Respecting Gender Identity Through Fiction

Allow me to be very clear,

I respect and accept the view points of any person within the LGBT community, and would never disrespect their feelings. However, please understand that, how I write my characters, is based on my views and beliefs, and so I have no intention of restricting my stories to cater to others.

While I appreciate my audience wanting to come to the defense of my characters, and protect them from being misrepresented as the transgender individuals that they are... please understand that there is a reason that I choose to write their dialogue as I have.

In the case of Rei... while she is a fictional character, she is based on myself, and so her ideals, beliefs, and way of living, is very much like a mirror of myself in a lot of ways. Again, I very much appreciate my audience wanting to come to her defense, but there is a reason that I choose to write her dialogue as I have.

To give some insight, let me speak about my personal experience as a trans girl. Early on, during my transition... even though I wanted to express myself as a girl, and be treated as one... for some reason, I didn't push this on others around me. Because I didn't look like a girl at the time, and so I didn't think that it was fair to others.

See, I'm a girl, but my body is male. I'm alright with this, because it's who I am. When my transition is complete, perhaps these feelings will fade~

For the characterization of Rei in MGT, she is in high school and presenting as a girl. Her peers, family, none of that has been shown. Is she widely accepted as a girl? Or is she relying on the support of her girlfriend, June? For all of Rei's faults, (that I intend to share over time) she still remains grounded in reality, that her body is male. So when she rejected being a girl magically, she felt almost violated in a way, since the Witch presumed she had ill intent as a girl, and beyond that---- she wasn't ready to let go of that part of herself, even if it's the part she wants to be rid of some day.

Much like myself, Rei is very self reliant, but will go out of her way to help others. Perhaps this part of her also played a role in her rejecting being a girl magically, and wants to achieve womanhood in her own way, even if she is limited by our societies limited sex change procedures.

So, at the end of day... when Rei refers to her body as a "boy" it's because that part of her transition, where she is at as a trans girl... has not allowed her to overcome that overbearing fact, that she is very much a girl, within a boy's body.