Dismantling CisHet Normativity Module 3: Gender, Sexuality and Faith Proactively Furthering Equity, Justice & Belonging
1. What is possible, powerful, and important in understanding another's lived experience?
3. What awkward silence and temporary discomfort are you willing to sit with to learn and grow? To ensure your team members feel seen, heard, and valued? We know you agree that inclusion is key to thriving individuals, teams, and communities. We are grateful to be in a community with like-minded and values-aligned people
With great respect and high expectations,
Every LGBTQ+ community member is part of someone's family. We are hurt to know that a mother, uncle, or cousin would face discrimination, hatred, or exclusion when they marry who they love, live where they live, or do the work they love. Our path forward requires everyone to demonstrate the behaviors that foster belonging, equity, and justice. Our dedication to transformative actions is inseparable from our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. It is central to our work that community members have the full opportunity to thrive. As you engage with the DCHN modules, we ask you to keep the imperative – a workplace where all are respected and valued – top of mind. We want you to consider:
2. How accountable, communicative, and courageous are you willing to be to ensure your team members feel safe and valued?
A message from your Senior Leadership Team
You are Rubicon's heart and soul. Your belief that our community deserves human rights, dignity, and access to resources inspires us. Your commitment to coaching people to know their worth and authentically contribute and pursue their highest and best differentiates you and Rubicon from others. Thank you.
• Coach you to your next level.
As your senior leadership team, we believe you deserve and are worthy of the same. You deserve and are worthy of a workplace where everyone feels safe and knows they belong. You should insist on and hold us accountable to a workplace that is in integrity with its values at all times and on all issues. As Senior Leaders, our primary role is to:
We take our role seriously. Therefore, we are pleased to present an experience that will take us to the next level with our Cultural Responsiveness and Proactively Furthering Justice, Equity, and Belonging competencies. The Dismantling CisHet Normativity (DCHN) Experience is the next step in Rubicon's journey to advance equity and ensure belonging.
• Inspire trust and confidence.
JenDonteDechDCAuroraAnnelAdrienneen PatNancyMikeMichaelKimiKellyJenniferM. WeViStaceyRogerRickRhodys
• Advocate for and secure resources needed for you to do your best work.
Table of Contents
Content Page
A message from your senior leadership team 3 Our Community Values 6 Our Community Agreements 7 DCHN Module 3 – Agenda 8 Meet Rhea Pitre, Module Facilitator 10 Module 3 Glossary 11 Micro-Learning Resources 16
Ally Guiding Principals 20 Module 1 and 2 Glossaries 23 A message from the DCHN Co-Design Team 33
Community Values
ON JUNE 3, 2022 WE SELECTED THESE COMMUNITY VALUES
Click to watch this video –What Are Community Values?
Community values are the set of belief systems that we consciously or subconsciously hold. They ideally determine our daily actions and influence our decision-making process. Aligning our values in the community with our actions is the key to living with integrity.
yAccountabilit Authenticity Accountability Compassion Respect Service Trust
Community agreements are a powerful strategy for uniting a group. Agreements come from a consensus-driven process to identify what every person in the group needs from each other and commits to each other to feel safe, supported, open and trusting. As such, they provide a common approach for how people will work and be together as they take transformational action.
For many of us, home is our first community. What community agreements (written or just KNOWN) do you recall from your first community?
Give
Turn up curiosity, turn down judgment to understand, not to react discomfort as opportunity to learn & grow from your experience, and offer others space to do the same credit where credit is due Set and honor boundaries
ON JULY 8, 2022 WE SELECTED THESE COMMUNITY AGREEMENTS
Listen
Grace for all space, make
space Show LookIntentConfidentialityUpvs.Impactforcommon ground
Community Agreements
Embrace
Take
Speak
To equip participants with tools to be able to be stronger allies to their LGBTQ+ peers, and to intervene when witnessing gender and/or sexuality based oppression (including microaggressions).
I am aware of how my own attitudes and actions may still perpetuate harmful/traditional gender norms.
To deepen participants’ understanding of how religion and faith has been used in different ways throughout history as a tool of colonialism and imperialism, and used to maintain/uphold gender and sexuality based oppression / To deepen participants’ understanding around how social norms around faith & religion are used to maintain/uphold gender- and sexuality-based oppression.
I feel equipped to take action when I witness genderand/or sexuality-based microaggressions or oppression.
Module Objectives:Learningspecific
I have an understanding of present day biases toward LGBTQ+ people that are rooted in faith/religion.
Module 3: Gender, Sexuality & Faith
To increase participants’ awareness of social norms around faith and religion.
15,September2022
Time High-LevelContent DetailedDescriptionContent and/orMaterialsTechNeeds 1:10pm1:00pm Introduction (10 minutes) Annel Connecting threads from last module & other in between activities Community Agreements reminder Expectations & Invitations learning & practice space, invitation to grow BikeAgreements,CommunityValues,JamboardRack Pin speaker Chat monitoring
design)pre(RetrospectiveQuestionsEvaluationPossible/posttest
I understand how religion and faith has been used throughout history to both motivate people to work for positive social change and to reinforce and promote social inequality (to maintain/uphold gender and sexuality based oppression).
Presenter: Rhea Pitre, MS MFT, Spirit Based Life & Relationship Coach & Consultant, Rhealism, LLC
To increase participants’ ability to think critically about their own faith based biases, and how those can contribute to gender and sexuality based oppression.
Date Module Name, Presenter Info, Learning Objectives & Evaluation Questions
Activity in Pairs: “The Habit of Self Examination” Breakout Rooms Pairs
2:00pm1:40pm minutes)partFormation,Identity2(20
Why we’re here/review of learning objectives
Moving out of CisHet normativity and into expansiveness
Purpose of Religion & Faith
o Intersectionality
o What is something you’ve been taught by your family/faith that you have never questioned? Why?
2:30pm2:00pm
Video: What is Religion?
o What influenced your current stance/thoughts religion/faith/spirituality?about
Establishing agreements/Community Agreements reminder
Pin speaker Chat monitoring Video and audio playback
Video Excerpt: West Wing Bartlett Bible Battle
Personal story of transformation into allyship
Role of Religious Doctrine / Text Dangers of Doctrine “Cherry-Picking”
Pin speaker Chat monitoring
o What is something you’ve been taught by your family/faith that you have actively rejected? Why? Popcorn shareback
Religion, Culture, Homonegativity Religious Congregations as Gendered Organizations
Breakout Rooms Pairs
Developing a stance of ongoing learning
Definitions shared language
Poll the audience: How do you identify?
Religiosity & The Religiosity Spectrum
Sociological Perspectives
FormationCulture (30 minutes)
Pin speaker Chat monitoring
Pin speaker Chat monitoring
1:40pm1:15pm minutes)partFormation,Identity1(25
Activity in Pairs - Discussion Questions
Slido poll Ada
1:15pm1:10pm Intro minutes)SettingIntention&(5
Catalysts for transformation
Pin speaker Chat monitoring
Pin speaker Chat monitoring Video and audio playback
The heart and anchor of Reha’s work is centered in maintaining healthy relationships, inspiring hope, and promoting emotional healing. She is dedicated to fostering a safe space, non-judgmental, “rheal-talk” environment with all who are in her presence, providing encouragement and empowering others to live their absolute best lives. As the proclaimed “Question Connoisseur,” Rhea has a unique way of asking the right questions to cultivate depth, insight, and revelation on just about any topic or area of life.
Most recently Rhea has added to her expertise the role of producer, impassioned by creating transformative content that matters and will shift the culture forward toward freedom, authenticity, and love. Currently working on new creative projects, she hopes they will shed insight and enlightenment to viewing audiences.
In 2014, she added to her expertise being certified as a Spiritual counselor through training at Pastor Rick Warren’s (author of Purpose Driven Life) Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA. Her passion is working with women and couples, and she holds a certification for those journeying toward marriage or life partnerships.
Rhea earned a Bachelors in Psychology from Clark-Atlanta University, and continued on to secure a Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy at California State University at Northridge.
Religiosity - the quality or state of being religious. Link
Homonegativity Negative associations towards the LGBTQ+ communities. Homonegativity is based on the term homonegativism used by Hudson and Ricketts in a 1980 paper; they coined the term for their research in order to avoid homophobia, which they regarded as being unscientific in its presumption of motivation.. Hudson and Ricketts (1980) viewed homonegativity as composed of cognitive, affective, and behavioral aspects. Patel (1989) developed the Self Report of Behavior Scale (SBS) to measure respondents' previous negative behaviors toward gay individuals. Link
The Religiosity Spectrum - a continuous sequence or range of religiosity. Link.
Spirituality - of, relating to, consisting of, or affecting the animating or vital principle held to give life to physical organisms. Link. Link.
Religious - relating to or manifesting faithful devotion to an acknowledged ultimate reality or deity Link.
Religious Doctrine - a principle or position or the body of principles in a branch of knowledge or system of belief related to faithful devotion to an acknowledged ultimate reality or deity. Link
Here is a glossary of Module 3 terms to help you familiarize yourself with the different words and meanings that you may encounter. Remember that these terms are constantly changing and it's important to stay up-to-date by asking people about their preferred terms.
Religion - a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices Link.
How Are YOU Today?
Separate from the noon rally, ACT UP members Peter Staley, Lee Arsensault, Greg Bordowitz, Scott Robbe, James McGrath, and two other members who served as photographers infiltrated the Stock Exchange that morning. Chaining themselves to the VIP balcony, they dropped fake $100 bills onto the trading floor and disrupted the opening bell for the first time in history. Their miniature foghorns drown out the opening bell, as they unfurled a banner above the trading floor demanding “SELL WELLCOME” . Their photographs were given to the Associated Press and the story went national.
On September 14, 1989, ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) led a noon protest of 350 people in front of the New York Stock Exchange, targeting Burroughs Wellcome and other companies that it felt were profiteering from the epidemic by their high pricing of the AIDS drug AZT, which was unaffordable to most people living with HIV.
As a result of these demonstrations, Burroughs Wellcome lowered the price of AZT by 20 percent four days later.
The demonstration was planned to coincide with those held in San Francisco and London that day.
How to host a
“Living Room Conversation” on Faith and the LGBTQ+ community.
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Micro-Learning Videos
Toxic Masculinity - a cultural concept of manliness that glorifies stoicism, strength, virility, and dominance, and that is socially maladaptive or harmful to mental health: Men and women both suffer when toxic masculinity perpetuates expectations that are restrictive and traumatizing. (dictionary.com)
Here is a glossary of MOD 2 terms to help you familiarize yourself with the different words and meanings that you may encounter. Remember that these terms are constantly changing and it's important to stay up-to-date by asking people about their preferred terms.
Trans*: An umbrella term includes folks who identify as transgender, transsexual, and other identities where a person does not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth. It is a placeholder for suffixes of trans, that is, trans_____. The asterisk (*) stands in for *gender, *sexual, *feminine, *masculine, *folks, *person, *guy, *girl, *woman, and *man.
Cognitive Dissonance: Cognitive Dissonance is the tension we feel from
Feminine - having qualities or appearance traditionally associated with men:
Dead name: or dead name, is a term for someone’s old name after a name change, especially regarding a transgender person’s adoption of a name that conforms with their gender identity. It is rude to refer to a trans person by their dead name.
Masculine: having qualities or appearance traditionally associated with men:
Ally: Ally is a term to describe anyone who actively and fully supports the LGBTQIA+ community.
Here is a glossary of terms from Mod 1 to help you familiarize yourself with the different words and meanings that you may encounter.
Cisnormativity: Most people are cisgender and so this is considered the “norm,” which can lead to systemic and unintentional prejudice against trans people in society. However, cisgender individuals can also be gender non-conforming. The Latin prefix “cis” means “on the same side.”
Assigned Sex at Birth: A medical assignment given at birth based on physical characteristics of the body. This can refer to male, female, or also intersex.
AFAB: Acronym with the meaning “assigned female at birth.”
Cisgender: A person whose gender identity or subconscious sex aligns with the sex that they were assigned at birth. For example, a person assigned the sex of a male at birth who identifies as male gender would be considered cisgender. Similarly, a person assigned the sex of female at birth and who identifies as female gender would be cisgender.
Androgynous: Referring to a person with a gender identity or presentation that is neutral or has both masculine and feminine parts. Synonyms include null-gender, androgyne, genderless, and neutrosis.
Body Dysphoria: Discomfort about the body that is related to gender identity and misalignment with physical characteristics such as anatomy, secondary sex characteristics, reproductive organs, etc.
Cisgender Privilege: Referring to the experience of never having one’s natural sexual identity be questioned by society. This leads to the behavior of taking for granted that everyone has the same life
experience and a lack of struggle with their gender identity.
Remember that these terms are constantly changing and it's important to stay up-to-date by asking people about their preferred terms.
AMAB: Acronym with the meaning “assigned male at birth.”
Female-to-male (FTM): Referring to people who were assigned female at birth but who identify as male. This may or may not involve changing the body through medical procedures or surgeries.
Gender Affirmation Surgery: Surgery to affirm an individual’s gender identity that involves changing primary or secondary sex characteristics. This can be necessary to alleviate gender dysphoria.
Femme: Referring to a person with a gender identity or expression that leans toward being feminine in general. A person who is femme does not necessarily identify as a woman and is not necessarily assigned the female sex at birth by a doctor.
Gender Conforming: Referring to a person who follows the rules of society about how genders should act, behave, and appear to others.
Glossary Continued
Family of choice: The circle of friends, partners, etc. that people who are LGBTQIA+ choose to associate with because they provide validation, support, and a feeling of belonging that they may be missing in their biological family.
Gender Dysphoria: A medical diagnosis and term to reflect the distress experienced by individuals who have a misalignment between their sex assigned at birth and the gender that they identify with internally. This means that a person doesn’t feel right about their body parts, physical characteristics, or societal interactions in terms of their internal experience of gender.
Feminine-presenting: Referring to a person with an outward gender expression that appears feminine. For example, this could be shown through style, mannerisms, body language, etc.
Genderfluid: Referring to a person who shifts between genders or who feels as though their gender changes over time either rapidly or gradually.
Gender Expression: The way that a person publicly expresses their gender as masculine, feminine, androgynous, etc. For example, gender can be expressed through their clothing, hair and makeup, body language, chosen name, pronouns, mannerisms, interests, etc. For trans people, they may also physically alter their body through medical interventions to match their internal gender identity such as hormone therapy or surgery. Also known as gender presentation.
Gender Norms: The cultural and social norms assigned to women and men regarding clothing, appearance, roles, and behavior. For example, women are expected to behave more passively than men, while men are expected to be more dominant than women. People who do not fit gender norms may be singled out (e.g., an overly feminine man or a dominant woman).
Gender-Inclusive Pronouns: Pronouns that are neutral and can be used by both transgender and cisgender people. For example, the words they, them, and theirs when used to refer to a single person are gender-neutral Gender Nonconforming (gender variant, genderqueer): People whose gender expression does not follow the gender norms or societal expectations for the sex they were given at birth or their perceived sex. This includes people who are androgynous, feminine men, masculine women, etc. This can include trans people but not all people who are gender non-conforming identify as trans. People of any gender can be gender nonconforming (e.g., cis, nonbinary, trans).
Gender Identity: A core sense of the self as being a woman, man, or neither. This does not always align with the sex assigned at birth and can develop and change over time. It also cannot be assumed based on outward physical characteristics.
Glossary Continued
LGBTTTIQ: An acronym representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, two-spirit, intersex, and queer.
LGBT: An acronym representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender.
Glossary continued
Intersex: A person born with characteristics that are not easily categorized as male or female (e.g., reproductive organs, chromosomes, hormones). For example, a man could be born with ovaries instead of testes or a woman could be born with XY chromosomes. Intersex occurs at a rate of about one in 1500 births but most people are assigned either male or female sex at birth regardless of being intersex. Intersex people may identify with their assigned sex, identify with the opposite sex, or identify as intersex. They do not usually identify as trans (transgender or transsexual).
acronym representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, and two-spirit
LGBTQ+: An acronym representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, etc. This acronym is internationally LGBTQ2:recognized.An
LGBTI: An acronym representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex.
LGBTQIA+: An acronym representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, asexual/ally, etc.
Masculine-of-Center: People who identify as masculine. These individuals may or may not identify as a man. Being masculine-of-center does not indicate a person’s assigned sex at birth.
Multi-gender: People who identify with more than one gender. This includes people who identify as bigender, trigender, pangender, polygender, and in some cases, genderfluid.
Male-to-female (MTF): Referring to people who were assigned male at birth but who identify as female. This may or may not involve changing the body through medical procedures.
Maverique: A person who experiences their gender identity to be separate from current categories and descriptions.
Misgender: Calling someone by the wrong pronoun or using language that is not inclusive to their gender identity.
Nonbinary: Nonbinary (sometimes called enby or nb) is an umbrella term for anyone who falls outside the gender binary of male or female. Some people simply identify as non-binary and some identify as a specific type of nonbinary identity. Examples include genderqueer, genderfluid, agender, bigender, etc..
Queer: Previously used as a derogatory term for transgender and transsexual individuals, which has since been reclaimed by the community to display their identities with pride.
Masculine-presenting: People with a gender expression that they consider to be masculine. This includes outward expression through such things as body language, mannerisms, physical characteristics, and style. This term does not indicate anything about assigned sex at birth.
Neutrois: People who have a gender that is neither male nor female. This includes nonbinary, genderless, genderfluid, and agender identities.
Glossary continued
Transitioning: Activities engaged in by trans individuals to affirm their gender identity such as changing their name, clothing, pronouns, sex designation, etc. This can include medical treatments such as hormone therapy, sex reassignment surgery, etc. This process is different for every person and the time it takes and activities that are engaged in are not universal.
Glossary continued Glossary continued
Transgender/Trans: Transgender is as an umbrella term for anyone who identifies as a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth. This includes trans men or women and non-binary identities such as genderfluid, genderqueer, and agender.
Sex Assigned at Birth: The sex assigned to a person at birth based on the existing classification system.
Sex: A classification system assigned at birth based on a person’s physical characteristics, reproductive systems, chromosomes, hormones, and secondary sex characteristics. Sex is generally classified at birth as male, female, or intersex based on the appearance of the external genitalia. If these are ambiguous, sex is assigned based on internal genitalia, hormones, and chromosomes.
Transpositive: This term refers to the opposite of transphobia. This type of attitude is validating and accepting of transsexual and transgender individuals and celebrates their rights.
Two-Spirit: Two-Spirit is an important term in many indigenous cultures. It has no set definition but is mainly
Trans Man/Trans Woman: A trans man is someone who was assigned the sex of “female” at birth but who identifies as a man (also known as female-to-male or FTM). A trans woman is someone who was assigned the sex of “male” at birth but who identifies as a woman (also known as male-tofemale or MTF).
Transphobia: Intolerance, fear, aversion, prejudice, harassment, discrimination, violence, or hatred aimed at trans individuals and trans communities based on stereotypes and misconceptions.
2. Spark joy and connection
1.would:Equip
Dear Colleagues,
you with the language, skills, and ability to create an inclusive, sustainable, and welcoming workplace.
It was an honor to create this experience for you—our friends, colleagues, and mentors. We appreciate you and recognize that no single person at Rubicon is like you. Your journey – with its moments of wins, growth, and discomfort is unlike anybody else’s. When these individual journeys fill a room, fill a discussion, and become best practices, that framework for change is intersectional.
When we are our dynamic, layered selves, WE ARE the Future of Work. Thank you!
The difficulty of the past two years has taught us that we can find our path through uncertainty and emerge on the other side stronger together. We invite you to see this as we do - a permanent way of being —an evolution.
The Dismantling CisHet Normativity Experience is a testament to Rubicon’s evolution and your willingness to create cultures of belonging, strong allies, and hold yourself and each other accountable to inclusive behaviors. We meet for over 20 hours to develop an experience that
3. Resource you to be savvy, empowered allies
