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I am not anti-trans except when it is taught to children or children are encouraged to ‘become’ trans. I am not convinced trans is a mental illness, especially when it is held lightly, but I am convinced it is a mental illness and a legal travesty to require others to accept it. If a man wants to dress and act like a woman, he will be accepted as a woman if he is a good actor, or he will be accepted among others who know his preferences and are fine with indulging him. Same for women who want to dress and act like men. I am completely fine with that.
From a Buddhist POV, no one should take their identity so seriously they actually believe it is a basis of reality. Buddhism is more or less against all strenuous identity beliefs, and definitely against them when they are clung to. For example, Buddhism does not generally use the word soul, but if someone wants to use the word and believe they have a soul, Buddhism is fine with that philosophically as long this soul is an entity subject to change.
The cultural talk on sexual orientation over the past few decades has done some good and some bad. Buddhism is the Middle Way; so when adults are using drugs or surgeries on children because ‘they are in the wrong body’, they have strayed very far from the Middle Way and have fallen into a deep and destructive delusion which brings great harm to themselves and even worse harm to the children.
When anyone learns anything valuable about themselves from conversations on sexual orientation, that’s good. For Buddhists, it’s still best to keep in mind that information like that is good when it’s good and harmful when it is not good. Like all things in life, most of us most of the time know when a desire or belief is excessive. Excess is a good way to measure your distance from the Middle Way. ABN
American Buddhist Net 