Gender is a very controversial issue in the society we are in. Many people wonder what makes some one a male or a female. There are things that people do that gives you the assumption of there gender but that even is not good enough. To be more specific there is something called trans-gender which makes the whole gender issue somewhat difficult to speculate. In my search for gender issues I found the trans-gender issue more interesting than the other gender topics. My search took place with MSNBC and they educated me a lot about the topic. They had different examples of what the term is defined as.
MSNBC’s research showed that trans-gender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies that diverge from the normative gender role, female and male commonly, but not always, assigned at birth, as well as the role traditionally held by society.
It is the state of ones “gender identity” , self-identification as male, female, both or neither, not matching ones “biological gender”. Trans-gender in fact does not imply any specific form of sexual orientation. Trans-gender people may identify themselves as heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, pan-sexual or asexual.
A trans-gender individual may have characteristics that are normally associated with a particular gender they tend to represent. They identify themselves on the traditional gender continuum, or exist outside of it as “other,” “agender,” “inter-gender,” or “third gender”. it is a very difficult to understand all the different terms used to identify trans-gender with. Trans-gender people face lots of discrimination issues because it is not accepted every where. Many our put at risk from not being able to work, have a place to live, and a lot of violence. Trans-gender in some cases may be treated as a mental issue. I believe they all should be treated as such but others are just identified as some type of desire to live a gender opposite then at birth.
People who choose to become a trans-gender go through a very difficult, mental and physical process.
The process include many hormone medications, sex reassignment therapy and sex reassignment surgery. Study shows that many of the changes can take up to years due to each case.
The topic regarding trans-genders is somewhat difficult to understand. What I have covered is the basic information to have some knowledge on the issue. In addition to my research I included an audio link from MSNBC about the topic below.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid452329876/bctid881376828

-Mario Bottoms