Gender identity, as apart from assigned sex at birth, is a real thing. Attempts to deny this only serve to divide us and create hostility against “the other.” As one wise person said when asked how they felt about “the other,” the reply was, “We are all human. There is no ‘other.’”

Carlsbad made the top 15 list of The Advocate’s “Queerest Cities in America,” according to an article published Jan. 12 in the national LGBT magazine. The goal of the annual list, formerly known...