Gender-affirming hormone therapy
hormone therapy to align a person's physical characteristics with their gender identity
Gender-affirming hormone therapy (GAHT), also known as hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or transgender hormone therapy, is a form of hormone therapy in which sex hormones and other hormonal medications are administered to transgender or gender nonconforming individuals for the purpose of more closely aligning their secondary sexual characteristics with their gender identity. This form of hormone therapy is given as one of two types, based on whether the goal of treatment is masculinization or feminization:
Masculinizing hormone therapy – for transgender men or transmasculine people; consists of androgens and occasionally antiestrogens.
Feminizing hormone therapy – for transgender women or transfeminine people; consists of estrogens with or without antiandrogens.
Eligibility for GAHT may require an assessment for gender dysphoria or persistent gender incongruence; many medical institutions now use an informed consent model, which ensures patients are informed of the procedure process, including possible benefits and risks, while removing many of the historical barriers needed to start hormone therapy. Treatment guidelines for therapy have been developed by several medical associations. However, many transgender people of all ages safely obtain and administer hormone therapy to themselves (DIY transgender hormone therapy) without recourse to institutional 'gatekeepers'. This helps them to overcome legal barriers to care, and to obtain higher, more effective dosages and a wide range of medications.
Non-binary people may also engage in hormone therapy in order to achieve a desired balance of sex hormones or to help align their bodies with their gender identities. Many transgender people obtain hormone replacement therapy from a licensed health care provider, while others obtain and self-administer hormones.
History
Requirements
The formal requirements to begin gender-affirming hormone therapy vary widely depending on geographic location and specific institution.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5903802. The Library of Congress control number is sh2020000101. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Gender-affirming hormone therapy” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.