ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to provide a framework for understanding the construction of minoritized gender and sexuality identities, the initial language and historical and contemporary understanding for postsecondary educators to successfully engage lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) students. Race, culture, class, and disability are some of the identities that shape our internal and external experience of our sexual and gender identities. Some of the more delineations of identity labels describing selves that were always present but perhaps not formally validated also require consideration. Historically, sexual and gender identities came into being as constructs in the Western world during the 19th century along with industrialization. From the beginning, sexual and gender identities were meant to be bulwarks upholding compulsory heteronormativity and cisnormativity along with other systems of power and privilege. In early historical accounts, where the LGBTQ+ behaviors and identities were taboo, the primary descriptive constructs were medical and pseudoscientific, originating, from the ivory towers of academia and science.
