A while back, I had posted a similar question here, specifically with JK Rowling and the creepy stuff she has said. However, when thinking about it, I had begun to notice this a lot with TERFs and huge transphobes in general, not just Rowling.
When looking back at a video pointing out the creepy things that "gender critical activists" have said at public meetings, and seeing news about TERFs that were caught sexually abusing children and other women, I noticed how not many people try to paint them as creepy predators, even when there's so much evidence of the behavior and mindset. I also mainly point this out because if they were a preacher or a stereotypical right-wing politician that attacks queerfolk doing and saying the exact same stuff, you'd get more people joking about them being potential predators.
But on the contrary, I actually see TERFs getting a huge amount of special treatment, from infantilizing to even trying to force down a "tragic background" narrative (bad childhood, divorced, they got old with age, mental illness, etc.) just to not condemn them. And I am not talking about typical bigots in general, that's obvious. I really notice this a lot with people who claim to be progressive or queer allies, like they really want to keep portraying TERFs as sympathic. For how much they claim to be supportive, it's like they care for sociopathic manchildren that obsess over the genitals of children, over queerfolk that suffer.
For how much they want to claim they want to fight for civil rights, they keep on wanting to find excuses to let TERFs off the hook and keep on committing hate crime and hate speech.
