Far out, man

How long will it take until this idiotic discussion will be based on all known facts???

I doubt we'll ever reach a point where the majority--let alone the vast majority--of people are rational processors of information. If my doubt is validated, we'll always be dealing with people's 'feelings' being treated as valid points of fact.

Alas.

Yes because bigots make it extremely difficult to function in society if you can't/don't pass. Anything that makes it not obvious that you are trans can literally be life saving in American society. Cases where hormones do not help someone achieve the desired effect - I.e. The "can't pass/will never pass" folks - have a different set of struggles many of which would have never happened if they never started HRT. It's a huge risk and we take it strangely lightly - that being said recognizing the dignity and humanity of trans people regardless of surgical status or ability to pass is essential to any society that wants to consider itself sane and just. As a trans woman, I think maybe the path forward would be something like "go ahead and debate pronouns - just not mine."

I can't speak for anyone else, but personally I've got no problem with people performing radical self-modification, including modification and/or removal of genitalia, so long as we, as a society, have agreed that such extreme modifications aren't primarily due to some underlying mental health disorder. And by that I don't mean 'wants to look like someone of the opposite sex,' I mean 'is depressed and/or suicidal and is likely to commit harm to his/her body beyond this particular procedure.'

My issue is *never* with the individual person, it's with the social cudgels created by segments of society which are designed 100% to stifle discourse and shame people into not voicing what are usually reasonable concerns about unusual behaviors in chunks of the population.

Dignity and humanity, 100% agreed. People are people, no matter how strange or disagreeable they might appear to you or me. You have to tolerate your fellow humans no matter how bizarre they might first appear, because underneath the surface the vast majority of us are pretty much the same.

As to the Pronoun Wars...I don't see *any* way that particular issue resolves itself. It's a permanent feature of the trans issue's terrain, and I think we should all settle in and accept that. I'm all for people pointing fingers and generally acting like idiots--or even bigots!--from the intolerant side because, frankly, that's the best way for onlookers to determine who's got the majority of the moral high ground. When people see one side consistently behaving badly in a debate/argument, and the other side remains calm and composed while never resorting to mud-slinging, it's pretty obvious who's got the stronger position. The trans crowd, and the majority of their vocal supporters/lobbyists/activists, are in a bit of a bind there though because the Western Left has gotten too used to mud-slinging as a primary, secondary, and tertiary course of action due to what is obviously a disproportionately large amount of support in the media. I'm not even arguing that such support isn't warranted, but having it on tap makes activists lazy, and when they become lazy they start every conversation off with an accusation like 'bigot' or 'racist' or 'homophobe' or 'islamophobe,' etc.., and that--right there!--cedes the moral high ground to all rational onlookers. It's a shame because I think there are plenty of trans activists, like Blair White, who do a TREMENDOUS job pleading the case for trans people.