| Source | Year | Position |
|---|---|---|
| SumOfUs | 2016 | Avoid |
| SEIU | 2020 | Avoid |
| Sierra Club | 2021 | Avoid |
| American Psychological Association | 2023 | Avoid |
| NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists | 2025 | Avoid |
| Trans Journalists Association | 2026 | Avoid |
“transgendered (adj.)”
SumOfUs places transgendered (adj.) among its avoided forms, preferring transgender as the adjective and rejecting transgendered, transgenders, and transgender used as a noun.
“transgender [not transgendered]”
SEIU prescribes transgender and rejects transgendered in a one-line preferred/avoided pair consistent with its alphabetical reference format.
“It is always best to check with the person you are referring to before using either. The term “transgendered” should be avoided.”
The Sierra Club directs writers to confirm whether a person uses trans or transgender and to avoid transgendered altogether, anchoring the rule in self-identification.
““Transgendered is a dated term that suggests a point in time when a person ‘became’ transgender, which diverges from the lived experiences of most transgender people” (National Institutes of Health, 2023, Transgender, trans definition).”
The APA replaces transgendered with transgender, explaining that the -ed form wrongly implies a moment when someone became transgender, contrary to how most transgender people describe their lives.
“Do not use this offensive term that carries negative connotations, including the implication that something must have happened to make a person transgender, or that being transgender is a choice.”
NLGJA bars transgendered as offensive, noting it falsely suggests an external event made someone transgender or that being transgender is a choice.
“This is outdated and is now widely considered offensive. Do not use it in news copy. Refer instead to transgender identity, transness or simply being transgender.”
As the most recent source on the page, TJA marks the firmest position: where the earlier guides treat the -ed form as a usage error to correct, TJA bars it from news copy outright and supplies the noun-phrase replacements (transgender identity, transness) for the spots where writers reach for the broken adjective.
Unanimous avoid — six sources spanning 2016 to 2026, no dissent. The replacement is simply “transgender.” The reason is grammatical: transgender is an adjective describing who someone is, while the -ed suffix makes it read like a past-tense verb, something that happened to a person. The APA (quoting NIH) puts it precisely: the form “suggests a point in time when a person ‘became’ transgender, which diverges from the lived experiences of most transgender people.” NLGJA names the second implication the suffix carries: that being transgender is a choice, or the result of some external event.
The sources treat the term with increasing firmness. The earlier entries treat it as a usage error to correct: SumOfUs lists the form among avoided terms, SEIU runs the one-line pair “transgender [not transgendered],” Sierra Club folds the rule into its check-with-the-person guidance. The later journalism sources go further: NLGJA (2025) calls it offensive outright, and the Trans Journalists Association (2026) bars it from news copy as “widely considered offensive.”
The same logic covers the sibling mistakes the guides flag in passing: “transgenders” and “a transgender” (noun uses) are equally barred. Transgender is an adjective: a transgender person, transgender people, the transgender community.