The problem is that religion can be neither proven nor disproven (for the most part). On the other hand, gender is very real. Discussing tolerance is wonderful when we are talking about personal preferences. It helps society to function smoothly and for people to respect one another’s individual tastes where attitudes differ for no rational reason.
However, when a group ignores verifiable facts and uses that ignorance to create a negative opinion and treatment of a particular real group, the analogy breaks down. I know people who believe the Earth is flat, the moonshot was faked, and rich people have secret entrances to the underground where they engage in all kinds of debauchery and eat children. They firmly believe this. Is that opinion to be tolerated and respected? I don’t think so. These are all verifiably false. Accordingly, to argue that people’s discounting of the reality of being transgender is the same as those who believe that being transgender is real is a false equivalency. One is an erroneous opinion; the other a verifiable fact.
There was a time when black people were viewed as being intellectually inferior to whites. Black males were assumed to be sexual predators who were a threat to white women. Neither were true, but were widely held beliefs with major impact on the quality of life for the black population which lingers to the current day.
The solution was not to preach tolerance to those who understood that these attitudes were prejudicial nonsense, but to forcefully state the truth until society began to understand and accept the facts and change their treatment of those being harmed.
Even today with the generally accepted understanding that previous beliefs were destructive fictions, there is still a lot of work to be done to assure that POC become full participants in Society and fully accepted by everyone. Trans people deserve no less and we have much further to go.
The first step is for society to understand and accept that they are a real variant of humankind. They are not defective. They are not mentally ill. They are not predators or groomers. Being trans is not a choice. The world needs to be educated that being transgender is a normal variant of human development.
Respecting a belief to the contrary (and thereby accepting that it has some, if not equal, validity) is to perpetuate a destructive fiction. It is one thing to hold discussions on divisive issues respectfully. That is to be encouraged. However, there is no equivalence between bigotry and tolerance. They are not merely a difference of opinion entitled to equal acceptance. We cannot just agree to disagree. It is not appropriate to imply that an erroneous, destructive attitude can be equated with the truth. That should never be tolerated. It gives credence to a fiction which demonizes other people. It legitimizes inhuman treatment against those perceived as “other“.
