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GREENSBORO —Gender identity and the issues that affect transgender people weren’t in the forefront until the General Assembly this year passed House Bill 2, which requires people to use public restrooms according to the sex they were assigned at birth.

Four panelists closely involved with those issues talked about such questions as “What is gender identity?” and others at a forum sponsored by the News & Record as part of the Voices for a Stronger Guilford series.

Three transgender people discussed their personal stories, how they interact with the world and what the world needs to know about them.

Callie Schmid, a woman who transitioned from being male, said many people have a key misconception: That transgender people could easily choose how they feel about their gender identity. That is, an internal sense of being male, female or something else.

“It’s not a choice,” said Schmid, who told a group that filled the Empire Room on Elm Street. She said people ask, “’Why do you choose to be a woman?’ There’s no wanna. I am.”

Candis Cox, a woman who also transitioned from being male, said: “Transgender women and drag queens are not the same. I’m not a drag queen. I’m a woman who can do her eyebrows really good.”