The Asterisk: Do We Need It After “Trans”?
✳️ You have probably often seen trans people referred to with a little star (trans*), otherwise known as an asterisk.
“Trans* people”, “trans* community”, “trans*-sensitive”, “trans* experience”, and so on. Some organisations and initiatives even use an asterisk (*) in their names. But what is that star for? Why do some people use it while others do not?
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What does the asterisk mean?
The asterisk is often used when talking about trans people. But what does it mean?
Originally, it was an attempt to introduce inclusive language. Placing it after “trans” (trans*) was intended to encompass a wide range of identities and experiences, including people who had not transitioned and non-binary people.
“But aren’t non-binary people already part of the trans umbrella?” you might ask.
Non-binary people and the trans umbrella
Yes, non-binary people are part of the “trans umbrella”. But that was not always the case: for a long time, non-binary people were excluded from trans discourse.
Using the asterisk implied that the prefix “trans” itself did not include non-binary people. Today, singling out non-binary people as a separate category outside trans — in wording such as “transgender and non-binary people” — can often be perceived as excluding non-binary people from the trans community.
Who else was included in “trans*”?
On the other hand, “trans*” included identities and experiences that do not relate to trans people.
In the 1990s, when the asterisk was widely used in English-language sources, terms such as “transvestite” and “transsexual” were also in circulation, which created a need for this broader spelling.
The asterisk was also intended to include cisgender drag queens, who are not, in fact, trans people.
Sam Killermann and Two-Spirit people
But that is not all! One of the best-known popularisers of this symbol is Sam Killermann, an author of books about gender.
He actively advocated using the asterisk in descriptions of trans experiences, including Two-Spirit people under it, although by no means all Two-Spirit people consider themselves part of the trans community.
Two-Spirit is a term used among Indigenous peoples of the Americas for various identities that are neither “men” nor “women”.
And Sam is also a cisgender heterosexual man, just sayin’.
Language changes
For these reasons, the original post, dated 27 June 2025, argues that the asterisk after “trans” is no longer used in public-facing writing, including in English.
As often happens with trends, public communication in Ukrainian has yet to adapt to more appropriate terminology, but this is only a matter of time.
Language and vocabulary change, and meanings change with them. There is not always a need to put an “and” where we are already one <3