"... to create ourselves anew!"

No, no, it's not Lent - apparently, arranging for your own "rebirth" is a thing.
And it is not only Catholics in Contemporary Ensembles who manage such a feat.
Now that's super power.
(I kid. I've been watching The Tick.)

But this is a sincere question about the acceptable ways of speaking about transgenderism, in this brave new world. 

As [a previously apparently male teenager,] 18, recovered from the surgery that changed her into a female, [emphasis added] she and her family talked about ....

Putting aside the question of whether this person can have "changed into a female", I thought the conventional, PC wisdom, per the Olympian formerly known as Bruce Jenner, was that transgendered persons simply are what they choose to, or feel they must, say they are, there is no "becoming", there is no "changing", and the surgery to remove and add parts is beside the point, and actually, completely optional.

What is the party line on that?
Is there a logic to it that I am just missing?