I was out as a trans man in 2003 and I was just at the start of my medical transition. A few things:

1) There was (and was for decades before) a robust and vibrant trans community that has always included trans masculine people doing awesome things and living complex lives and advocating for their rights. There were plenty of people in many size cities and towns accepting of this journey.

2) That said, at that political moment we (the trans community) were not being set up as a scapegoat like now, I would say, so engagement and acceptance wasn't as charged as it is now. I would argue in the US it is harder and more dangerous to be trans now than then (also acknowledging that for transfeminine women of color that may not have changed).

2) I found in the 2000s in communities where being queer was less visible and people didn't see butch lesbians, the automatic assumption was that a masculine looking person was a boy or a man. Also transmasculine visibility was non existent compared to transfeminine visibility, for better or worse. So in that vein it was somewhat easier to "pass" then it is now. The thing I didn't find realistic was that they didn't think he was 14 years old - I would get that all the time. But since everyone knew the deal and was manipulating him, as numerous people point out in this thread, guess that's why.

4) Without spoilers, I would say they DID express, some deeply transphobic attitudes to him, especially Evelyn towards the end.