I remember Captain Rowley Richards, who was a POW, including in Japan, saying in response to suggestions of counselling, "There is an old saying, "If you have not supped from the same cup, you cannot know the taste."" And that is no more obvious than here. If you are not trans, you cannot know what trans people experience.

One thing that I think is important for people to understand is that gender identity and sexual orientation are not the same thing. I have heard skeptics say, "Oh, they're doing it because they have a same-sex orientation and want to be legitimate." I have met a transwoman who was attracted to men and as a man, and attempted suicide as a result.

One other thing I think needs to be understood is this, and I'll give one real life example and delve into my point. My mother had a friend whose friend was a married man whose wife died and he found a male partner because his wife was irreplaceable. My response to that is, no, it would have been a heterosexual man who "turned gay", more likely, he was suppressing his homosexuality and genuinely loved his wife in spite of it, and her death allowed him to embrace it. It's not usually the case that a transwoman lives as a heterosexual man who, post transition, decides to get a male partner. What most often happens is, a transwoman lives the facade of a heterosexual man, but is either suppressing homosexuality, OR, is bisexual, and after transitioning, maybe has a relationship with a man.

I don't want you to accuse me of mansplaining, because I am on my own journey. I have never been sexually attracted to women, but at the same time, I have been able to be a woman's good friend, but not so easily a boyfriend. And, yes, I felt awful having sex with a woman as a man. I would much rather have had semi-lesbian style sex with a woman.