He Had a Sex Change. So What?

On Wednesday, Hanna asked "Is it normal to be transgender?" On Thursday, Adam Reilly at the Boston Phoenix asked whether being transgender is newsworthy. Reilly analyzes the coverage of Aiden Quinn, the 24-year-old subway driver who crashed a Boston train earlier this month, injuring 50, moments after texting his girlfriend. And hey, by the way, he used to be a woman. Reilly writes:

Given Quinn's admission that he was, in fact, texting prior to the accident, there's a general consensus that he's a dumbass. But there's no such agreement among the Boston media as to whether his switch from identifying as a woman to a man was germane to the larger story.

According to Reilly's story, WFXT-TV and the Boston Herald played up Quinn's sex change. New England Cable News dropped the detail late in its story. And some Boston Globe pieces didn't even mention it. As Globe Metro Editor Brian McGrory told Reilly: "It's certainly a provocative part of his personal history, but the question we asked was, ‘Was it relevant to the crash itself?' And we couldn't determine that it was."

In the spirit of letting the American Psychiatric Association's DSM, the Bible of psychiatry, define what's "normal," it's interesting to turn to another definitive book—the New York Times style guide—for its take on gender identity. Here's how the old Gray Lady handled it. Reporting on Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick's plan, in response to the crash, to ban bus and train operators from having cell phones with them while on duty, the Times never mentions Quinn's sex change. Apparently it considers that fact irrelevant. And the paper does call him Mr.

Of course, the kind of restraint shown by the Times and the Globe, while good for journalism, might be less good for humor. Excessive mentions of gender or sexual identity in a news story makes for some classic, great parody.

Tags: aiden quinn, boston, cell phone ban, deval patrick, mbta, sex change, transgender

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Samantha Henig is the associate editor of Double X, and can be reached at samantha.henig@doublex.com.

Comments

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What a joke

By: sarcasmo | Sat, 05/23/2009 - 04:33

This is more pc nonsense. Aiden Quinn was born Georgia Quinn. So what, right? Well, it turns out George Quinn has a terrible driving record. How the hell could he have gotten a job driving, with people's lives at stake despite having several speeding tickets?

Oh, right, as a minority. He's a transgendered individual. Funny how to people like you his TG status IS important when making a hiring decision--but we can't mention when he fails at the job he was hired for because of that status. A job, mind you, that makes him responsible for the lives of dozens of people.

I don't blame Aiden Quinn. I blame anti-rational people like you, who cling to political correctness like Pat Roberston clings to Christianity--yes, it's your religion. Are you really willing to see people die just to maintain political correctness and punish the ordinary people you see as too staid? Or should we maybe hire based on the skills the individual brings to the job instead of who the person is in private?

Alright, I'm done and you can hurl your insults at me--wait, let me help you get started: I'm homophobic, insensitive, provincial, etc--gimme a break.
If I were gay or TG, I'd find people like you very insulting--Aiden Quinn probably has many skills and doesn't need the help of affirmative action--but driving isn't one of those skills

Was it because he's transgendered?

By: xxreader | Tue, 05/26/2009 - 12:17

I didn't get from the post that he was hired because he was transgendered. Where did you find this info? Sorry if I missed it.

I thought the larger point of the story was good - him being TG had nothing to do with the crash. To mention it in a news article totally takes the focus off what caused the crash - his texting. For the Boston Globe or any other serious publication to bring up his TG past would make the publication look like a tabloid.

With all that said, that's what XX Factor just did....