From Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-beyer/dr-v-and-the-inescapable-_b_4671437.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices
Dana Beyer
01/27/2014
Last week a story broke on the Grantland blog and has been burning up the Twitterverse, listservs, Facebook and other social media outlets. It’s a story that is a profound tragedy, with innocent and not-so-innocent victims, culturally reaching back to the ’60s, and spotlighting an all-too-common profound ignorance still present in our society.
I suppose it’s fitting that it began as a story about a “magical putter,” a golf club of interest, I imagine, to the dwindling coterie of avid golfers in our country. A sports story written by a young and hungry sportswriter for a sports blog, a story pursued because, as Caleb Hannan wrote, “strange stories can find you at strange times.”
This “strange story” was clearly a detective story, a mystery that had been perplexing golfers, with twists and turns that made for riveting reading even for those who care little about golf. I came on it, and read the entire 7,700-word story, only after the story blew up online and I was told it had a trans angle. I was also told that the language used on Twitter was fierce, calling for the head of the reporter. Within days a response by the editor, Bill Simmons, was posted, as well as a very thoughtful piece by my friend and colleague, Christina Kahrl. What was immediately clear to me upon concluding the story was that the writer and his editor should have contacted Christina before publication, and preferably as soon as the writer became aware of the protagonist’s “secret.” That it didn’t work out in that manner is indicative of the profound ignorance of so many Americans about the transgender experience, even in 2014.
There are so many layers to this story for me. The first, which stood out starkly, was the tragedy of the life of the protagonist, Essay Anne Vanderbilt. She committed suicide in October, long before the story was published but following increasingly strained interactions with the writer. She had been suicidal before, and clearly had been struggling emotionally through much of her life. People don’t concoct completely new histories, revising and re-revising, to cover themselves while trying to hide in plain sight, without serious underlying emotional fragility. She is representative, unfortunately, of many trans women who have transitioned gender in mid-life and have been so emotionally stressed that they’ve contemplated, attempted or actually committed suicide. The prevalence of serious suicide attempts among trans people has been reported at 41 percent; I can relate, as I’m one of the 41 percent.
When any life is lost, it is a tragedy. When it is lost because of unbearable social pressures, it is an unnecessary tragedy. Her story is, unfortunately, still way too common.
Continue reading at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-beyer/dr-v-and-the-inescapable-_b_4671437.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices
