Comic books writer and artist John Byrne was discussing the recent news about Caitlyn Jenner.

The British-American comic creator has worked on iconic stories with both DC and Marvel, such as X-Men, Iron Man, Superman and Batman.

He was talking with fans on his website, and questioned the reality and validity of trans people and trans people’s genders.

He said: “Many people are tortured and driven by a desire to have sex with children. Our society frowns on this, and such people are considered mentally ill. We do not accommodate them, we do not respect them.

“How is being “transgender” different? Given all the twists and turns that have happened in our general understanding of how the brain and mind work — still a work in progress — how difficult is it to imagine a future in which it will be determined without doubt that “transgender” is, indeed, a mental illness?

“How will we feel about all those people who, instead of actually helping them, we encouraged in a program of self-mutilation?

“This is a long, long road, and so far we have taken barely a single step upon it.”