A friend of mine, who still attends UVM, sent me the Op-Ed written by Joey Brown, ÒA note on gender politics.Ó

Now, IÕm a reasonable individual, I appreciate the First Amendment as much as the Fourteenth Amendment, so IÕm not going to touch on how flagrantly offensive his views on transexual individuals are.

Except to say that the article, taken as a whole or in pieces, dismisses the experiences Ñ both positive and negative Ñ that transexual individuals live through before, during, and after their transition, if they decide to do so. Just because one doesnÕt understand the experiences of someone else, does not invalidate said experiences.

I was particularly disturbed by Joey BrownÕs Op-Ed as a piece of writing, and the lack of editing it received. It was an incomplete analysis. He opens with a line about President ObamaÕs evolving views on gay marriage, and somehow ties that into his disapproval of Chelsea ManningÕs gender identity.

Joey Brown is obviously under-educated when it comes to Ògender politics.Ó Gender and sexual orientation are two very different things that pose very different political and social problems. At the end of the day, this piece was not an opinion on any specific issue, but Joey BrownÕs offensive, generic views of ÒLiberals evolvingÓ Ñ an evolution which, the author seemingly doesnÕt believe is genuine.

Hopefully the Cynic will evolve to provide better editing for op-eds written by bigoted (if not bigoted, then extremely ignorant) authors.

Ê

Sincerely,

Mary Kenah

Class of 2012