Transgender people are not simply closeted gay people
Dr Helen Webberley on Triggernometry: the trans debate, with Konstantin Kisin, Triggernometry
Trans people are just gay people who haven't come out yet. The thinking goes that if you're a man attracted to men, or a woman attracted to women, transitioning is somehow a roundabout way of avoiding that, a kind of detour through gender to get to sexuality.
Gender identity and sexual orientation are genuinely distinct things, and the research is clear on that. Yes, there can be a period of confusion, because when your body, your hormones, and your sense of self are all pulling in different directions, working out who you are attracted to and in what context is complicated. That confusion is real and it deserves to be taken seriously. But confusion is not the same as causation. Trans people are not gay people in disguise, and gay people are not proto-trans people who haven't got there yet. Trans women can be straight, gay, bisexual, or anything else. So can trans men. So can non-binary people. The two questions are separate, and treating one as an explanation for the other does harm to both.
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