Los Angeles Sportswriter Takes Vacation

WHEN HE COMES BACK NO NEED FOR A JOCK STRAP!

:WTF:


http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-oldmike26apr26,0,2709943.story?page=1&coll=la-home-headlines


During my 23 years with The Times' sports department, I have held a wide variety of roles and titles. Tennis writer. Angels beat reporter. Olympics writer. Essayist. Sports media critic. NFL columnist. Recent keeper of the Morning Briefing flame.

Today I leave for a few weeks' vacation, and when I return, I will come back in yet another incarnation.

As Christine.

I am a transsexual sportswriter. 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. I realize many readers and colleagues and friends will be shocked to read them.

That's OK. I understand that I am not the only one in transition as I move from Mike to Christine. Everyone who knows me and my work will be transitioning as well. That will take time. And that's all right. To borrow a piece of well-worn sports parlance, we will take it one day at a time.

Transsexualism is a complicated and widely misunderstood medical condition. It is a natural occurrence — unusual, no question, but natural.

Recent studies have shown that such physiological factors as genetics and hormonal fluctuations during pregnancy can significantly affect how our brains are "wired" at birth.

As extensive therapy and testing have confirmed, my brain was wired female.

A transgender friend provided the best and simplest explanation I have heard: We are born with this, we fight it as long as we can, and in the end it wins.

I gave it as good a fight as I possibly could. I went more than 40 hard rounds with it. Eventually, though, you realize you are only fighting yourself and your happiness and your mental health — a no-win situation any way you look at it.

When you reach the point when one gender causes heartache and unbearable discomfort, and the other brings more joy and fulfillment than you ever imagined possible, it shouldn't take two tons of bricks to fall in order to know what to do.

It didn't with me.

With me, all it took was 1.99 tons.

For more years than I care to count, I was scared to death over the prospect of writing a story such as this one. It was the most frightening of all the towering mountains of fear I somehow had to confront and struggle to scale.

How do you go about sharing your most important truth, one you spent a lifetime trying to keep deeply buried, to a world that has grown familiar and comfortable with your façade?

To a world whose knowledge of transsexuals usually begins and ends with Jerry Springer's exploitation circus?

Painfully and reluctantly, I began the coming-out process a few months ago. To my everlasting amazement, friends and colleagues almost universally have been supportive and encouraging, often breaking the tension with good-natured doses of humor.

When I told my boss Randy Harvey, he leaned back in his chair, looked through his office window to scan the newsroom and mused, "Well, no one can ever say we don't have diversity on this staff."

When I told Robert, the soccer-loving lad from Wales who cuts my hair, why I wanted to start growing my hair out, he had to take a seat, blink hard a few times and ask, "Does this mean you don't like football anymore, Mike?"

No, I had to assure him, I still love soccer. I will continue to watch it. I hope to continue to coach it.

My days of playing in men's over-30 rec leagues, however, could be numbered.

When I told Eric, who has played sweeper behind my plodding stopper for more than a decade, he brightly suggested, "Well, you're still good for co-ed!"

I broke the news to Tim by beginning, "Are you familiar with the movie 'Transamerica'?" Tim nodded. "Well, welcome to my life," I said.

Tim seemed more perplexed than most as I nervously launched into my story.

Finally, he had to explain, "I thought you said 'Trainspotting.' I thought you were going to tell me you're a heroin addict."

People have asked if transitioning will affect my writing. And if so, how?

All I can say at this point is that I am now happier, more focused and more energized when I sit behind a keyboard. The wicked writer's block that used to reach up and torture me at some of the worst possible times imaginable has disappeared.

My therapist says this is what happens when a transsexual finally "integrates" and the ever-present white noise in the background dissipates.

That should come as good news to my editors: far fewer blown deadlines.

So now we all will take a short break between bylines. "Mike Penner" is out, "Christine Daniels" soon will be taking its place.

From here, it feels like a big improvement. I hope with time you will agree.

This could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

If broads think they get a difficult time from players in clubhouse wait till this tranny strolls in with his wig, high heals and five o'clock shadow. Wonder what Tim Hardaway thinks about this?

My goodness... what is this world coming to? Oh...wait. I already know the answer to my question.

hno:

ToddInVegas said:

If broads think they get a difficult time from players in clubhouse wait till this tranny strolls in with his wig, high heals and five o'clock shadow. Wonder what Tim Hardaway thinks about this?

Click to expand...

:lol:

here she is

eh, good for him, errrr, her.

Life's too short.

is that really him/her now?

fhmesq44 said:

is that really him/her now?

Click to expand...

according to this site it is

http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/chris...about-surgery-or-sexual-orientation-12766.php

hehehheeeeeeeeeeee

THis Is Now Beginning To Be Regoddamnediculous

http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/131671-p2.html

The Kansas City Police Department hired him in 1996. A year later, he remarried.
Then a back injury knocked him out of work for months, giving him time to dwell on his future.
I’m not getting any younger, he told himself, and I haven’t had the life I wanted.
A turning point
On the Internet, David finally discovered a name for the internal hell he’d been living: gender identity disorder. The solution was daunting: expensive female hormones and even more expensive and extreme surgery.
Even so, he daydreamed about living as a woman and sought a way out of his marriage. He committed adultery — openly. His wife forgave him, so he cheated again.
Divorce did not solve anything. He felt incredible guilt for hurting his second wife. Overall, he felt worse than ever.
He thought about his mom, who died 15 years earlier of cancer. He wanted to join her.
One day, David sat in the shower, crying, until the water turned cold. He stepped out, pulled on his pajamas and sat on the bed with his duty handgun and a pen and paper. He wanted to write a farewell letter to his father, but no words came. How could he explain?
Crying, he picked up the handgun.
I’m done, he thought. I don’t know how to deal with this.
But what would his death do to his father, siblings and other relatives? He didn’t want to hurt them. Pursuing life as a woman trumped death, despite all the risks, he figured. He slid the gun into his nightstand.
Searching the Internet, he found a British therapist who handled gender identity issues. They talked for months, until David found a local therapist.
David tested the waters at work by confiding his plans to another officer.
“Can’t you just be gay?” the officer responded.
Telling the boss
Last year, David decided to come out — a necessary step before taking pills to develop secondary female characteristics such as breasts.
He told his second ex-wife and saw relief flood her eyes, as if realizing it was not her fault.
The next hurdle: the Kansas City Police Department.
He pondered how to tell his bosses that the man they hired 10 years earlier intended to morph into a woman. He chose Deputy Chief Rachel Whipple, the only female deputy of five.
Sensing his stress, Whipple told him to take a deep breath.
“I don’t know how to say this,” David started, “but I’m a male-to-female transsexual.”
“OK, let’s talk about it,” Whipple answered. “I’ll take it to the chief, and you’ll need to let your chain of command know.”
David left in awe. Wow, he thought. This is going better than I expected.
Within a few days, television crews sought interviews. David declined. He felt somewhat betrayed by the way his private news traveled faster than if he had posted it on the Internet.
Still, he was glad to still be employed. He knew other transgenders who were not as fortunate.
Across America
In recent years transgender police officers have made news in multiple cities, including Philadelphia, Houston, Cincinnati and Oklahoma City.
One filed a civil rights complaint alleging her department was trying to force her to quit.
As opposed to decades ago, however, today’s bosses generally are more accepting and supportive of transgender employees, says Houston lawyer Phyllis Randolph Frye, who has been fighting the transgender rights battle for 30 years.
Just how many transgender police officers exist nationwide remains a mystery, though




Former Police Officer Tom Whetstone, a researcher from Louisville, Ky., said he had documented 60 and had contacted about 300 more who may be.
The most generally accepted estimate is that one in 12,000 persons in the United States is transgender, he says. Based on that ratio, there should be only 50 transgender officers. Instead, there are more, he said.
Many males who transition to females are drawn to law enforcement because “they attempt to hide their feelings … by seeking a hyper-masculine occupation,” he said.
Conversely, females who transition to males are drawn because the profession allows them to more openly express male traits, he said.
The phenomenon spawned an international support group six years ago called Transgender Community of Police and Sheriffs, or TCOPS. The group has 110 core members and has contacts with more than 600, most in the United States.
Facing family
In May 2006, a local therapist prescribed David a testosterone blocker and 6 mg a day of estrogen. The next month, David gave away his “man” clothes and filled his closet with women’s.
As the estrogen boost softened his skin, he pored over women’s fashion magazines and books on makeup.
But he had not told his family, mainly his father, a Southern Baptist.
“How do you tell your dad, a 30-year retired Marine, that his oldest son is actually his oldest daughter? I didn’t want to lose my Dad. I had already lost my mom.” David dialed his father. Unable to find the words, he hung up, crying.
He called the next day and again chickened out. When his father begged him to say what was wrong, David replied: “I just can’t tell you right now.”
The third day, David talked.
“I don’t know how to say this,” he began, “but Dad, I am a male-to-female transsexual.”
“I love you,” said his father, who suddenly understood inconsistencies he’d noticed in David’s childhood. “It doesn’t matter who you are.”
David wept. Happily.
Workplace issues
In September, David legally became Jessica Renee. He picked it because it sounded active, happy and outgoing — all things he didn’t used to be.
As Jessica’s tall body changed, she worried about gaining weight from the extra hormones. But her 220 pounds dwindled to 170.
The department told her to dress as a man at work. She found switching hard.
Her recently pierced ears posed a problem. If she removed the starter studs, the holes would close. When supervisors complained, she inserted small clear plastic tubes.
Three times, she forgot. Her Metro Patrol supervisor wrote her up. She also got in trouble for forgetting to remove her pink nail polish, which one sergeant called “ostentatious.”
In January, Jessica composed a two-page memo asking to dress according to police women’s standards, which allow earrings, fingernail polish and long hair. All her supervisors, including Police Chief Jim Corwin, approved.
Then there were the bathrooms. Neither the men nor the women wanted to share.
To solve that, the department designated a unisex bathroom in each police facility.
As for searching female prisoners, officials decided after some discussion that Jessica had to do it as if she were male, using the backs of her hands.
Co-workers reacted differently, she says.
The department did not allow interviews with Jessica’s co-workers for this story, but privately, some officers said they were embarrassed.



Jessica says others approached her with questions, some of them pointed. One simply wondered: “How did you learn to act like a woman?”
“From my perspective, I didn’t have to learn,” she said. “I had to learn how not to correct myself anymore. I had been doing that for 40 years, listening to my inner voice say, ‘You can’t act that way. You can’t cry. You can’t do this.’ ”
A new person
A special concern for transgenders is “passing” as the gender they believe they are. It’s called “getting read,” if someone recognizes your birth gender is different.
Jessica thinks she passes pretty well. She has a full head of thick, curly hair, feminine eyes and relatively thin arms.
When she responds to police calls, no one looks twice.
Never really a go-getter before, Jessica says her productivity improved.
“Now it’s like I’m reborn. I’m not struggling with that inner voice anymore.”
She’s saving money for surgery, starting a nonprofit group to help other transgender people and wants to find a platonic boyfriend.
On the last count, she is realistic.
“You know how hard that would be to find a man who would accept me?” she asked.
She did not realize how much her transition had changed her until a gunman wounded one of her co-workers, a friend. Then she realized she no longer considered the fatalistic aspects of police work a perk.
“I’ve gone through 41 years surviving as David, and I finally got past that. I don’t want to get shot and killed at work.”
After each police call, Jessica slides back into her patrol car and types a message on her computer to let her dispatcher know she is available for the next call.
The laptop responds with a computer-generated voice: “Status change accepted.”

He may be trying to cut them off, but you have to admit that took alot of balls.

i guess the tranny couldn't take the pressure anymore...

http://www.reuters.com/article/mediaNews/idUSN2823885220091128

LOS ANGELES, Nov 28 (Reuters) - A Los Angeles Times sportswriter who made headlines by announcing he was becoming a woman, then returned to work as a man, has been found dead in a suspected suicide, the paper reported on Saturday.

Mike Penner, a 25-year veteran of the Times sports staff, was found dead at his Los Angeles home at age 52. The paper said suicide was the suspected cause of death.

"He was one of the most talented writers I've ever worked with," Times Sports Editor Mike James told the paper in a blog on its website. "He was a gentle man, a kind man. It's just a tragedy."

Penner stunned colleagues and readers in April 2007 with a column announcing that he was a transsexual and would become a woman.

"How do you go about sharing your most important truth, one you spent a lifetime trying to keep deeply buried, to a world that has grown familiar and comfortable with your facade?" Penner wrote.

His column became one of the most-read articles on the paper's website and was widely reprinted on the Internet and discussed on sports talk-radio programs.

Under a new byline, Christine Daniels, the writer chronicled the transformation on a blog titled "Woman in Progress." But by October 2008 Penner had quietly gone back to work as a man.