By Any Other Name
Posted on January 9, 2012
http://transfemmergence.wordpress.com/2012/01/09/by-any-other-name/Seen recently at AmericaBlogGay:
It is an interesting question. Okay, so if this isn't about some kind of trans bias (I'm not saying it is), we should be able to take "trans" out of the sentence, right? Does any person have the unquestioned right to tell a newspaper not to report their former name (aka their birth name) alongside their current name?
At the risk of adding to the idea that all trans people are just performers or entertainers, I've seen a couple articles on Stefani Germanotta, but by and large, I see references only to "Lady Gaga." Jason Sellards is generally acknowledged as "Jake Shears." I don't recall reading a lot of controversy about Carlos Estevez, but "Charlie Sheen" sure was a topic of 2011. I wouldn't call my favorite singer Myra Ellen, and if Cherilyn Sarkisian or Joan Molinsky sat down for an interview, I doubt those are the names that would be run in print.
