I support most transgender but people like this just lose me. It's just a name. It doesn't signify sex or gender. People like this have to get over their strange attachment to names in the same way that some people need to get over their strange attachment to how people identify.

It may make me a bigger dick, but I refuse to use alternate pronouns such as zi.

Guys that's one asshole on the Internet. It's hardly worth discussing that as though it is part of the actual conversation.

There was a lovely thread on reddit yesterday--it got all the way to the top of the front page--wherein the topic of conversation was basically the question: "If you brought home a girl and before or after sex you found out she was a transwoman, would you beat her up?" (I am, of course, cleaning up the question.) I wasn't shocked that hundred and hundreds of users responded that, yes, they'd beat this person bloody; what irked me was:

1. The fact that this was discussed as if it's a common occurrence, like there are transwomen all over the place going out to bars trying to trick straight men into sleeping with them. I'm sure there are some out there--because there are all sorts of sickos getting their rocks off through manipulating others--but it's not as if it's an epidemic.

2. The way these encounters were described was not really hypothetical in nature; rather, they all had the tone of some sort of sick wish fulfillment--like, these posters were just waiting, waiting for a transwoman to try and pull this stunt on them, because they would like nothing more than to put a transperson in their place. I know you've got to take stuff like this with a grain of salt due to the "tough guy" persona everyone tries to put on on the internet, but it was still disturbing.

As I said on the first page of this thread: there's a long way to go.

I almost went on a date with a trans woman, but before we even met she started getting really weird and familiar, like, telling me how much she loved the smell of farts and challenging me to a fart off. Then she offered up that she was a virgin but loved the idea of rimming. Then she got CRAZY pissed when I called the date off.

I find it difficult to give a shit about anybody else, but if they're not bugging me or harming anybody, they can do whatever the hell they want. Rights for everybody except people in front of me on the street going slow.

I would say that if a trans woman looked so good that even after sex you didn't know they were trans you probably shouldn't be offended but rather have another go.

That made me think of when Jerry Springer would have obviously transsexual women on the show, who would admit being trans to their very unconvincingly shocked boyfriends.

And the guy/girl reveals. Such trash.

EDIT: You know what, I'll perhaps come back to this later when I'm able to explain myself with more clarity.

I honestly just can't fathom caring if people do this. Vegans have more impact on my life, because at least I can say I sometimes have to sit through shittily catered meetings because of them. If people want to exercise some sort of gender control, then more power to them. I wish I could turn mine off from time to time.

But, McP: They want to use the same bathrooms as everyone else.

Jerry Springer is a national treasure, you monsters.

Wasn't he the mayor of Cincinnati or some garbage city like that?

Yeah, and he's a pretty knowledgeable baseball fan.

Fun fact: to popularise the late night talk show concept in South Africa, we brought in Jerry Springer to host one.

I think people are entitled to their social and cultural views conservative, liberal or whatever they might be even without giving explanations.
What I don't agree with is the notion that these views make people entitled to influence the policies and laws regarding what rights are given to people. Especially not when they are strongly influenced by religion.
I think the only reason they are even as prominent in political campaigns is because this are the easiest votes to get. Especially from the side who's "against" because all you need is to state it out loud. It's interesting how the "against" is morphing into "pro something else" because it is becoming less acceptable to be openly against giving someone a right. When it comes to transgender and gay rights it's usually not about being against them but pro Jesus or pro children which when explained usually involves some paranoid scenario.

I'm good with the hate becoming political. It gets it out in the light where it can be uncovered for what it is. It takes a cause that I couldn't give a shit about into one I will support in one fashion or another.
Be who you want to be. i don't care. Just please be happy and treat people decently.

That's a good enough point.
However i don't think it needs to become political in order to get out in the light. My issue with this kind of issues being used to gain political points is that they tend to be reduced to pure ideology.

Isn't this one of the basic ways in which politics works? People using their values as a guide to determine what which policies and politicians they support?

I don't doubt that those whose religion informs their political views are genuine in their beliefs and feel as though they're making informed choices that serve everyone's interests, it's simply that their values and the ranking of what they feel is important are different.

It's a matter of degrees, I'm sure. There are a multitude of things I am morally opposed to that I would never support governmental action against. I think the notion that things I don't like or don't approve of, but which do not impact me or others, should be regulated on purely moral grounds is itself a philosophy, and not one that should be indulged lightly.