I'm only going to touch on a few points here in response.

Again- you need to learn the difference between gender and sex. Gender is not at all necessarily determined by genetic makeup. Sex is. The issue has never been if people are changing their sex because no one has. Sexual orientation is largely thought of as a genetic disorder.

I'm not sure where you get that I don't distinguish between sex and gender. I do so painstakingly. Your arguments boil down to biological determinism, that you are simply the sex you are, period, and any attempts to exist outside of the cultural expectations of your sex are delusional.

You say that gender is not all necessarily determined by genetic makeup, but you still seem to be making some sort of essentialist argument that I wish you'd clarify. Because, I'm not sure what you're trying to say other than... hey your sex is what it is, and if you don't like it, tough.

Not very compassionate at all.

GID is not, it is considered a mental disorder (per the DSM-IV).

Well Homosexuality used to be in the DSM-IV, until that changed. And it was a hard-won change at that. Many Transgender activists are lobbying to strike GID from the DSM-IV as well. Your point?

There are salient ways to deal with both- and they are totaly different. At the end of the day, however, attaching body parts is not the correct method in either dealing with the problem, or alleviating what is clearly going on in the mind.

Please elaborate on what these "salient ways to deal" are? For all your certainty that body modification is wrong, you are being awfully vague about the alternatives.

You assume and speak as if I have never known handicap or hardship. For telling someone who hasn't judged anyone "not to judge," you have certainly monopolized the practice in your post responses.

I assumed this because your cold and pat assessments of the transgender condition convey zero compassion, understanding, or empathy for the lived experiences of such people. If you indeed do have any experience with a handicap or personal hardship, you appear to be either unwilling or unable to empathize when it comes to this issue.

Personally, I judge those who blithely dismiss the suffering of others harshly. I judge those that make blanket judgments about what is "really" wrong with others without having walked that mile in their shoes harshly. I suppose that is my own failing and a bit hypocritical of me. Oh well. We all pick our battles, don't we?

Secondly, what would indicate to you that my stance on this issue would somehow change if it happened (God forbid) to someone I know? The ways and means to deal with something like this would not change in the least.

You're, right. I assumed that such an insensitive perspective like yours was the result of preconceived ideas about transgenderism coupled with a lack of exposure to actual transgender persons. But it could very well be that you are incapable of more and your perspective would not evolve no matter how well or how many transgender you came to know.

"If you think about all the things we do in every day life that require us to have our bodies and our internal genders aligned, you'd be surprised."

This statement is confusing. Please clarify or elaborate on this one.

Just to start, everything from the pronouns you must be called to where you can use the bathroom, to how you must identify yourself for passports, driver's licenses, health insurance, finding and keeping a job, social security benefits, your eligibility to serve in the armed forces, being forced to enlist for selective service at 18 even if you have no intention of living as a male, eligibility for government resources such as state welfare or medicaid, appropriate treatment or facilities in hospitals, or even being able to walk safely in public are all profoundly complicated by being transgendered.

Your proposed solution may be to avoid these problems by just "accepting" the gender you were assigned and accepting your "true sex" with counseling (and maybe even prayer), perhaps... but it's pretty sad that you don't see the many real people, transgender people, trying valiantly and failing to do just that prior to transition.

Neither do you see (or perhaps you refuse to see) that there are people who are much better off making whatever physical, cultural, and legal adjustments they can in order to have a more fulfilling life in a culture that allows them zero viable options.

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Just some suggested reading, by the way.