Transgender People Are Paying The Price For The Media’s Willful Ignorance
http://www.buzzfeed.com/saeedjones/transgender-people-are-paying-the-price-for-the-medias-willf
People gather at a vigil for slain transgender woman Islan Nettles at Jackie Robinson Park in Harlem on Aug. 27, 2013 in New York City. Mario Tama / Getty Images
For those who care about the way transgender people are covered in the media to say nothing of transgender people themselves who bear the brunt of the blow it has been a difficult few weeks. A chill ran down my spine is how Caleb Hannan, a Grantland contributor, describes the moment he realized that the subject of his story was a transwoman. In the article, Hannan doesnt get a chill later when the woman, an inventor and entrepreneur, begs him not to out her, stating youre about to commit a hate crime.
After describing how the subject of his story swallowed pills, put a bag over her head and died on her kitchen floor a suicide some have suggested came as a result of Hannans own reporting, though she did not leave a note so we will likely never know for sure the writers next sentence is about himself: Writing a eulogy for a person who by all accounts despised you is an odd experience.
To review, a person was outed as transgender against her will and pushed to the breaking point and somehow not only a writer but at least one editor decided this was a story that should be published. This is no eulogy.
The whole thing about passing is about survival, actress Laverne Cox told me recently. Being people able to walk down the street and not have strangers recognize you as trans is about survival. We become targets for violence.