Sienna

en|Gender, USA

The LA Times has a new story about Christine Daniels which says much of what many of us expected: Daniels, who had been writing a sports-media column called Sound and Vision, had her last byline in The Times on April 4, 2008, then went on extended disability leave. She was despondent — close friends knew she was manic depressive — failing to eat and stricken with esophageal pain.  Daniels told Amy LaCoe, her transsexual friend, that she had

ruined her marriage and made a mess of her life. LaCoe insisted that Daniels stay with her for a couple months. “She stared at my bedroom ceiling for a long time,” LaCoe said. “She had stopped caring about herself.”  Daniels stopped taking hormones and began getting rid of the physical trappings of Christine, LaCoe said, giving the jewelry and shoe collection to friends, donating the wigs, carting the clothes to Goodwill. In a matter of months, the whole identity had been banished . . . . When the sportswriter returned to work as Mike Penner in late October 2008, co-workers noticed that his manner as remote, his handshake unsteady. His face was changed, the jaw line permanently smooth from electrolysis. He did not want to talk about his experience, much less write about it.  When a transsexual friend asked what had happened, Penner responded, “Well, that’s why there’s a real-life test.” Friends said

he held out hopes of saving his marriage, but by year’s end, his divorce was finalized.

Such a sad story.

http://www.myhusbandbetty.com/2010/03/28/christine-daniels-follow-up/