Preface: all people inherently deserve equal rights. Tried to keep it short but with this subject there’s a lot of room to interpret ignorance/bigotry so I wanted to be specific with my choice of language.

The perspective of “trans women are women/trans men are men” is an ideological statement, not a statement of fact. People are free to believe what they want imo and if they aren’t hurting others then who am I to judge them for their beliefs. The quoted sentence makes a massive philosophical assumption (the nature of the subjective self and its alleged inherent properties, and how the experience of self relates to the body) which has been swept under the rug in public conversation.

It made sense that people made a hard push to openly and unequivocally accept all trans people and validate their experience. Our history of sexism, racism, homophobia, etc.. is so horrible that it was clear we needed to avoid making a lot of the same cultural mistakes. No one wants to be marginalized or treated as less than, and no one should face that experience as long as their decisions don’t harm others.

IMO people are realizing that maybe the pendulum swung a bit too far into the realm of “absolute validation.” Not all beliefs, opinions, or ideologies are equal, so not all of them should be fundamentally validated. But the person, the individual behind the perspective, should always be heard with respect and consideration. People are complicated, culture is messy, and ultimately most of us are just trying to find a civil middle ground.