Gender Identity/Expression

The Issue

Classrooms, communities and workplaces should be safe for every person, regardless of whether or not the person fits expectations for masculinity or femininity.  From workplaces to homes, to just walking on the streets, Texans with non-stereotypical-conforming gender identity/expression face widespread discrimination, harassment, and even violence.

Every person has a gender identity/expression.  People self-identify as a particular gender and express their masculinity and/or femininity to the world.  Often, gender identity/expression corresponds to the sex assigned at birth, so that people assigned male or female often dress, adopt a hairstyle, and use a name and pronoun in ways that reflect the culturally-stereotypical-conforming roles associated with their birth sex.

Transgender is an umbrella term used to designate someone who outwardly expresses their gender in a way that differs from their birth sex.  This includes people who have undergone medical procedures to change their sex and those who have not.  A transgender person can be heterosexual, gay, lesbian, or bisexual.