifiable, and usually negative, attitude of one type of individual or groups toward another group and its members. Such negative attitudes are typically based on unsupported generalizations (or stereotypes that deny the right of individual
members of certain groups to be recognized and treated as individuals with individual characteristics.
Racism: A form of oppression based on the socially constructed concept of race exercised by a dominant racial group over non-dominant racial groups. Racism operates on internalized, interpersonal, and institutional levels.
Sexism: The system of oppression which privileges and empowers men while devaluing and exploiting women. Misogyny is a part of sexism and involves the widespread hatred of and contempt for women and womanhood.
Structural Violence: psychological, physical, and emotional harm that results from unjust and exploitative institutions and systems. Structural violence is born out of an unequal distribution of and access to goods, resources, and opportunities, which historically has favored
wealthy, white Americans and translates into the way social, economic, and political systems are formed.