This past week, I’ve been called a transphobe and a moron, and told that I deserve to lose my job.

All because I had the temerity to write about a taboo topic: the participation of transgender women and girls in female sports.

Every sneering email I received drove home the point: Do not talk about this. If you do, we will shut you down. What they lack in numbers — 66% of Americans believe that transgender people ought to compete on the teams that match their gender assigned at birth, according to the Pew Research Center, while only 15% disagreed — these activists make up for in vitriol.

Thankfully, I also received thoughtful, kind responses from people who disagreed with me, as well as from conservatives, who, not surprisingly, were pleased to see their views reflected in print.

Even more surprisingly, a number of liberals agreed with me.

Pauline Schottmuller of Washington County considers herself a moderate liberal and has voted blue since President Donald Trump’s arrival on the scene. She wrote that she has witnessed the emotional agony of those struggling to decide whether to transition, including a young man who was married with children. Yet Schottmuller doesn’t support transgender female participation in female sports.

“I told liberal friends that this was an issue that will drive people into the Trump camp. They were outraged, but I do believe that it did,” she said. “We need more research and better understanding of what transitioning at different ages actually means in terms of athletic abilities.”

Dave Porter, a Minneapolis attorney, said he has wrestled with how to feel and respond to transgender females competing in sports with their differential and unfair advantage.