I completely agree; gender identity theory closely resembles a religious belief system. (We've had a few other threads discussing this; if you're interested, I can go try and dig them up.) It's worth emphasizing that by almost all people's definitions, the concept of "gender identity" is defined as an entirely subjectively experienced sense of one's "gender" (definitions varying), which cannot be observed by anyone from the outside, an individual can only experience their own and can only experience it subjectively. Gender identity literature suggests that it is NOT true that "appearance and bodily characteristics are linked to gender identity."

If you can't see, smell, hear, taste, or touch something that another person is trying to tell you exists... then you have to rely on faith alone in order to hold any belief that that thing exists. Sometimes that faith is warranted, sometimes it's not. In the case of gender identity, believers of the theory claim that it will never be possible to objectively observe gender identity. That means that "gender identity" is right up there with the Christian "Holy Spirit" and other faith-alone concepts.

So yeah, many of the beliefs that are commonly held in TQ+ communities-- such as the belief in "gender identity"-- are essentially superstitious/religious/spiritual. That's fine if people want to hold those beliefs, but my rights as a same-sex-attracted person are NOT contingent upon whether I hold these beliefs-- as Allison Bailey recently put so eloquently.