Q. I find it really confusing sometimes when I hear all of the different terms.  It seems like they’re all the same.  What is the difference between transgender, transsexual and cross dresser?

A. I understand that it can be confusing and because gender is so much more fluid than we have grown up to believe it is easy to be perplexed.  When it comes down to it transgender is the most acceptable term.  Transgender is kind of like an umbrella term for all those of us who are gender diverse.  All of us identify a little bit differently.

Along with being transgender, I’m transsexual.  I am a woman who was assigned a male gender at birth.  I have been on hormone therapy for many years and take testosterone blockers to help with diminishing male attributes. In the future I would like to have surgery so that my body is in alignment with my gender.

Transvestite is a person who just enjoys dressing in clothing that is opposite their assigned gender.  I detest the phrase cross dresser, but it is the same thing as transvestite.

Drag Queens and Kings are performers.  Female illusionists if you will.  They put on make-up, padding and clothing to portray the opposite gender for entertainment. They do not live their lives in this manner.

Gender Queer are people that do don’t like to adhere to the constraints of a binary gender system.  They feel comfortable wearing androgynous and gender ambiguous clothing, hairstyles and such.

Intersex have physical gender characteristics that do not readily identify them as on gender. Chromosomes, gonads and genitalia may be ambiguous or both gender characteristics may be present.

There are many more identifications and words that describe we who are gender diverse.  If you wish to know more, please ask.