Caitlyn Jenner did not "decide to become" a woman [View all]

[gollygee]

And I'm tired of reading that here. Also, her name is Caitlyn.

http://www.vox.com/2015/6/2/8706745/transgender-issues-mistakes

A trans man doesn't become a man, and a trans woman doesn't become a woman. These are generally gender identities that people hold for most or all of their lives. But they may not decide to transition for various reasons — maybe they're nervous about the social backlash, maybe they can't afford the treatments they want, or maybe they think it's none of anybody else's business.

"People say things like, 'You're pretending to be a man,' or, 'You're pretending to be a woman,'" Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said earlier this year. "What they don't understand is I was actually pretending before."

The empirical evidence backs this up. Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine conducted a review of the current scientific studies, and concluded that the available data suggests there's a biological link to a person's gender identity, indicating that trans people are essentially assigned genders at birth that don't match their inherent, biologically set identity. And a study from the TransYouth Project found that trans children as young as 5 years old respond to psychological gender-association tests, which evaluate how people view themselves within gender roles, as quickly and consistently as those who don't identify as trans.

Suggesting that trans people "became" the gender they identify with undermines that inherent value of their identity — since it can imply that their gender is something they chose at some point in their life.