The Truth Behind Her Name Was Steven

How funny! CA Medicine Woman’s feathers got all ruffled up by Polly’s comments. I wonder why? After all the CNN documentary was not targeted to the transsexual community but to the “general audience.” So you don’t have to be an expert on the subject to be able to comment, candidly and honestly, on this film which recounts Susan Stanton’s male to female saga. I for one, being just plain gay and out of the closet since I was 15, did not find much to cheer about on the documentary and ended up, like Polly, sympathizing with Stanton’s wife and kid. They were used and victimized by a cold-hearted individual who now intends to pass as a transsexual hero/heroine. Honey, she ain’t no Joan of Arc so let’s keep it real.

Polly: I've lived in Miami, so your role as "twice a victim" doesn't wash with me. Nor do I by your distinctions between your response to Stanton, and how you do not apply such thinking towards all transgender persons. Your rant stinks of transphobia, from insisting on referring to Stanton as a male, to the use of such offensive terms as "trannies," to your insistence that Stanton should live her life the way you would have chosen to do, to your snide remarks regarding Stanton's physical appearance, and your distorted and uninformed perceptions about the way she deals with her family obligations. I will grant you one thing, though. You clearly have no concept as to what transgender people have to go through, and are by no means an expert on the subject.

Dear JK, The name I use for posting is Polly Chinela, but thanks a million for calling me Pollyana. Though you misspelled Pollyanna, it still reminds me of the fabulous Hayley Mills and I am deeply honored. I strongly recommend you get your hands on Tiger Bay, her 1959 film with the gorgeous Horst Buchholz. It is a masterpiece and it should be on everyone's Favorite 10 Films list. And Horst is simply to die for. Now, honey, that's a man! Thank you also for pointing out to me that trannie is a derogatory term. I honestly had no idea. I am forever erasing this word from my vocabulary as I write this. As for the book you mention, I am afraid I have never heard of it, much less read it. I am currently reading Veronika Decides To Die by Paulo Coelho in Portuguese, but there is an excellent English translation out there in public libraries across this nation. Like Tiger Bay, I can recommend Veronika without a moment's hesitation. It's a fantastic book. Now to business: As I stated at the beginning of my commentary, I am no authority on transgenderism. I am a gay Cuban male of 54. I am hereby reaffirming this for all out there who might find, as you do JK, that I am spouting venom. I am also reaffirming, in case it was not immediately understood, that my comments are directed at Steven and Steven only, not at ALL transsexuals. If anyone decides to take it personally, so be it. I stand by all I said. I find him arrogant, manipulative, insincere, and totally oblivious to the needs and feelings of others, especially those in his family circle. I have always found it morally objectionable when a homosexual deceives a straight person into marriage, knowing full well what he/she is. I find this to be the cruelest of acts, and as Mr. Williams once put it "deliberate cruelty is NOT forgivable" And I don't buy the "I didn't know at the time, I realized it later" theory. Steven knew. We ALL know! I also don't buy your "society made him do it" bullshit. It's nothing more than American psychobabble. This country has become the Mecca of political correctness and excuses for abominable acts. For example: If you were abused as a child, you will be an abuser as adult, etc. etc. etc. Honey, this is total bullshit. Psychiatrists should do everyone a favor, stop finding excuses, and call a spade a spade. And don't speak to me of society, don't speak to me of homophobia, and don't speak to me of the pressures of living in certain parts of this country. I come from a country where in the late 60's and early 70's ALL homosexuals were routinely removed from their homes (without having committed any crimes) and placed in concentration camps because Fidel Castro decided that he wanted a Cuba without homosexuals, pretty much like Hitler decided that he wanted a Germany without Jews. Many were killed. Many killed themselves. Hundreds were maimed physically and scarred emotionally for life. So no, I don't buy the "pressure" theory that poor Steve was under. Pressure is being dragged out of your home at 4 in the morning, being sent to a concentration camp, and being kept there without a trial or any human rights for 2, 3, 4 years until you "reformed" and renounced gay life. Steven knew no pressure, he lived in paradise. What Steven knew was self-hatred and an unquenchable thirst to pass at all costs, even if this meant ruining an innocent woman's life. Americans need to grow up and stop finding excuses for unacceptable behavior. Things are what they are. No more no less. I have no quarrel with you JK, or with any other poster here. I am simply entitled to my own opinion and to the right to express it. That is why I came to your country and became an American citizen. To be able to be myself and voice my opinions without someone placing me in a concentration camp. Count your blessings, honey, and albeit all that is wrong with your country, albeit the hatred, the homophobia, and the hate crimes, give thanks to God you were born here and not in Cuba, or some parts of Africa where it is the GOVERNMENT and not just the homophobes who want you dead.

I know what you say is true, except I am not being a snob, I was only saying that I didnt go seek out a bunch of attention like Stanton, even though I well could have. Stanton got what Stanton asked for, and thats attention. Nor did I go and have kids before I decided what I was, not that I could have but thats another story. Or also that it seems the media loves the same old story over and over and never report any trans success stories. Dont be so uptight k?

Oh POLLYana, What awful venom you spout. You sound like one of those that still think that the book "Transsexual Empire" was actually based on fact, which it isn't but is a diatribe from a former lover that was jilted by a transwoman. Maybe he hadn't completely figured it out before he married? Did ya think of that? He did what society forced him to do, you know "tow the line and be a man". Today things are different than days gone by but not in all areas of the country and the discrimination is still massive. Oh, by the way "trannie" is derogatory, stop it please. And for Deep Stealth, not every transwoman is as lucky as you. Matter of fact you are one of the very few that can pass completely. Stop being a trans-snob, it doesn't become you and but for the grace of god, it could be you. Take it easy on your less fortunate sisters and pull your head out. And you well know that it can take many years before one becomes the "finished Product".

I realize there might be a number of people out there who can relate to Stanton's story, but I for one cannot, and I am a post op transgendered woman myself. Sure I lost family, yes, I lost friends. I have a slight advantage over Stanton in several areas. For one, I dont look like a man. I get hit on by almost every guy I come into contact with, that or they talk to my NATURAL breasts... Who needs implants when you can grow them...I had an affair with my boss's lesbian wife, who became obsessed with me, (you want drama? I got it, lol) and she never knew anything about me. I transitioned because not only have I felt like and knew I was a girl since I can remember, but I also happened to look like one. I did not exploit myself and my story to the world either. I enjoy my life, and I enjoy being able to live it in peace as the woman I knew I always should have been, with no one questioning me, all my ID's fixed, and no CNN special to out myself to the world with.

I am by no means an authority on transgenderism. I am just plain gay. And plain Cuban. So in this country I am discriminated twice. Once for being a "fag" and once for being a "spic" I had followed the Steven/Susan story in the pages of The Miami Herald, my hometown newspaper, mostly for the human rights/gay rights aspects of it. I had never seen a picture of Steven/Susan in print and I had never seen him/her on television. So it was with great anticipation that I tuned in to the CNN documentary Her Name Was Steven, rooting for the guy. But what I encountered was an arrogant, selfish, egotistical human being of the highest caliber. Steven/Susan is a born actor. He/she manipulated that documentary with all the media savvy of a Hollywood celebrity. Susan is wasting her life in city management. She needs to pack her bags and head for Hollywood. She delivers! She can be funny, she can be oh-so-pathetic, she plays basketball, she shops, she can cry on cue, she can twist the truth to her own benefit. As far as I am concerned, this documentary does nothing for the case of transsexuals, since its subject is an unlikable, insensitive jerk. Transsexuals would have been better served by a documentary on a human being with morals and values, an asset to their community; not this man. This man cares nothing about anyone but himself. I was appalled at the way he exploited his child in the film and even more appalled that while he his spending thousands of dollars on his sex change and make-over, his child is in dire need of dental care. The first responsibility of a parent is to a child, not to himself. That boy did not ask to be born. He is the result of Steven's self hatred, his lack of self acceptance and his need to cover up his true identity by engaging in a marriage of convenience to an innocent woman. I have nothing but contempt for homosexuals who hide in marriages of convenience. Showing such disregard for a person's feelings is indicative of monsters, not humans. How can anyone cause another human being that much pain? For what? So that the world can view them as "normal"? He has reduced that poor woman's life to a joke. And he should pay for that. The ones who deserve praise here are his long suffering wife and his beautiful child. They are the true heroes. It is they who have all my respect and admiration. As for Steven/Susan, he/she has none. And as far as his comment about trannies being nothing but men in dresses, I am here to tell him/her that Walmart sells wonderfully cheap mirrors. Honey, what are you talking about? No one looks more like a man in a dress than you do. Feminine you are not, my dear, nor will you ever be. It would seem to me that someone making a documentary trying to show Germans in a good light would make it about Marlene Dietrich and not about Adolph Hitler. What we have here is the Hitler of trannies, not the Dietrich. I hope that the money made from this film will go to that boy and his mother. They are the ones who deserve it, not Steven/Susan.

The reason for the one slide at the end of the presentation was due to Stanton finding employment immediately after filming had wrapped.