I'm going to take advantage of the fact that my girlfriend, who is staunchly opposed to the word 'transgendered,' is away at Wacken Open Air to write about this without starting any arguments. Hah, kidding, we certainly don't argue about grammar other than facetiously, and I actually already miss her and wish she were here to present the counter-argument so we could start a semi-serious discussion on this.
It's not that I have a strong opinion on the word itself, but I do have a virulent reaction to anyone telling me how I can or can't describe myself. And 'transgendered' is a word I choose to use, and I defy anyone to tell me I can't. This past weekend, a Funny or Die put up a video on transgender terminology (which wasn't even funny - it actually felt like it was satirizing people who insist on proper terminology for the trans community, and not the people who mess up said terminology) and the Advocate snarked on how getting rid of the term 'transgendered' is "a service to society."
It's not a service to me.
My preference for 'transgendered' over 'transgender' is partly an aesthetic and intuitive choice, and partly one influenced by trans activist Matt Kailey. Matt Kailey was one of the first trans authors I read, and was, for a long time, a staunch advocate of 'transgendered' over 'transgender.' He eventually changed his tune (but not his mind), but I don't plan to.
To me, 'transgendered' sounds like an adjective; 'transgender' does not. 'Transgendered' parallels 'normatively gendered' and 'differently gendered' and any other way you might want to modify the word 'gendered.' That's why I say, "I am transgendered." To me, saying, "I am transgender" is like saying, "I am Finn." It's just not the right form of the word; you're supposed to say, "I am Finnish" or "I am a Finn."
I have started to use 'transgender' when it comes before a noun, such as 'transgender man,' 'transgender woman,' or 'transgender person' or 'people.' That's solely attributable to my girlfriend. Seeing her use 'transgender woman' a zillion times on Facebook, and knowing that she preferred me to call her a 'transgender woman' rather than a 'transgendered' one, made that usage rub off on me, so now my use of the two terms is mixed, but consistent: When it comes before a noun, I use 'transgender.' When it comes after a form of 'to be,' I use 'transgendered.' (And when I don't want to choose, I use 'trans.') Because 'transgendered' sounds like an adjective that could describe a person. 'Transgender' does not.
That doesn't mean I support using 'transgender' as a noun. When, for instance, a non-trans person refers to a trans person as 'a transgender,' it comes off as dehumanizing. I'll admit, I have used it (though mainly just in my head) in the same joking or informal way that members of the LGBT community might talk about 'queers' or 'gays.' This isn't a way that's appropriate for people outside the LGBT community to talk about us, though, for this reason: if one isn't trans, queer, or gay, it's very hard to know which terms are offensive when. Better just stick to sanitized forms (ie. add 'person' or 'people' to those terms) lest you hurt someone's feelings.
I may seem like I'm out of touch for clinging to 'transgendered' when it has apparently gone out of style, but I reserve the right to choose the words that describe myself, and 'transgendered' is one of them. I try to avoid foisting it on people who don't like it (see above about why I started saying things like 'transgender woman' in the first place) but if I am talking about myself, I don't see why anyone should be offended that I describe myself as 'transgendered.' I view it as akin to the way that some people in the trans community have differences of opinion about how to use 'transsexual' as opposed to 'transgender(ed).' Language changes, but sometimes people get attached to their words and don't want to change just because their chosen word is no longer fashionable or no longer means the same thing to a wider audience. And that's okay. What is this struggle all about if not about being uniquely, authentically ourselves? The first step to that is choosing and defining the words that describe ourselves, and that's something no one should ever take away.
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