An important idea apparently still lost on too many Americans is that the mind is the one thing people can change. This article will emphasize the hopelessness of changing the body in a meaningful way. It is still not possible for medical science to give males the genitalia of a female that functions entirely, or to give females the genitalia of a male that functions entirely. Medical science can only mutilate the body so that it interferes less with fantasies.
It is indeed a tragic flaw of modern science that it refuses to acknowledge what it cannot detect using laboritory equipment. Although the disciplines of "psychology" and "psychiatry" are concerned with "mental" functions, those disciplines, outside religious funding, still do not recognize the existence of any mind or soul or spirit apart from the physical body.
Of course long before the world developed much "science" it did recognize that the "mind" or similar phenomena did exist although it was understood even then that there would be no way to establish that existence by any material machinery. Ancient religious and philosophical texts note that the mind is only perceived directly, that is, it can be self aware. There are countless volumes of ancient texts concerned with the "I am," the "Atman," the "self," and other similar phenomena and their possible properties.
One property especially notable in these arguments is that the mind (or soul or spirit or other various similar phenomena) has no sex. It is neither male nor female.
Another critical property is that it is "free" to make choices. There is something often labeled the "free will" which is not founded on the body, and thus often not recognized by modern "science."
Quite a substantial quantity of traditional research agrees on several of these points.
There is a large number of intelligent and well read people who belive the mind can change. They also believe that the body cannot, at least not to a different "gender." When the mind is "disphoric" about the type of body it inhabits, there is really only one solution, to change the mind.
It is that simple. It is a fact of nature. It is not any malicious interference in any "rights." It does upset some people very much to see others making such bad choices, and some of those upset people can become self righteous and domineering.
It is important to understand the limits where one person's rights end and rights of another begin. There should be no civic duty to sustain the fantasies of others. Of course many fantasies are not troublesome. Children might fantasize about being firemen, and they might even be enouraged in that regard. It would however become troublesome to society if as adults they failed to meet the requirements of being firemen and demanded to be accepted as firemen anyway.
What society can do is permit whatever fantasies do not trouble it. There might be a space on government forms for the "fantasy" gender for example. Of course such fantasy gender need not be recognized in public schools, most especially elementary public schools.
Another thing society can do is help confused people understand reality, being mindful of course that when fantasies do not trouble society at large, that help requires an invitation.
For example it can be offered for consideration that, as found by centuries of civilized investigation, the mind is free, and not in essence male, and not in essence female. This of ccourse suggests that when a person who finds that his body is male believes that his "mind" or "true being" is female, he is mistaken. There is no such quality of any mind or true being. It is the tragic flaw of modern "science" that it does not recogize a being beyond the body.
It can also help to correct overly simplistic thinking. One reason some people say they cannot accept their biologically assigned gender role is that they are confused about gender roles. It is not that their mind is male or female. It is that their mind is too simple. They cannot understand that just because more women teach elementary school than men do, for example, it does not mean there is anything "wrong" with males teaching elementary school. Men might be cooks with no problem whatever. Men might be employed in the medical profession as a variety of technicians and other specialized helpers, whether on their way to becoming a doctor or not. It is the simple mind that demands a one-size-fits-all rule. Notice the same defect in the thinking of the Trump base. They often demand a one-size-fits-all hairstyle for men. It is one they consider a "male" style. The style first became widely prevalent is ancient Roman society, and probably because it is an advantage in combat. The ancient Romans were far more militaristic than civilized, much like the Trump base.