With the whole god/guns/gays bullshit sidelined to the fringe the Democrats might as well become the Republicans so that the Republicans can go ahead and rebrand as the Taliban and be done with it.

I think you are wrong. I don't think all of America is ready to embrace trans rights the way it is ready to embrace gay rights. It's too much too fast. There is going to be much more back lash then there was against gay rights. The people that read SI might not cancel their subscriptions (because at this point if you have a print mag subscription you are probably just too lazy to cancel) but I don't think its going to start the right conversation. It will probably just help confirm the opinion that the media is left of their positions and empower the trump movement.

With gay rights many people were able to say that they know a gay person and that that person is much like them. I don't think many people know a trans person outside an awkward interaction they had once or twice. Trans rights does not poll as favorably as gay rights did. As gets rammed through expect a serious wedge/identity issue backlash.