Bully

It's an interesting question.  Does a trans person have the unquestioned right to tell a newspaper not to report their former name (aka their birth name) alongside their current name?  Is this a form of outing? Did the subject of the story assume part of the risk by agreeing to be in the story - should you assume anonymity while at the same time appearing in the country's largest gay paper? Does it matter that the trans woman didn't object to her name being published until two years after the story was published? And does it matter that her former name is apparently readily available to anyone who does a Google search?

Here is part of what the trans woman argues, then I'll get into what the editor of the paper said:

Even if in previous articles I have consented to having my birth name printed (which I have not explicitly done), I still have a right to request that it not be done in 2011. In 2009 I was interviewed for an article with Xtra when they published my birth name. While I did not have a major problem with that 2009 article, I did feel uncomfortable with my birth name being used. But I was promoting a new film project and the writer was a friend of a friend and I didn’t want to be contentious. The issue is not that people know my birth name; they can find this by looking at my past film work that features my old name. But I don’t want to be referred to by my old name at all nor do I want to encourage it. Especially among people I grew up with who may still not understand my transition.

And then the question arises, even if you disagree with her logic, is it her choice to decide what she's comfortable with, regardless?

There's an ongoing controversy in Canada over the editor of the largest gay paper having included a trans woman's former (birth) surname (the facts are a bit confusing) in a story about her two years ago.  She consented to the story, and did not object at the time to the publication of her last name.  She subsequently objected when the editor, Danny Glenwright, posted a link to the story on Faceboook for their mutual childhood friends, in essence "outing" her to them as trans.  The story is far more complicated, and illustrative of the inability of many to discuss trans issues publicly, with those whom they may disagree, without going ballistic.

Here's more background from the editor of Xtra, the gay paper, explaining what happened, and why he did it.  Note the reference to the fact that he was bullied as a gay boy by the same trans woman.

When I first read the name of Andrea Houston’s sex worker source a lump formed in my throat.

As her editor, I had been hounding her to find a sex worker for her story about violence against sex workers — ahead of the Dec 17 International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. I was not prepared to run such a story if it didn’t include the voice of someone who is affected by the issue.

That’s the type of journalism I practise; that’s the type of activist I am.

Nevertheless, I was also more affected than I was prepared to be when I learned Lexi Tronic was that source.

In another place, at another time, Tronic was responsible for some of the worst bullying I ever received as a young, awkward (not yet happily) gay kid in Winnipeg. I recently wrote about my experiences in the pages of Xtra in the wake of Jamie Hubley’s suicide. This week I remembered writing that piece and thinking specifically about Tronic, who was the perpetrator of much of the taunting I recalled in it.

Then note the comments left below the story, particularly the references to the editor having been bullied.  Here are a few illustrative ones:

If this is any indication of how you acted when you were 14, I would have bullied you too. What a fuckin' punk.

And besides, even if she did bully you, it is an embarrassment, that you, as a grown adult, would drag up something from your childhood to justify disrespect to the trans community.

I find it completely intolerable that you would use a publication that you write for as the platform for your private therapy issues at the expense of an entire community.
If in fact Lexi did bully you as you say when you were 14, explain to me the context of bringing it up in connection to you being called out on being transphobic for irresponsibly using her birth name? What does one have to do with the other? That's what I really want to know because call me weird, but if I were left to assumptions, I would assume that you did it on purpose because you have a personal vendetta against her due to your unmanaged childhood experiences.

As a queer, cisgendered femme who has written for Xtra in the past, I am appalled that this transphobic article and non apology were both run. However, I'm unfortunately not surprised. I would like to believe that Xtra can change and shift away from being a paper that pretty much writes about white gay men with money, but I'm not holding my breath.

Yes you got bullied, so did everyone.

This is clearly not an apology. Cisgender privilege includes feeling entitled to call the shots on what defines transphobia and being able to publish it. I am very disappointed.

Here is a rare civil comment that actually makes an excellent point in a non-abusive way:

Outside of the trans issue is the Sex Worker issue. I work in the sex trade. My real real name is never to be revealed even though many people know it. I am often quoted in media and know many of those reporters personally and they don't reveal my legal name on Facebook or other social media. My job is criminalized in many ways and therefore -so am I. Revealing my real name could result in an investigation and charges. Although I appreciate Xtra and the support and enlightenment provided there about prostitution, I don't see how you don't see that this was a serious ethical infraction with potential life altering ramifications for the named person.

Then note what the trans woman herself wrote about the bullying:

I was pretty mortified by Danny’s response. I really thought we had worked it out. I am not trying to get into a pissing contest with Danny about who is the bigger victim in this situation, himself for being bullied in grade 4 by me, and/or 24 years later being accused of transphobia [cissexism, to be more precise --Savannah] by well-networked and vocal supporters of myself on facebook. But I do feel that as a trans woman and a sex worker with a grade 9 education there is a bit of a power imbalance between myself and an editor of the largest gay publication in Canada.

I will also point out that Danny is a cisgender white male who appears able-bodied. I understand by the tone of his response (he opens with the line: “when I heard the name…a lump formed in my throat”) that he feels defensive and wronged and presumably victimized by me, but I don’t really have the institutional power to oppress Danny. I don’t have the power of the law, the school system, the police; I am marginalized, despite having powerful and vocal allies.

Further, I feel that Danny reacted so strongly because I tried to stand up for myself, and people have supported me, and I feel I have been subject to oppression a second time by Xtra with Danny’s response to the boycott supported by myself, my friends and allies.

Imagine the reaction had a gay leader tried to minimize the childhood bullying of a trans person, especially had they been the bully in question.

I don't know the answer here, and I don't know who's right. I do know that when a gay man writes about having being severely bullied as a child, and he clearly is still traumatized by it today, the tenor of the comments following his editorial, and the seeming dismissal of his pain by the person who bullied him in the first place, is troubling (note that she'd never apologized for the bullying until after this incident blew up, and even now her apology comes across as somewhat of a non-apology (he couldn't really have been bullied if he's a gay white man without any disabilities)).  Did he cross a line?  Quite possibly. (Again, I'd like to hear more about what actually happened - the details are still somewhat fuzzy).  Did the responses he received cross a line?  Absolutely.

We need to learn to be able to discuss these issues, ask questions about them, and even sometimes disagree on them, without eating our own.