Op-ed: Why We Need to Listen to Bruce Jenner

These days you can't turn on the TV or go online in any LGBT social media space without seeing three words together:

Bruce. Jenner. Woman!

It's not only in outlets that traffic in "celebrity" gossip like TMZ and InTouch Weekly -- which had the gall to Photoshop a cover image of Jenner to look more feminine -- even legendary, respected sources of industry news can't help but jump on the bandwagon.

People magazine cites anonymous sources who say they know Jenner is transgender. Even Variety, the storied bible of Hollywood insiders, boasts its reporters have learned "E! is developing a docuseries following Bruce Jenner's 'journey,'" and that "the head of publicity at E! [is] planning a meeting with GLAAD about how to handle such a sensitive subject." E!, of course, already pays the 1976 Olympic gold medalist to star as the often reclusive patriarch on the family reality series, Keeping Up With the Kardashians.

Lest the gossip remain solely the purview of entertainment media, mainstream outlets are jumping on the speculation brigade, too. A representative with ABC News reportedly tells BuzzFeedthat Diane Sawyer is finalizing an agreement to host Jenner for a sit-down interview to be aired during the crucial May sweeps rating period. Then the Associated Press circumvented Bruce Jenner altogether on Wednesday and called up his 88-year-old mother for an hourlong conversation. The reporter asked how Jenner had come out to her. "It was brief," she said, "and I said I was proud of him and that I'll always love him. I never thought I could be more proud of Bruce when he reached his goal in 1976, but I'm more proud of him now. It takes a lot of courage to do what he's doing."

Well, that's it, then, right? Done deal? All that's left is for Bruce Jenner himself (or herself) to make it official.

But this is my point. And it's not mine alone -- it's shared by my colleagues at The Advocate and other leading LGBT publications: We don't know how Jenner identifies until Jenner tells us.

It ought to matter that Jenner isn't discussing this yet. So we at The Advocate have made the choice to wait for confirmation, denial, or whatever it will be from Jenner and the representatives who are actually authorized to speak on behalf of the former Olympic athlete. The Advocate has not been able to get E!, Jenner, or the star's agent to confirm anything -- or even comment on the record.

Is Jenner transitioning? We really don't know. When Bruce Jenner speaks up, we'll let you know.

But, damn it, People magazine, even if you're right about Jenner's plans, here's a tip: No one "transitions into a woman!"

The ignorance and misinformation about this subject frustrates me, especially given that so many journalists are clamoring for the smallest details about Jenner and meanwhile GLAAD has a very easy-to-understand lexicon available online, and experts on gender identity can be found in nearly every metropolis on earth -- many of them transgender. Reporters cannot argue this is such an important story and yet plead "we didn't know" in their own defense anymore. I mean, come on: Have you heard of Google?

Apparently, it's time for a crash-course for those unfamiliar: transition is not a "journey." It's a very long, Tilt-a-Whirl, summit plummet looping roller-coaster free-fall drop, Tower of Terror ride that, at best, ends with a person feeling better about themselves, employed, in their residence, and accepted by most friends and family. Too often, trans men and women get only one of those -- or none.

When it is said a person who transitions "passes" in public as the gender they are presenting, that is seen by some as an achievement, and by others as reinforcing damaging gender stereotypes.

To me, the significance of passing is a personal preference, but let's be frank: Even the most progressive, LGBT-allied cisgender (nontrans) people cannot help but comment to those of us who transition "how much prettier," or "how handsome," or, my favorite, "how much happier" we are, once we are living true to ourselves.

It's a compliment, to be sure, and usually well-intentioned. And in my case, I agree: I am prettier; I am happier. But being trans is not just wearing clothes that match our mind-set. It's about living and being accepted as the gender we know we are.

I did not "transition into a woman." And I think a new, better explanation for this thing we do is needed, given all the attention Jenner, Janet Mock, Laverne Cox, Chaz Bono, and little ol' me have received.

My favorite view is from scientist and global businesswoman Carol Holly, who posted last month on Facebook:

I don't believe that it's possible for people to change gender. You can't deny or change what you are.

Gender transition as we know it is really gender *presentation* transition. You stay what you always were, your body is allowed to conform to your soul, giving one the liberty to relax and be ones-self.

Not even all the surgery, hormones and therapy in the world can turn a man into a woman. And even attempting it can be deadly.

For this reason I say, "I was always a woman."

Being cast as a girl in commercials and catalog ads didn't make me one, and the birth control pills I took as a teenager didn't make me trans. The hormones I take now don't "make" me a woman. I am one. I'm a transgender woman.

Before I could say that, I would get physically ill, and I twice contemplated suicide. Then I realized what I needed to do to live was to stop pretending I was a man.

And so I did, with the support of the love of my life and my children.

But unlike most other transgender folks, I was made aware of what thousands of people thought about my transition, my looks, my "lifestyle," and how I "abandoned" my family.

No, I'm not a reality star, but news coverage of my transition in 2013 rocketed me from anonymity to the front page of a New York City tabloid. Shock jocks, YouTubers, and cable TV personalities made me the butt of their jokes; reporters hid in bushes outside my home, ambushed my children on their way home from school, and asked my neighbors what they thought of "the tranny next door."

Having to keep the children indoors on a summer day to hide from paparazzi parked outside one's home is not something most transgender people ever endure. And about the only thing worse than having your picture on the newsstands and all over Google is seeing a segment on HuffPost Live featuring your "friends" titled "The Don Ennis Controversy."

Of course, to celebrities like Jenner and the Kardashians, that kind of attention is not only commonplace, it may even be desirable. Pictures boost publicity, which increases ratings, and ratings translate into riches.

My 15 minutes of fame, however, translated into the loss of my good name and my reputation, and the end of my 30-year career in broadcast journalism.

I can only plead to the media to consider that there is a real person at the center of this frenzy. As someone who used to assign journalists stories for a living, and whose gender transition ironically became your assignment, I beg you to choose your words more carefully.

Focusing on clothing and makeup -- as if trans women are drag queens or clowns -- dehumanizes us all and trivializes what it means to be a woman. Speculating about surgeries is no more fair to us than strangers asking you about your hysterectomy, colonoscopy, or prostate exam. When someone decided it was my turn, your cameras and blogs and puns magnified my every mistake, for all to see and mock.

Nobody, not even me, knew how deeply someone suffering a seizure and amnesia can be affected by that. In July 2013, three months into living full-time in my true gender, I suddenly had no memory of being trans, and in an act of delusion, I renounced it in an email to colleagues and detransitioned, triggering yet another tsunami of negative publicity.

Because even though detransition happens on rare occasions, it's taboo. It aids our enemies and perpetuates the myth that we who say we were born this way are just pretenders, that we can be "cured," or live as we once did through crackpot ideas like reparative therapy. I myself was used as "proof" by anti-LGBT zealots like Matt Barber and Michael Brown that being transgender is something you choose, that can be un-chosen, or that having amnesia is a cure for gender dysphoria. No, it's not.

Luckily for me, once my delusion ended and my memories finally returned, I resumed my transition in secret in hopes of avoiding a third round of headlines. Eventually I lived part-time, and then fully reclaimed my authentic identity.

At the very least, media attention to details like nail polish, hairstyles, and tracheal shaves undercut our genuine attempts to present ourselves as authentic. Even trans men are not immune from harsh judgment. The public's fascination with transgender identities -- a curiosity about people like Jenner -- drives gossip, sells papers, and draws page views.

Gender dysphoria is real. Hormone replacement therapy helps. Living authentically is the only true solution to gender dysphoria. I know.

Even considering my own negative experiences, it's not my place to speculate what Jenner may or may not be going through. I do, however, recognize the fear that comes with being talked about, trying to avoid stumbling in front of the whole world, as you undergo the biggest change in your life since puberty.