Most people identify as male or female, but for some of us, how we identify and how we feel doesn’t match our biology. A person’s gender identity can be defined by one’s sex assignment at birth, physical identity, gender presentation, gender expression, body image and gender roles related to one’s internal sense of being male or female. When a person’s gender identity or expression differs from conventional expectations for their physical sex they may identify as transgendered.

The term transgender is used to describe several distinct but related groups of people who use a variety of other terms to self-identify. Transgendered people can include transsexuals (people who change, or plan to change, their sex through surgery), masculine women, feminine men, drag queens/kings and cross-dressers. Like other people, transgendered people can be straight, gay, lesbian or bisexual.