"Are you a boy or a girl?" was a question Alex Myers heard a lot growing up. Informed by his own experiences and years educating others on transgender identity, Alex explains how labels can actually be liberating, and shares a lesson in how language can (sometimes unintentionally) create community. Alex Myers is a writer, teacher, and speaker. A graduate of Phillips Exeter and Harvard, he was the first openly transgender student at both institutions. He teaches English at Phillips Exeter and is the author of Revolutionary (Simon & Schuster, 2014), a novel that tells the story of his ancestor, Deborah Sampson, who disguised herself as a man to fight in the Revolutionary War. Alex runs workshops and speaks at schools across the country on the topic of gender identity and supporting transgender students.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx