You're right; I shouldn't have said
positive. That was my own bias, expecting "the truth" to align with my mental model of the world, which is the same critic I was making against the commenters. I take it back.
The word I should have used is intelligent comments.
The amount of vitriol and ignorance is what repulsed me. From people comparing transgenders to be mentally ill, to others saying that "terrorists will sit back and watch America defeat itself". Reddit/YouTube-level. Very few were able to intelligently argue why they were against accepting transgenders in the military - despite having thousands already in the ranks.
But hey, I should have known better; don't ever read the comments. Not even on NYT.