Child and Adolescent Gender Center: A Multidisciplinary Collaboration to Improve the Lives of Gender Nonconforming Children and Teens

“Why did God make a mistake? Why can't he put me back in Mommy's tummy and make me come out a girl?” —Lament of a six-year-old gender nonconforming boy

The terms gender diverse, gender variant, and gender nonconforming are synonymous and refer to any child whose manifestation of gender in some aspect does not conform to societal norms. This designation would include a child whose dress, mannerisms, toys, or other preferences (ie, gender expression) are inconsistent with what is expected, and also would include a transgender child. Transgender individuals are a subset of this group whose internal sense (ie, gender identity) of their gender is opposite the gender they were assigned at birth.

Finally, it is also important to note that there are other individuals whose identity is not consistent with the gender assigned at birth but who do not identify strictly with the other, seeing themselves between the two ends of a binary scale, or off the scale entirely. Such individuals can be referred to as gender fluid or gender queer. Thus, gender cannot be considered as a binary concept. A critical notion emerging from this more nuanced language of gender is that gender becomes a complex spectrum that more accurately reflects the lived experiences of the children and youth it attempts to portray.

Although “sex” and “gender” often are used interchangeably, for gender nonconforming children, the two categories are not always aligned. Feeling like …