True, trans people aren’t a monolith. I’ve met hundreds, possibly thousands, of trans people in real life, and I'm well aware I’m not a carbon copy of anyone else. I can discuss nuances that are relevant and otherwise appropriate to a conversation. Conversations that are set up to do that are more interesting.

I remind you that the very first comment you dropped on my article began with three words: “The transgender community…” So you were the one who framed your comment around a unified, coordinated transgender community that made a “salvo that launched” a “backlash.” In reply, I attempted to explain that there are “millions of trans people on the planet” which will make it impossible for trans people to reach “consensus” about anything.

So, you framed this entire interaction around the words “the transgender community,” and now you are projecting it on me, as if I had introduced the phrase, when in fact I'd initially rejected the idea that trans people form a monolith.

I’m aware that Caitlyn Jenner exists and that her beliefs are different from mine. Please, then, do not characterize me as “the vocal trans community.” Caitlyn Jenner is also vocal; she ran for governor of your state, as you know. One can’t get much more vocal than that. Yet she and I do not think alike about much of anything. Therefore, I ask you to please reconsider what you call “my position about you as the vocal trans community.” You are characterizing me as someone who actually belongs to a block of unified trans people, while in the same breath telling me I’m making that characterization about myself (and that the characterization is false when I'm the one who makes it). This projection doesn’t work with me.

Sealioning a trans person about being trans does not entail that the trans person must be the one who lacks epistemic humility.

I do agree that epistemic humility is a virtue. Holding beliefs involves balance: to be firm yet flexible, to hold some beliefs and values while remaining open-minded and curious. Some demands might be appropriate, others not. Some questions might be productive, others not. Making any demand is presumptuous, but then again, so is telling someone else they’re mistaken about their own needs. Because of our epistemic limitations, we don’t always get the balance right. Let us then strive for epistemic humility.