And herein lies the problem: they set the agenda of the "debate", they were the ones who decided the parameters of the discussion, which are in bad faith, and involved much goalpost shifting so that they can keep talking.

I'm reminded of Toni Morrison's statement about the purpose of racism:

The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being. Somebody says you have no language and you spend twenty years proving that you do. Somebody says your head isn’t shaped properly so you have scientists working on the fact that it is. Somebody says you have no art, so you dredge that up. Somebody says you have no kingdoms, so you dredge that up. None of this is necessary. There will always be one more thing.”

This is the same tactic used against every marginalized group where the dominant culture sets the parameters of the discussion on their worthiness to live, have rights, or be treated with respect. Transgender men and women had barely reached the stage of having their own voice before being targeted by the reactionaries and that was on purpose. The bigots who profit from targeting the marginalized picked a group of people that was Tony, not politically organized, and not unified as a community.

The irony of their behavior is that by targeting them, they end up bringing about the very thing they were most afraid of : them developing a community, and a voice. This pattern had happened again, and again, and again, for over the past hundred and fifty years.