Oh dear god. . .

[Aegrus]

I can't believe I used to sound like this idiot.

"Bottom line is, you're talking to a dude. Call me insensitive, but a man who wants to be a woman and vice versa is like anyone else wanting to be something that they are not. If a white guy walks around telling everyone he's black, he't not black. He's a white guy trying to be black. Even if he gets surgery to turn himself black. Don't get me wrong, they have every right to be want to be what they aren't, but I'm not going to pretend with you. If you were born with a dick you're a man, if you were born with a vagina you're a woman. Be a effeminate man, or be a masculine woman, thats perfectly fine with me. I'm just not going to lie to please someone."

I found the above genius on a different website, ranting about transexual people. So far, my response is thus;

That's the way I used to look at it. But consider this; how do we define male and female?

Certainly, humans don't base relationships ONLY on physical attraction. If we did, marriage or love wouldn't exist, and prostitution would be as far as a relationship would ever go. She is not pretending to be a female, she is not *acting* like a female. As a child, she developed to have the mind of a female. If you're religious, I'll offer that she was born with a female spirit. She doesn't want to be a woman; she already is, she just wants her body to match.

Reflecting back on some time spent here on the Atheist forums, I am proud to say that I've changed for the better, with some help. I no longer make ignorant claims, at least not the same ones as the person I quoted above. I'm disgusted that I once argued in a similar way. . .