while it is OK to be offended, the founding fathers gave us free speech and freedom of religion, not freedom from being offended.

Legitimate question. When referring to a Caitlyn prior to the transition, should we call her Bruce and use masculine pronouns?

Amem!

similar to when Prince Rogers Nelson changed his name to some weird symbol that was not pronounceable and then insisted everyone call him "the artist formerly known as Prince?" but now is back to Prince...

As I have been saying, He is still a He no matter what He wants to call himself.

If I put on a fur suit, have whiskers implanted on my face, add a tail, alter my ears, lay down on the ground start purring, rub your leg and ask you to start calling me Felix the Cat, all that doesn't make me a cat. I am still a male human, no matter how I alter my appearance and what I dress up like on the outside.

JMHO

That's pretty much exactly why the one is offensive and the others could be considered not. The "fact" is that male is the correct biological term, but the offensive part is when someone knows my wife prefers to referred to as female/she/Amy and still continues to use the male/he/Vincent that refers to her pre-transition self.

Glad that you agree that it is OK to be offended. Some seemed to be arguing that it isn't OK to be offended, or were confused as to why the transgender person would be offended.

And no offense toward short people was intended in my example.

now that it is settled that Jenner is now Caitlyn (feel sorry for the real Caitlyn Jenner who just happens to share the name) do the plaintiffs who are suing because of the car accident have to refile?

If you want me to call you Felix the cat I'll do that. What do I care if you want to be a cat? Heck most of the time I'd love to live life as my cat.
I don't see the harm in taking other's feelings into consideration before I speak. And I do believe DD was only stating his (or her) opinion and did not wish anyone harm.

I tell my cat all the time, I want her life.

More than 10 years ago, I worked in a small bank in a small conservative town. We had a customer who went through a male to female transition. At one point he asked to be addressed as she and called by her new name. Some of our employees found all this puzzling, and some thought it was morally wrong, but every single one treated her with respect and called her by her new name. It's not that hard to be kind.

I think that many would have more compassion for this issue had it not been for the fact that it is Jenner.

Remember a wedding that who's marriage lasted as long as the television coverage of it.

I guess I am confused because I thought it was a fact that HE is a pronoun indicating reference to a male.

I'm even more confused about your mixed use of dwarf and "Bob", one of which is a term that can be considered derogatory and the other of which is a name.

So you're absolutely right about me being confused. And much more so after trying to absorb your post.

I guess you understood the dwarf/Bob scenario better than I.

The facts are the same in all three. What is different between the three is that you know your wife and her wishes, the other two do not. That's all there is to it. I originally stated that I saw plenty of room to see it differently, just that suggesting cruel intent and saying DD's post was appalling was IMO a bit extreme and uncalled for.

ETA: In other words, what you identify as the offensive part is something that did not happen here.

But I still don't get the dwarf thing so maybe it's just me being dense.

Must be to much water and not enough Gatorade.

The public reaction I've seen has mostly been positive. Very few people stating publically that they would not respect her wishes and would continue to call her Bruce etc. I will admit I did not understand much about transgendered people until I watched the ABC interview. It really opened my eyes and my mind. I think sometimes it takes a well known person to blaze the trail for others to follow. Surely no one seriously believes this is a "stunt" for a reality show. They didn't need increased ratings or more money. Like it or not, the Kardashians have built an empire based on nothing more than being famous for being famous. They didn't need the Jenner factor at all.


Amen!

Take your dress off before you hit the drive through. Problem solved.

Jenner has stated that he is no longer part of that circus and who know what he is up to possibly start a new one.

If there is one takeaway from theses shows is that controversy brings in rating (up to the point where people are turned off by them).

Not intended to be a comment about the real people in this situation.

I think an interesting side story is that the country club he golfs at doesn't provide the same access to women. Now that he is a she, how will she be treated there?

Or, what prison he goes to if found guilty of manslaughter

dang, never thought of that

I will assume if this is occurring, it must be by someone who knew them prior to this change? Because if I met someone today and didn't know them from Adam (or Eve), and they were dressed as a female, introduced as a female, acted like a female, i'd have no idea they were anything else. And I certainly couldn't imagine someone I just met saying "well, call me Jane but I used to be Joe."

then again, as we have previously determined in the adult book store thread, I clearly need to get out more often. Maybe this occurs on a regular basis and i'm just not exposed to it.

"acted like a female"

Continually shopped and nagged husband?

ouch

LGBT and transabled make up less than 3 or 4% of the population, so maybe once the novelty wears off and we treat each other with kindness, we can focus on more important issues in the world.