What "gender transcendent" really means seems to be up to the researcher.
Sometimes the bissu are described as "transvestites", but this seems to be a misunderstanding.
To be a bissu one has to incorporate aspects of all genders. In most cases this seems to mean to be born as an intersexual - hermaphroditic individual, however, there also seem to be some cases in which a bissu is physically fully male or female.
The special intersexual role of the bissu is thus not solely related to zir anatomy, but to zir position in the Bugis society, zir gender-less (or all gender inclusive) identity and zir display of several features that can�t be correctly assigned to any gender.
This is already visible in the bissu`s clothes. The bissu wears a type of dress that can not be worn by any other gender and which combines "male" and "female" features (that is why the bissu can`t be called a transvestite; ze wears the dress that is ONLY appropriate for zir, ze is no cross-dresser ).
The special role that the bissu performs in Bugis society is closely related to zir gender transcendent status. It is believed that, since ze is a human being who stands at some kind of a gender-threshold, ze also stands at the threshold between the zahir and the batin, the obvious and the hidden (world). This idea closely correponds to the ancient muslim idea of the khuntha and the mukhannath being "guards of sacred boundaries" and to the traditional role that many intersexuals and transgenders have in certain other traditional muslim societies (see e.g. my article ""Hijras and general Islam in India and Pakistan") , but in this case it seems to be of ancient local origin.
The bissu is usually consulted when a special blessing from the powers of the batin world is needed. This might for example be the case when a Bugis person is leaving Sulawesi for the Hajj, the obligatory pilgrimage to Makkah. In that case the bissu will allow a good djinn (or dewata as they are called in Bugis language) to posess zir and to act as an emissary of the batin.
This is, of course, not in vein with orthodox Islam, but it has been tolerated by local muslim authorities, as long as it does not include any act that is clearly against the Shariah.In this special case it means that the spirit and the bissu`s powers should not be considered as in any way independent from Allah`s power, because He is the only one who is to be worhipped.
In day to day social life the bissu, along with the calabai and the calalai, is allowed to enter the women` s parts of the houses and villages as well as the men`s.