What are your thoughts on transgenderism?

Technically speaking, gender dysphoria is a mental illness. But many conservatives, being the fine and open-minded people they always are, like to dismiss transgenders as mentally ill and go as far as to compare them to schizophrenics. Depression can be a mental illness as well. Does that mean one should just shrug off those who suffer from clinical depression as merely crazy? I don’t think one should go out of their way to walk on eggshells for transgender people to make them happy, but showing a little empathy never hurt anyone and can go a long way. The loaded language some people use when talking about trans people just shows they either have a chip on their shoulder or they’re just plain ignorant.

As for the topic of children who believe they are transgender, that’s something that should never be taken lightly. I have heard stories of trans people who consistently believed they were born the wrong gender ever since childhood, so I do believe that’s a thing that can happen. But I do not support parents allowing their children to transition just because they say they’re trans. I believe that’s something that should be addressed more carefully. Perhaps long-term therapy to be more certain this is truly what the child believes or just a phase they got from things they’ve heard. I don’t know what the right approach to this would be, but again, I don’t support parents letting their so-called “trans kids” to transition. Such parents do seem to take that a lot more lightly than they should.