This is an explanatory essay about Wikipedia:Manual of Style. This page provides additional information about concepts in the page(s) it supplements. This page is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community.

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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.

Refer to any person whose gender might be questioned with the name and gendered words (e.g. pronouns, man/woman/person, waiter/waitress/server) that reflect the person's most recent expressed self-identification as reported in the most recent reliable sources, even if it does not match what is most common in sources. This holds for any phase of the person's life, unless they have indicated a preference otherwise.

If a living transgender or non-binary person was not notable under a former name (a deadname), it should not be included in any page (including lists, redirects, disambiguation pages, category names, templates, etc.), even in quotations, even if reliable sourcing exists. Treat the pre-notability name as a privacy interest separate from (and often greater than) the person's current name. For example:

• From Laverne Cox: Laverne Cox (born May 29, 1972) ...
• From Rachel Levine: Rachel Leland Levine (/ləˈviːn/; born October 28, 1957) ...
• Avoid: Jane Smith (formerly John Hammer, born May 1, 1980) ...

In the case of a living transgender or non-binary person, their birth name or former name (professional name, stage name, or pseudonym) should be included in the lead sentence of their main biographical article only if they were notable under that name. Introduce the prior name with either "born" or "formerly". For example:

• From Chelsea Manning, notable under birth name: Chelsea Elizabeth Manning (born Bradley Edward Manning, December 17, 1987) ...
• From Elliot Page, notable under former professional name: Elliot Page (formerly Ellen Page; born February 21, 1987) ...

Outside the main biographical article, generally do not discuss in detail the changes of a person's name or gender presentation unless pertinent. Where a person's gender may come as a surprise, explain it on first occurrence, without overemphasis. Avoid confusing constructions (Jane Doe fathered a child) by rewriting (e.g., Jane Doe became a parent). In articles on works or other activity by a living trans or non-binary person before transition, use their current name as the primary name (in prose, tables, lists, infoboxes, etc.), unless they prefer their former name be used for past events. If they were notable under the name by which they were credited for the work or other activity, provide it in a parenthetical or footnote on first reference; add more parentheticals or footnotes only if needed to avoid confusion.

Paraphrase, elide, or use square brackets to replace portions of quotations to avoid deadnaming or misgendering, except in rare cases where exact wording cannot be avoided, as where there is a pun on the notable former name, etc.

• Critic X said "Juno needs a fine [actor] to play its pregnant teenage star, and [Elliot] Page has shown [himself] to be the perfect [man] for the job." involves many bracketed changes, so is better paraphrased: Critic X argued that portraying the pregnant teenage lead in the film Juno required a fine acting talent, and said that Page had proved perfect for the job.

In source citations, do not remove names of authors, or references to former names in titles of works. If the author is notable, the current name may be given, for example as "X (writing as Y)". Do not replace or supplement a person's former name with a current name if the two names have not been publicly connected and connecting them would out the person.

Neopronouns and the singular they

Singular they/them/their pronouns are appropriate to use in reference to any person who goes by them. If a person exclusively goes by neopronouns, such as ze/hir, then singular they should also generally be used instead of neopronouns when referring to that individual, though their neopronouns should usually be mentioned in their biography (in the main prose or in a footnote).^[a]

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 The Wachowskis, for example, is better without any pre-coming-out photos since the way they looked is not well known as they shied away from public appearances. 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.

• Wikipedia:Gender identity
• Wikipedia:WikiProject LGBT studies/Guidelines § How to write about transgender and non-binary people

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.

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

• Transgender
• Gender identity
• Gender binary
• Feminist views on transgender topics
• Third-person pronoun § Transgender pronouns
• Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Identity (failed proposal)
• Wikipedia:WikiProject LGBT Studies
• WP:Gender neutral language
• Template:They – also: Them, Their, Theirs