its not rly an established pipeline - just my personal journey of identities and many others!
to quote a buddy who helped me understand the identity better:

butch and femme themselves are two completely separate genders from the binary being butch or femme in and of itself is queer/nonbinary in a way intrinsically linked to being lesbian--so when people say their gender is lesbian its like literally that. like not only are he/him lesbians totally a thing, and transmasc lesbians also a thing, but being butch is a gender unto itself. that's why you sometimes see some lesbians who might point out that someone saying they 'look femme' or 'look butch' isn't actually the right way to use those words. they're straight up genders for lesbians, so you'd use fem, or masc. its a lot but like

i recommend discussing it with other butches who have navigated the gender longer than i have! haha i just started id'ing as a butch lesbian this month so i really dont have any eloquent way of saying things like other lesbians who have a deeper understanding of butch and femme as genders! i suggest reading stone butch blues if you really want to get into the nitty gritty of the subject - hope that helps!