Last Saturday, the Toronto Star’s ethics columnist answered a question from a woman claiming to have been hit on by “a ‘man’ claiming to be transgender, who had not yet begun physical treatments” and was wandering the women’s YMCA change room with an erection.
Sounds like a pretty unpleasant situation for that woman. Fortunately for her, it almost certainly did not happen.
While Ken Gallinger, the columnist in question, responded to the woman’s query without checking its veracity, trans issues news blog the TransAdvocate actually looked into it. After calling every YMCA in Toronto, the TransAdvocate found no evidence of such a situation taking place. No one at any YMCA had received any such complaint or even heard rumours about anything of the like happening.
Given how widespread transphobia still is, it is unfortunately fairly likely that someone would feel bold enough to spread a false story of this kind. In fact, as Cristan Williams’ post on the TransAdvocate points out, there are numerous examples of similar hoaxes passed onto and then published by unquestioning media outlets.
The biggest reason this claim is unlikely is how confident and entitled someone has to feel to strut around naked and harass people. Trans people, who are constantly subject to discrimination, hostility and violence due to their identity, are not afforded that kind of privilege.
Meanwhile, some woman sends an anonymous email to a newspaper ethics columnist slandering trans people; she never has to face repercussions for her actions, and probably never has to think about the email after sending it if she doesn’t want to.
That Gallinger failed to think of any of this, and to do the legwork necessary to uncover the story as a fake before printing and legitimizing the anecdote, can only be described as unforgivably shitty journalism.
Even worse, after not questioning this story, after printing it, Gallinger responded to criticism with a standard non-apology.
“It is, of course, not possible for me to substantiate most of the stories I’m told, and frankly I don’t try — my general policy is to deal with issues as they are presented.”
Dealing “with issues as they are presented” is one thing when you’re writing about the meaning of thoughtful Christmas gifts or an elderly man who continues to drive as he loses his sight, the topics of two of his previous columns. It’s rather another thing to take someone’s comments at face value when they’re portraying a marginalized group in a negative light and playing into stereotypes about said group.
What makes this whole saga even more galling is that Gallinger’s answer to the woman makes it clear that he fancies himself an ally of sorts. He praises businesses that have gender-neutral bathrooms, and takes care to note that the trans person in the story was being “a jerk” and wasn’t some crazed weirdo monster.
At the same time, he includes this antiquated and bigoted caveat: “I don’t know, obviously, whether the person you encountered was truly trans, or merely a poseur getting his kicks; the physical evidence makes me suspect the latter.”
It’s been a week since the original column was published, and it still hasn’t been updated or clarified.
UPDATE: Gallinger and the Toronto Star’s public editor belatedly addressed the controversy on Jan. 17, about two weeks after the initial column. They maintain they spoke to an elderly woman who made sent the letter but wished to remain anonymous.
[The TransAdvocate] [image via Wally Gobetz/Flickr]