Time for late night confessions...
I used to work with a guy that with two grown children and two divorces in his past, decided that he was in fact a woman.
Let me tell you the "coming out" process is very difficult. And all the while, he was attending the same church!
I felt sorry for him, being a pawn of the psychologists and other mental health "professionals" that sway such cases of mental illness into further progression. Yes, I associated with him and his other friends. He found another case, headed in the opposite direction (a woman becoming a man) and while odd, they made an interesting, if not disturbing, couple. Among the circle of friends, there was a 40-something cougar who was experimenting with lesbianism. And she made a few moves on me, only to be abused by her bull dyke "girlfriend".
Anyhow, I lost track of these tormented souls. And never once did I doubt that it is a mental disease. Wallowing in self pity doesn't begin to describe these people.
So if you have any questions on the trans-gendered, feel free to ask. I'm no expert but I have spent a few years knowing a few. Then my girlfriend meets a former classmate and he too is undergoing "the change". Only he is 6 foot tall and does not make for a convincing woman. The GF had no clue how to act. She was shocked at my knowledge of the subject.