The Vulture Sandeen Continues to Pick the Bones of Mike Penner

If you possibly thought that Mr. "Autumn" Sandeen could sink no lower in his attempts to use the late Mike Penner, also known as Christine Daniels, as a source of self-promotion, then you haven't read the latest drivel in his column at Pam's House Blend.


It seems that the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation had awarded Penner, then known as Christine Daniels, its 2008 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Newspaper Columnist.  Unfortunately for them, Penner was in the process of returning to a male role, so he never bothered picking up the award.  And as Mr. Sandeen pointed out, he would have trashed it if he had received it.


So, GLAAD decided to give it to Mr. Sandeen, who has blown his acquaintance with Penner into "a cherished friendship."  Of course, this was clearly not how Mike Penner saw things, but that is not about to stop Mr. Sandeen from using this tragedy for self-promotion.  And since he is such a loyal lap dog for GLAAD, they are more than happy to assist him in the effort.


Of course, when Mr. Sandeen is taken to task for his own behavior, he is quick to use the power of censorship to block such criticism.  Even some of his peers in the transgender extremist cliche are disgusted by his use of Penner's suicide to self-promote, but Sandeen's true believers are quick to shout them down.


Mike Penner should be allowed to rest in peace.  He was driven to suicide, at least in part, by those, like Mr. Sandeen, who sought to use him.  They wanted to push him out into the spotlight that they themselves so desperately crave.  He was a celebrity, and they sought to join him there.  They were disgusting then, and are more so now.

The Truth Finally Comes Out

I have written several times about the Mike Penner/Christine Daniels case, usually in response to some drivel from "Autumn Sandeen."  And Sandeen has usually written in response to an article about Penner.  But a new article in the L.A. Weekly has come out that sheds new light on what led Penner to take his life.  And yet, Sandeen is oddly quiet.  Why, all of a sudden, are we not subjected to another round of hand wringing by Sandeen.  Why is he not telling us what wonderful friend Christine Daniel was, and how sad he is over the loss of this dear friend?


Perhaps because the truth is out, and it turns out that we now know some new facts about what drove Penner to suicide.


The primary factor was one that I can understand.  Penner de-transitioned because he missed his wife.  He could not deal with the end of his marriage.  Years ago, I went through a similar time.  There were two differences.  In my case, my ex-spouse and I stayed together and I had time to work through my issues and realize that being true to myself was more important.  In the end, we remain friends.  Penner's marriage was beyond repair, and even after he returned to being "Mike" his marriage could not survive.


But the secondary factors are why I am not surprised that Sandeen has ignored this new insight into what happened.  There are some interesting quotes from Penner, made at the time he was still living as Christine.  For example, there is this one, sent to Susan Stanton who had complained about Christine's comments in a blog:

"I think what I'm doing is correct. If you've got a problem with it, it's your problem. ... I'm a real woman who loves makeup and clothes, shoes. A woman, not a trans-anything who needs to quote-unquote represent some undefined community. For the first time in my life, I'm being true to myself, and my true self loves makeup, clothes, shoes."

That is a very telling comment.  Especially in light of another comment where she said that she was:

"overwhelmed by everything and everyone. I feel as if I am being used as a pawn by the trans community (and maybe theTimes as well). I have been close to tears many times. ... I am flat-out exhausted."

This confirms what I long suspected.  Penner was used, and to a large extent abused, by the transgender crowd.  But Penner was not remotely transgender.  Penner was a late transitioning true transsexual.  He had fought his feelings as long as he could, but when he finally gave in, he had to face the loss of his wife.  That was too much for him to deal with.


In this article, we also learn, for I believe the first time anywhere, that Penner had scheduled surgery with Marcie Bowers.  In fact, the event that triggered his decline was when Bower's office contacted him about delaying his surgery for a week.  


I found Bower's comment that having surgery would have saved Penner's life to be highly questionable.  Penner needed to work things out with his ex-wife.  He needed to reach closure over the loss, or he needed to decide that his marriage was more important.  If he had reached the first, he would have moved on to surgery.  If he had decided the second, then it would indicate he was not a transsexual after all.  But until this was worked out surgery should have been out of the question.  

Failure to Learn

Once again, the sad and tragic story of Mike Penner, aka Christine Daniels has resurfaced.  The June issue of GQ has an analysis of what happened, and why.  And, of course, "Autumn" Sandeen has engaged in a self-indulgent story about the whole thing.

Much has been written about Penner, his transition to Christine, his return to presenting as a male, and his suicide.  I have written on it myself.  But the question of what happened remains. 

The more I have read about Penner, the more I have come to wonder if, perhaps, he was the extremely rare example of a true transsexual that manages to hold out for almost fifty years with no real outward signs of gender issues.  I don't know much about his life prior to transition.

He claimed to have made the decision in order to survive.  That makes me wonder if he was legitimate.  On the other hand, he seems to have had a very successful career up to that point, which raises doubts.  If one is truly transsexual, the chances of having a successful life as a male or pretty much nil.  You might be able to fake it for short periods, but to be successful in a male dominated field like sports writing without facing serious problems seems highly unlikely.

But, if Penner was truly transsexual, then there is less question as to what happened.  If he was a true transsexual, then his death can be laid at the feet of the transgender activists who tried to use him.

Penner made a very public transition.  If he was truly transsexual, this would have been torture.  He would have wanted nothing more than to simply be a woman.  But instead, he had to face being publicly paraded about as a trophy for the transgender activists who claimed to be his friend.  They could use him, without considering the effects their use had on him.

For most transsexuals, the improvements in their life are the proof that they are transsexual.  But most transsexuals do not make public transitions.  Transgender types embrace the public.  They get what they really seek, to be "women with penises," or "women who were once men," or even "men pretending to be women."  Most have no desire to give up their penis, and none have any desire to fully give up their maleness.

So, what if Penner was a true transsexual?  If so, he should have been counseled to consider starting over.  It would not have been easy.  He might have had to walk away from a successful career.  At the very least, he might have had to move to another state, to a smaller place, and start over writing something other than sports.  It would not have been perfect.  He would be taking a risk, and it would require that someone would have to know, but it could have been done.

Or he could have simply left his old life completely behind.  He could have done what I did.  He could have found an entry level job, downsized his life, and slipped quietly into his new life.  But, of course, the transgender community would have none of that.  Penner would be their poster child.  Unfortunately, he couldn't take it.  It was not the life he wanted, even though I am sure they told him it was the only way.

But, of course, the activists and their dupes won't learn.  In truth, I doubt they even understand what they should learn.  When the next chance comes, they will do it all again.  And if that person dies as well?  Well, there is nothing the transgender community loves as much as a good martyr. 

They just refuse to learn, no matter what the damage.

Christine Daniels Did Not Commit Suicide!

Mike Penner might have, but we don't even know that for sure. Right after his suicide, most of the gender fascist crowd started trying to use his tragic death for their own purposes. They tried to exploit the tragedy. But most of them had the decency to refer to him as Mike, and to use male pronouns, because the is how he was living when he died. From what I have read, Penner broke off contact with the transgender community which rushed to embrace him when he transitioned. Now they are trying to exploit him in death.

Worse, more and more of the gender fascists have started referring to him as Christine, either using his chose surname, "Daniels," or referring to him as "Christine Penner" (a name he never used. Both Donna Rose, at Bilerico, and Suzan Cooke, at Women Born Transsexual, have done this.

We don't know if Penner committed suicide, if he did we don't know why, but we do know that, for whatever reason, he chose to return to identifying as Mike Penner, not Christine. He should be left in peace, allowed to be remembered as he chose to be when he died.

Of course, the gender fascists are probably afraid of the very possible truth. Perhaps Mike Penner, having been exposed to the transgender community assumed that was what awaited him. And maybe he decided it was not the right path for him. I have serious doubts that Penner was a true transsexual. He decided to transition relatively late in life after a highly successful career in a very male field. For someone who actually has a female brain, such would be near impossible. Not completely impossible, and perhaps, if he really was a transsexual, and he really did manage to do the near impossible, the accumulated mental stress left him unable to cope and that led, eventually, to his suicide.

Or perhaps Penner was transgender, but he did not find the prospect of winding up like some many...as a sort of bizarre parody of a woman, at all appealing.

But the simple fact remains. His name was Mike Penner, not Christine. That should be respected, even if it takes away a martyr that the gender fascists crave so much.

A Cautionary Tale...Revisited

Back in March, I wrote about some who have rushed into transition and then had regrets. In that article, I mentioned Mike Penner, the Los Angeles Times sportswriter who made headlines in 2007 when he announced that he was transitioning to become a woman and would now be known as Christine Daniels. In October of 2008 he changed back to being Mike. Today, it has been reported that he was found dead in his home, and that the suspected cause was suicide.

Of course, unless more information is provided, there is no way of knowing what might have led him to take his life. It may have had nothing to do with his attempted transition, or it may have had everything to do with it. But I have to wonder...did all those TG activists who were so quick to embrace him when he was making a very public transition abandon him when he changed his mind?

"Autumn" Sandeen made this comment on his blog at Pam's House Blend:

Mike, when he lived as Christine, was someone I considered a peer and a friend. I feel the loss of my friend Mike tremendously.

Now, I don't want to read too much into this, but it does make me wonder. He was considered a friend and peer when he was "Christine," but was he just forgotten when he went back to being Mike?

I've had friends who realized that transition was a mistake. I didn't stop being their friend because they realized they needed to return to their old life. If they still wanted support, I was there for them. I wonder if Mike had a different experience. Perhaps those who saw him as a peer, and even as a friend, were suddenly afraid to associate with him.And it is sad that he will go to his grave, labeled the "transsexual sports writer." He should have been allowed to put that behind him if that was his choice. Might that have contributed to his death? Might a wrong choice have been hung around his neck like an albatross?

Whatever the cause, his death is a tragedy. And again, should be a cautionary tale for all.

A Cautionary Tale...

A few weeks ago, there was another story about another man who had a "sex change" and who now regrets it. This story, like some previously, came out of Australia. This is not the first such story to make the headlines, and it probably won't be the last. But this one should serve as a warning sign for both therapists, and those who might be considering such surgery.


Given the details of the story, it is not that surprising that the man has regrets. Of course, a lot of transgender activists are scrambling to try to control the damage. The idea that someone might actually make a mistake is one of the biggest secrets of the "transgender community." But this is exactly the sort of thing that happens when "transgender people" get carried away and proceed with surgery.


First off, the man, now 66, came to regret the surgery five years after having it. Now, that would seem to indicate that he was 61 when he had the surgery. Now, age alone is not an indicator of surgical outcome, but it should be considered. I mean, why did he wait so long? What was his life like before he transitioned?


One of the statements made by him seems to indicate that he did not have a childhood history of issues with his sex being contrary to his gender. That alone is the single major red flag in a case like this. It is entirely possible for someone to encounter delays before actually achieving surgery, so a person might, in rare cases actually have HBS but be relatively old at the time they finally have their body corrected. But if there was no history from childhood, then surgery is almost certainly not advisable.


Perhaps the biggest warning flag was the fact that this man did not find his genitals abhorrent. In a person with HBS that is a major symptom. Of course, this is a common refrain among transgender people, who will often say, "I don't my penis. I would not be terribly concerned if it were to suddenly disappear, but I don't hate it." That sort of statement should raise concerns for a therapist. Once it is gone, it is gone for good. After surgery is not the time to suddenly realize that you miss it.

It is also interesting that this person claims that a previous therapist advised against surgery. In a sense, it seems to come down to a question of who was the most at fault? The doctors who clearly failed to adequately evaluated this patient? Or the patient himself, who clearly failed to make these things known to his therapist.

I know, early on in my transition, I saw one therapist who seemed more interested in chalking up another patient referred for surgery than in actually helping me deal with issues I was struggling with. If I had been a bad candidate for surgery, I don't know that she would have caught it.

Another case that sent the TG activists into a tizzy became known in October of last year. Mike Penner, a sportswriter for the Los Angeles Times announced in April, 2007 that he was going to begin transition and would now be known as Christine Daniels. He began writing a column featured on that paper's web site about his experiences. Then, in October, with little fanfare, Christine disappeared, and Mike returned to the sports pages.

The transgender world was shocked. They rushed to make excuses for why someone might decide to not go forward with transition. And the one reason they wanted to downplay the most was that it might ust have been the right thing. They seemed to want to avoid admitting that not everyone who thinks that transition is the right path is going to succeed. That is why the Standards of Care requires a Real Life Test that lasts a minimum of one year. In many cases, one year is probably not enough. There are two many examples of people who rushed through without considering if they were doing the right thing, and who wind up with the rest of their life to regret it. I know of two for whom this is clearly the case, though neither would be likely to publically admit it. Still, it is clear that their transition has been less than successful.

It is possible that Mike Penner will go on to transition. Many people, myself included, have backed off from transition and returned later. This can be caused by a number of factors such as pressure from family, lack of proper preparation, and even a bad therapist. All three of those played a role in my case. But it can just as easily be that the person realizes that their gender really does match their body.

The bottom line is, this is not a game. A mistake can be tragic. There is no going back...which is a source of joy for those with HBS, but a nightmare for someone who is not. One's transition should not be delayed any longer than necessary, but it should also not be rushed. Therapists need to make sure that the person is not making a mistake.