I should have known better than to try to read a column with the phrase “hot tranny mess” in the headline, but there it was – right across from the article about GBLSU working to become more active and being more open about their inclusiveness. I just had to see what was going on. It seems columnist Caitlyn Scott is shocked and appalled that America’s Next Top Model will be featuring a transgendered contestant. Ms. Scott gives lip service to the contestant’s gender and right to be considered alongside the other women, saying “transgendered persons have just as much right to be America’s next top model as anyone else” and clearly referring to the contestant, Isis, as a woman at least once - but what acceptance and understanding she shows transpeople stops there. Apparently Ms. Scott sees Isis as a woman of some sort, but not an “actual” woman like those she beat out for the spot on the show. She then goes on to cast doubt on Isis’ gender identity by wondering if she’s “pre-op or post-op” as though a single surgery is the defining factor in a person’s gender. Ms. Scott trivializes Isis’ gender by saying that if the show would just allow men, then “Isis could stand and deliver without the surgery” as though everything about Isis’ gender identity hinges upon competing on a reality TV show. A transwoman is not a man. She is not a failed attempt at a woman. She is not defined by medical procedures. She is a woman. The blatant disrespect shown by Ms Scott in not respecting another person’s basic identity is reprehensible.Gabe HarrellLibrary AssociateSpecial Collections Library