Introduction: Defining the Terms To understand the transgender community’s place within LGBTQ culture, one must first distinguish between sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation. Sex is typically assigned at birth based on anatomy. Gender identity is an individual’s internal, deeply held sense of being male, female, a blend of both, or neither. Transgender (often shortened to “trans”) describes people whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. Cisgender refers to those whose identity aligns with that assignment.
