I had a trans classmate in high school. We weren't friends, he was a real jerk for the first two years I knew him, until he socially transitioned between sophomore and junior year. He mellowed out a lot after that, but we still never really made friends.

I'm now in music education and have encountered multiple trans students. The one that sticks out to me the most is the kid whose parents didn't accept him as trans, because he told us we had to deadname him and misgender him any time his parents were around, which, unfortunately, included when he was on stage during a bit of a show he was in in which part of the production was everybody getting introduced during one of the songs. I know he really appreciated us accepting him and having his back like that, but I hated that we had to do that.

That super sucks about your friend. So unfair that he finally felt comfortable with his identity, and then crashed straight into /c/fuckcars.