Gender Identity
I'd like to provide a link that people may find useful in understanding the difference between transgender, transsexual, cross-dresser, homosexual, etc. The language used in Boys Don't Cry may be misleading; when Brandon is in jail he tells Lana that he is a Hermaphrodite, which is incorrect. Also, I noticed some blog responses that used terms inappropriately, so maybe we could all benefit from understanding more.
Transgender is the state of one's "gender identity" (self-identification as male, female, both or neither) not matching one's "assigned gender" (identification by others as male or female based on physical/genetic sex). Transgender does not imply any specific form of sexual orientation (transgender people may be heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, pansexual or asexual.) (Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender