the idea of male lesbians is damaging. a central part of lesbian identity is defined by a complete detachment from men in both romantic and sexual contexts.

furthermore, referring to a transgender man as a lesbian is not only counterproductive but also transphobic, even if he "identifies" as one. this view implies that even within queer communities, transgender men aren't fully recognized as men, a perception that can be exploited by queerphobes and right-wing figures to undermine trans legitimacy.

identity labels serve to define and distinguish experiences. if their boundaries are dissolved, the labels themselves lose meaning, which makes their existence completely oxymoronic. while individual self-expression matters, it does not justify appropriating and distorting terms meant to represent specific identities.

I definitely understand what you mean here. But something to consider is that what makes an identity truly yours is if you yourself identify as it. If someone were to view a trans man as a women because of their identity in being a lesbian, it would not be the identifiers fault that they were perceived that way. If someone thought it was, that would just be blaming the oppressed instead of confronting the oppressor, if that makes sense

Onto an explanation, trans man lesbians will have MANY reasons as to why they might use the term lesbian, even outside of the ones I list. Just want to clarify that before I get into this.

Some reasons a transgender man might use these terms is because:

• They have used the term lesbian before they came to the conclusion that they are a trans man, and are uncomfortable in the change of leaving that identity because of the amount of time in their life that they identified as a lesbian
• They experience queer attraction to women, orientation doesn't have to change alongside your gender if that doesn't feel correct to the identifier. (Also important to note that being a lesbian isn't woman exclusive)
• Or most importantly, they identify as what feels most comfortable to them

And much more. I had more points to add here but I had to go do something before sending this post and sadly, I forgot those points. But I will add one more thing.

Maybe consider nonbinary, genderfluid, multigender, and genderqueer people who are lesbians. Many people who identify as those genders may identify as a man. It might be easier to understand if you take that into account. Also the fact that being a Lesbian isn't wlw, it's the queer attraction to Women (exclusive or not)