Some journalists referred to Mike Penner as he and some called her she in her obituary. I think this case raises a serious question because it is unethical to call afamily or friends after the loss of their loved one and ask "What is Mike or Christines gender?" But how do we know, how the transgender individual, their family, friends, and colleagues want their loved one to be remembered?
Personally if I were assigned to write Mike Penner's obituary, I would have referred to him as Mike because he was born male and wrote his sports articles in the LA Times using his name Mike Penner in 2008. Unless I was told otherwise to refer to her as Christine Daniels. Further I would be much more remorseful if I released an erroneous obituary. Anyway I have never written an obituary. If you were assigned to write a transgender persons obituary, what ethical precautions would you or could you take before releasing it? And how would make your final decision?
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| The above photos show the late former LA Times sports journalist, Mike Penner on right. His transformation into Christine Daniels, is on left. (Credit: Gawker) |
2 comments:
In such a case, I’d call the funeral home where the body was sent. I’d identify myself as the obit writer and ask them to email or fax me the obit the family had a hand in writing or in approving.
It will have a narrative (she covered sports for the… he is survived by a sister...) and that is the gender style I would use.
I think that the persons altered gender when they became deceased ,is who they really felt they were.They apparently went through many physical and emotional hardships to finally become comfortable enough to become a transgender.I believe that looking at those circumstances honoring them by referring to them in their obiturary as their new gender, would be what they would want.
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