"It is extremely difficult to treat people as people when they refuse you the same respect. The answer isn't to step down to their level though. It may be "childish" or "naive" advice but it is a virtue I hold myself to all the same."

Again, is it my moral duty to be a nice person to what amounts to as jerks? This seems to be something you can't provide so how about you admit I have no such duty to be nice to said jerks. Because that's really what it boils down to which seems to me that people want to put up fake politeness when in practice all that does is stress out the jerk in question and the person trying to be nice to said jerk.

"Choosing what they prefer to hear or listen to is fine in moderation. believe there is such a thing as "too much filtering" and anyone regardless of their political leanings is at risk of sealing themselves off in an echo chamber."

No it's called my moral right of free association. I'm not going to listen to a David Duke or a Paul McHugh ever. As in never. And there's no reason to moderate that practice. I don't listen to Neo Nazis. I don't listen to alt-medicine crackpots. I don't listen to Flat Earthers. So, there's no need to moderate this when the other side of the argument is categorical wrong. You don't debate someone who screams that 2 plus 2 equals 5.1. You just shake your head and move on. Such people have nothing to contribute in terms of my knowledge base and to entertain them is to waste your time and theirs.

"Thankfully more property has been damaged than people killed at this point - but I'm not looking forward to what the next decade brings."

Tweets and facebook memes don't constitute assault nor vandalism. And you have a higher chance today from dying a car wreck of your own making than from a random act of terrorism.

"The past twelve years has seen a drastic and increasingly large ideological gap between people. With the widening gap - and escalation of threats and "acceptable behavior" has risen, progressively worsening each year."

Yeah that gap is widening because certain people (aka social conservatives) don't want to move on. Specifically, the social conservatives in question demand LGBT people like myself to be in the closet or forced into mental wards where I'm to be subjected to "reparative therapies (usually includes things like ECT aka electro-shock therapy)." So, I'm sorry if I'm not going to listen to or be polite to such people. Either they need to acknowledge my civil rights or don't bother interacting with me at all. I don't think what I state is extreme, it's quite moderate in terms of global political movements. Even conservatives in other countries agree with my position, so basically there's no excuse at this point for the US social conservatives to keep fighting these issues.

"Seeing as you twice mentioned transgenderism, surely you have heard of Paul R. McHugh? Based only on what you've said in your post, I would assume your thoughts on him are negative: He's a bigot, a "tranny hater", lacks any credibility, that sort of stuff."

Yes and he's a complete dirtbag when it comes to defending Cardinal Law from the investigation on the molestation accusations. Dude went as far as to claim the victims were deluded or mentally incompetent. So no, I don't listen to dirtbag rent-o-shrinks that have no moral spine to stand up to his own church when it has corrupt cardinals and other staff protecting molesters.

"Now here is one of the largest reasons I've come to hold the beliefs I hold: I've received death threats for the cardinal sin of giving even the smallest amount of thought towards the idea that he might be right."

Well I don't think you deserve threats but you are a dirtbag by implication at worse or outright dumb at best. McHugh's thesis holds no water in light of the various studies so far. All you have to do is search for it on Google Scholar to see why.

"I don't see these people as being any different than the bigots we have both dealt with. I'm able to see where they stand. They refuse to see where I stand. It isn't even an inability to see things my way - but a complete and utter refusal. I do not see that as being good."

Sorry but McHugh is a dirtbag for so many reasons and no I won't ever entertain his positions. If this is too much for you it's best you stop replying to my comments or never engage me again. McHugh is basically the creationist of gender identity, so I don't listen to said crackpots. Deal with it.