Growing up, I never had a problem with gay people. I never thought they should be treated as criminals or discriminated against. And with the exception of some high-profile cases of gays being over-sensitive to lack of approval from Christians, most gays seemed to accept a live and let live attitude. Even Jack Phillips, who has survived relentless persecution, continues to post on his website that “Masterpiece Cakeshop will happily create custom cakes for anyone. But like many cake artists, Jack cannot create all custom cakes. He cannot create custom cakes that express messages or celebrate events that conflict with his religious beliefs.”

The LGB community fought for equal rights and, by and large, does not seem to have a problem with people who don’t agree with them. Now, however, the trans movement is causing huge problems, for the heterosexual majority and for the gay community itself. Gay women are being told they are transphobic if they don’t want to have sex with men who call themselves women. Children are at risk of being pressured into accepting that they are of the opposite sex if they engage in behaviors traditionally associated with the opposite sex. Male athletes are calling themselves women and competing, and winning, against real women who have no chance to beat them. Dylan Mulvaney, a guy who makes a living claiming to be a woman, thinks it should be illegal to refer to him as a man.

Image by Andrea Widburg

Now people are starting to question if the letter T even belongs with the letters LGB. Maybe it doesn’t. Being gay is a sexual orientation. Whether a person is born attracted to the same sex, or the opposite sex, or both sexes, it’s a sexual orientation. Transgender is not an orientation. It’s an identity, one that seems to be picked up for any number of reasons.

Dylan Mulvaney couldn’t cut it as a male actor, so he said he was a woman and started raking in cash. Will Thomas couldn’t cut it as a competitive swimmer against other men, so he called himself Lia and started competing against women, where he broke records and won competitions.

The practice of using correct pronouns for individuals who claim to be the opposite sex is now a thought crime called misgendering. Even children are punished for this offense. Perhaps it’s time to recognize that the trans movement fundamentally differs from the gay rights movement.

Gays asked for respect, and to live and let live. They didn’t always live up to that call, but they didn’t create the bizarre situation we live in today. The trans movement did that because its members don’t want respect. Instead, they want the power to force the rest of us to live in their reality. Maybe dropping the T from LGBT would deprive the trans movement of a powerful ally in the gay community and give the rest of us, gay and straight, the opportunity to get back to actual reality.

Pandra Selivanov is the author of Future Slave, a story about a 21st century black teenager who goes back in time and becomes a slave in the old south.