Partners in (Gender) Transition

Transitioning is the process that transgender (or trans) individuals go through in living as the gender with which they identify rather than the sex assigned to them at birth. Transitioning can entail complex personal, social, and medical changes, including changes in one’s name, preferred personal pronouns, and physical presentation as well[Page 848] as hormone replacement therapies and sex reassignment surgeries for those who desire and can access such medical changes. Contrary to past assumptions regarding the inevitable dissolution of intimate relationships following the disclosure of a trans identity, research suggests that there are multiple personal, relational, and social changes that may occur within the context of one partner’s gender transition. Given the centrality of intimate partners in shaping the transition process as well as the ...