Heterosexism in the context of "Heteronormativity"

The LGBTQ community or queer community (also known by variants of the initialism LGBTQ) comprises LGBTQ individuals united by a common culture and social movements. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individuality, and sexuality. LGBTQ activists and sociologists see LGBTQ community-building as a counterweight to heterosexism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, sexualism, and conformist pressures that exist in the larger society.

The term pride or sometimes gay pride expresses the LGBTQ community's identity and collective strength; pride parades provide both a prime example of the use and a demonstration of the general meaning of the term. The LGBTQ community is diverse in political affiliation. Not all LGBTQ people consider themselves part of the LGBTQ community.

Cisnormativity or cissexual assumption is the assumption that everyone is, or ought to be, cisgender. The term can further refer to a wider range of presumptions about gender assignment, such as the presumption of a gender binary, or expectations of conformity to gender roles even when transgender identities are otherwise acknowledged. Cisnormativity is a form of cisgenderism, an ideology which promotes various normative ideas about gender, to the invalidation of individuals' own gender identities, analogous to heterosexism or ableism.

Cisnormativity is widespread in many areas of society. In speech, cisnormativity manifests as a separation of cisgender and transgender people where cisgender individuals are considered normal and transgender people, an exception. In institutions, cisnormativity may be seen in the ways gender transition is legally regulated, and in the binary division of legal gender in most jurisdictions; schools often enforce a strict division between genders, which leads to the stigmatization of transgender people. Cisnormativity also motivates bullying and harassment in educational settings. In health care, cisnormative attitudes and systems have diverse negative effects on transgender patients, including pathologization, erasure, and distrust towards healthcare practitioners.

Cisgenderism (also called cissexism, genderism, or gender binarism) is the ideology that there are only two genders, and that one's gender should conform to one's assigned sex at birth. This normative belief stigmatizes gender nonconformity, and leads to discrimination against transgender and intersex people. It is pervasive and systematic in Western culture, and reflected in the cultural and legal practices across numerous countries.

The concept of cisgenderism originated in trans studies in order to distinguish transphobia (at an interpersonal level) from anti-transgender prejudice at a cultural or systemic level. This is analogous to heterosexism, as contrasted with homophobia.