Thread by @TheChrisMosier

JOURNALISTS: when you're writing a piece about a transgender person, it is unnecessary to use their former name (if they changed their name). That's called "dead-naming."

"Dead-naming" is when someone says or publishes the name a transperson used prior to transition. 1/13

Not only is dead-naming unnecessary, but it's also bad practice and incredibly disrespectful. It's a way to sensationalize a story and to position trans people constantly as "other." 2/13

Revealing a transgender person’s birth name without their explicit permission is an invasion of privacy. It undermines a trans person’s true authentic identity and can put them at risk for discrimination, harassment, and violence. 3/13

For many trans people, that old name represents a time with some painful memories, where the world didn't see them as the person they knew they were. Dead-naming not only shows a lack of respect for a person's identity, but it can also cause anxiety, dysphoria & self-doubt. 4/13

Many journalists - if it's even on their radar at all - believe dead-naming is okay if you're talking about the person in a time before their transition. But, for the above reasons, using someone's dead name at any time is an act of violence. 5/13

Refusing to call someone by their new name is the same as refusing to acknowledge their new gender identity or misgendering through the use of incorrect pronouns. Transphobic media often uses dead-naming and incorrect pronouns as a way to invalidate trans identities. 6/13

Misgendering, particularly in written media, is harmful. When I do interviews, I tell every journalist that they must only use he/him pronouns when they refer to me - even when talking about younger, pre-transition me. "He was a girls' basketball player." 7/13

Some journalists use dead names in articles because someone they quote uses a dead name. In those cases, I would say best practice is to restructure how you quote the person to avoid using that name, or use [correct name] in the quote. @glaad 8/13

This goes for celebrities, and also for your neighborhood trans person. Dead-naming is disrespectful, and it gives permission for violence against us. It implies we are not fully who we say we are, or that we are being deceitful in our expressions of self. 9/13

Dead-naming changes the way people look at trans people. It invalidates us in the worse moments; it reflects in death how people see us in life. Look how often the police and media fail to use correct names & pronouns when referring to transgender murder victims. 10/13

TLDR: Using a transgender person's "dead name" is never appropriate - not in a quote, not in a flashback, not in a caption, never - unless they have given you explicit permission to do so. 11/13

Avoiding dead names is not "policing your language" or "being PC" - it's being a respectful human to other humans. 12/13

(also noting: some trans people may be cool with acknowledging a previous name and kudos to them; the rule is to default to not using it unless they say it's okay)

Okay - good talk. Thanks in advance for not dead-naming people moving forward.
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