Pharmacists caring for transgender persons

Recent media coverage regarding Caitlyn Jenner’s gender transition and emerging popular television series and movies have made transgenderism a household discussion topic. The American Psychological Association uses the term transgender to describe anyone whose “gender identity, gender expression, or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth.”1 Related constructs include gender identity (one’s sense of being male or female or something between) and gender expression (outward characteristics such as clothing, hair, voice, body attributes, and behavior). Gender identity and expression can be fluid, and the use of the terms transgender, gender identity, and gender expression continues to evolve with the experiences of the community. Estimates of the number of transgender people tend to be imprecise due to the disparate ways survey data regarding gender are collected and variations in how individuals self-report gender. Results of a survey conducted by the Williams Institute suggest that transgender individuals make up 0.3% of the U.S. population, with approximately 700,000 transgender persons living in the United States.2