How do you refer to transgender people? What about the various stages of their transition? And what else do you need to know? We hope the list helps. And if something is missing, contact us to let us know.

  • Binary: Reference to two genders -- male and female. Actually, there is a broad spectrum of gender identities recognized today.
  • Cisgender: A person who identifies with the gender assigned at birth (so, "most" people).
  • Female to Male (FTM): Trans man who was born female and is living as a male. However, "trans male" or simply "male" is often preferred.
  • Gender Dysphoria: The unhappiness that a transgender person experiences regarding one's biological gender/anatomy. This is with or without the desire for the body and role of the "opposite" sex.
  • Gender Identity: An individual's internal sense of being male, female, or something else (there is a broad spectrum of gender identities).
  • Gender Queer or Gender Non-Conforming: Gender on a spectrum that is not binary. These people do not see themselves as wholly male or female. In some cases, they are gender-neutral.
  • Intersex: General term used for various conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male. A person might be born appearing to be female on the outside, but having mostly male-typical anatomy on the inside. Or a person may be born with genitals that seem to be in-between male and female.
  • LGBT (or GLBT): Stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender.
  • LGBTQ: Many organizations and individuals add the "Q" to LGBT to connote "queer" or "questioning" with respect to gender identity.
  • Male to Female (MTF): Trans woman who was born male and is living female. However, "trans female" or simply "female" is often preferred.
  • "Pre-op" and "Post-op" transgender people: Largely outdated terms that describe the status of a transgender person's surgeries. This is now considered offensive, as the transition typically begins long before surgeries, and some transgender and gender non-comforming people opt not to have surgery.
  • Sexual Reassignment Surgery: Procedures that change one's body to make it conform to the affirmed (note that we say "affirmed" rather than "preferred" or "new," as neither is truly correct for the trans individual) gender identity. This might include "Top Surgery" (chest reconstruction for trans men, breast augmentation for trans women) or "bottom surgery" (for feminizing or masculinizing genitals). Internal surgery such as a hysterectomy is separate from bottom surgery.
  • "T": Reference to testosterone within the transgender community.
  • Transgender: Umbrella term for people whose gender identity is not the same as that assigned at birth.
  • Transgendered: A largely outdated term to describe a transgender person. This has fallen out of favor because transgender people don't want to be viewed as "being transgendered" as if someone has done this to them (similar to people with disabilities, who prefer not to be called "disabled").
  • Transsexual: Outdated term to describe a transgender person (because this is about gender, not sex)
  • Transition: The period when a person makes the changes needed to live as one's affirmed gender. Transitioning can include changing clothing/grooming, changing one's name, taking hormones, having surgery, or changing legal documents (e.g. driver's license, Social Security record, birth certificate) to reflect the affirmed gender.
  • Two Spirit: Contemporary term that references historical multiple-gender traditions in many Native American or First Nations cultures. Many Native/First Nations people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, or gender non-conforming identify as Two-Spirit. In many Nations, being Two--Spirit carries great respect and additional commitments and responsibilities to one's community.