Do you agree that there's such a thing as "not normal"?
Like someone who shoots up a movie theater, for instance.
Things like the event/individual you are referring to are, in my opinion, while unfortunate, not surprising. That's just life. It treats people in different ways. Shit happens. Life isn't fair. We're all dealt different cards from the moment of conception (it all starts with your genes). If you really want to go this route, you could start arguing about whether or not free will really exists, determinism, etc.
And to define "not normal", you first need to define "normal". I'm saying there is no "normal", only social ideal/expectation, which is relative to time and culture, which is a function of the collective whole and majority.
That said, call me what you will but I don't understand why this is supported and encouraged. I guess if the person in question is happy then so be it, but to say "They are just normal people like you or I" seems to be a bit of a stretch. Are people who cut themselves normal people? People who see things or hear voices? Mental issues can and do exist, why try to hide the fact? And I will never refer to someone born a man as a she or vice versa.
Unless you mean "facilitated" instead of "encouraged", I'm not sure it's really encouraged at all, so much as it's supported. It's a person's right to have control over their self-identity, gender, and sex imo, as long as it's not harming anyone else. This is why I will refer to a person as whatever sex they were changed into, out of respect. Yea, in my head, I will never accept them 100% as being the sex they want to be; if they ask, I will tell them the truth about what I think, but I will still refer to a guy as "she" or a girl as "he" if it's what they want.
afaik, they have measures in place to stop people from going through with sex-change operations and such, in order to make sure it's what the person really wants in the end (and in the best interests of their health, particularly mental). Often, these people will live as the desired gender for a few years before going through with any operations.
But yea, the brain is a complex thing. Who are we to judge? You don't know what these people go through, subjectively, so you can't.