I'm pretty much exactly on the same page as Serrano

then you would use "trans" as the umbrella instead of "transgender" for this reason, as Serano does.

If you construe it narrowly in the way that some here seem to want to, as present gender variance, yes, its not a term that applies to many transsexuals ... Yet many people don't construe it that narrowly.

Gender-variant is an accepted synonym for transgender, so i'm not narrowly redefining anything here. And, as I've quoted above, prominent trans academics also see it this way (i.e. that transsexual people are not automatically transgendered), so it's not as if I'm talking about some fringe viewpoint.

people lump us under the umbrella because (1) we are all working towards similar goals and they forget/ignore that we're not just one monolithic group, and/or (2) they're making the same "but you used to be perceived differently" argument that you're making, which i'll address below.

let me be clear here. i absolutely do agree that transsexual people belong in this political coalition of those "disparate classes of people to fight for the common goal of ending all discrimination based on sex/gender variance," as Serano puts it. somebody decided to name that coalition "the transgender community" even though transsexuals are not automatically transgendered. they could have just as easily named it the "trans community" or a variety of other possible names.

Transsexuals usually do have history where at some point they crossed from one gender presentation to another, thus the transgender label can also be seen as applying to them

there are several problems with this argument. (1) i've always had a normatively masculine gender presentation. while my outward sex characteristics have changed, my gender has never changed. that makes me a transsexual man but not transgendered. i have the same haircut, wear the same clothes, have the same style, have the same masculine hobbies (and so on) as i did before i medically transitioned. the other problem is (2), saying "you used to at some point be ___ so that still applies to you now" is wrong. can you not see how this logic is also transphobic? that's like saying to a trans woman "at some point you were a man, so that label still applies to you now." this is the same thinking that keeps trans women out of women's spaces (e.g. the "you have male socialization" argument), and allows trans men into women's spaces.

And, when I look here on reddit, at who is participating on r/asktransgender and r/transgender, it isn't so much a haven for genderqueers, cross-dressers, drag performers, feminine men, and so on, but is occupied largely by transsexuals. Thus there's a certain irony to seeing a discussion here where people say “the term ‘transgender’ doesn't apply to me!”.

why is that ironic? is this reddit only open to participation from self-identified transgender individuals? if transgendered people are trying to dictate the terms of my transsexual identity, do you think it's ironic that i (i.e. a transsexual person) would want to engage them in a conversation about it? the bottom line is, even though i am years post-transition and am long past the time of needing information or support from the community, i continue to participate because i care that others need information and support. i believe, as Serano stated, that "transgender" is a political term under which a variety of groups of people can support each other and organize for social change. i fully acknowledge that transsexuals are and should be a part of this community. i've repeated this point several times, but if people called the umbrella "trans" i'd have no issue with it. that's what Serano does, who you claim to be "pretty much exactly on the same page as." but what i most want from this discussion is for people to acknowledge that transsexual and transgendered people are distinct but overlapping groups, with different identities and needs. Viviane Namaste, for example, always says "transsexual and transgendered people" when she talks about our community, and i appreciate that.