But I would like to raise a point of mental health here. And I am not referring to internalised trans-fobia, which you allude to.
My impression is that those burnened with barely bearable personal lives want simple answers for matters that don't affect them personally.
When you go through a lot of stress, and a difficult question arises, you just look for a way to make it go away quickly.
When you go through a severe depression, and someone asks you to care more about others, your first feeling is likely to be: "Just leave me alone."
When you feel deeply anxious and insecure about who you really are, and someone asks you what you think about some big change or overhaul, your inclination is likely to be "Unless there is something in it for me, I'm not interested in thinking about it at all - period."
Full disclosure: although not a transgender individual, I have been diagnosed with chronic depression as a result of childhood abuse. I remember I was quite right-wing when I was a teenager - thinking nobody could have a state of mind as bad as mine. And if I could still manage to go to school and get straight A-s, maybe the rest of the world could stop whining about the sob-story du jour? If people meant to care about others, they could start caring about me. If they didn't care about me, I was not going to care about their pet charities either.
Now imagine going through stress, depression, anxiety and insecurity all at the same time. (47 % of transgender individuals has attempted suicide at some point in their lives; so guess how many of the remaining 53 % have at least felt blue). Then ask yourself what political message is likely to reasonate with them:
a. simple answers - and a promise of a speedy removal of stressing things for everyone.
b. complicated answers - stressors may be phased out, change may be incomplete - and the promise of a long process of lots of groups incrementally improving their average standards of life.
Most of the time, the GOP campaigns on something like a, the Dems on something like b. I'm guessing that's where the attraction lies for some of the transgender individuals you describe. They don't hate themselves, they just dislike the complexity of politics and society. They don't have the time or the strength to deal with that complexity: their personal lives are complicated enough - certainly a tenfold of the complexity of the average woman's life.
By contrast, there are the lucky few who are so strong they never experience severe mental health problems. But such an experience may well come with the mentality: "If I can pull myself together, then surely so can those whining non-transgender individuals out there? They don't know hardship. Not like mine, anyway. Where is the politician who stops cuddling them and gives them a kick under their entitled behinds?"
These lucky few don't hate themselves either - rather, they view others from a sense of personal pride, and look for a way to give those others some "tough love".
I hope the above makes sense to you. Of course, it is just my opinion: I have no professional qualification to make pronouncements on the link between mental health and political positions. The above stems from experiences with myself and others.
= new reply since forum marked as read
