Must trans issues be contentious? Can they be discussed without angst?

Why does this sometimes occur, and how does it happen?

What can be done to lower the temperature if / when things get heated?

I’m not sure how to best handle this. An experience I keep having is someone shoehorns trans rights into left wing causes like Black Lives Matter (BLM) or Extinction Rebellion. I use my specialist knowledge of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) to try to gently challenge around thinking about women survivors of abuse. Then I get shouted down with ‘trans women are women’ (TWAW), unevidenced claims that transwomen are more vulnerable than other women (the data I’m aware of contradicts this) and people linking me to Christian Fundamentalists and the right.

Others, some friends, ignore or privately message me with support and applause for being “brave”.. The net result is that left causes get inextricably linked with trans ideology, and left wing gender critical (GC) people leave them or shut up. If you’re a journalist, you end up writing for the Mail. And the people I’ve argued with declare that only the right are GC and point to their evidence that people who argue for GC views were never genuinely leftwing as they’ve left the group and the GC journalists and academics write for the right wing press.

I’m an lifelong union activist (current branch secretary) and Labour Party member and I’m left feeling politically homeless – I’m feel both unwelcome and despairing at the self righteous zealotry and failure to argue coherently of my “side”. I know many would be glad to see the back of me, so maybe I should just leave and confirm their allegations.

The problem is, if I told most of my friends and colleagues that I’m supposedly rightwing and bigoted, most would fall about laughing in disbelief (I’m usually the resident lefty). So what hope has the party got of ever winning power if people like me are left feeling disillusioned, not listened to and alienated? All I’ve ever done is ask for people to give as much consideration to non-trans women as transwomen and I won’t apologise for that.

Hadley Freeman says this much better than me! https://unherd.com/2022/02/why-i-stopped-being-a-good-girl/
I’m so grateful to her and other journalists who won’t be beaten down

In reply to:Hadley Freeman says this much better than me! https://unherd.com/2022/02/why-i-stopped-being-a-good-girl/ I’m so grateful to her and other journalists who won’t be beaten down.

Just read Hadley Freeman.
Really thorough explanation of how she has arrived at her present stance.
It would be very useful if Hadley herself could precis the article so that it’s main points were easily and quickly digestible for use in everyday situations, post meeting chats, sat in the pub, at the extended family dinner table, etc.
Mainly because at the minute, it’s really hard to discuss it without becoming emotional.

Scottish civil servants warned of ‘farts’ in the workplace*

*FARTS = an acronym for “feminism appropriating ridiculous transphobe (people)” who oppose inclusivity measures (and are) part of a “trans hate group”.

More in Common has produced a helpful report (June 2022) which seeks to lower the temperature of the ‘trans debate’, demonstrating the areas in which there is generally concern by UK citizens to be fair and kind; but whilst positive and level-headed it does not much recognise that some women – and maybe some trans women – are traumatised and / or vulnerable and would benefit from more specific understanding, compassion and (in various senses) accommodation.:

Britons and Gender Identity