Resources

There are many resources available for the professional looking for answers on issues of Gender Identity. Some of these are in print form and other available on the internet. With all internet resources, great care should be taken to determine the accuracy and origin of the information.

Internet based resources

	Transgender Equality, an excellent publication by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Foundation. Download it for free from the NGLTF site www.thetaskforce.org (Adobe PDF format). The handbook is at http://www.thetaskforce.org/downloads/transeq.pdf
	The Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association is online at: www.hbigda.org Copies of the Standards of Care can be downloaded from this site.

The Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association's Standards of Care for Gender Identity Disorders, Current Version

http://www.hbigda.org/soc.cfm

The Benjamin Association Requirements for Hormone Therapy for Adults

http://www.hbigda.org/soc.cfm#07

The Benjamin Association Statement on Assessment and Treatment of Children and Adolescents

http://www.hbigda.org/soc.cfm#05

	The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Founded in 1973, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force works to eliminate prejudice, violence and injustice against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people at the local, state and national level. As part of a broader social justice movement for freedom, justice and equality, NGLTF is creating a world that respects and celebrates the diversity of human expression and identity where all people may fully participate in society.
	Transgender Civil Rights Project. The Transgender Civil Rights Project provides legislative and strategy assistance, including evaluation of legislative language, to activists and organizations working to pass trans-inclusive anti-discrimination bills or to add transgender protections to existing laws. Although the primary work of the Project centers on nondiscrimination laws, the Project can provide assistance to policymakers and activists working to develop other policies or laws relating to transgender equality.
	Human Rights Campaign. The Human Rights Campaign, the largest national lesbian and gay political organization, envisions an America where lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are ensured of their basic equal rights, and can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community.
	The Transgender Law and Policy Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to engaging in effective advocacy for transgender people in our society. The TLPI brings experts together to work on law and policy initiatives designed to advance transgender equality, makes freely available litigation, legislative, and education advocacy materials for use by other advocates for transgender people, believes that working in coalitions gives transgender people the strongest possible base from which to advocate for change.
	GenderPAC is committed to laws which protect every American's right to their gender free from stereotypes, discrimination, and violence. GenderPAC believes in fair and full protection under the law regardless of gender.
	Intersex Society of North America is devoted to systemic change to end shame, secrecy and unwanted genital surgeries for people born with anomaly of the reproductive system. We are working to end the idea that intersexuality is shameful or freakish. In the U.S. alone, five children are subjected to harmful, medically unnecessary sexual surgeries every day. We urge physicians to use a model of care that is patient-centered, rather than concealment-centered.
	A general information resource on Gender Identity issues can be found on the web site of The Ingersoll Gender Center. There are also many links from that page to other sources of information.
	American Boyz, Inc
	The International Foundation for Gender Education
	New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy

These are the books I often use for introducing the concepts. The books are useful for professionals and those they serve. I often provide these texts to families with internet sources.

	Brown, Mildred L. and Rounsley, Chloe Ann. True Selves, Understanding Transsexuals. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996 http://www.ifge.org/books/true_selves.htm
	Ettner, Randi: Gender Loving Care: A Guide to Counseling Gender-Variant Clients NY: W. W. Norton & Company, 1999. http://www.wwnorton.com/orders/npb/070304.htm
	Walworth, Janis: Transsexual Workers: An Employer’s Guide. Center for Gender Sanity, 1998. www.gendersanity.com

Hormone information for the professional and the client/patient:

	Kirk, Sheila, MD: Feminizing Hormonal Therapy for the Transgendered. Together Lifeworks, 1996. http://www.ifge.org/books/feminizing_hormonal.htm
	Israel, Gianna E. and Tarver, Donald E, Eds: Transgender Care: Recommended Guidelines, Practical Information and Personal Accounts. Temple University Press, 1997. http://www.ifge.org/books/transgender_care.htm

Resources for Legal and Social Concerns

	Transgender Civil Rights Project
	National Center for Lesbian Rights 870 Market Street Suite 570 San Francisco, CA 94102 Telephone: 415 392-6257
	The Seattle Ordinance, as amended to include Gender Identity.
	The Transgender Law and Policy Institute

Other useful print media information resources are:

	Bockting, Walter O. Transgender HIV prevention. The Netherlands, Ponsen and Looijen, 1998. (This is a book created from past and current work at the University of Minnesota)
	Stuart, Kim E. The Uninvited Dilemma. Lake Oswego, Oregon: Metamorphous Press, 1983.
	Devor, Holly. FTM. Bloomington Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1997. (Female-To-Male Transsexuals in Society)
	Bullough, Bonnie., Bullough, Vern., Elias, James. eds., Gender Blending. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 1997.
	Kirk, Sheila, M.D. Masculinizing Hormonal Therapy for the Transgendered. Blawnox PA: Together Lifeworks, 1996.
	Kirk, Sheila, M.D. Feminizing Hormonal Therapy for the Transgendered. Blawnox PA: Together Lifeworks, 1996.
	Kirk, Sheila, M.D. Physician's Guide to Transgendered Medicine. Blawnox PA: Together Lifeworks, 1996.
	Kirk, Shelia, M.D. and Rothblatt, Martine, J.D. Medical, Legal & Workplace Issues for the Transsexual. Together Lifeworks, 1995.
	Money, John. Gay, Straight, and In-Between. Oxford New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.
	Walworth, Janis. Transsexual workers an employers guide. Center for Gender Sanity, 1998.

Here are some definitions I have prepared to help you understand the Gender Identity Concerns. I realize language and definitions change over time and understand that as research brings new information there may be new definitions and terms.

Gender Identity (in the psychological use) The sameness, unity, and persistence of one's individuality as male or female (or ambivalent), especially as it is experienced in self-awareness and behavior. Gender identity is the inward and individual experience of maleness or femaleness--or ambivalence--and gender role, or presentation, is the public expression of that gender identity. Non traditional gender identity becomes visible through having identity, expression, or physical characteristics not traditionally associated with one's biological sex or one's sex at birth.

Transsexual People who change their primary social gender roles and their physical bodies. They make use of medication and surgery to bring their bodies into harmony with their inner sense of gender identity. Transsexual individuals often follow a prescribed set of standards in their pursuit of medical assistance.

Transgender The original use of the term "transgender" referred to people who changed their social role to live fully in the gender role opposite of their gender role as assigned at birth, but they do so without changing their bodies through surgery or medication. This was the original meaning of the term.

Currently the term "transgender" is being adopted as a popular umbrella term in an effort to unite many forms of gender identity/gender variant expression, and to build a community. The emerging meaning refers to all individuals who experience internal conflict with their physical sex and thus their gender expression or physical characteristics may differ from their gender as assigned at birth.

If the term "transgendered" is used in ordinances and other protections, limited interpretation of its meaning could exclude some individuals from protection, e.g., those gender non-conforming persons who do not meet the limited reading of the term "transgendered" because although they live fully in a gender role other than their sex at birth they have not chosen to include physical alteration in their transition.

Other individuals who might also be excluded by a limited used of the term transgendered include those who might appear "too feminine" or "too masculine" in their daily presentations, intersexed individuals, androgynous individuals, and persons whose cultural gender roles are different from those of the dominate culture in which they live.

Gender Non-Conforming/ Gender Variant Synonymous terms sometimes used in gender identity literature to refer to persons whose social gender role presentations do not fall into the usually accepted perimeters within a given culture. Examples of gender non-conforming and gender variant persons include individuals who might appear "too feminine" or "too masculine" in their daily presentations, intersexed individuals, androgynous individuals, and persons whose cultural gender roles are different from those of the dominate culture in which they live.

Intersexed This term refers to the biological issues involved when individuals are born with genital structures that are different from the majority. This is not transsexual or transgendered, but a separate set of categories that have their own concerns and treatment issues. Intersex refers to physical conditions that are different from the cultural norm. Consult the Intersex Society of North America web site for more information: www.isna.org

Androgynous Existence of both male and female characteristics in equal amounts in one being. "In 1974, a Stanford University psychologist, Sandra Bem, developed the concept of androgyny. Bem does not view femininity and masculinity at opposite poles of a continuum. In other words, if you are high in masculine traits, you are not automatically low in feminine traits..." (David A. Gershaw, Ph.D.)

Gender Dysphoria This term was coined in the 1960’s to provide a clinical title for clients and patients whose primary diagnosis was Transsexualism. The Benjamin Association took the term as part of its name when the organization was founded in the late 1970’s. At that time there was very little literature on Gender Identity concerns, and many of the terms used today had not been developed. Today Gender Dysphoria is giving way to Gender Identity as a primary term.

Questioning A term growing in popularity, created to include individuals who are exploring gender and/or sexual identity and expression. Sometimes this exploration is formal, as in the use of psychotherapy and medical services, and sometimes it is a personal process. Unlike transsexual or transgender issues, questioning is the condition of not being committed to a particular expression of identity.