I'm a similarly aged and gendered human.

There is research out there somewhere that confirms the commenter's memory. I can't find it on a whim unfortunately, I'll post if I can find it. From what I recall from the research (I'm sure I'm butchering it): In the 80s and 90s trans people were a lot more accepted. At some point when certain monied bigots saw the writing on the wall that they were losing the fight of gay and lesbian hate they started a campaign to vilify trans people.

Yes there were always assholes and prejudice, but it's only in the past 20 years that trans hate became a calling card of demagogues. It really was more accepted in the 90s.

In no way do I want to minimize the awful way trans people are treated, regardless of age. I'm just trying to remember some research I read once.

A lot of people forget what the 90’s was like. You could call someone a f** and people just laughed. It was part of the high school insult compendium.

Anti-gay was strong. People laughed openly at Matthew Shepard getting killed. “Shouldn’t have came onto them! I would beat up a (gay) should they ever come onto me!” I remember kids getting violently beaten in the gym locker room for being meat gazers, and the school just told the victim how this needs to stay quiet or else everyone will know your little son is gay. I went to a fairly large high school in a slightly blue city, and this was just how it was. There was no acceptance of trans because no one dared come out as trans, they saw how gay people were treated.

I am glad the zeitgeist has shifted and people can be themselves. As one of those old millennials, I honestly don’t understand trans, but I want them to be who they are and be happy. Cannot imagine being in a body where your gender feels wrong, it sounds like a daily pain. If you are reading this and are trans, there are cis people who accept you for who you are and would listen to everything you need to say.