you are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

[–]Maeven 27 insightful - 1 fun27 insightful - 0 fun28 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I have a lot of empathy for people who are mistreated by society, which means at first I was trying to listen and understand and do my best to be supportive. I'm not going to say I was an "ally", because I've never been much of an activist nor was I actively involved in the trans community. But I was sympathetic and followed the rules, and if things sometimes contradicted each other and if I didn't entirely understand the reasoning of what was being done, I trusted that the trans community and medical community was acting in good faith and doing the right thing.

Up close and personal experience with people who were deeply involved really opened my eyes, alongside deeper soul-searching about what it all meant and the consistently stubborn community and their refusal to permit any questioning or doubt of what they tell us is true. It was a red flag that I knew all too well from other toxic communities, and I knew it was deeply wrong. I recoiled - and eventually found my way to people who would appreciate a curious mind and allow me my own thoughts.