Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Transgenderism is defined as the state of one’s self-identification as a woman or a man not matching her or his physical/genetic sex. It is independent of sexual orientation, i.e., a transgendered person does not necessarily identify as homosexual.
“When the Church speaks of the nature of the human being as man and woman and asks that this order of creation be respected, it is not the result of an outdated metaphysic.” Benedict XVI, Christmas Address, December 2008