I don’t think that’s fair. You can be happy for what someone achieved and mourn what you used to have at the same time. I have friends who got married and had kids. They’re happy and I’m happy for them. I’m still sad the old days are over when we could just drink beer in the back yard whenever we felt like it.
What do you lose when someone transitions? They’re still the same person, just happier and expressing themselves truly. You lose nothing. The only loss to be mourned would be a relationship that’s no longer compatible. It’s a change, but it’s a positive one, and expressing any form of loss to someone going through such a difficult and scary time is incredibly hurtful.
Though, you generally don’t tell that to their face, not in that way, and certainly not when they’re confiding in you about/celebrating finding themselves. That’s simply hurtful, and beyond rude.
You generally won’t go up to your friends on their wedding day, and say the same phrase. You’re more likely to put it as “I’ll miss drinking with you in the back yard, but I’m happy you’re happy”, and not as a seriously-spoken “It’s like watching my friend die!”.
That person still exists. Mourning their loss shows you don’t actually love them as they are.
I don’t think that’s fair. You can be happy for what someone achieved and mourn what you used to have at the same time. I have friends who got married and had kids. They’re happy and I’m happy for them. I’m still sad the old days are over when we could just drink beer in the back yard whenever we felt like it.
How is that analogous to transitioning, though? You can do the same things with your trans friends as with your cis friends, right?
What do you lose when someone transitions? They’re still the same person, just happier and expressing themselves truly. You lose nothing. The only loss to be mourned would be a relationship that’s no longer compatible. It’s a change, but it’s a positive one, and expressing any form of loss to someone going through such a difficult and scary time is incredibly hurtful.
Though, you generally don’t tell that to their face, not in that way, and certainly not when they’re confiding in you about/celebrating finding themselves. That’s simply hurtful, and beyond rude.
You generally won’t go up to your friends on their wedding day, and say the same phrase. You’re more likely to put it as “I’ll miss drinking with you in the back yard, but I’m happy you’re happy”, and not as a seriously-spoken “It’s like watching my friend die!”.