It seems like both the trans character and the nonbinary character are "uptimers" who join the Discovery crew. I think in a way this makes things easier.
I have no issue with the idea of nonbinary people in the Federation whatsoever. I do have some issues with people who are self-identified as trans though.
The crux of it is basically the Federation has been portrayed as somewhere that is very open and tolerant of differences. It's also the case that (at least by the time of DS9) SRS is apparently so easily done one can switch back and forth between genders in a single day. Given both of these things, I would expect that pretty much as soon as dysphoria was identified in childhood people would transition to the gender they identified as. Hell, since SRS is reversible, it could even be common to just try out being the opposite gender for a year in college on a lark, to see if you like it.
So while there are undoubtedly trans people, I have a hard time believing that they would remark much on their trans identity. It would just kinda float there in the background, like if you had (successful) surgery as an infant or something - not a particularly salient part of your life.
A trans trill uptimer though is coming from her own cultural milieu, which may be completely different from what we're used to. We know the joined Trill seem - at minimum - much more comfortable with having had varying gender identities and sexualities in the past. Who knows how that changes over the centuries?
I have no issue with the idea of nonbinary people in the Federation whatsoever. I do have some issues with people who are self-identified as trans though.
The crux of it is basically the Federation has been portrayed as somewhere that is very open and tolerant of differences. It's also the case that (at least by the time of DS9) SRS is apparently so easily done one can switch back and forth between genders in a single day. Given both of these things, I would expect that pretty much as soon as dysphoria was identified in childhood people would transition to the gender they identified as. Hell, since SRS is reversible, it could even be common to just try out being the opposite gender for a year in college on a lark, to see if you like it.
So while there are undoubtedly trans people, I have a hard time believing that they would remark much on their trans identity. It would just kinda float there in the background, like if you had (successful) surgery as an infant or something - not a particularly salient part of your life.
A trans trill uptimer though is coming from her own cultural milieu, which may be completely different from what we're used to. We know the joined Trill seem - at minimum - much more comfortable with having had varying gender identities and sexualities in the past. Who knows how that changes over the centuries?
