reinforced through social institutions as norms that are deleterious to the free expression of individuals. As Nangeroni (2006) argues, ôSexual orientation, gender identity, and sexual identity are independent of each other. A person may express any variation of each of these in any combination. To discourage the free expression of identity and orientation by an individual is to impose a damaging burden of conformityö (p. 1). This damage often includes homophobia, violence against those who refuse to conform in their gender or sex expression, and even internalization of homophobia or other psychologically damaging constructs.
There are a number of categories of expression across the attributes of sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex identity that undermine the conventional ôeither/orö notion of such attributes. Lesbians, gay men, and bisexual individuals are the most common categories of sexual orientation. However, transgendered individuals are often grouped together under this ôumbrellaö term that inc
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