Transgender symbol

Trans people, their identity and the community around them.

Transgender, usually shortened to trans, describes people whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth: a trans woman was registered male at birth, a trans man female, and non-binary people fit neither box. It is about who someone is, not whom they are attracted to, so a trans person can be straight, gay, bisexual or anything else.

The design puts three arms on one ring. At the top right is the arrow of the male sign ♂️, at the bottom the cross of the female sign ♀️, and at the top left an arrow with a bar across it, the old "male with stroke" mark that stands for a mixed, third or changing gender. All three sit on the same circle with no arm above another: the point is that masculine, feminine and everything between belong together, not that a trans person is "both".

The symbol is usually credited to the American activist Holly Boswell, who drew it in the early 1990s. It spread on badges, banners and Pride marches and is one of the two great trans emblems, the other being the blue, pink and white flag designed by Monica Helms in 1999. Unicode carries it under the dry name "male with stroke and male and female sign" among the astrological and gender signs; it became an emoji together with the trans flag, which is encoded as a white flag joined to this symbol.

What does it mean when someone sends ⚧️?

Identity, support or simply the topic: the words decide which.

In a coming-out post or beside pronouns in a bio it usually means "I'm trans". Under a news story, a petition or a post for Transgender Day of Visibility (31 March) or Transgender Day of Remembrance (20 November) it means "I stand with trans people", and many of the people posting it are not trans themselves. In a group chat it can just mark the subject, the way a 🏳️‍🌈 marks a Pride event.

Two cautions. Never read the symbol as proof of someone's identity, and never add it to another person's name or message: pointing out that someone is trans when they have not said so can expose them to harassment. And hostile accounts sometimes slap it on posts to mock; the sign itself is neutral, so judge the sentence, not the emoji.