I've been moving all week and missed the Chelsea Manning wars here.

[WilliamPitt]

39. "I did not know so many are so deeply uninformed."

I have exactly one transgender friend. We knew each other from hanging out at a bar called Bukowski's. She and I spent all our time talking about Israel/Palestine, because that was her great passion. We never discussed transgender issues. Not once. She never brought it up, and I took that as a cue not to. She's a hot shit, and came out to our farewell-Boston party at Buk's two weeks ago. She looked great...and it didn't come up then, either.

That's it. That's my whole transgender experience. Sorry.

I don't hate transgender people, or fear them, and I am for their rights the way I am for anyone's rights. I think a lot of people are more like me than like you in this regard. You're lashing me for my ignorance, fine, good, whatever, vent that spleen, but I think you're onto the nub of it: my ignorance, unfortunately, is the rule rather than the exception. That's why I thanked DU, because reading through all the debates here was massively informative.

And that's a good thing.

It is indeed a hell of a gap in my knowledge and experience. That gap has been profoundly filled thanks to everything I've read here.

And that's a good thing.

I'm done explaining myself to you, friend. You are never satisfied. Never appeased. Never never never. I'm glad for people like you, because you make good and necessary change with your ceaselessness, but I am not the bad guy, and if you think I am, you need to realign your optics.

Cheers.