I am not sure if some guys I have chatted with and who like to cross dress and role play as girls are considered trans? It seems to me that they are bisexual and do not fit the transgender definition. I think there is too much emphasis placed on labels. We all sit somewhere on multiple spectra; political,social, sexual. Maybe we should celebrate human beings as diverse creatures and not be too worried about putting people into categories, yet gender seems to be very contentious right now.
Labels can be a problem. They can also be useful. Gender is contentious only because some politicians have weaponized it. If people who aren't negatively affected by someone else's gender would just mind their own business, there would be nothing contentious about it. Cross-dressers might or might not be transgender. They are welcome on this forum because many transgender people try cross-dressing as part of their journey of personal discovery. I can't tell if the people you know are transgender or not because I don't know them. Even if I did know them, it is not for me to say. However, people who cross-dress as a form of role-playing are typically not transgender. Being transgender is not role-playing. Whether or not they are bisexual, heterosexual, homosexual, or asexual really has nothing to do with being transgender. Transgender people can be all of those, just as cisgender people can.
There is no required or ideal number of labels. If you need more, use them. If you don't need them, don't use them.
Labels are fine. Its the assumptions based on those labels that I take issue with. "Oh, you're [insert label here]? Then you must be [insert stereotype here]."
