Transphobes are dumb and if you need proof of that, the movie explicitly says Buffalo Bill isn't really trans, Starling says that trans people are passive and non-violent, and Lector agrees and says that Bill is something else altogether, and has likely been turned down by multiple hospitals for sex reassignment surgery because of that (the clear implication being that sex reassignment surgery is warranted in other cases, so it's not saying "trans people aren't real"). But transphobes see a dude tucking his dick and that's all they need to know, apparently 🤷‍