Transsexuals in the News

Mephisto · 27th April 2007, 06:19 AM

I don't much pay attention to organized sports, but I do understand the attraction as well as the sometimes "macho" image perpetrated by atheletes and sports fans. A noted sports columnist for the L.A. Times has recently announced being a transsexual and I'm wondering if this will be a career-defeating confession on his part.

The city manager of Largo, Florida (Steve Stanton) recently announced that he'd be undergoing a gender-reassignment operation and was fired from his job of 14 years for various expedient reasons among them, "he could no longer be trusted."

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.d...703240408/1134

Will this be the same case in sportswriter, Mike Penner? Will sport enthusiasts "lose their trust" in a sportswriter that has changed his gender?

Quote:

Sports writer says he is transsexual

Posted: Thursday April 26, 2007 5:22PM; Updated: Thursday April 26, 2007 5:22PM

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A veteran sports writer for the Los Angeles Times said in his column Thursday that he is a transsexual.

Mike Penner told readers of his struggle to embrace his gender, and said when he returns from vacation in a few weeks he will be known as Christine Daniels. He did not say whether he was having surgery or why he's changing his last name.

"I am a transsexual sports writer," Penner wrote. "It has taken more than 40 years, a million tears and hundreds of hours of soul-wrenching therapy for me to work up the courage to type those words."

The 49-year-old Penner said his brain has been "wired female" and he's tried to fight off the urge to change sexes. He called writing a story about his sexuality the "most frightening of all the towering mountains of fear I somehow had to confront and struggle to scale."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...x.html?cnn=yes

Perhaps it will be different in Penner's situation as he's not often physically in the public light, however, like Stanton he is still the same person and I feel that his announcement will undoubtedly affect his career.

27th April 2007, 06:19 AM	#1
Mephisto Philosopher Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: in a state of disbelief Posts: 6,065	Transsexuals in the News I don't much pay attention to organized sports, but I do understand the attraction as well as the sometimes "macho" image perpetrated by atheletes and sports fans. A noted sports columnist for the L.A. Times has recently announced being a transsexual and I'm wondering if this will be a career-defeating confession on his part. The city manager of Largo, Florida (Steve Stanton) recently announced that he'd be undergoing a gender-reassignment operation and was fired from his job of 14 years for various expedient reasons among them, "he could no longer be trusted." http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.d...703240408/1134 Will this be the same case in sportswriter, Mike Penner? Will sport enthusiasts "lose their trust" in a sportswriter that has changed his gender? Quote: Sports writer says he is transsexual Posted: Thursday April 26, 2007 5:22PM; Updated: Thursday April 26, 2007 5:22PM LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A veteran sports writer for the Los Angeles Times said in his column Thursday that he is a transsexual. Mike Penner told readers of his struggle to embrace his gender, and said when he returns from vacation in a few weeks he will be known as Christine Daniels. He did not say whether he was having surgery or why he's changing his last name. "I am a transsexual sports writer," Penner wrote. "It has taken more than 40 years, a million tears and hundreds of hours of soul-wrenching therapy for me to work up the courage to type those words." The 49-year-old Penner said his brain has been "wired female" and he's tried to fight off the urge to change sexes. He called writing a story about his sexuality the "most frightening of all the towering mountains of fear I somehow had to confront and struggle to scale." http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...x.html?cnn=yes Perhaps it will be different in Penner's situation as he's not often physically in the public light, however, like Stanton he is still the same person and I feel that his announcement will undoubtedly affect his career.
	__________________ "What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?" Mahatma Gandhi