| Source | Year | Position |
|---|---|---|
| American Psychological Association | 2023 | Use |
| Diversity Style Guide | 2023 | Use |
| NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists | 2025 | Use |
| Trans Journalists Association | 2026 | Use |
“Refers to a person who does not identify with or experience any gender. Agender is different from nonbinary because many nonbinary people do experience gender" (PFLAG, 2022, Agender definition).”
APA's inclusive-language guide adopts PFLAG's definition, framing agender as the absence of experienced gender and explicitly distinguishing it from nonbinary, since many nonbinary people do experience a gender.
“A person who identifies as neither male nor female. It is best to ask people who identify as agender which pronouns they prefer. See androgyne, genderqueer, non-binary.”
The Diversity Style Guide defines agender as identifying as neither male nor female, and stresses asking people who identify as agender which pronouns they prefer rather than assuming.
“Defined as not having a gender; not synonymous with asexual or genderqueer. Some agender people say they lack gender, while others say they are gender neutral. Agender people might identify as transgender, nonbinary, both or neither.”
NLGJA is the source here that draws the lateral lines — it warns agender is not interchangeable with asexual (a matter of attraction, not gender) or genderqueer, where APA and DSG focus instead on separating it from nonbinary. It also leaves the relationship to transgender and nonbinary open: an agender person might claim either, both, or neither.
“A term that describes someone who falls under the trans umbrella and does not have a gender.”
The Trans Journalists Association places agender under the trans umbrella and defines it simply as someone who does not have a gender.
Agender is an accepted, self-identified gender identity meaning the absence of gender, and all four sources treat it that way. The APA (via PFLAG), the Diversity Style Guide, NLGJA, and the Trans Journalists Association each carry a straightforward glossary definition: agender describes a person who does not have, identify with, or experience a gender. None flags it as a term to avoid or use cautiously — the guidance is simply to use it as the person’s own identity.
The sources also agree on the boundaries. Agender is distinct from nonbinary: APA notes that many nonbinary people do experience a gender while agender people do not. NLGJA adds that agender is not synonymous with asexual or genderqueer — it describes gender, not orientation. Both NLGJA and TJA relate agender to the transgender umbrella: TJA places it under that umbrella outright, and NLGJA notes agender people “might identify as transgender, nonbinary, both or neither.” The two are compatible: NLGJA describes what an agender person may identify as, not what they must.
Self-identification governs, and pronouns are not predictable from the label. The Diversity Style Guide says so directly — ask people who identify as agender which pronouns they prefer. Across the 2022–2026 window the treatment does not shift. This page pairs with nonbinary and genderqueer (overlapping but distinct identities) and transgender (the umbrella that can include it).
All four sources carry agender as a settled glossary entry across a narrow 2022–2026 window, with TJA’s definition timestamped to its 2023 update. There is no documented arc of contested or shifting treatment within the corpus — the term enters these guides already established as a recognized identity.