Transsexual - A person who wishes to transition from Male-To-Female (MTF) or from Female-To-Male (FTM). This transition may or may not include Sex-Reassignment Surgery (SRS) and/or hormone treatment.
Sex-Reassignment Surgery - A sex change operation.
Androgynous - Someone who reflects some combination both masculine and feminine traits. Often, this word is used to describe a person whose appearance is neither or both feminine or masculine.
Intersexed - People who were born with some combination of both male and female reproductive organs. Formerly known as hermaphrodites (this term is now considered offensive).
Crossdressers - People who dress in the traditional clothing of the sex opposite their biological sex. Can be of any sexual orientation.
Gender Neutral - People who feel that neither the "male" or "female" gender reflects their gender identity. Sometimes these people will choose to use a "gender neutral" pronoun (i.e. ze or sie instead of he or she, and hir instead of his or her).
Gender Identity - The internal sense of being male or female. This may or may not accord with physical anatomy.
Transphobia - The fear and hatred of crossdressers, transsexuals, transgendered people, and other folks who express gender outside the traditional gender roles.
Sexual Orientation - A person's attraction to other people (i.e. heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, asexual, pansexual, omnisexual, etc.) Trans people can be of ANY sexual orientation. Gender identity is NOT the same as sexual orientation.
Drag King/Queen - Used to refer to crossdressers of all sexes who wear women's clothing (drag queen) or men's clothing (drag king), often in a flamboyant or exaggerated way as entertainment.
Hormones - Estrogen (for MTFs) or testosterone (for FTMs) taken to alter gender presentation.
Passing - A person who "passes" is perceived as the gender they want to be perceived as. FTMs "pass" when they are perceived as male, and MTFs "pass" when they are perceived as female.
Heterosexism - The presumption that all people are, or should be, heterosexual. And the assumption that heterosexuality is inherently superior and preferable to other sexual orientations.
Queer - Term often used as an umbrella term encompassing the whole spectrum of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning people. This term is not widely used. Many younger queer people use it, but many older queer people still find it offensive.
Biological Sex - An individual's genital sex assigned at birth.
