Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 10:36:01 -0700 From: Clare Howell Subject: IYF-Media Watch-NYTimes/National Review MEDIA ADVISORY - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Editor: Clare Howell, clare@gpac.org MEDIA WATCH: THE NEW YORK TIMES AND THE NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE =================================== [New York, NY: 14 Jun 99] THE NEW YORK TIMES featured gender activist and GenderPAC's Executive Director Riki Anne Wilchins in the Metro section 'Public Lives' column on Friday, 10 Jun 99. The profile of Ms. Wilchins, titled 'Issues of Gender, From Pronouns to Murder,' by Carey Goldberg also highlighted GenderPAC's lobbying efforts to have gender expression included in pending civil rights legislation and the need to publicize hate crimes against gender-different people. The Times piece drew a response the following day from the National Review Online, a national conservative journal. In a column titled 'Transgender Bender,' Jonah Goldberg wrote of Ms. Wilchins: "She has a giant scar on her throat from where they took a couple of inches off her Adam's apple. Presumably she's got a worse scar elsewhere." In a wry tone, he implies that people cross-dress as a form of rebellion, "Isn't there some sense that they are doing something... naughty?" and dismisses transgender people as "...simply confused." He derides activists: "They will tell you all sorts of stuff about the difference between gender and sex and how one is biological and the other is imposed. But beyond a certain limited point, that becomes, well, bunk. Expectations and notions of gender may evolve, but gender itself is permanent. Sorry." Ms. Wilchins responded to these comments in a letter to the NRO. She wrote, in part, "... [Mr. Goldberg] chose to ignore or dismiss the substance of the Times piece: that gender- different Americans are being murdered at about the rate of one a month, and... few people in positions of power in the media seem to care... Articles like Mr. Goldberg's only add to the general climate of contempt and intolerance that make my daily existence more difficult and make it more likely that other gender-different people will suffer violence." The complete text of Ms. Wilchins' letter follows. ### Dear National Review, It is unfortunate that Jonah Goldberg felt the need to attack me personally in his 11 June 99 comments about an article in the 10 Jun 99 New York Times. I do not mind for myself; I hear roughly the same comments about my body, gender, and genitals daily on the streets of New York City. I mind because he chose to ignore or dismiss the substance of the Times piece: that gender-different Americans are being murdered at about the rate of one a month, and that few people in positions of power in the media seem to care. His column unintentionally provides an object lesson to support that assertion. Mr. Goldberg plainly feels that people like me ought not to exist. It is unclear whether this is because I offend him personally, politically, or both. In any case he seems determined to comfort himself (and Review readers) by stating that gender is fixed and predetermined. Thus, confronted with someone whose gender is obviously indeterminate, he hopes that saying I do not exist will somehow make it so. Would that life were so simple. The fact is that people like me do exist, and we will continue to exist, and no amount of saying that we do not will make it otherwise. The tragedy is that we are dying with alarming regularity for the right to exist and live as we are. Words have effects. Ridicule such as that offered by Mr. Goldberg filters down to less responsible members of society who take leave to inflict violence upon us. Matthew Shepard and Billy Jack Gaither are names I assume Mr. Goldberg is familiar with. Between the time Shepard and Gaither were killed, five gender-different people were brutally murdered: Rita Hester, Chanel Chandler, Steve Dwayne Garcia, Lauryn Paige, and Tracey Thompson. No one has heard of these victims because no national news outlet reported their deaths. Articles like Mr. Goldberg's only add to the general climate of contempt and intolerance that make my daily existence more difficult and make it more likely that other gender- nonconforming people will suffer violence. I cannot believe that Mr. Goldberg approves of murder, even of those he holds in contempt. So perhaps before he pens his next column about those of us who are gender-different, he will take a moment to contemplate the risks we face and the price we pay for the intolerance he helps nurture. ### Subscriptions. Please contact: Subscribe@Gpac.org For prior releases, check the GenderPAC website at: http://www.gpac.org (c) 1999 InYourFace GenderPAC's online news-only service for gender activism. The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of GenderPAC's Board, Officers, or membership.