I agree with everything you said. But this doesn’t exactly speak to this essay, and so I’m trying to figure out why you left this comment here. I wrote a different essay about trans issues and I think your comment would fit in really nicely there.

But because you left it here, I’m wondering if you’re trying to say that we just shouldn’t debate trans-related issues at all? If that’s what you’re saying, then I think you’re not as aware as you could be about what areas of concern are left for non-trans people to weigh in on?

Even when one agrees with everything you just said, there are still areas of concern (like teen trans health—it’s not super black and white), and social problems to solve. And that’s when debate happens. “How should we change sports?” is a debate that NEEDS to happen. “How should trans women be received at women’s shelters?” is a debate that needs to happen. They are not necessarily debates YOU should join, or that I should join. But depending on the issue, there are perspectives we need to hear and they won’t all be from people who understand what it means to be trans, and they won’t all have sensitive language.

What my essay is trying to put forward is a way to do this that is respectful, humble, teachable, and that doesn’t incite violence directed at trans people.