Understanding transgendered people?

[Christine]

Just think of it this way: She's still a person. So when she tells you, just act like you already knew, like as if she just "um. well.. i'm human." A statement like that shouldn't take a big response, right? Be understanding with your body language, don't be like 'well duh!" but say something like "I'm glad that you know who you are now, and I'm still going to be here for you like before."
regarding the question about pronouns and the bf/gf stuff.
There is a biological girl at our school who has decided that she is transgender, and she has a girlfriend. I do not think either of them are lesbian, even though he is still technically a girl. So no, a transgender person stuck in the wrong body is not gay. Like in Freaky Friday, bad example but say one of them was a girl and one was a boy, now the fact that they are supposed to be from the opposite gender's body and they are straight means that they would like the opposite gender, but since they switched to the opposite gender's body are they gay until they switch back? No, they are just stuck in the wrong body, and there's nothing wrong with that.
be serious about her coming out, dont over react, but dont laugh it off as if you don't care. make sure she knows you understand and most importantly ACCEPT her. I think asking if she has a male name is not a bad idea, but put it something like "would you like me to call you a different name?"
about the girly stuff, iff she's been putting up with it for so long, don't just abruptly stop. if it makes her uncomfortable she will probably tell you to stop, but just outright stopping would be basically shutting her out of the familiar relationship that she had before as if something changed, and you don't want her to feel like she is different than she was before, you don't want her to feel that your opinion of her has changed. don't try to tiptoe around her, treat her how you always treated her.
last question, transgender is not a mental disorder. It is a biological mistake where a male or female gets stuck in the opposite gender's body. The only thing wrong with it is the way society views it. By the way, I am not transgender or lesbian I know many people who are transgender, gay and lesbian and I have nothing against them. Anyways, whoever said it is a mental disorder is an ignorant person. The statement "To be transgender is a mental disorder"'s ignorance can be compared to the ignorance of the statement "rape is god's will". Transgender is a perfectly healthy lifestyle, because it's exactly the same as everybody else's life style. it's like a dog being stuck in a cat's body. When they tell you they're a dog, does that make the cat mentally retarted? No.. Being transgender should be much more accepted into our community, and it is perfectly normal. Good luck and just remember to be accepting.