Without going into too much detail about the case of the alleged pregnant man since it has been covered by others in some depth this interest is more on the impact such coverage causes both for and against the transgender community. Such stories serve both to reveal aspects of transgender life but sadly the way they are covered leads to further mistrust and supports motivation of the ignorant to engage in hate crimes. Such stories should be covered but with a greater sensitivity and honesty not only for respect to the general public who has a hard enough time comprehending it, but also to the transgender community in the line of fire. Lying hurts everyone, but it makes the life of a group of people already living in fear for their lives even worse.

The pregnant man simply is a man in a woman’s body, until he is completely a man he is still in between. We feel that his mind may in fact be male and we support that, we would be hypocrites to think otherwise. But technically his body was not male so it seems like he is stealing something from men. Eventually science may find a way to make it possible for a male body to become pregnant but that has not happened yet, creating this fabrication is very sad. It is still perhaps newsworthy that a female body could undergo so much stress and still be able to carry a child is a testament to women’s resilience. However this is something he was in the un-completed process of rejecting from himself as a man.

We feel sad that it has come to such an angry discourse for the couple, and are not sure whose brain child for ratings the title “pregnant man” came from, maybe Herb Tarleck? In any case when the facts of the female body come out most people feel betrayed. It throws a wrench into the difficulties TG (transgender) people already face trying to educate and gain understanding. It inevitably portrays TG people as guilty of pulling a fast one. It is very sad because it was an opportunity to instead show an honest and sincere desire to have a normal family life on the part of TG people; instead it is overshadowed with an argument of whether TG people exist at all except as delusions. This is just another example of insensitive sensationalism of the media and television towards TG people.

There’s something about Miriam Rivera

Another example is from the “reality” show which used transgender Model Miriam Rivera to bump up ratings. For full effect she would not have been permitted to reveal her secret without jeopardizing her contract to do the show in the first place. Most reality shows have very little in the way of real reality involved but to avoid the letter of the law for essentially false advertising they go to great lengths to keep contestants reactions honest. This can include extreme isolation so they will not learn any choice details and in some cases heavy lubrication with alcohol as well as coaching and prompting to get passionate responses from otherwise untalented “stars” earning their 15 minutes of fame.

When you consider the immense expense involved for trans people just to have even to a close to normal existence and when one of them gets a shot at fame and fortune for good looks or talent it is a true blessing. One more human being saved from suicide or drugs and prostitution. On the other hand is the media and television constantly looking for new faces and new ways to exploit them for an easy advertising dollar if they maintain a rating. It is certain they paid Miriam a decent check to keep her mouth shut during the show, but they didn’t pay her enough for the near death beating she took immediately after. Apparently the insecure male cast who thought they were competing to date a hot Latino were feeling under compensated after finding out the secret as it led to lawsuits.

Things have been quiet since Miriam Rivera AKA Victoria was reported “beaten to near death with a baseball bat being after which she was thrown from a third or fourth story window balcony.” She apparently has no ties to the show anymore and is trying to put it behind her as anyone would, but we can’t forget that it happened so recently and no one was brought to justice for it. Who is next?

It is sad that some TG (transgender) people can be used and taken advantage of so easily. On one hand there is an earnest need to be known and understood as a human being; part of gaining acceptance requires media attention so that mainstream people realize they actually exist. Also that TG people exist in a tiny margin surrounded by hate crimes or self abuse, suicide is fairly common. Like any other person they are affected by the lure of fame and possibility of a bright future. Considering what happened with TG star of the show “There is something about Miriam” it is clear that no matter how successful they are they are easy prey to both the media and hate offenders. For the most part they cannot go anywhere, and they cannot simply “turn” it off short of a lobotomy.

My TG friend relayed it this way to me and I have seen it is basically true

“I am told if I kill myself I will go to hell,

Some people say if I fix my birth defect (wrong body) I will go to hell

So logically since I would rather kill myself than be stuck this way in a living hell,

What is there to lose?”

It seems logical enough to me, yet the ignorant still continue to try and convince transgender people they are not unhappy and that it is all in their head. That is when transgender people say “Eureka! They finally get it!” Except the person saying it is all in their head stands there with zero comprehension in their blank eyes as if the TG did not hear them. The media is certainly good and redundant spamming of beat to death horse stories yet they can’t make any effort to make the world a better place. I mean how many of us have visions of a white bronco in our brains driving slowly down a highway and just how useful is that image?I hope this serves to inspire even one person to help transgender to over come the adversity they face to simply lead a "normal life".