Gender Identity

Gender identity is a person's internal sense of being a man, a woman, a blend of both, neither, or another gender entirely. It is how someone understands and names themselves. This sense is not visible from the outside and is not determined by anatomy, chromosomes, or the sex recorded at birth. A person's gender identity can match the sex they were assigned at birth, which is described as cisgender, or differ from it, which may be described as transgender or nonbinary. Gender identity is separate from sexual orientation, which is about who a person is attracted to. Major medical and mental health organizations recognize gender identity as a core part of who a person is and support respecting it.