[16][17] Many transgender people experience gender dysphoria, and some seek medical treatments such as hormone replacement therapy, gender-affirming surgery, or psychotherapy.

[28] Before the mid-20th century, various terms were used within and beyond Western medical and psychological sciences to identify persons and identities labeled transsexual, and later transgender from mid-century onward.

[47] In contrast, people whose sense of personal identity corresponds to the sex and gender assigned to them at birth – that is, those who are neither transgender nor non-binary or genderqueer – are called cisgender.

[3] Since the 1990s, transsexual has generally been used to refer to the subset of transgender people[3][50][51] who desire to transition permanently to the gender with which they identify and who seek medical assistance (for example, sex reassignment surgery) with this.

[84][85] In earlier academic literature, sexologists used the labels homosexual and heterosexual transsexual to categorize transgender individuals' sexual orientation based on their birth sex.

[83] A 2019 Canadian survey of 2,873 trans and non-binary people found that 51% described their sexual orientation as queer, 13% as asexual, 28% as bisexual, 13% as gay, 15% as lesbian, 31% as pansexual, 8% as straight or heterosexual, 4% as two-spirit, and 9% as unsure or questioning.

[107][108] In medical terms, transvestic fetishism is differentiated from cross-dressing by use of the separate codes 302.3 in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)[108] and F65.1 in the ICD.

[107][needs update] Drag is clothing and makeup worn on special occasions for performing or entertaining, unlike those who are transgender or who cross-dress for other reasons.

Historical depictions, records and understandings are inherently filtered through modern principles, and were largely viewed through a medical and (often outsider) anthropological lens until the late 1900s.

Elagabalus was reported to have dressed in a feminine manner, preferred to be called "Lady" instead of "Lord" and may have even sought a primitive form of gender-affirming surgery.

[119] The Hippocratic Corpus (interpreting the writing of Herodotus) describes the "disease of the Scythians" (regarding the Enaree), which it attributes to impotency due to riding on a horse without stirrups.

France removed gender identity disorder as a diagnosis by decree in 2010,[128][129] but according to French trans rights organizations, beyond the impact of the announcement itself, nothing changed.

GD does not imply an opinion of immorality; the psychological establishment holds that people with any kind of mental or emotional problem should not receive stigma.

[126] Clinical training lacks relevant information needed in order to adequately help transgender clients, which results in a large number of practitioners who are not prepared to sufficiently work with this population of individuals.

Prior to the seventh version of the Standards of Care (SOC), an individual had to be diagnosed with gender identity disorder in order to proceed with hormone treatments or sexual reassignment surgery.

The new version decreased the focus on diagnosis and instead emphasized the importance of flexibility in order to meet the diverse health care needs of transsexual, transgender, and all gender-nonconforming people.

The emotional strain of dealing with stigma and experiencing transphobia pushes many transgender people to seek treatment to improve their quality of life.

One trans man who was enrolled as a student in a psychology graduate program highlighted the main concerns with modern clinical training: "Most people probably are familiar with the term transgender, but maybe that's it.

[141] A 2019 follow-up study found that transgender people who wanted and received gender-affirming medical care had significantly lower rates of suicidal thoughts and attempts.

Hormone replacement therapy for trans men induces beard growth and masculinizes skin, hair, voice, and fat distribution.

Surgical procedures for trans women feminize the voice, skin, face, Adam's apple, breasts, waist, buttocks, and genitals.

[25][page needed] A report released in February 2011 found that 90% of transgender Americans faced discrimination at work and were unemployed at double the rate of the general population, and over half had been harassed or turned away when attempting to access public services.

The bill also added "gender identity and expression" to the list of aggravating factors in sentencing, where the accused commits a criminal offence against an individual because of those personal characteristics.

[172] On July 27, 2017, President Donald Trump tweeted that transgender Americans would not be allowed to serve "in any capacity" in the United States Armed Forces.

[187] Within the United States, groups such as the Trevor Project have been serving the wider LGBT community including people who identify with the term transgender.

Through their research, education, and advocacy efforts, the NCTE works to address issues such as healthcare access, employment discrimination, and legal recognition for transgender individuals.

[13] According to the Survey of Safety in Public and Private Spaces by Statistics Canada in 2018, 0.24% of the Canadian population identified as transgender men, women or non-binary individuals.

Travestis generally undergo hormonal treatment, use female gender expression including new names and pronouns from the masculine ones they were given when assigned a sex, and might use breast implants, but they are not offered or do not desire sex-reassignment surgery.

[251] On the 2023 New Zealand Census, 26,097 people self-identified as transgender, defined by Stats NZ as someone whose gender identity does not match their sex recorded at birth.

[269] Several trans marches occur in cities around the world, including Paris, San Francisco, and Toronto, in order to raise awareness of the transgender community.