Portal:Transgender/Intro
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Hijras in Panchsheel Park-New Delhi. circa 1994. |
Transgender is an umbrella term applied to people and behaviors which diverge from those of normative two-gender roles (male and female), usually assigned at birth. Transgender refers to the state of one's gender identity (male, female, or various other identities) and not to sexual identities, a common misunderstanding.
Transgender identities and expression have been a fixture of culture since antiquity. One example is South Asian, where Hijras (pictured at right) are considered members of a third gender.