I’ll never forget the time I told a good (trans) friend of mine that I’ve always felt cis people (I am cis) are jealous of trans people, because they have the courage to live their lives in an authentic manner that many people want but few actually do. It takes courage to transition, and a lot of strength, and often we’re told that weren’t not entitled to it as people. When a trans person is able to take control over their life, to live that authentically, when a cis can’t seem to go for them life they want, it can feel like entitlement rather than that cis confronting their own captivity.

I think transphobes resent trans people for being happy and living authentic lives. The Harry Potter author for example had to publish her books in a way that mislead about her gender. She’s probably pissed that she had to hide her gender in this small way, and probably expects others to hide their true genders their whole lives because of this. People buy into this social contract of “I’m unhappy, you should be too. Society demands it of us.” So a trans person breaking these rules of binary gender and possibly finding happiness is a threat to that. Otherwise how else could one justify their one misery and their choice to stay that way? If we think about it, the things people do to others when then are jealous of them, are the same hate crimes we see against trans folx. Complete with victim blaming and lack of empathy.