Maybe I'm being a bit naive today, but when someone says "I've never really heard of [obscure but real phenomenon], I don't think it happens" and you know for a fact that [obscure but real phenomenon] happens, my first thought is to tell them that yes, actually, it does happen, not to accuse them of being awful bigots and start drawing comparisons to Jim Crow. Like, sure, if they reject your explanation out of hand, or display a continued pattern of willful ignorance, then totally get mad about it, but all this? Really?
There is a very big difference between "I've never heard of" and "therefore it shouldn't be depicted", and an even bigger one to get to "because that doesn't exist in real life". That very much is a bigoted mindset and I really don't care to tone down calling someone out for that to what you consider acceptable levels. It's not baseball, you don't get three strikes, it is the words themselves and the ideology they convey that count.
And like, you talk a lot about people seeing things in black and white, and drawing up arbitrary cultural battle lines, and that all sounds very nice. Meanwhile, you've completely muddled up the person who hadn't heard about full-time crossdressers with the person who made the reference to free speech, as if they're completely interchangeable because they were nominally on the same side.
I did no such thing, in fact I only referenced that person briefly in that I find it particularly bullshit a defense, regardless of who you are defending and endorsing in your defense of. I do not mean for that last bit to apply to anyone but the person who said it.
And you've decided that I'm one of those people who doesn't understand the meaning of genuine representation and just treats it as a game for social points because I've somehow accused you of not wanting trans stories to exist? Because apparently that happened?
If the idea that I am not in favor of more trans stories is not what you meant by "you're acting like people wishing for something other than the thousandth [...]" then I apologize for reading too far into your logic. I also do not mean that you as a person, nor anyone else in that thread, don't understand representation. That was more aimed at society at large, and a bit at myself. I think we all sometimes fall into that trap of thinking that because we are part of a diverse culture we can understand diverse cultures as a whole. So I can understand saying something bigoted like that because you believe your experience to be more broad than it is, but at the same time you are still responsible for your words and those that you defend. It is not the duty of the world to present itself to you in order to enrich your understanding, not having been introduced to some culture is not an excuse to say that they don't, and certainly not that they shouldn't, be represented.
is all this really necessary?
I'm afraid this goes to a mistake you made earlier, I'm very much not upset by this. I honestly do not care what you think about any other group of people when you go to bed tonight. In fact I really doubt I'll ever have made much of any change on you or any one else I've ever talked to, more than just on social issues but for pretty much anything I believe, but I find it absolutely necessary to speak my mind in response to such things because it is common and open discourse that allows us to build understanding regardless of whether we agree or not.