Firstly, I didn't ask her personally. So that comment seems like it's just an attempt to silence conversation. And importantly, I don't particularly care who she is now or was before as it has no effect on me personally.

However, the premise of 'I have changed and want to be celebrated for who I have become' necessitates an underlying understanding of who they were first. Otherwise, this isn't something worth talking about in the first place.

If a man was born a man and came out as a man and drew attention to the fact that they were now going to continue being a man and wants everyone to address them as a man, it wouldn't be conversation worthy in the least. If you want to accept or celebrate a change, you need to acknowledge a state of beforeness just as well as the new state after said change.

And frankly, there's a question of what precisely is being celebrated. The fact that she's a woman? Billions of people are women. That isn't newsworthy. No, the topic at hand is one of a successful journey and all journeys must start somewhere. 'Here's this hobbit named Frodo that now has PTSD...' is no story at all.

So, I don't find that an honest dialogue on someone's lived experience is inherently, particularly offensive or inappropriate. Certainly, that previous identity can be weaponized and be made intentionally hurtful by the intellectually dishonest. We see that behavior on this sub every day by users from one side of ideological spectrums to the other. But to silence an honest, reasonable question with rhetoric isn't some enlightened, higher ground.