What does it mean to be trans?

Explaining the term and history

Image Caption: A visual representation of gender identity and how each identity interacts with others. The picture contains five shades with the colors blue, purple, grey, green, and pink from left to right. Each is labeled a with a gender identity umbrella. Lists of each gender identity are below.

The Context

If you have heard of the LGBTQ+ community, you most likely have heard of the word transgender, or “trans” for short. It is a word that has a lot of history, and a lot of confusion, behind it. In order to explain it better, I decided to write out a guide to the word transgender and the intricacies behind it.

As you might know, the word “transgender” in its basic form means different gender. Trans is a word that comes from Latin, literally meaning “across,” “beyond,” or “through.” In its current English usage, we use it to reference something different or opposite of a standard. For example, transcontinental (across continents), transportation (through ports/travel), and transplant (planted in a different place). The opposite of trans is the Latin prefix “cis-,” which translates to “on this side of.” In this case, “trans-” is used in reference to how transgender people typically identify as different than their gender assigned at birth. This term refers to the gender someone is assigned based on their sexual characteristics when they are born. Although usually assumed to be one and the same, we began to officially understand that they were separate things in 1965 (Capuzza et al. 173). Although the study of gender separately from biological sex is new, our knowledge about…