Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Gender identity

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.

Best practices

 * 1) 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".
 * 2) 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.
 * 3) 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.
 * 4) Avoid using an out-of-date, pre-coming-out photo of a transgender subject as a lead image.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 Laverne Cox, for example, is better without any pre-coming-out photos since the way she looked pre-transition is not well known. 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.
 * 5) 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.
 * 6) 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

 * Gender identity

Discussion timeline
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.

Other style guides
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