I recently got introduced to a new friend group with plenty of trans people. It was quite eye opening. Not that my views changed, but rather upon hearing their stories, realizing how much senseless hate there is towards them. Imagine not getting a job after a successful interview, because some asshole looking at your ID sees that your appearance doesn't match your birth assigned gender. It's one thing to be indifferent or not get queer people, it's another to actively fucking harm them!

I especially hate the project2025 rhetoric of "Economy bad" followed by "Let's spend our entire budget, murdering the queers". These people are monstrous...

The only thing we do not tolerate is intolerance itself.

I have a good friend like this. He says quite extreme things like that from time to time. I don't attack him for it. Instead we talk about it. I ask him questions, share my view on the matter etc. more often than not he then walks back what he said and openly admits that he shouldn't generalize and understands that the few bad apples he has had to deal with don't represent the majority.

People change. I did too. I used to say horrible things about gay people myself too when I was younger. Then I grew up and realized I'd actually like to have some of that dick too.

Your friend on the other hand probably only holds down to those beliefs even stronger now because of how you reacted. These are the people who vote for Trump to "screw with the libs"