There was just a thread over at The Bilerico Project discussing how to answer questions about being GLBTQ. The replies to the post turned to the use of ‘trans’ as an identifier, and thought I’d share what I posted in reply to a question about “the slugfest going on over the use of “transgender.”"

My understanding is that there’s a disagreement in the trans community over whether individuals who have transitioned can/should still be labeled as ‘trans.’ (Of necessity, I’m using the term ‘trans community’ to include men and women who do not believe ‘trans’ is an appropriate identifier for themselves.)

Specifically, one poster left a comment about how to refer to trans individuals, saying, in part:
You can use “trans” if you want, along with “transsexual, transgender, FtM, MtF, trans men, trans women, trans community, and transgender community,”

However, another poster came at the issue from the opposite side, and replied with, in part:
The proper way to refer to a woman who transsexed is woman…..period. If you absolutely must use a modifier, woman of transsexual history. “Transgender”, as the previous poster is well aware, is considered by many if not most of us in that place a deadly insult…..like the “n” word for someone black. Please, do not use the word “transgender” as an all inclusive umbrella term.

It certainly sounds like all involved agree that, when referring to an individual, you should use whatever description they feel is most appropriate. However, when referring to ‘the trans population,’ it becomes a sticky issue because each perspective is somewhat mutually exclusive – either it is ‘the trans population’ or it’s not, it’s the ‘population with a trans history.’

That’s my understanding of the general disagreement, and how it played out in this discussion specifically (at least, as a very brief summary). For my two cents, I do I identify as a trans woman, and am not uncomfortable with the term, and I don’t know many trans individuals who feel differently. From my perspective, ‘trans’ is a modifier of the designation ‘woman,’ and does not supersede it. Likewise, a friend who is diabetic could be a ‘diabetic man’ without his diabetes canceling or nullifying his identity as a man – my identity as trans can exist, for me, without nullifying or obliterating my identity as a woman.

-R