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Mr. Hale, in the strictly statistical sense, the small percentage of the population who are trans will always deviate from the norm, but that doesn't mean they ought to be stigmatized. Perhaps that is the word I should have used. If you compare sexual orientation, gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals -- between 5 and 10% -- are still dwarfed by the general population, but there has been dramatic a cultural shift in the past two decades, particularly among the younger generation, towards greater acceptance, which is to say, normalization. Natural redheads are less than 2%, but hair color variance is itself normalized, so no one bats an eye.

When you say "you couldn't care less" if someone runs around in a tutu, it comes off a mean-spirited given the context. My reading -- and I feel that I've been very generous to both sides, so please bear with me -- is that you are not particularly open to the idea of extending full, dignified personhood to those with trans gender identity. In other words: they're free to be crazy, but keep them out of my bathroom and away from my kids. (Clearly, you didn't say the latter, but that's the tone you're setting.)

Regarding shout-downs, I find them abhorrent and childish, so I have no argument with you there. While I'm no expert on constitutional law, it's clear that there is plenty of gray area around free speech (e.g., incitement, slander, hate speech), along with structures that make it possible for a public rally to devolve into an uncivil shouting match. In this way, I don't think it is a good analogy for an absolutist stance on free expression versus privacy.

From: Situation could have ended with an apology | Letter to the editor

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