PROBLEMATIC TERMINOLOGY
PROBLEMATIC: transgenders, a transgender
PREFERRED: transgender people, a transgender person
Transgender should be used as an adjective, not as a noun. Do not say, “Tony is a transgender,” or, “The parade included many transgenders.” Instead say, “Tony is a transgender person,” or, “The parade included many transgender people.”
PROBLEMATIC: transgendered
PREFERRED: transgender
The word transgender never needs the extraneous ed at the end of the word. In fact, such a construction is grammatically incorrect. Only verbs should be transformed into participles by adding -ed to the end of the word, and transgender is an adjective, not a verb.
PROBLEMATIC: sex change, preoperative, postoperative
PREFERRED: transition
Referring to a sex change operation or using terms such as pre- or postoperative inaccurately suggests that one must have surgery to truly change one’s sex.
PROBLEMATIC: hermaphrodite
PREFERRED: intersex person
The word hermaphrodite is an outdated, stigmatizing, and misleading word, usually used to sensationalize intersex people.
DEFAMATORY TERMINOLOGY
DEFAMATORY: deceptive, fooling, pretending, posing, or masquerading
Gender identity is an integral part of a person’s total identity. Please do not characterize transgender people as “deceptive,” as “fooling” other people, or as “pretending” to be, “posing,” or “masquerading” as a man or a woman. Such descriptions are extremely insulting.
DEFAMATORY: she-male, he-she, it, trannie, tranny, gender bender
These words only serve to dehumanize transgender people and should not be used.