gykno

They may have been active in the movement since the early days, but it's also been a point of contention then, particularly amongst lesbians.

In particular, the modern gender critical movement is a direct continuation of an ideological split amongst lesbian feminists back in the 1970s, one group of whom considered transsexual males to be honorary women and welcome in their spaces as lesbians, and the other who regarded them as straight men who were infiltrating and imposing themselves, and effectively erasing lesbians as a group.

In some parts of the world, LGB acceptance is very high amongst the general population. Over 80% in much of western Europe, Canada and Australia. And over 70% in the US and Argentina.

What we're seeing with this pushback against trans activism in these more accepting places isn't because people have suddenly become more homophobic, but for very specific reasons caused by this activism - effectively the same issue that the feminists of the 1970s were arguing furiously about, but in the public sphere.

Now you are right that some homophobic politicians have jumped onto this issue too, and used it as a lever to push against LGB rights. But they're doing so opportunistically. The more fundamental issue, opposed by many across the political spectrum who have otherwise discordant beliefs, is this elevation of gender identity above sex. For example, in the UK, on a grassroots level it's been mostly left-wing feminist women pushing back against this, not homophobic conservatives.

The root cause of all this is the LGBTQ+ in aggregate. Everything after the first three letters is irrelevant to sexual orientation.

If it had just been left as the LGB, that's something people can get on board with much more easily, from an individual liberties perspective and the principle of equal treatment under the law.

However, the TQ+, with its fundamental reframing of what it means to be a man or a woman, in terms of gender identity rather than sex, is something quite different. It's compelling people to believe something very controversial: that some men are actually women, and some women are actually man, and some people are somehow neither.

No surprise that this is getting pushback. But it's unfortunate, and really quite galling, that the LGB are also being dragged into this mess, particularly given all the gains made in recent years on equality.