.

Gender is the most basic identifying characteristic of every human being. Being forced into narrow gender roles and highly constrained forms of gender expression causes great suffering in transgender people. Being forced to grow up in and live in an incorrectly gendered body and social role is an especially horrifying experience for transsexual children. These situations can lead to intense ongoing disorientation and angst, and can preclude finding any of life's deepest rewards such as the full enjoyment of lovemaking and the finding of a love mate. Fortunately, society (at least in the modern western world) is making it easier for transgender people to explore wider opportunities for gender expression, and many social, medical and surgical options are now available for diagnosing, treating, and correcting intense TG and TS conditions.

However, practical counseling and medical science and technology often lead while religious, political, legal and social institutions lag. Transgender kids are still being thrown away by their families. Transgender and transsexual people are often shamed and blamed for simply trying to correct their affliction, and our society tends to marginalize and stigmatize such persons even after they have socially transitioned or even after a complete physical gender correction has been made.