I just watched a half-an-hour documentary about possible LGBTQ+ historical figures.

Honestly, I was really confused.
The speaker used what she thought were the proper pronouns while showing paintings of the person and explaining their life circumstances, family, and how society may see them.

So, for example, there was a painting about a guy who was the governor of New York. Paintings of the person as a him and a her were shown. The male paintings had feminine qualities and the female paintings had male qualities. Apparently, this person had lovers or flirted with each sex.

Then, there was this other person who was a girl and raised as a boy. Married a girl but dressed up as a girl and a guy. Pictures were provided of both.

I was totally lost and I’m not embarrassed about it.

When explaining something like this, why are references and pictures of the person of both genders provided? If a girl wants to be a boy, don’t show me pictures of the girl dressed as a girl and then call the person a him.

That’s just too confusing and, possibly, disrespectful to the historical figure.
If they proclaim a gender and defend it, reminders of what they were and who they’re not isn’t what they wanted. That’s just crazy.

There’s a lot of confusion and apprehension towards the trans community. Part of it might just be because it’s poorly explained. People are afraid to ask questions for clarification because they may think it denotes a lack of intelligence. Or, even worse, some sort of -ism. You’ve got to admit that honest questions about anything are often met with name-calling. Anything that could make a side think is avoided. For example, a question about Biden’s mental capacity would be “answered” with a response that I’m a right-wing conspiracist.

It’s a distracting and offensive response that doesn’t answer the question.

It’s just easier to stay mired in a specific and safe opinion. What’s not understood is often feared and reviled.

Maybe that’s what’s happening here with the trans community.

It’s not being explained to an audience correctly. The communicator is apprehensive and timid or defensive with the message. The audience might be curious, but don’t want to be called names or be seen as stupid.