Quote:It's not as simple as waking up one day and realizing that you were born with the wrong hardware. It's a long, difficult process, often starting in adolescence, and it's rarely taken seriously by the family and support structure until young adulthood (if ever). People are free to be who they are, and those of us who are lucky enough to be born with the correct hardware and harboring an affection for people with the opposite hardware will never understand what it's like to be born into the wrong body. If someone named Bob introduces themselves to me as a woman, I'm inclined to accept that. Their life sucks enough because of their gender already, so insulting them by intentionally addressing and referring to them as the wrong gender wouldn't help anything.

 

I can't make you accept that it is possible to be transgender, but I can and will ask that if someone introduces themselves as a member of the opposite gender, you please be understanding of that and treat them with respect and the pronouns they've asked to be addressed by. Keep in mind that this is someone who has probably survived multiple suicide attempts, been ostracized by friends and family, and quite likely spent their entire lives having people they should be able to trust, like doctors, counselors, teachers and parents, tell them that they're either mistaken, mentally ill or, my personal favorite, "just seeking attention".

 

All that being said, I still don't think that someone with male hardware belongs in the female locker room, but I do think that offering a third, gender-neutral location is the right answer.