[Ads-l] Early WOTY nominee: "transracial"

[Joel Berson]

I have been thinking that some word ought to be a WOTY nominee, but I'm not sure that "transracial" is it.  If today a person can choose their gender, we refer to that as "transgender". Not in the OED, of course, but what Google says unambiguously (that is, without citing any authority) when one asks "define transgender".  When we use "transsexual" it implies, I think, that the person's "sex" is not their choice.
So does "transracial" align with "transsexual" or "transgender"?  Do we need a new term?
Joel
      From: Bonnie Taylor-Blake <b.taylorblake at GMAIL.COM>
 To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU 
 Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2015 1:03 PM
 Subject: [ADS-L] Early WOTY nominee: "transracial"
   
I know "transracial" has been around for several decades, with its
most prominent usage applied to interracial adoptions, generally of
black children by white parents.

But the word now seems to be gaining a usage with respect to the
situation of Rachel Dolezal, born white and now living as and
considering herself to be black.

No doubt this new (?) usage has been influenced by the uptick in usage
of "transgender" because of the recent transition of Caitlyn Jenner
from male to female.  The view seems to be that Dolezal has
"transitioned" (or has been attempting to transition) from white to
black, hence "transracial."

Or have I simply missed earlier instances of "transracial" used in the
sense of, well, "passing"?

-- Bonnie

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org