A transgender person is someone whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. For example, a person assigned male at birth who knows herself to be a woman is a transgender woman. Someone assigned female at birth who knows himself to be a man is a transgender man. Additionally, people (who identify outside the male/female binary) also fall under the transgender umbrella.

: Many Native American tribes have historical traditions of "Two-Spirit" people who took on both male and female roles. For example, Osh-Tisch , a leading member of the Crow Nation, was esteemed as a warrior and a skilled seamstress, bridging both genders.

: Trans-feminine and third-gender roles, such as the kathoey in Thailand and hijra in the Indian subcontinent, have existed for thousands of years, long before modern Western labels were established.