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I wasn't sure if you would recognize any difference between ideologies as a non-identitarian difference. The fact that you recognize the possibility of such differences is helpful for understanding your view.
I would argue that the differences between the alt right and the SJW left regarding medical transition are not identitarian. The SJW left regards transition (hormones, SRS) as a formal freedom that should be open to all; it's not tied to any one identity group. Anyone is free to transition as much or as little as they want to. Attempts to identify who is "truly" trans or not are considered "gatekeeping" and are generally viewed as pernicious. Doesn't matter if you're trans, bigender, genderfluid, or even just a man who wants to look more feminine... you should be able to have access to trans medical services if you want. That last one is not unheard of by the way. Plenty of "femboys" take estrogen for softer skin and wider hips, while still identifying as cis men. The SJW left would say "cool!", the alt right would say "what is your problem? You're a man, no you shouldn't be allowed to take any damn estrogen, what is wrong with you?"
I think the competing views on trans issues flow from the fact that the alt right is very friendly to the concept of rootedness, while the left views rootedness as constraining. This is also why the alt right is much more supportive of HBD, and biological explanations in general for human behavior. For the alt right, you are rooted in your identity - you were born into a certain race, into a certain gender, in a certain country, and you should stay put, you need to conform to the norms and live up to the expectations that those identities place on you. You can't just up and change who you are. The left is much friendlier to the concept of identity as a fluid thing that you can change as it suits you. Even when it comes to race for the left, where they're much less sanguine about fluidity, they're still careful to endorse social constructionist views of race instead of biological views, and they stress that the properties of racial groups can be socially re-constructed (in principle). The alt right thinks this is nonsense.
Regarding Covid vaccines, I agree that concerns about disabled people did play a role in the left's thinking, but I don't think it was the overriding factor in their policy decisions. And it certainly wasn't the overriding factor for the alt right - it would be uncharitable to them to say that their position was "yeah, if we cared about disabled people then we would support mandatory Covid vaccines, but we don't, so, they're out of luck I guess". I think the left simply saw an opportunity for collective social action with universalist ends and they embraced it. "We can all play a part in ending Covid and flattening the curve if we all take the vaccine, so let's all fulfill our social responsibility together". The alt right has a certain individualist strain that makes them skeptical of large-scale collective action like this, perhaps because a lot of alt rightists today are ex-libertarians. They bristle at the idea of the government swooping in and telling them what to do, even if it's for an allegedly good cause. These types of concerns aren't identitarian, but rather are simply related to a generalized conception of how the individual should relate to the social collective.
I'm less sure about the case of women, so I'll leave that to the side for now.
It's still identitarian because everyone isn't free to act towards the trans as much or as little as they want to.
No, I think they still have an out. You’re not allowed to treat cis people however you want either. Everyone’s gender identity has to be respected, and you shouldn’t misgender people. It applies universally.
But this also gets back to the concern I raised earlier about collapsing the political universe into minimal individualist libertarianism vs everything else. If an ideology takes a stand on “X is bad” or “X is good” you can always spin that as being “actually” an identitarian difference because it creates a distinction between one group of people who is pro-X and one group of people who is anti-X. So, what’s an example of a genuine non-identitarian difference to you?
This reasoning would allow you to claim that a treatment is not identitarian by noticing that people want to act differently depending on some distinction. Just deny the distinction and claim it's equal treatment. "I believe in treating both Jews and non-Jews the same way. This treatment consists of forcing them to go to church." Or even the proverbial law that prevents both rich and poor people from sleeping under bridges.
So give me an example of a difference between political ideologies that you think is non-identitarian. Any two ideologies, doesn’t have to be alt right vs SJW left.
I gave several that I think qualify: identity as rooted vs fluid, willingness to accept hereditarian explanations for behavior, the degree to which the state can force individuals to undergo medical interventions for the collective good. Conversely, here’s an identitarian difference between two ideologies: the alt right wants to promote the interests of white people, black nationalists want to promote the interests of black people. So, I think that some things reduce down to identity, but not everything reduces down to identity.
Often when this topic comes up (“the left and the right are just the same with the races swapped!”), what seems to be underlying that sentiment is an implicit notion of “anyone who who isn’t a liberal individualist is really just caught up in the identitarian game, regardless of what else they claim to believe”. Do you endorse that view? I don’t think that’s a crazy view or anything (it’s reminiscent of how ethical positions basically break down into utilitarianism vs deontology I suppose), I just want to know where you’re coming from.
I can claim that your standard is flawed without also (nontrivially) claiming to have a better one.
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