Table 1.

Common terminology

Term	Definition
Gender identity	A person’s internal, deeply held sense of their own gender, which may or may not match the sex they were assigned at birth
Sex	The classification of a person as male or female typically based on external anatomy present at birth
Transgender	An umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or expression is different from the sex they were assigned at birth
Transgender man	Person who was assigned female sex at birth but identifies as a man
Transgender woman	Person who was assigned male sex at birth but identifies as a woman
Transition	A complex process that occurs over a long period of time in which one alters one’s birth sex. May vary from person to person
Sexual orientation	Distinct from identity, describes a person’s physical, romantic, and/or emotional attraction to another person
Queer	An adjective used by some people whose sexual orientation is not exclusively heterosexual
Cross-dresser	Typically used to refer to heterosexual men who occasionally wear clothes, make-up, and accessories culturally associated with women. Preferred over the term “transvestite”