Okay, so there was this trolley crash in Boston, about 50 people were injured. I only noticed it because the stated reason for the crash was that the trolley operator was texting his girlfriend while driving. Your standard tale of human stupidity in a Western, industrialized nation, yes? Certainly sounds like it to me.
Then I checked my Google Alerts.
Apparently, the driver in question identifies himself as transgendered, and this is somehow considered relevant news. In an article that is almost completely about the accident, that talks extensively about the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's policies and actions regarding their employees behavior, it is somehow relevant to title the article: "Texting Trolley Driver Is Transgendered Male" and make frequent references to Mr. Quinn being hired because of his minority status.
Okay, this has gone from a story about how sad our culture is with being so interconnected that someone can't be away from their toys long enough to not crash a trolley, to something that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I would give ABC News credit for proper pronouns and gendering (with the exception of including Mr. Quinn's birth name which is fucking skeezy) if this entire article didn't have that subtext of "See what happens when we hire those minorities? Affirmative action is bad, mm'kay?" and if that subtext wasn't so goddamn subtle. Its the kind of thing that someone who is not the most progressive, or who doesn't think to look for things like this, will see, will skim over and will assimilate without even realizing it.
If someone gets a job they are not qualified for because whoever hired them was afraid of being "offensive" then blame the person who hired them, but this subtle "See what happens when we try to level the playing field? See? White, het, cis doods really are just better at everything!" shit is disgusting.
Note to media: Someone's gender identity, no matter how open with it they are, is COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY IRRELEVANT to whether they are going to do stupid shit and there is no reason to bring it up except to put this person and vicariously the community they are part of, on display for those who have access to privileges that people like Mr. Quinn are denied.
More plainly, y'all are being privileges assholes. Fucking stop it.
This constantly constantly happens. I remember a news story several months ago in which a woman, who was on drugs, hit and killed a man, and drove away from the scene. The story was not so much about the fact that she was driving when she shouldn't have been driving and killed a man who should still be alive, but that she's trans, and by the way here's the name she was given at birth.
ReplyDeleteSometimes, I seriously regret setting up google alerts to send me transgender/transsexual stories.