Transgender

An umbrella adjective for a person whose gender identity does not align with the sex assigned to them at birth. Does not require surgery, hormone therapy, or any medical intervention to be valid.
- Trans man: Assigned female at birth; identifies as a man
- Trans woman: Assigned male at birth; identifies as a woman

Latin trans- (across, beyond) + gender. Magnus Hirschfeld used the German phrase "seelischer Transsexualismus" in 1923, but he meant something broader than the later English term. The English noun "transsexual" is credited to David Oliver Cauldwell, who used it in "Psychopathia Transexualis" (Sexology, 1949) for people who wanted their physical sex changed. Harry Benjamin's The Transsexual Phenomenon (1966) put the word into general medical use. "Transgenderism" coined by John F. Oliven (1965). "Transgender" became the preferred umbrella term in the 1990s.

• Gender variance is documented in every culture and throughout recorded history
• 1919 - Hirschfeld founds the Institut fur Sexualwissenschaft in Berlin; pioneering research and gender-affirming care
• 1952 - Christine Jorgensen becomes the first widely known American to publicly transition - front-page news worldwide
• 1969 - Stonewall Uprising - trans women of color Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera among the first to resist police raids
• 1979 - WPATH publishes its first Standards of Care
• 1999 - Monica Helms designs the transgender pride flag; first Transgender Day of Remembrance observed
• 2019 - WHO's ICD-11 moves "gender incongruence" out of the mental disorders chapter

• "Being transgender is a mental illness." The WHO's ICD-11 (2019) classifies gender incongruence under sexual health, not mental disorders.
• "Transgender identity is a trend." Trans people have existed in every documented culture throughout recorded history.
• "Being transgender always requires surgery." A trans person's identity is valid regardless of medical transition.
• "Gender identity and sexual orientation are the same." They are entirely separate dimensions.
• See the full comparison: Transgender vs Transsexual.

• Lili Elbe (1882-1931) - Among the first to have gender-affirming surgery
• Christine Jorgensen (1926-1989) - First widely known American to publicly transition (1952)
• Marsha P. Johnson (1945 to 1992) - Central figure in the Stonewall uprising and co-founder of STAR with Sylvia Rivera. Johnson used the words available at the time and described herself variously as a gay man, a drag queen, a queen and a transvestite; asked about her gender she once said "I think of myself as me". She is claimed today by trans, drag and gay communities alike, and historians caution against fixing a 1969 life to a 2020s label.
• Sylvia Rivera (1951-2002) - Latina trans woman; Stonewall; co-founded STAR; fought for trans inclusion in gay liberation
• Leslie Feinberg (1949-2014) - Activist and author; Stone Butch Blues
• Laverne Cox (1972-) - First trans person on cover of Time magazine (2014)
• Janet Mock (1983-) - Writer and filmmaker; Redefining Realness
• Miss Major Griffin-Gracy (1946 to 2025) - Stonewall veteran and organiser; first executive director of the TGI Justice Project, which Alexander L. Lee founded in 2004, a role she held until she retired in 2015
• Monica Helms (1951-) - Designed the transgender pride flag