I prefer to avoid labels, and to think of transgender as a continuum, with crossdressers on one end and transsexuals on the other. Transgender is an issue of gender identity. Gender is not the same as sex. Of the three, only gender identity is entirely subjective. The only way to tell if a person is a man or a woman is to ask that person.
Gender identity is a different continuum than that of sexual orientation.
Some people speak of transpeople as either heterosexual or homosexual. While this might make sense at either end of the transgender continuum, I'll argue that for those in between the end-points, terms defining sexual orientation don't make sense. For my part, I'm attracted to women, whether I'm presenting as a woman, or as a man. Last Updated by Penni Ashe , on July 15, 1997.