I don't know what the scene is like in San Francisco but here in Texas (or at least where I live), the people in the community have a very different approach to it all. I have shown the posts here on faygoluvers to a friend of mine who is in the community and he says he hates when PC people try to stand up for him. His take is that if someone has an issue with who he is, he'll deal with them just like any other person in the world deals with people who have problems with other people. He does not need to be coddled or shown any special treatment or spoken to in any special way. Just like @novocaine said, and my friend agrees, they are people and should be subject to the same shit everyone else goes through. He says he is not special and doesn't want anyone making him feel special. He says words have never hurt him cause they are just that, vocal utterances that have no meaning except if the recipient is willing to LET them have hurtful meaning. He is also not hung up on gender roles or what people choose to say he is. He knows what he is and who cares what anyone else thinks.

I agree completely with this point of view. Transgender and gay and lesbian and whatever people are not weak. They are humans who deal with their own personal life choices just the same way all of us do. I will never change how I deal with someone because of their own personal hangups. Deal. This is life. Everyone has shit they put up with. That's what makes us stronger.

Anyone who chooses to be hurt by something someone else says is choosing to be weak. If people are subject to be hurt by physical violence due to their life choices, then adjust and adapt so that you take yourself out of harms way. That's what everyone else in the world does.