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View Full Version : Transman outed in the Media



Thornton
05-13-2009, 03:53 AM
So, I'm not sure if any of you guys have heard about Aiden Quinn. Aiden is a guy who has been working for the MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority) as a train conductor.

Last week, Aiden decided to text his girlfriend while driving a trolley, and crashed. He injured 50 people including himself and caused $9.6 million in damage.

I think all of us can agree that this guy was pretty stupid and is damn lucky no one died.

However, it has leaked into the media that Aiden is an FTM, and that he has changed the status on his Drivers Licence from Georgia to Aiden, as recently as a month ago....so now, there's a hole bunch of verbal Tranny-bashing going on. People are claiming Aiden was hired by MBTA because of his minority status....

Aiden has records of speeding and traffic violations on his license. Perhaps he should not have been hired. But, I hate that the pubic is trying to blame this accident on his transgender status. Aiden is an incompetent driver, and the MBTA hiring policy is very flawed. Can't it be left at just that?


http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1171714

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1171876

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view/2009_05_13_He_or_she__T_driver_is_a_dolt/

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2009_05_13_Sex_change_a_simple_switch_at_RMV/

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2009_05_13_Outraged__Deval_Patrick_calls_for_revie w_of_T_hiring/


The articles I've posted above are from the Boston Herald, 1 of the 2 main newspapers available in Boston. It's known as the more conservative view on Greater Boston. The other predominant newspaper, The Boston Globe, is considered to be more liberal. Feel free to read the Globe's articles here: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/

SirTrey
05-13-2009, 07:44 AM
Yeah, I completely agree...Him being trans has nothing to do with it....A person's gender has nothing to do with whether or not they are a responsible person or whether they are suited for any particular job....Could you see the backlash if they blamed an accident on someone being female, or of any particular ethnicity or race, or because they were gay? Why is it that trans people are always thought of in terms of their transgenderness/transsexuality and nothing else? We are just people, same as cisgendered people are. Oye.

Lora Olivia
05-13-2009, 09:26 AM
Gender has nothing to do with this. But then so much of society just has to lay blame somewhere, and of course the "tranny" gets smacked around as always:Angry3:

Ze
05-13-2009, 02:56 PM
I'd heard this story in passing, but didn't know he was trans.

I cringe whenever I hear this sort of thing, though, because we all know how it'll end up going down. It perpetuates any sort of minority stereotype. And if there isn't one, then people use it as a "perfect example" of why minorities are, well, treated as a minority.

As such, I/we fail to see such a hubbub about cisgendered people who crash trolleys and trains due to neglect. And dare I say there have been far more of those?

Krista1985
05-13-2009, 04:42 PM
It truly is the definition of sensationalism that his gender situation was printed.

Clearly that had nothing to do with the accident. Printing these details about him is just a cheap trick to sell papers. Afterall, how could a reporter resist spicing up an already interesting story (train wreck) when there's such a juicy twist about the engineer? Its a shame that integrity, respect for privacy and responsibility amongst journalists is on the wane.

As dumb as the dude that wrecked the train was, texting while operating public transportation is the acme of foolishness, my heart goes out to him for the undeserved outing.

Joni Marie Cruz
05-13-2009, 06:57 PM
Hi, I hope I'm not out of line by posting on this forum, as you can see, I'm a tgirl and not f2m, but I just couldn't help wanting to say how wrong I consider the actions of the media in this situation. As everyone has pointed out, his gender has absolutely nothing to do with his poor judgement and the accident that occurred as a result. My own feelings about the majority of journalists is that they would lick vomit off a dog's snout it they could use it to sensationalize a story. Sorry, hope that wasn't too gross and I hope I haven't offended anyone or their dog by that characterization.

Hugs...Joni Marie

ZenFrost
05-15-2009, 02:37 PM
That's like hating Muslims because a few who call themselves Muslim go and bomb things out of terrorism. And just because Hitler was an evil ****** doesn't mean all Germans are too. When are people going to see that one person doesn't represent an entire community? :Angry3:

Joni Marie Cruz
05-15-2009, 04:27 PM
Hmmm, I'm not really sure what the last post was supposed to address exactly, but I do see that I was guilty of over generalization myself, as were the journalist(s) who made an issue of transsexualism in their reporting. I didn't intend to insult or upset anyone on this forum. I believe I'll just stay away. Wishing you all the best.

-Joni Marie

handyman
05-23-2009, 11:39 PM
Last I knew transgender status didn't qualify as minority when it came to hiring and minority quotas. But people will be people won't they.