Aaron McQuade, GLAAD's Associate Director of National News
Ignorance of Transgender Issues Apparent in Media
http://glaadblog.org/2011/02/08/ignorance-of-transgender-issues-apparent-in-media/I've learned a lot these last nine days.
By now, everyone is familiar with the Saturday Night Live sketch mocking transgender women who are transitioning. That ran last Saturday. We spent last Sunday thinking about it, Monday reacting to it, and Tuesday reacting to the reactions to our reaction. (I know.)
On Thursday, San Diego's Channel 10 ran a story about nationally-known transgender activist and blogger Autumn Sandeen, focusing on her history of military service and on how transgender people will still be denied the chance to serve their country even when "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is repealed.
While the story was largely respectful and the reporter's tone was very fair – right in the middle of the segment, as the reporter was talking about military regulations, the station showed what looked like home video footage of a woman in a red dress posing provocatively. This footage had absolutely nothing to do with what the segment was talking about. The woman in the video was not Sandeen, and the footage was never explained.
