Transgender F.A.Q
Developed by Genny Beemyn
Director, The Stonewall Center, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
413-545-4826, brettgenny@stuaf.umass.edu
Adapted from Transgender Nation
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Frequently Asked Questions About Transgender People
1. What Does “Transgender” Mean?
Transgender people are individuals whose gender identity and/or expression is sometimes or always different from the gender assigned to them at birth. Literally, they “trans,” or cross, gender lines.
2. Who Are Transgender People?
Transgender people include female-to-male transsexuals (FTMs or transsexual men), male-to-female transsexuals (MTFs or transsexual women), crossdressers (the term preferred to “transvestites”), drag queens and kings, and individuals who adopt a range of genderqueer identities and labels.
3. What Does Genderqueer Mean?
A relatively new term, “genderqueer” is used by many transgender youth who identify as neither male nor female, as both, or as somewhere in between, and who often seek to blur gender lines.
4. How Are Transsexual Individuals Different from Crossdressers?
Transsexual individuals feel that their gender identity does not coincide with the gender they were assigned at birth. They may undergo hormone treatments and gender confirmation surgeries to align their anatomy with their core identity, but not all desire or can afford to do so. Although crossdressers wear clothes that are considered by society to be inappropriate for their gender, they do not want to change their birth gender and generally do not alter their bodies through hormones or surgeries.
5. What About Drag Kings and Queens?
Crossdressing was common among women and men who sought same-sex relationships in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and often thousands of people attended the annual drag balls held in cities like New York, Chicago, and New Orleans.
While drag was a largely accepted practice in same-sex sexual communities, the opposite was true in the dominant, heterosexual society. Not surprisingly then, the first support groups for crossdressers consisted of heterosexual men, and some organizations even sought to exclude gay and bisexual men. Thus a clear split developed between drag queens and kings—lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals who crossdressed—and heterosexual crossdressers. Beyond these separate histories, another difference between the two groups is that drag kings and queens are often very open about their crossdressing and may perform crossdressed. Crossdressers are generally less public about their crossdressing and may even hide it from their lovers or spouses.
6. Are Transgender People Gay?
Being transgender is about gender identity and expression, not sexuality—these are different, though not entirely unrelated, concepts. For example, transgender people are often perceived by society as lesbian or gay, and thus are discriminated against in similar ways.
7. How Are Transgender People Discriminated Against?
Like gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals, transgender people face discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations and services. They are also potential targets for hate crimes and incidents: verbal harassment, threatening telephone calls and emails, and acts of violence committed by the same people who hate lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals. Transgender people, though, are much more likely to fall victim to discrimination and hate crimes than non-transgender LGB individuals, because they often possess physical or behavioral characteristics that readily identify them as transgender. They are also often denied health care, including access to hormones and gender confirmation surgeries.
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How to Be an Ally to Transgender People
• Validate people’s gender expression. It is important to refer to transgender people by the pronoun appropriate to their gender identity. In other words, if someone identifies as female, then refer to the person as “she”; if someone identifies as male, refer to the person as “he.” If you are not sure, ask them. Never use the word “it” when referring to someone who is transgender. To do so is incredibly insulting and disrespectful. Some transgender people prefer to use gender- neutral pronouns: “hir” instead of “her” and “his,” and “sie” or “ze” instead of “she” and “he.”
• Use non-gendered language to avoid making gender assumptions. Refer to people by name, instead of calling them “sir”/ma’am” or “Mr.”/”Ms.”
• Challenge your own conceptions about gender-appropriate roles and behaviors. Do not expect people to conform to society’s beliefs about “women” and “men.”
• Do not assume that someone who is transgender is lesbian, gay, or bisexual, or that a person will seek to transition to become heterosexual.
• Use the word “crossdresser” instead of “transvestite,” as the latter term is often considered pejorative because of the word’s clinical and pathological history.
• Never ask transgender people about how they have sex or what their genitals look like. This is inappropriate in every situation.
• Do not share the gender identity of individuals without their permission. Do not assume that everyone knows. The decision to tell others about one’s gender should be left to the
individual.
• When you learn about someone’s transgender identity, do not assume that it is a fad or trend. While public discussions about transgenderism and transsexuality are a relatively recent phenomenon, most transgender people have felt themselves to be gender different from early childhood and have often struggled to be accepted by others. It is important to trust that someone’s decision to present themselves as differently gendered is not made lightly or without due consideration.
• Educate yourself and others about the experiences of transgender people. Introduce
trainings, readings, and other resources to your colleagues to continue educational efforts to deconstruct social norms around gender, sex, and sexual orientation.
• Work to change campus policies in areas such as housing, employment, student records and forms, and health care that discriminate against transgender people and seek to include “gender identity/expression” in your school’s non-discrimination policy.
