Lee Hurley for Metro.co.uk I hate the term LGBT. It’s the confusion the term causes. Lesbian, gay and bisexual are all sexualities, so you’d be forgiven for thinking transgender is as well. Forms ask you if you’re heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual or transgender. But it’s not a sexuality. It’s a gender. It makes no more sense…

Author’s Notes: I use “transexual” here in terms of someone who was categorized as a different gender upon birth than they personally associate with, and then later used medical treatments (e.g.: hormones, surgery) to feel more in touch with their true gender. Although it’s considered the incorrect spelling, “transexual” (with one S) is often used…

Disclaimer: I’ve chosen to focus this article on trans women only for the sake of brevity and clarity. It is not my intent to contribute to the ongoing cultural erasure of trans men, and I believe their voices, experiences and identities deserve to be heard and understood. Cis readers, please note that much of this…

This year’s Oscar ceremony raised questions from my friends, family, and co-workers, mainly regarding Ellen Degeneres’ drag queen joke and Jared Leto’s Leading Actor win for playing a trans woman in Dallas Buyer’s Club. After fielding the same questions from people in different facets of my life, it dawned on me: Many people do not…

Every few months I find myself reading something written by a person with no actual psychological, psychiatric, or medical training expounding on why they believe transgender people aren’t real, shouldn’t be allowed to transition, or just need some old-school “reparative therapy” complete with screaming, pillow whacking and cuddling with a “therapist.” Recently there has been…