“Transphobia”

Transgender issues have become a hot topic in American politics as of late. First it was the bathroom issue, and now it’s the military issue. The Trump administration recently banned transgender citizens from serving in the military, using the costs of hormone treatments and surgeries to justify the move.
Truthfully, this strikes me as Trump throwing a bone to the far-right and religious fundamentalist fringe of his supporters. I’m against what he did, but I do think that any trannies who are currently in the military should be responsible for paying for their medications and surgeries. In addition, I would say that any trannies who would like to join the military in the future should be required to have completed their transition.
But regardless of what you think of this new policy, I’d like to address transgender issues regarding the first amendment.
I consider myself an ally of the LGBT community and I have stood on the side of marriage equality and I have criticized cultures that deny their LGBT citizens basic human rights. I have stood against anti-LGBT bigotry. For example, I’ve seen plenty of conservatives equate homosexuality and transgenderism to pedophilia. I’ve seen plenty of ignorant Republicans who react to the word “transgender” as if they think that gender dysphoria is a dangerous and contagious disease like Ebola. Hell, I’ve seen fundamentalist Christians and Muslims go full Hitler; dehumanizing LGBT community, accusing LGBT people of ruining society, and saying that they don’t deserve to live. And I absolutely hate these people. I denounce them; I call them out for their bullshit — yet I still get called “transphobic”.
Why?
Because I also defend the bigots’ freedom of speech.
I don’t respect the right. But I do respect the rights of the right. And while I am not trying to generalize everyone in the gay or trans community, there are parts of those communities who are intolerant of speech that they may find offensive. There are some states where offending a transgender person can land you a fine. I’m not kidding. It’s natural to not want to hear speech that attacks you for who you are, but we cannot “ban” people from holding and expressing bad opinions. And here’s another thing that I’ve notice — how a Christian America can merely breathe and the left screams “Fascism has come to America!”, how a Muslim American can merely breathe and the right screams “Sharia law has come to America!”, but when the authoritarian wing of the LGBT community wages a war against free speech, it’s seen as “progressive”. We must treat all people equally, not give minorities special social privileges. I defend freedom of speech for all, and that includes even the worst racists, fascists, and homophobes. By saying that freedom doesn’t extend to bigots, you become a bigot.
