The NY Times Ethicist Responds: I Didn't Suggest Self-Outing On The First Date
The Bilerico Project
Filed by: Dr. Jillian T. Weiss
July 12, 2010 3:00 PM
http://www.bilerico.com/2010/07/the_ny_times_ethicist_responds_i_didnt_suggest_sel.php (http://www.bilerico.com/2010/07/the_ny_times_ethicist_responds_i_didnt_suggest_sel.php)
I received a reply to my email to "The Ethicist," Randy Cohen of the New York Times. I also wrote a scathing review yesterday of his advice column.
It suggested that a transgender man who did not out himself to someone he was dating was "behaving badly" and in a "discreditable" manner. He compares it to sexually transmitted diseases and adultery.
I understood his words to mean that a transgender person should out themselves on a first date. Mr. Cohen wrote me to explain that he was not suggesting that it be done on the first date. Moreover, he notes that his advice was not meant to be an inflexible rule, but rather a "guideline" and a "general approach."