I have put this in chat to try and keep it fairly friendly.
I have been trying to read around the debate and would be grateful for a bit more input. I apologise in advance for any terms or language that I use that is offensive or wrong - that is down to my ignorance on the subject.
As a generally liberal person my instinct is to not have a problem with transgender people. I don't know anyone who is personally affected by the issue. There are a couple of obviously transgender people in my town- one an elderly gentleman and one a young boy - think late teens/early twenties. My thoughts when I see these two people is that they are very brave to go out dressed as women when they are obviously not biologically women. People do stare. I particularly feel for the older gentleman as I assume that it has taken him this long to be the person he believes he is actually is. It must be so difficult to feel that you are born in the wrong body and feel that your whole life is a lie.
That said I am very worried about people who were born male being in women's safe spaces- changing rooms, toilets and prisons to name some.
The other issue is transgender individuals participating in sport. I assume that someone who transitions male to female in adulthood would still have greater muscle mass, speed and strength than a biological female. This seems wrong. On the other hand I hate the way any woman not perceived as feminine is treated in sport - Serena Williams gets so much hate online for not being a skinny blonde, being unashamedly ambitious and looking like a strong athlete. The inference being that she is not a real woman - whatever that is.
I am very worried about self identification- which I understand is someone just saying they are the opposite sex and therefore being treated as such even as far as changing rooms etc go. I have a daughter and nieces and this really concerns me.
This may be the wrong thing to do but I sometimes dip in out out of the threads on this matter and there just seems to be such vitriol and hatred that I usually just back away. This level of hatred makes me very uncomfortable.
Like most people I am very much a live and let live sort but this is such a murky area that my thoughts and feelings are all unfocused, scattered and change from day to day.
I believe that people who say trans women are women are actually just saying live and let live. I don't believe they think women should be diminished but at the same time I think they find the language around the debate uncomfortable.
I realise that I am uninformed and am perhaps being a bit of a coward by posing this on an anonymous Internet forum but I am trying to understand.
Thanks for reading so far - I will read all of your comments but may not reply as I am still trying to understand- sorry for the essay.