I've been losing karma recently due to commenting on posts in other subs about how the concept of "transgender" is offensive to me. Frankly, I think it's transphobic. I'll try to explain why.

We can't change our internal identity. We discover our gender identity at some point in our lives, but we can't change it. If we could change our gender to match our bodies, we would. We simply can't. So we change our sex (or at least desire to, if we lack the resources to do so). I think, trans is short for transsexual, and transgender doesn't actually exist.

This comes from my understanding of the working definition of gender. When most people say gender, they mean gender identity (as opposed to gender expression). People can change their gender expression, but expressing gender in a way that is atypical is just being GNC. Many self-proclaimed transgender people, including non-binary people, describe their experiences in a way that just makes them GNC, not trans. On the other hand, many describe their experience in a way that is actually being a transsexual (those people can also be GNC, but that's not the part that makes them trans).

To me, the idea of transitioning your gender identity is just as bad as the idea that you can change your sexual orientation. We all know that concept is homophobic and not actually possible, so why is the concept of changing your gender identity not considered transphobic and not possible?

Maybe I'm looking at this wrong, but it has been bothering me a lot that GNC cis people think they're trans, and so many people (including some transsexuals) are unintentionally insinuating that gender identity is something we can actively change. I just can't stand it anymore. Lmk if you think I'm right, wrong, or kind of right but explaining it wrong.