Community

In the not too distant past, people who medically transitioned wanted to disappear into the general community while those who did not sometimes congregated into support groups. For example, Casa Susanna was one such place where married heterosexual men of the 1950's could practice their need for cross gender expression.

The point is that we all need moral support and to find commonality with others. Without the embracing by those I have come out to over the years plus of course my children, I would not be as comfortable as I am today.

Towards that end, I think that all gender variant people would benefit from finding acceptance within the greater community rather than solely immersing themselves within the gender variant one. In other words, while having like minded souls as friends is wonderful, I have found it much more rewarding to over the years meld into the world as myself. When I was hiding who I was, it didn't feel as good and made me more apt to question my identity.

Not only does using this approach keep you more immune to groupthink (we are not clones of each other), but it opens up a much larger window to the world by doing outreach through the mere fact of existing.