Gender Identity Terms

“Membership, ordinances, callings, and fellowship are open to all, regardless of race, gender orientation, sexual orientation, or marital status.” -Doctrines of the Saints 3c Article V

In the Fellowship of Christ, all Saints are welcome. One’s gender identity is how an individual feels in relation to their physical and spiritual being. In an effort of full inclusion, the following guide is offered to help the Saints express their gender in a way that show respect and confidence to one another in Jesus Christ. While we are attempting describe these terms to the best of our understanding and ability, this list will change and grow as our understanding grows.

Agender/Tumtum

Not identifying with a gender or not having a gender. They may describe themselves as gender-neutral, genderfree or genderless. One who identifies as tumtum refers to a person whose sexual characteristics are indeterminate or obscured; referenced in Mishneh, Talmud, the midrash and in Jewish law codes.

Androgynous

A person who has both “male” and “female” sexual organs and/or characteristics; referenced in Mishneh, Talmud, the midrash and in Jewish law codes as early as 1st century CE. Closely related to the English term “androgynous,” referring to one who is partly male and partly female in appearance.

Bigender

A person who has two gender identities or is double gendered. These may fluctuates between traditionally “male” and “female” gender-based roles or behaviors and identities. This should not be confused with bisexuality, where a person experiences romantic, emotional, or sexual attraction to two genders.

Cisgender

A person whose gender identity and biological sex corresponds with the sex registered for them at birth. Often used in the shortened form ‘cis.’

Eunuch

A man who has been castrated.

Female/Neqebah

A female is one having a gender identity that is the opposite of male. Neqevah is a Biblical term derived from the word “crevice” likely referring to a vaginal opening; typically translated in English to “female.”

Gender Expression

How a person publicly expresses or presents their gender. This may be done through a combination of how they dress, how they act and other factors based on local or traditional society expectations. A person’s chosen name and pronoun are also common ways of expressing gender and should be respected in our community.

Gender Fluid/Tumtum

A person who does not identify as having a single, unchanging gender. A person who is gender fluid may change gender expression or gender identity, or both. This change might be in expression, but not identity, or in identity, but not expression, or both. One who identifies as tumtum refers to a person whose sexual characteristics are indeterminate or obscured; referenced in Mishneh, Talmud, the midrash and in Jewish law codes.

Genderqueer

A person who does not follow binary gender norms. This gender identity may be used by people who do not identify with being a man or a woman, or as an umbrella term for many gender non-conforming or non-binary identities. This term may also been applied by those describing what they see as “gender ambiguity.”

Gender Variant or Gender Nonconformity

A person who either by nature or by choice does not conform to or match traditional masculine or feminine gender norms. They may also use terms such as gender-variant, gender-nonconforming, gender-diverse, or gender-atypical.

Male/Zachar

Male is having a gender identity that is the opposite of female. Zachar is a Biblical term derived from the word “pointy sword,” refers to a phallus; typically translated in English to “male.”

Mx.

A gender neutral title that does not indicate gender. This term is an alternative to gendered title like Mr. or Mrs. It is may be used by anyone that not identify as cisgender. Learn the proper pronunciation here.

Non-Binary

A gender identity and an umbrella term for those who identify as an intermediate or separate third gender, identify with more than one gender, no gender (see agender), or have a fluctuating gender identity (see genderfluid). It should be noted that non-binary may people have various sexual orientations.

Passing

When a gender variant person is regarded to be, or to ‘pass’ as a cisgender man or cisgender woman.

Third Gender

Individuals that are categorized, by themselves or by society, as neither man nor woman. See agender and non-binary).

Transgender, Trans, or Trans Person

One whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth.

Transgender man/Ay’lonit

A transgender man is one who was registered as female at birth but who lives and identifies as a man. This term may be shortened to trans man, or FTM (female-to-male). Ay’lonit is the Hebrew term for a transgender person who was identified as “female” at birth but develops “male” characteristics at puberty. This term is referenced in Mishneh, Talmud, the midrash and in Jewish law codes.

Transgender woman/Saris

A transgender woman is one who was registered as male at birth but who lives and identifies as a woman. This may be shortened to trans woman, or MTF (male-to-female). Saris is the Hebrew term for a transgender person who was identified as “male” at birth but develops “female” characteristics as puberty and/or is lacking a penis. This term is referenced in Mishneh, Talmud, the midrash and in Jewish law codes.

Two-Spirit

A translation of the Anishinaabemowin term “niizh manidoowag, used to recognize individuals who possess qualities of both genders or identify as having both a masculine and a feminine spirit. Today it is used as an umbrella term that can encompass same-sex attraction and a wide variety of gender variance, including but not limited to those with multiple gender identities. Some of these may include:

  • cross-dressers
  • bisexuals
  • homosexuals
  • gender queer persons
  • transgender persons
  • transsexuals

Two-spirit can also include relationships that could be considered poly, be they polygamous or polyamorous.

Ze (or Zie or Xi) or Hir (or Per)

Alternate gender-neutral pronouns that replace her/hers/him/his/they/theirs for those who are do not wish to use he/she or they/their as pronouns.

“The mind, spirit, and body of mankind is that of four people: Adam, the man who desires to bestow good, and Cain the man that desires to bestow in wickedness, so to is Eve, the woman who desires to receive that which is good and Lilith, the woman that desires to receive in wickedness; and all have these, be they male, female, or any of the other genders. And each Adam and Eve has a part of every gender within them, be they male or female, intersex, nonbinary, or eunuch: And these five types of people are equally represented in the five Sefirot, the five pointed star that is Keter, Da’at, Chokhmah, Chesed, and Gevurah. And they are in each of these genders, and each of these genders are in the five Sefirot; for these were before they were born and shall be everlasting.” -Book of Remembrance 30:5-9

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