Hmm, I don't think he's thinking about it clearly. I mean the fundamental point, that transgender identity isn't that different to transracial identity, is somewhat legitimate (though I think there are meaningful differences). But that doesn't legitimise transracial identities, it shows the logical inconsistency in transgender identities.

I read a post by a woman who had detransitioned recently (FtMtF), and she made the very simple point that when she was younger and said that she "felt like a man", she had no idea what she was talking about. I mean, it makes absolutely no conceptual sense. Can you describe what it feels like to be a man? I can’t. Can you describe how it feels to be white? Do you think I can?

Identity doesn't work that way. You don't perceive me as a black man because I've asked you to or because I've convinced you that that's how I feel inside, you perceive me that way because you've seen a photo of me. It's observed, not assigned. If I sincerely asked you to refer to me as a Japanese woman, you're probably kind enough that you would. But however much I conformed to Japanese female stereotypes, however fluently I spoke Japanese, if I looked like I look, you'd know that those two categories don't belong to me.

So yes, everybody should be free and safe to express themselves as authentically as possible. As cis people, we get to do that without thinking about it, but transgender people don't. I'm firmly against this, and with regards to gender, I see how stupid it is that there are expectations about how we dress or behave or anything based on the body we were born in. But as controversial as it is to say, you don't literally become something by saying you're it.

Maybe (hopefully) one day medical technology will advance to the point where all of this is moot and people can literally and easily become what they feel like. Until then, what trans racial/gender people are asking society to do is validate their feelings. And we should do so, as we should with everybody's feelings, right up until the point where doing so infringes on the safety or rights of another group.

So if Dolezal applies for a scholarship specifically for black people, or a trans woman wants to cage fight with a biological woman, I think we need to have the reality of these categories clear enough in our minds that we can be clear about what's happening.

Haha, sorry this was longer than I meant it to be. I ended up thinking as I was writing.