forbidden words: gender-affirming care

gender noun

1. either the male or female division of a species, especially as differentiated by social and cultural roles and behavior.

   the feminine gender.

2. a similar category of human beings that is outside the male/female binary classification.

3. the concept or system of categories such as male and female: 
   More and more people have a nonbinary understanding of gender.
   Gender is a factor in pay rates across industries.

4. Grammar. 

   1. (in many languages) a set of classes that together include all nouns, membership in a particular class being shown by the form of the noun itself or by the form or choice of words that modify, replace, or otherwise refer to the noun, as, in English, the choice of he to replace the man, of she to replace the woman, of it to replace the table, of it or she to replace the ship. The number of genders in different languages varies from 2 to more than 20; often the classification correlates in part with sex or animateness. The most familiar sets of genders are of three classes (as masculine, feminine, and neuter in Latin and German) or of two (as common and neuter in Dutch, or masculine and feminine in French and Spanish).

   2. one class of such a set.

   3. such classes or sets collectively or in general.

   4. membership of a word or grammatical form, or an inflectional form showing membership, in such a class.

5. Archaic. kind, sort, or class.

gender verb used with object

1. to attribute gender to, or to classify by gender: 
   Usually when I wear my hair down people gender me as female.
   Gendering soaps seems a bit much—can’t men and women use the same products?

gender verb used with or without object

1. Archaic. to engender.

2. Obsolete. to breed.

Sensitive Note

It is possible to define gender as interchangeable with “sex,” indicating that the term can be used when differentiating male creatures from female ones biologically. However, the concept of gender, a word primarily applied to human beings, has additional connotations having to do with general behavior, social interactions, and most importantly, one’s fundamental sense of self. People increasingly recognize that a complex spectrum between male and female exists not only mentally, psychologically, and behaviorally, but also anatomically—there have always been intersex people. The conflation of gender with sex, though historically common, is now often criticized because it is seen by some to be insensitive or dehumanizing. People who do not question their assigned gender are usually referred to as cisgender, or just cis— as in a cis male or a cis female. Using cis is a way to refer to these individuals without implying that cisgender people are the only norm. Those who don’t identify with the gender assigned to them at birth are often referred to using the umbrella term transgender, though not everyone labeled in this way accepts the designation. The term transgender includes both binary trans people and those who are outside of the male–female binary in some way, including nonbinary and genderqueer people. After realizing their gender, many transgender people may change the way they dress, speak, or otherwise present themselves. Some may transition medically through surgery, hormone replacement therapy, and other procedures. Some may want to change the language people use to refer to them, including things like given name and pronouns as well as gender labels. This array of life experiences has resulted in a veritable explosion of new, or newly adapted, vocabulary.

from — Dictionary.com | Meanings & Definitions of English Words. (2025k). In Dictionary.com. 

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affirm v. 1.  We affirm these statements to be true: declare, assert, avow, maintain, proclaim; profess, allege, hold, contend, claim. 2. Congress affirmed the treaty the President had made: confirm, sustain, ratify, validate, endorse, approve, warrant.
ant. 1. deny, refute, repudiate, disavow, renounce. 2. reject, deny, rescind, nullify, veto, disallow, contravene, forswear.

care n. 1. Handle these fragile glasses with care. Answer all the questions with care:  carefulness, caution, precaution, circumspection, diligence, attention, attentiveness, heed, watchfulness, vigilance, thought; regard, concern, effort, pains, consideration, discrimination, solicitude, conscientiousness, application, fastidiousness, meticulousness, exactness, scrupulousness. 2.  He doesn’t have a care in the world. The mother’s major care was the safety of her children:  concern, worry, responsibility, load, anxiety, strain, stress, pressure; bother, annoyance, nuisance, vexation, tribulation, heartache, distress, trouble, hardship, affliction, sorrow, grief, misery, anguish, sadness, unhappiness. 3. The sick man is still under the doctor’s care: ministration, attention, supervision, charge, keeping, protection. 4. Do you care what happens to the house?: be concerned, be interested in, be worried, mind, regard, bother about, trouble about. 5. The guests didn’t care to have coffee after dinner: want, wish, desire.
Ant. 1 carelessness, neglect, negligence, abandon, recklessness, unconcern, disregard, inattention, thoughtlessness, heedlessness, indifference 2 relaxation; pleasure, delight, happiness 4 disregard, forget about. 5 dislike, hate, detest, abhor, loathe; reject.

from – Family Word Finder: Reader’s Digest. The Reader’s Digest Association, 1975.

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gender-affirming care

Gender-affirming care, as defined by the World Health Organization, encompasses a range of social, psychological, behavioral, and medical interventions “designed to support and affirm an individual’s gender identity” when it conflicts with the gender they were assigned at birth. The interventions help transgender people align various aspects of their lives — emotional, interpersonal, and biological — with their gender identity. As noted by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), that identity can run anywhere along a continuum that includes man, woman, a combination of those, neither of those, and fluid.

The interventions fall along a continuum as well, from counseling to changes in social expression to medications (such as hormone therapy). For children in particular, the timing of the interventions is based on several factors, including cognitive and physical development as well as parental consent. Surgery, including to reduce a person’s Adam’s Apple, or to align their chest or genitalia with their gender identity, is rarely provided to people under 18.

“The goal is not treatment, but to listen to the child and build understanding — to create an environment of safety in which emotions, questions, and concerns can be explored,” says Rafferty, lead author of a policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) on gender-affirming care.

from — Boyle, P. (2024, May 9). What is gender-affirming care? Your questions answered. AAMC. 

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example sentences: gender-affirming care

Those who seek gender-affirming care are often experiencing gender dysphoria, which the APA cites as “psychological distress” stemming from the incongruence between gender assignment and identity.
from — Boyle, P. (2024, May 9). What is gender-affirming care? Your questions answered. AAMC. 

While gender-affirming care is often framed only in relation to transgender individuals, it can also have benefits for cisgender and intersex people, and these eliminations will impact everyone’s access to it.
from — Get the Facts on Gender-Affirming Care. (2025, January 23). HRC. 

Gender-affirming care is a supportive form of healthcare. It consists of an array of services that may include medical, surgical, mental health, and non-medical services for transgender and nonbinary people.
from — Gender Affirming Care and Young People. (2023, August). OASH. 

Meanwhile, misinformation about what gender-affirming care is — and is not — has grown more rampant and has been increasingly weaponized.
from — Rummler, O., & Sosin, K. (2025, March 24). The 19th Explains: Everything you need to know about gender-affirming care. The 19th.

Gender-affirming care can positively impact the mental health of adolescents and young adults (AYA), reducing the risk of depression and suicidality​. Yet it remains a controversial topic, with multiple states placing bans or restrictions on gender-affirming medical care to youth.
from — Ha Le, MD, Pediatrics Resident, University of California-San Francisco. (2023, December 22). Further defining Gender-Affirming care. American Academy of Pediatrics. 

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June 29th 2025
Hudson Valley, NY

This is one of the words/ phrases you can’t say in the new Trump Regime. See a comprehensive list at the Forbidden Words Project.

image: dark light © Holly Troy 6.2025