MEDIA MONITOR: Michigan media foul up transgender issues coverage

[COMMENTARY] We all have labels we attach to ourselves. It could be preppy, African-American or gay. Those self-imposed labels are a key aspect of a person’s identity, and as members of the media, we have an obligation to reflect those choices. It becomes a matter of respect. And in general, the media do reflect those personal identifications, and as they change over time so do the media. For instance, it was common place for many years to use the term “colored” in reference to the African-American community. Now the media use the term black or African-American.

Unfortunately, not all categories of self-identification have received the same level of acceptance in the media.

In the last three weeks, Michigan has seen three sizable errors in the mainstream media in their coverage of transgender issues.

The first occurred in Detroit when police found the body of a person they identified as a “man in women’s clothing.” This identification was blared out on local television and radio. Michigan Messenger ran a piece citing Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, in which she said Detroit police were mishandling the murder. Keisling specifically discussed how inappropriate police were in referring to the victim as a “man in women’s clothing.”

The second and third occurred late last week, one right on top of the other.

Continued -The second one was a Saginaw News piece about Dr. Julie Nemecek’s visit to a Saginaw church. Nemecek made headlines, including in the Wall Street Journal, when she announced she was transgender and facing firing from her job at the conservative Christian Spring Arbor University, located 20 miles southwest of Jackson,Mich.

Nemecek, who had been hired as John Nemecek, is an ordained Baptist minister who has been diagnosed with gender identity disorder, and one of the prescriptions from doctors was for her to live out her female life. When she told Spring Arbor University, she said the school’s president was supportive, but shortly thereafter she was removed from many of her assignments, and she was asked to sign a new contract that barred her from teaching classes on campus or from showing up on campus wearing women’s clothing or accessories. She was also banned from identifying herself as a Spring Arbor University employee.

In late 2006, the university took action to fire her because it claimed she had violated the prohibition of identifying herself as an employee by wearing a Spring Arbor University T-shirt while in a local grocery store. She filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint against the university. In February 2007 she changed her legal name from John to Julie, and the university dismissed her from all responsibilities. Spring Arbor University and Nemecek met in arbitration shortly thereafter and settled for an undisclosed amount of money.

In the Saginaw News article, staff writer Justin Engel referred to Julie as a “cross-dressing transgender,” and that was mirrored in the article’s headline. Had the reporter taken a moment to visit the AP Stylebook Supplement — the stylebook is the most-used manual for journalists — created and provided for at the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association Web site, he would have found the following definitions:

transgender (adj.): An umbrella term that refers to people whose biological and gender identity or expression may not be the same. This can include preoperative, postoperative or nonoperative transsexuals, female and male cross-dressers, drag queens or kings, female or male impersonators, and intersex individuals. If an individual prefers to be called transsexual, etc., use that term. When writing about a transgender person, use the name and personal pronouns that are consistent with the way the individual lives publicly.

cross-dresser: Preferred term for person who wears clothing most often associated with members of the opposite sex. Not necessarily connected to sexual orientation. See transvestite.

Transvestite: Avoid. The term has developed a negative connotation and is now seen as crude and old-fashioned, akin to “colored.” See cross-dresser.

And from the Gay Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Reference Guide:

Cross-Dressing
To occasionally wear clothes traditionally associated with people of the other sex. Cross-dressers are usually comfortable with the sex they were assigned at birth and do not wish to change it. “Cross-dresser” should NOT be used to describe someone who has transitioned to live full-time as the other sex, or who intends to do so in the future. Cross-dressing is a form of gender expression and is not necessarily tied to erotic activity. Cross-dressing is not indicative of sexual orientation.

In short, calling Nemecek a cross-dressing transgender was redundant at best, and misleading at worst. One who has spent time covering transgender issues could easily have read the article and the headline as “man who dresses as woman who dresses as a man,” which is confusing. It is also important to note that transgender is a broad term, but has come to mean a person who completely identifies as the opposite gender of their biological gender. Using a term like “cross-dresser” is a reference to a person who casually and occasionally wears clothing of the opposite gender.

In an e-mail on the subject, Nemecek said: “The whole transgender umbrella idea is a point of tension even within the trans community. Some of those at the cross-dressing end see transsexuals as getting all the attention and some of those at the transsexual end are not happy being lumped in with cross-dressers. The issues these people face (as well as those who are gender queer, intersexed, etc.) are different enough that the transgender umbrella becomes quite strained sometimes in trying to cover them.”

Hence, it is clear that cross-dressing, or casually wearing clothing of the opposite gender, is a very different label than is transgender, which is a label applied to a person who lives their life as the opposite gender of their biological birth. By categorizing someone as both, it confuses people. The job of a reporter is to inform, not confuse.

The third issue that happened this week was a story on radio station WHMI in Howell about the five-year anniversary of the death of Nikki Nicholas. Nikki, who was born Anthony, was found shot to death on farmhouse property in Green Oaks Township. The 19-year-old female impersonator had lived her life as a woman, but WHMI throughout its coverage of the story referred to her as “him” and always used the male name “Anthony.”

This is considered offensive, said Michelle Fox, a Detroit-based transgender activist. In an e-mail she wrote: “This article is very demeaning to her, her family and the trans community.”

Why, one might ask, is this offensive? First, remember that the NLGJA’s Stylebook Supplement specifically says, “When writing about a transgender person, use the name and personal pronouns that are consistent with the way the individual lives publicly.” Now Nikki lived her life as Nikki, not as Anthony. Secondly, imagine for a moment your name is Jack and you died. Following your death, the media continued to refer to you as Jill. Would this not bother your family? Would it not hurt your memory? It would be just as offensive to change your preferred gender identity as it is to change the lived identity of a transgender who was murdered.