The Importance of Getting the Name Right for Transgender and Other Gender Expansive Youth

Over the last decade, we have seen a growing number of policies at institutional and local levels that support transgender and other gender-expansive youth in the community, school, mental health, and medical settings. While this progress has been fraught with political controversy and increasing oppression against the transgender community in the form of a military ban, transphobic legislation, and violence, the benefits of protecting transgender youth and affirming their gender identities can be life-saving. These youth are incredibly resilient, but unfortunately, they are still disproportionately affected by negative psychosocial outcomes [1, 2, 3]. A crucial step in providing gender-affirming support to these youth is consistently using their chosen names and preferred pronouns.