Transgender Inclusion

Chapter 1Getting to Know the Transgender Community

I think one of the most difficult balances to strike as a transgender person is the balance between novelty and normalcy. We are very much like you and not at all like you at the same time.

The transgender community is often misunderstood. Part of our very nature is the inherent dissonance between who others think we are and who we know ourselves to be. The writing of this chapter is particularly difficult because, while I want to highlight some of what we've come to know about the transgender community as a whole, I worry that such efforts can cast too wide a net. So as you read this chapter, please keep in mind that while these statistics speak to the lived experience of many transgender individuals in the United States and around the world, we are not homogeneous. We are beautiful. We are vibrant. We are nuanced. And we are often misunderstood.

But before discussing what we know about this community from a demographic standpoint, we must ensure that we understand what it means to be transgender. To do so, you must first understand the difference between sex assigned at birth and gender identity.

“It's a Boy!”

When a child is born, the sex assigned at birth is determined, and this determination usually takes place based almost solely on external anatomy. Whoever is in the room at the time of delivery, whether the doctor, the midwife, the doula, or whoever participates in the birthing process, is the one who determines the ...