DEFINING TRANSGENDER

• Transgender, at its most basic level, is a word that applies to someone who doesn’t fit within society’s standards of how a woman or a man is supposed to look or act.
• Transgender may be used to describe someone who was assigned female or male at birth, but later realizes that label doesn’t accurately reflect who they feel are inside.
• This person may now live life as a man or woman, or may feel that their gender identity can’t be truly summed up by either of the two options we’re usually given (male or female).
• They might feel like they’re in between those two options; both male and female; or outside the two-gender system entirely—neither male nor female.
• In this sense, it applies to those who feel they don’t fit within society’s standards of how women and men are supposed to look and act (gender non-conforming).

• Transgender is a relatively new word, but it’s not a new concept. Gender non-conforming people have existed in many time periods and cultures.
• A transgender identity is not dependent upon medical procedures.
• Some transgender people have surgeries, or take hormones, to bring their body into alignment with their gender identity. But, many do not and that doesn’t mean they’re not transgender.
• You might think someone is transgender, but this is a personal identity that some people claim and others do not.
• Wait to see how someone self-identifies (or ask, respectfully) before assuming.