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Transgender: What does it mean? After Trump rolls back protections, an explainer

Mary Bowerman
USA TODAY Network
In this May 17, 2016 file photo, a new sticker is placed on the door at the ceremonial opening of a gender neutral bathroom at Nathan Hale High School in Seattle.

The Trump administration issued new guidance Wednesday rolling back federal protection for transgender students granted under the Obama administration.

The decision was met with criticism from many LGBTQ rights groups and celebrities alike who say students should be able to use restrooms of their chosen gender.

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Here's a refresher on what it means to be transgender: 

What does transgender mean?

A transgender person is someone whose internal sense of themselves, a man or woman, is different than the sex they were born with, Nick Adams, a transgender man and director of programs for Transgender Media, GLAAD told USA TODAY in a 2015 interview.

"Your biological sex is made up of a combination of things including your sexual chromosomes, the hormones in your body and secondary sex characteristics. But gender identity is completely internal, it's not visible to others. It's the internal sense of yourself as a man or woman," Adams said.

So for a trans person, the gender they are assigned doesn't add up with how they view themselves.

Only 16% of Americans say they know someone who is transgender, according to a GLAAD/Harris Interactive poll.

"When you are born, someone looks at your external genitals and assigns something to you, but that might not be how you feel inside, so someone who identifies as transgender may identify with their gender differently than their assigned gender," Randi Kaufman, a clinical psychologist who works at The Gender & Family Project at the Ackerman Institute for the Family in New York City told USA TODAY in an earlier interview.

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How is it different from being gay? 

People are much more familiar with the concept of sexual orientation, or whether a person is lesbian or gay, but much less familiar with transgender identity and who transgender people are.

Adams says step one is getting people to understand that sexual orientation is who you are attracted to or who you want to fall in love with and gender identity is who you are as a person.

"All transgender people have a sexual orientation – heterosexual, gay, lesbian or bisexual, just like everyone else," Adams says.

"It's not complicated. I am a transgender man, I was a female at birth. I am attracted to men and have been in a relationship with a gay man. I am a gay man," Adams says. "There are many transgender women that identify as lesbians."

What's the big deal about bathrooms? 

The Obama administration last year issued guidelines requiring that schools allow transgender students to use restrooms matching their chosen gender rather than their birth gender. Thirteen states challenged the move, prompting a federal judge in Texas to issue a nationwide hold on enforcement of the guidance.

LGBTQ rights groups say that female and male transgender students should be allowed to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity, especially if they are transitioning.

On social media, many against the so-called "bathroom bills," have tweeted pictures of trans men and women who are indistinguishable from cisgender male and females.

The message: Do you want a trans woman that looks like the woman below in the men's bathroom? (For those unfamiliar with the term, someone who is cisgender exclusively identifies as their sex assigned at birth, according to the Trans Student Educational Resources organization.)

Those against the Obama administration guidelines say that public schools should have the right to make their own decision on bathroom policies without federal interference. Many also worry that allowing transgender men and women to use the bathroom of their choosing may allow predators to argue that they are allowed in women's bathrooms because they identify as a female.

Why are transgender suicide rates so high?

A recent study on transgender people showed that 41% of transgender people reported attempting suicide, compared with 1.6% of the general population, GLAAD reports.

"That's not because transgender people are more mentally unstable but because we live in a culture where transgender people are not accepted, and people often find it very difficult to hope they can transition to their authentic self and be happy and successful," Adams said in an earlier interview.

Kaufman says many people with gender dysphoria have secondary issues like suicidal thoughts and depression that stem from feeling like they are trapped in the wrong body.

"Some people feel there are is no help," Kaufman says.

Kaufman says for parents with children who may be struggling with gender identity, support is key.

"People who are accepted do the best," Kaufman says. "We have seen that a families' acceptance is protection."

Note: This article features interviews from a 2015 story on Caitlyn Jenner.