@Mark Foy: that line of reasoning was also used for dealing with homo sexuality (and still is in some countries). No one understands the mechanism by which people feel how they do about their gender so no one can truthfully say why this occurs but if this helps those people who are in this situation to feel better about themselves and their identity then I’m all for it. Support is what is required and the very least we can do as a society for those in this situation. Surely people being happy and getting recognition of how they choose to identify themselves is the right thing to do.

@Gerard Smith: It really depends. Dont get me wrong, im all for people being happy, however there are studies out there that shows there is a very high suicide rate in the transgender community and also not much of a drop after they are accepted. Things like that I feel should defiantly be questioned at least.

@Keith McDonagh: It has to be a mental disorder.
Take the example of a male born a male with all male sex organs, at whatever age this male feels female for whatever reason, he will never experience what it is like to be female as he will never have a period and experience all of that craziness.
Or give birth which surely is the essence

@Christopher Byrne: there is a difference between sex and gender, actually. A person’s sense of their gender – which is a very strong and innate identity – does not always align with their sex, and that can be deeply uncomfortable (particularly in very gendered societies). How a person copes with or addresses this is their choice. Trying to repress your sense of who you are or conform to one arbitrary set of identities is usually neither helpful nor unhealthy. No different from telling someone who’s gay to be straight or vice versa. Just because you don’t understand it personally or believe in it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist or that everyone else should ignore it.

@Keith McDonagh: it was up until about a month ago. Not an argument for or against but until very recently it was considered a mental health issue

https://www.google.ie/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/06/20/health/transgender-people-no-longer-considered-mentally-ill-trnd/index.html

@B Collins: Personally I would have to disagree with you. Sex and gender are the same thing. Its only recently they have been divided for social reasons which again brings up the discussion on weather it is a mental disorder or not.
How come man meant man and women meant women for thousands of years and its only now where people start seeing themselves as the opposite sex, an object, an animal etc??

@Bernie Roche: I’m pretty sure all of those things mentionef will be coming down the line in the not to distant future ie artificial wombs… ect

@B Collins: no there’s not! Thats this ‘social construct’ notion. It’s total rubbish. Sex and gender are one and the same.

@B Collins:
I really think there are very few people who want to restrict how anyone lives their lives.
The issue arises when someone insists I accept their version of reality.

@Keith McDonagh:

When anti-science gets confused as actually science, that’s the problem.

@Native:
*actual

@Keith McDonagh: sorry, I was replying to a comment and my phone went mad. It was diracte at a previous comment of Dylan’s there.

Directed.

@Ohhh_reeally: They are here anyway.

@Paul Furey: @Paul Furey: They’re so predictable with their played out attack helicopter joke and their intolerance, it would be funny if it wasn’t so disgusting!

Notice how it’s almost always cis men who are complaining about any kind of tolerance related issue on this site?

@Felatedly Happy: Biological sex and gender are one and the same. All you have to do is look at reality for a minute.

At least 99.5% of people born biologically male grow up and identity as male. At least 99.5% of people born biologically female grow up and identify as female. This result holds no matter the environment a person grows up in.

That fact completely blows away any kind of theory which suggests sex and gender are different.

@Denis McClean: Not true. You should not get confused with people who are intersex and people who are transgender. They is nothing logical about these two separate conditions.

@Denis McClean:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_differentiation_in_humans#Sex_determination

I know it’s disputed on there but this is what I understand.

It’s not about it being hard being a woman, it’s the fact that a man can’t understand the experience, so to claim to be a woman without going through the period or childbirth or the expectation of it is far fetched to me

@Bernie Roche: You referenced wikipedia? Funny.

@Bernie Roche: Without being flippant – there are reasons why some females don’t menstruate and can’t get pregnant but that doesn’t disqualify them from the sisterhood, does it? Likewise there are guys who let’s just say are less than convincing and who also might also have equipment problems but they have a right to identify with their strongest traits. I say let people be what they want to be if it makes them happy. Have a great day.

@Low Energy Jeb: Fake news I’m afraid. I read somewhere that Leo’s crowd make up maybe 5% of the people. I also read somewhere that there are more Gay women than gay men. Then you have all the in-betweeners and modified people, so your math doesn’t make sense. You seem to have squeezed as much as maybe 15% of the population into 1%. Think about it.

@Low Energy Jeb: Aahh. I think I see the point you are making now. You only recognize LGBT+ people as binary, regardless of what they think. Interesting.

@Michael Burke:
Seems you are easily amused Michael.
What tickles you so much about a Wikipedia reference

@Denis McClean:
On your first point I can certainly agree with you there.
On your 2nd point being effeminate does not make a man a woman, neither does having a small member if that is what you are getting at?