arrjayjee: For the inevitable follow-up of "what if they were post-op", the answer is still no, because while I don't want kids now, I do want them later, and I want to have them with my partner in the usual way. I'm boring and vanilla, I know.
dtgreene: Suppose that medical science has advanced to the point where it is possible for a trans woman to receive uterus and ovary transplants, and for such transplants to actually produce eggs on their own, allowing you and her to have kids the usual way. Would that change your mind?
Also, suppose you are in a relationship with a cisgender woman and she tells you that she has a medical condition that prevents her from becoming pregnant. Would that make you break off the relationship?
At the risk of sounding like a bigot (I am not, I assure you), I classify someone based on their biological sex (chromosome birth) rather than what someone thinks they are. Throughout my relatively brief time here on earth I have interacted with or heard stories about people who have often wanted to identify with something that they are clearly not (different races, sexes, even species). Recently, I interacted with someone who claimed to be "transabled" recently. Poor guy identified as being disabled even though he had no natural disability to note. He sought to raise enough money to have an operation to cut off his leg because of his identification with being disabled. Just because I disagree with this man's classification of being disabled, does not mean that I cannot enjoy being his friend (as an example), but I would share my own viewpoint on this issue with him as I am concerned for his well-being. The same could be said towards my view on transgenderism. I guess this is a long way of saying that I agree with Shapiro's assessment of this issue - that facts are not determined by feelings. I may feel a certain affinity towards another classification, but that feeling does not determine the facts (I may feel like I identify with the physically disabled, but that feeling does not change the fact that I naturally suffer from no physical disability).
All this to say, that I can understand where arrjayjee is coming from. Certainly most guys I've spoken to about Bruce Jenner seem to both acknowledge that he is a "woman" but would never consider dating him for some strange reason (still not clear why - if he is just as much a woman as my wife is, I do not see the harm of a little date but I think it is clear that the individuals in question still make that distinction even though they claim not to).
I certainly hope for a productive conversation on this, but I have had a hit or a miss time with responses to such sentiments. Some people call this bigotry (even though I am open for having a discussion on this) other people are a bit more understanding and actually want to converse about such things.
Regardless, thank you for reading!