Ouch... OUCH... I hope this story doesn't start hitting too cose to home. I didn't do it on purpose, this is just how things shook out, but I've somehow made a lot of transgender friends over the years. Don't get me wrong, they're not especially likeable. Same ratio of nice/scummy as cis people. I really didnt think there were all that many, because I didn't meet a single one all throughout school.
It wasn't until I started meeting people in places where they weren't afraid that I found out they've always been there. No, really, they've ALWAYS been there. Since the beginning of recorded history. The Mesopotamians had them. And dear fucking god, you should hear the stories they tell about holding up that charade their whole lives. Like how it makes them feel.
Really, I cannot possibly overstate how much worse it is than I ever would've guessed if I'd only had an outsider's perspective. It's clearly a mess when you just look at it on paper, like in theory, but the reality is fucking devastating. The intensity of the hatred people can feel over the most irrelevant stuff is just... It's implausible.