How to Talk to a Tranny

MemphisFlyer.com – By Bianca Phillips

And, yes, even this headline would be considered offensive.

Though the now-infamous video of a former Memphis police officer beating a transgendered inmate didn’t include audio, the victim claims the officer called her “he/she” and “faggot.”

While such slurs are obviously inappropriate, other terms commonly used to describe transgender men and women fall into a gray area. Is it okay to call someone a transvestite? How do you determine a transgender person’s preferred pronoun – he or she – without being offensive?