Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Gender identity

This is an explanatory essay about Wikipedia:Manual of Style.

This page provides additional information about concepts in the page(s) it supplements. This page is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community.

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This is a collection of information on Wikipedia's gender identity guidelines, including a table of community discussions and certain best practices for further discussion.

Current guideline[edit]

Refer to any person whose gender might be questioned with the name and gendered words (e.g. pronouns, man/woman/person, waiter/waitress/server) that reflect the person's most recent expressed self-identification as reported in the most recent reliable sources, even if it does not match what is most common in sources. This holds for any phase of the person's life, unless they have indicated a preference otherwise.

If a living transgender or non-binary person was not notable under a former name (a deadname), it should not be included in any page (including lists, redirects, disambiguation pages, category names, templates, etc.), even in quotations, even if reliable sourcing exists. Treat the pre-notability name as a privacy interest separate from (and often greater than) the person's current name. For example:

From Laverne Cox: Laverne Cox (born May 29, 1972) ...
From Rachel Levine: Rachel Leland Levine (/ləˈviːn/; born October 28, 1957) ...
Avoid: Jane Smith (formerly John Hammer, born May 1, 1980) ...

In the case of a living transgender or non-binary person, their birth name or former name (professional name, stage name, or pseudonym) should be included in the lead sentence of their main biographical article only if they were notable under that name. Introduce the prior name with either "born" or "formerly". For example:

From Chelsea Manning, notable under birth name: Chelsea Elizabeth Manning (born Bradley Edward Manning, December 17, 1987) ...
From Elliot Page, notable under former professional name: Elliot Page (formerly Ellen Page; born February 21, 1987) ...

Outside the main biographical article, generally do not discuss in detail the changes of a person's name or gender presentation unless pertinent. Where a person's gender may come as a surprise, explain it on first occurrence, without overemphasis. Avoid confusing constructions (Jane Doe fathered a child) by rewriting (e.g., Jane Doe became a parent). In articles on works or other activity by a living trans or non-binary person before transition, use their current name as the primary name (in prose, tables, lists, infoboxes, etc.), unless they prefer their former name be used for past events. If they were notable under the name by which they were credited for the work or other activity, provide it in a parenthetical or footnote on first reference; add more parentheticals or footnotes only if needed to avoid confusion.

Paraphrase, elide, or use square brackets to replace portions of quotations to avoid deadnaming or misgendering, except in rare cases where exact wording cannot be avoided, as where there is a pun on the notable former name, etc.

Critic X said "Juno needs a fine [actor] to play its pregnant teenage star, and [Elliot] Page has shown [himself] to be the perfect [man] for the job." involves many bracketed changes, so is better paraphrased: Critic X argued that portraying the pregnant teenage lead in the film Juno required a fine acting talent, and said that Page had proved perfect for the job.

In source citations, do not remove names of authors, or references to former names in titles of works. If the author is notable, the current name may be given, for example as "X (writing as Y)". Do not replace or supplement a person's former name with a current name if the two names have not been publicly connected and connecting them would out the person.

Neopronouns and the singular they[edit]

Singular they/them/their pronouns are appropriate to use in reference to any person who goes by them. If a person exclusively goes by neopronouns, such as ze/hir, then singular they should also generally be used instead of neopronouns when referring to that individual, though their neopronouns should usually be mentioned in their biography (in the main prose or in a footnote).^[a]

Best practices[edit]

When choosing how to refer to a transgender subject, consider the use–mention distinction. Before using a transgender person's former or legal name, consider only mentioning it instead. And before mentioning it, consider not including it at all. For example, the article Switched-On Bach mentions but doesn't use Wendy Carlos's former name: "Switched-On Bach is the first studio album by the American composer Wendy Carlos, released under her birth name Walter Carlos".
Before including a transgender subject's former name inline, consider including it as a footnote instead. In the article about The Matrix the writers/directors are credited as the Wachowskis with a footnote adding that they were originally credited as The Wachowski Brothers.
If a transgender subject's former or legal name is not well known or widely reported, don't include it, even if it appears in a few reliable sources.
Avoid using an out-of-date, pre-coming-out photo of a transgender subject as a lead image. If no other photos are available, it is generally better to have no lead image at all. In general, avoid using pre-coming-out photos unless the subject's pre-transition appearance is especially well-known and notable. The article about The Wachowskis, for example, is better without any pre-coming-out photos since the way they looked is not well known as they shied away from public appearances. Conversely, the Caitlyn Jenner article does contain photos from before her transition because she was a well known Olympic athlete, so her appearance at the time is relevant to the article, though none are in the lead section.
If consensus cannot be reached over which pronouns to use for a subject, rewriting to avoid pronouns altogether may be considered. However, this can make the article very awkward or confusing to read and therefore should only be done as a last resort.
Some editors favor the use of the singular they in cases where gender identity is in question and no pronoun preference has been declared by the biographical subject. Other editors do not. They/them pronouns are always acceptable in article space for subjects who have stated that they prefer them.

Essays[edit]

Discussion timeline[edit]

A central table of community discussions on gender identity from throughout Wikipedia. For anyone interested in discussing or changing our gender identity guidelines, it's helpful to become familiar with prior discussions on the topic. The Sitewide forum column indicates when a discussion was done via a sitewide-consensus forum. Either the forum's acronym is entered, or it is left blank when it is a local consensus.

Date	Sitewide forum	Section	Page	Conclusion/Notes
Jun 2004		Trans people and pronouns	Manual of Style/Biography	The use of pronouns on the article Patrick Califia was discussed, but not concluded. The main propositions were to use only masculine pronouns or feminine pronouns when referring to time before Patrick's transition and masculine after. Discussion was primarily about clarity for the reader e.g.: alignment with Patrick's presentation and the (then) recency of his transition. Patrick's identity was also discussed in terms of how it might make Patrick feel (who was contacted but didn't seem to reply) and respect for his current identity.
Jan 2006		Identity	Manual of Style	First instance of gender identity guidance, which was added without any discussion. Original wording: Where known, use terminology that subjects use for themselves (self identification). This can mean calling an individual the term they use, or calling a group the term most widely used by that group. This includes referring to transgender individuals according to the name and pronoun they use to identify themselves.
Apr 2007		Transgender pronoun / identity	Manual of Style	A discussion of the early IDENTITY guidance, with reference to Brandon Teena and Wendy Carlos.
Aug 2007		Pronouns	Chevalier d'Éon	An early discussion of pronoun use for an historical subject whose social gender changed throughout their life. Superseded by the 2014/09 RfC.
Sep 2007		Transgender pronoun issue	Manual of Style	An early and prolonged discussion of gender identity and pronoun retroactivity. Almost immediately superseded by the changes to MOS:IDENTITY, below (2007/10)
Oct 2007		New language added to MOS:IDENTITY	Manual of Style	More specific and expansive guidance for pronouns and names of trans people: A transgender person's latest preference of name and pronoun should be adopted when referring to any phase of that person's life, unless this usage is overridden by that person's own expressed preference as to how this should be managed. This guidance was reduced in scope of application in the 2015/10 RfC, below, and restored to unrestricted application in the 2021/02 RfC.
Aug 2008		Gender	Manual of Style	An editor requests a style guide for gender identity and pronouns.
Feb 2009		Gender of gender-ambiguous persons	Manual of Style	A brief discussion of sex versus gender identity.
Jun 2009		Gender pronouns	Manual of Style	Discussion of the application of MOS:IDENTITY in the case of Chaz Bono.
Jun 2010		Manning's sexuality/gender identity	Chelsea Manning	Question of possible trans identity prior to Manning's public transition.
Sep 2010		It is relevant that Manning is transgender	Chelsea Manning	Question of possible trans identity prior to Manning's public transition.
Apr 2011		Pronouns	Sonia Burgess	Application of IDENTITY to a BLP subject who uses both masculine and feminine pronouns in different contexts.
Aug 2011		Renée Richards, and Gender Identity	Manual of Style	An editor seeks guidance about preferred pronouns and retroactivity.
Dec 2011		Singular They use because the subject prefers to use gender neutral pronouns	Manual of Style	An early and inconclusive discussion of self-declared they/them pronouns.
May 2012		Fundamental problems with MOS:IDENTITY	Village pump	Proposal to subordinate MOS:IDENTITY to WP:COMMONNAME; long and inconclusive discussion.
Jun 2012		New template for trans women	Village pump	Proposed templates for Trans women and Trans men BLPs.
Aug 2012		Proposal to modify MOS:IDENTITY	Village pump	Proposal to replace gender self-identification in BLPs with the most common treatment of the subject's gender in reliable sources.
Apr 2013		Changed names in the case of transsexualism	Manual of Style/Biography	An early and unanswered attempt to raise the question of former names of trans and nonbinary people.
Aug 2013	RM	Chelsea Manning move request 1	Chelsea Manning	This first RM found no consensus to move the article; this was resolved in the next RM, below (2013/10).
Oct 2013	RM	Chelsea Manning move request 2	Chelsea Manning	Chelsea Manning's page was moved from her former to her current name about a month and a half after she came out. The debate over the move received some outside media coverage. (See: the media section at the top of Talk:Chelsea Manning.)
Sep 2014	RfC	Should the historic figure of the Chevalier d'Éon be referred to as a man or a woman?	Chevalier d'Éon	The close found no consensus for an exception to MOS:IDENTITY, so the historical figure's female gender identity at the time of death was upheld in the article.
Oct 2014		Birth Name	Laverne Cox	This discussion raised questions concerning the sources for Cox's former name and citogenesis issues; the matter was revisited in 2017/04.
Jun 2015	VP	Problem analogous to the above discussion	Village pump	An attempt to clarify the Caitlyn Jenner issues by analogy.
Jun 2015	VP	MOS:IDENTITY clarification	Village pump	It was decided that in the 1976 Summer Olympics article, Caitlyn Jenner should be referred to as male rather than female. This was a partial rejection of the Manual of Style's gender identity guidelines, which, at the time, were unequivocal: Wikipedia favors self-designation [of gender identity], even when usage by reliable sources indicates otherwise. Any person whose gender might be questioned should be referred to by the pronouns, possessive adjectives, and gendered nouns (for example "man/woman", "waiter/waitress", "chairman/chairwoman") that reflect that person's latest expressed gender self-identification. This applies in references to any phase of that person's life, unless the subject has indicated a preference otherwise.
Jun 2015		Birth name in parenthetical	Caitlyn Jenner	Raised the question of whether to include the former name in the lead sentence; this question was brought to the RfC immediately below.
Jul 2015	VP	Clarifying/updating WP:BIRTHNAME with respect to MOS:IDENTITY	Village pump	It was decided that that Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Biography § Names should be updated to say that a trans or non-binary person's former name should only be mentioned in the lead if they were notable under that name.
Aug 2015		Pronoun pref	Manual of style	An inconclusive discussion about gender fluidity and self-identification.
Sep 2015	RM	Requested move 15 September 2015	Sonia Burgess	Requested move at a time when the subject was still alive and was using both former and chosen names. Closed with no consensus.
Sep 2015		MOS:IDENTITY clarification close	Manual of Style	Discussion of the close to the RfC listed in 2015/06 above.
Sep 2015		Outing and Wikipedia	Manual of Style/Biography	Inconclusive discussion of non-notable deadnames.
Sep 2015	RfC	Cisgender is mainstream and germane, Should all of the uses of cisgender be included in this article?	Caitlyn Jenner	Consensus that the term "cisgender" not be used without sourcing.
Sep 2015		MOS:IDENTITY clarification close	Caitlyn Jenner	Discussion of the close to the RfC listed in 2015/06 above.
Oct 2015		Preparing two proposals that would change transgender policy	Manual of Style/Biography	Discussion of proposed MOS:IDENTITY changes.
Oct 2015		References to academic publications with transgender authors	Manual of Style	Discussion of IDENTITY issues and author names.
Oct 2015		Parallel discussion on transgender authors in citations	Village pump	Discussion of IDENTITY issues and author names.
Oct 2015	VP	Clarifying MOS:IDENTITY in articles in which transgender individuals are mentioned in passing	Village pump	A few months after Caitlyn Jenner came out, the scope of the MoS's gender identity guidance was essentially narrowed to main biographical articles. For those, editors were still advised to use the person's latest expressed gender self-identification for any phase of that person's life. But for articles where a trans person was just mentioned in passing, the MoS now offered little guidance except that editors should use context to determine how to refer to them. This was later overturned in the 2021/02 RfC, below.
Jan 2016		"The Wachowskis" vs "The Wachowski Brothers"	The Matrix	Discussion of how to credit The Wachowskis for their previous works, leading to the RfC below (2016/05).
Mar 2016		Gender changes and deadnaming	Manual of Style	Inconclusive discussion of the state of MOS:DEADNAME following the 2015/10 RfC.
May 2016	RfC	RfC: How should the directors of this film be presented in the lead?	The Matrix	The RfC close found policy-based consensus for "The Wachowskis".
Aug 2016	RfC	RfC: Allow inclusion of former names in lead section of biographies covering transgender and non-binary people	Manual of Style/Biography	Proposal to reverse the provisions concerning non-notable former names of Trans people established in the 2015/07 RfC. The non-administrator close found no consensus for any particular changes.
Nov 2016		Retroactive use of transgender pronouns in indirect quotations?	Manual of Style	Proposed solution was to paraphrase without using gendered terms.
Dec 2016	RfC	RFC: Gender	Albert Cashier	RfC found insufficient RS evidence to support the strict application of MOS:GENDERID in the case of this 19th-century individual.
Apr 2017		No birth name	Laverne Cox	This discussion found no reliable sources for Cox's former name.
May 2017		Naming transgender people in other articles than their main biographical article	Manual of Style	A brief discussion of chosen names and former names in articles other than the primary BLP; this state of policy was set aside in 2021/02.
May 2017	RfC	RfC regarding MOS:GENDERID for genderqueer people	Requests for comment	A resoundingly rejected proposal that would have mandated pronounless writing rather than the singular they in article text concerning genderqueer and nonbinary people.
Mar 2018		Applications of the transgender/non-binary birth name guidelines	Manual of Style/Biography	An editor asks questions that are not firmly addressed until the 2020/08 RfC.
Mar 2018	RfC	Photo, RfC on article image	Daniel Mallory Ortberg	It was decided that it was better not to have a photo for writer Daniel Mallory Ortberg than to have an old photo from before he was out.
Jun 2018	VP	Guidelines regarding birth names of trans individuals	Village pump	An editor questioned the treatment of birth names of trans people; diffuse and inconclusive discussion ensued.
Jul 2018		The conflict between deadnaming and ABOUTSELF, versus VERIFIABILITY and previous RfCs	WT:BLP	Discussed the sourcing requirements required to trigger MOS:DEADNAME provisions.
Jul 2018	RfC	Request for Comment about pronoun usage	Albert Cashier	Albert Cashier was a Union soldier who was assigned female at birth and lived as a man for over 50 years. In 2016 it was decided that the article could refer to Cashier with female pronouns. But in 2018 it was decided that the article should be rewritten to avoid pronouns entirely.
Aug 2018	VP	WP:GENDERID advice requested	Village pump	Question about pronounless prose vs. singular they.
Sep 2018	RfC	More recent pictures	The Wachowskis	It was unanimously decided that, for the The Wachowskis article, it was better to not have a lead image than to have an old photo where one of the two sisters was not out.
Jan 2019		Gender information	Village pump	An editor inquired about the presentation of gender information in tables, etc. The discussion was inconclusive.
Jan 2019	RfC	Request for Comment - Crediting the Wachowskis	The Matrix (franchise)	It was decided that Lana and Lilly Wachowski should be credited as The Wachowskis in the leads and infoboxes of articles about films they made before they came out as women, with footnotes detailing how they were originally credited.
February 2019		Pronouns	Rose McGowan	This discussion found enough evidence that Rose McGowan continues to use gendered pronouns to meet the requirements of MOS:GENDERID.
Feb 2019		The Signpost: Humour: Pesky Pronouns	Wikipedia Signpost
Feb 2019	MfD	The Signpost: Humor deletion discussion	Miscellany for deletion
Mar 2019		MOS:GENDERID and death, MOS:GENDERID Suggested change	Manual of Style	Discussion of the Sonia Burgess case; the requested move was resolved below.
Mar 2019	RM	Recent move, Requested move 12 March 2019	Sonia Burgess	It was decided that the article on human rights lawyer Sonia Burgess should use her female name as the title, regardless of the fact that she was still presenting as male at work when she died.
May 2019	RM	Requested move 1 May 2019: Genderqueer → Non-binary	Non-binary gender	The fourth contentious RM discussion about whether to move the Genderqueer page. A narrow consensus was reached to move the page to Non-binary gender.
May 2019		second alleged perpetrator (minor)	STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting	Discussion over how to refer to a suspect in a 2019 school shooting who is reported to be transgender. A consensus formed to use his chosen name, but to also mention his legal name.
Jun 2019	RfC	RFC about Tilda Swinton	List of people with non-binary gender identities	Tilda Swinton made comments about her gender that some people interpreted as her coming out as non-binary, but it was decided the situation was not clear-cut enough to put her name on a list of people with non-binary identities.
Jul 2019		Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 18 July 2019	Stephanie Hirst	The subject of an article requests, on the talk page, that her former name be removed from the article.
Nov 2019		Including dead names	Manual of Style/Biography	A preliminary discussion on deadname guidance, featuring highly polarized arguments for including and for excluding them.
Aug 2020	RfC	RFC to broaden MOS:DEADNAME	Manual of Style/Biography	This discussion extended the exclusion of non-notable former names of trans people, established in 2015/07, to the rest of article space (rather than applying to the lead sentence only). Language to implement this change in the MOS proved elusive.
Oct 2020	RfC	RFC to broaden MOS:DEADNAME#Further refinement of wording	Manual of Style/Biography	This implementation discussion proved more divisive and less decisive than the RFC it was intended to implement.
Nov 2020	RfC	RFC to broaden MOS:DEADNAME#Three-part policy proposal	Manual of Style/Biography	Another bootless implementation discussion concerning the same RfC. The key issue here was whether the pre-RfC language merely permitted the inclusion of notable headbands in the lead sentence, or whether this placement was required by the guideline.
Nov 2020	RfC	RFC on inclusion of Nicole Maines' former name	Nicole Maines	This discussion determined that, although Nicole Maines' former name has been discussed in reliable sources, it should not be included in the article per recent changes extending MOS:DEADNAME to "article space".
Jan 2021	RfC	Birth name again#New poll after death	Sophie (musician)	This revival of an RfC initially launched before Sophie's death asked about the inclusion of her deadname, either in the lead or elsewhere in the article. The interesting close found consensus against its inclusion in the lede but no consensus about its inclusion elsewhere; in the first half of 2021 the stable version of the article excluded the deadname.
Feb 2021	RfC	RFC on how MOS:DEADNAME should handle attribution for previously released works	Manual of Style/Biography	This RfC, with wide participation, decisively overturned the 2015/06 and 2015/10 decisions about articles where transgender people are mentioned in passing. In almost all cases, the new guideline requires the person's chosen name to be presented in the body text, with the former name mentioned parenthetically or in a footnote.
Feb 2021	RfC	RFC: Use of deadname in quotes	Manual of Style/Biography	This RfC ratified new guidance limiting the inclusion of deadnames in quotations and recommending paraphrase as the most widely-appropriate solution.
Mar 2021	RfC	RfC on prior names	Elliot Page	RfC concluded that only Page's notable former name, but not his birth name, should be included.
Mar 2021		Transgender and nonbinary	Elliot Page	Discussion of the scope of transgender and nonbinary categories.
Jun 2021	RfC	Request for comment on infobox image, if any	Elliot Page	RfC determined that it was better to have no infobox image at all, given the limitations of the images available post-transition.
Jun 2021	RfC	Request for comment: Pronouns	James Barry (surgeon)	Closely argued, civil discussion about pronoun usage and GENDERID. While the proposal sought to divorce the pronoun question from whether Barry was trans or not, inevitably much of the discussion centered on this point. Policy arguments were judged "equally compelling" and no consensus was found; the article continues to avoid pronouns.
Jul 2021		Notability prior to transition	Rachel Levine	A surprisingly civil, source-based discussion to determine whether this BLP subject met Notability standards prior to her transition. It seems not.
Aug 2021	RfC	RfC on non-notable pre-transition names of deceased trans people	Manual of Style/Biography	No consensus to offer MOS guidance on the non-notable deadnames of deceased trans people, which therefore must be discussed in a case by case basis.
Feb 2022		Pronouns that aren't	Paperboy Prince	neopronoun issue, resolved in favor of they/them pronouns.
Feb 2022	RM	Requested move 4 February 2022	Gloria Hemingway	Whether to move the article to the name indicated as preferred by the article's subject and change the article's pronoun usage, despite the subject being deceased and most sources, including those published after her death, using her deadname. The consensus was to move the article.
Oct 2022	RfC	Neopronouns RfC (moved)	Manual of Style/Biography	Large discussion about how to address the use of neopronouns in BLPs where the subject has a stated preference for them. The vast majority of editors decided in favour of using the singular they while allowing for a brief mention of the subject's preferred neopronouns.
Jan 2023		GENDERID names	Manual of Style/Biography
Jan 2023		it/its as a personal pronoun	Manual of Style/Gender identity
Mar 2023		Requested move 15 March 2023	Suzy Izzard	Not moved because of uncertainty about how to interpret her public statements or apply existing policy
May 2023	VP	RFC: MOS:GENDERID and the deadnames of deceased trans and nonbinary persons	Village pump
June 2023	VP	RfC: Proposed addition to MOS:GENDERID - when to include deadnames	Village pump
August 2023	RfC	RfC on the inclusion of Isla Bryson's former name	Isla Bryson case	Whether to include the former name of Isla Bryson's, a living transgender woman who did not meet notability standards prior to transitioning. Consensus to include in body but not to include in lede.
August 2023	VP	Revision deletion and oversight for deadnames	Village pump	Consensus that revision deletion and the use of oversight for deadnames is a matter of judgment and depends on the case. Additional consensus that when a deadname appears in reliable sources, the question of whether to publish it on Wikipedia is one for editorial judgment and should be based on the specific facts of the case.

Other style guides[edit]

The following are style guides and reference materials for writing about trans people created by other organizations. They provide useful guidance, explanations, and demonstrate best-practices. However they have not been thoroughly vetted by the Wikipedia community and their advice may not fully reflect community consensus.

The Radical Copyeditor's Style Guide for Writing About Transgender People
Media Reference Guide by GLAAD
Style Guide by the Trans Journalists Association
Stylebook on LGBTQ+ Terminology by NLGJA
Coverage Topical Guide (archive) from the AP Stylebook

Notes[edit]

^ October 2022 RfC.