I think that "We're not freaks like them and they should go away forever and leave us alone" are frequently informed by the dominant culture's attitude toward the other groups. Like cis LGB people who see trans people (heterosexual or LGB) as interlopers frequently and consistently draw upon the dominant views of trans people to reject us. And similarly, heterosexual homophobic trans people consistently draw upon the dominant views of LGB people (cis or trans) when they go on their tirades about how they don't want to be associated with the LGBT movement.

It's not only enforcing the dominant systems, and there's definitely stuff that I think is appropriative and needs to be called out as such, and coattails riding that needs to stop, but I think that frequently, when trying to draw these borders, the dominant culture is invoked.

I've kind of got mixed opinions about identity politics (even though I'm up to my elbows in them) because while I think we absolutely need to be able to communicate with each other about our common experiences and use these to define not only our oppression but our community (I don't just mean trans people here), but at the same time they're used by transphobic cis feminists to exclude trans women and erase trans men, or used by transphobic cis gay men (like John Aravosis and Chris Crain) to exclude trans people entirely, and too many people act like intersections don't exist. Like, as a lesbian trans woman, I'm just trans and don't get to be lesbian or a woman.

I'm not fond of the oppression olympics, although I've caught myself at it more than once, I try not to do it. :(