Understanding Transgender People: The Basics
As we are about to enter the New Year I thought I would write a short reminder to the world. Understanding what it is like to be transgender can be hard, especially if you have never met a transgender person. Transgender is a broad term that can be used to describe people whose gender identity is different from the gender they were thought to be when they were born. “Trans” is often used as shorthand for transgender. To treat a transgender person with respect, you treat them according to their gender identity, not their sex at birth. So, someone who lives as a woman today is called a transgender woman and should be referred to as “she” and “her.” A transgender man lives as a man today and should be referred to as “he” and “him.” (Note: I will be using both the adjectives “male” and “female” and the nouns “man” and “woman” to refer to a person’s gender identity.) Gender identity is your internal knowledge of your gender – for example, your knowledge that you’re a man, a woman, or anothe...