Kevin Roderick of highly-respected LAObserved.com reports late Monday that “Eighteen month after writing a column about becoming Christine Daniels, veteran sportswriter Mike Penner has quietly returned to work at the Los Angeles Times, according to multiple sources close to the LAT’s Sports staff.”
Besides the LOS ANGELES TIMES itself, SbB was first with the news that Penner had changed his identity to a female. After that, he contributed to the LAT’s sports section and also wrote another newly-created column about his/her life experiences. ALL of those blog entries have been wiped from the site.
Penner also did several interviews at the time, but never went national, though he had offers from the TV talkshow circruit.
Now the question is, when does Penner return? And what is management saying about all this?
More from Roderick:
I emailed him (Penner) and Sports Editor Randy Harvey, who replied, “We’re looking forward to Mike’s byline appearing in the paper and on the website with increased frequency. He continues to be a valued member of our sports staff.“
During his time as Christine, Penner told media outlets that he hadn’t gone through with sex change surgery, so perhaps that’ll make the transition easier. But Penner hasn’t covered events or appeared at the LAT’s offices in person for years, so that might not matter anyway.
The timing of the move, in the wake of massive layoffs at the LAT, is a little curious. Penner was out of sight when the cutbacks happened (and more could be on the way). Because he/she had become a celebrity, at least locally, you wonder if that save Penner from getting laid off. He’s never been a mover and shaker in the LAT’s sports department, and you would think that he might’ve been on the firing line.
Or maybe not. And like I said, the layoffs aren’t over. Though Penner has received a vote of confidence from sports editor Harvey.
UPDATE: More changes at the Times. I hear that “Morning Briefing” is finished as of tomorrow, replaced by various blog highlights. Apparently the morning feature was around for 30 years.
11:19 am on October 21st, 2008
This is weird even by California standards.
12:03 pm on October 21st, 2008
The Ed Wood of sportswriting.
12:07 pm on October 21st, 2008
Sure makes for an ugly woman.
12:09 pm on October 21st, 2008
To be fair, Plaxico, Ed Wood never planned on having a sex change - he just liked to wear women's clothes. He was a transvestite, not a transsexual.
Why I know that, I do not know.
12:15 pm on October 21st, 2008
Isn't this some show on CBS starring Julia-Louis Dreyfus? "The New Adventures of Old Mike and New Christine"?
12:23 pm on October 21st, 2008
Ed Wood, solid movie.
12:53 pm on October 21st, 2008
My favorite Tim Burton flick.
12:56 pm on October 21st, 2008
I'm more partial to "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure".
Yes, it was directed by Tim Burton.
1:01 pm on October 21st, 2008
what a weirdo. did he shave his legs everyday for work?
1:03 pm on October 21st, 2008
Coming soon to a theater near you:
"Tootsie II: Electric Boogaloo", starring Mike Penner.
1:09 pm on October 21st, 2008
I remember once on a trip to L.A., I was in a gift shop, and I saw this shirt with pictures of oranges and walnuts, and it read, "California: Land of Fruits and Nuts".
How true.
1:26 pm on October 21st, 2008
Wouldn't it have been easier to go by Michelle Penner?
1:32 pm on October 21st, 2008
I've enjoyed Burton's "Edward Scissorhands" myself.
2:00 pm on October 21st, 2008
Did you ever see the porn version, "Edward Penishands"? It's something else.
2:42 pm on October 21st, 2008
Well, he was a big hit getter for the LAT blogs, but frankly, who cared? His regular reporting wasn't all that fabulous. So, did the LAT health insurance plan pay for all this back and forth?
6:01 pm on October 21st, 2008
A facelift probably would have helped.
6:22 pm on October 21st, 2008
His/her locker room interviews must have been pretty uncomfortable.
6:24 pm on October 21st, 2008
Rachel:
If the Times did, that would explain why they're laying off people.
6:43 pm on October 21st, 2008
Mike or Christine, he/she is the best writer on the Times' sports staff.
7:07 pm on October 21st, 2008
Ok, is it because Penner decided that he was in the wrong body and chose to live as a female, or the fact that for what ever; reason, he has chosen to live as a male again that has you all freaked out?
Transgender is not that difficult to understand. It is really quite simple. Look at your own life, and think of how you would feel knowing on a very deep inner level that what your outer packaging looks like, is not how you feel on the inside. That is what I understand most transgender people express the reason for transitioning from one gender to the other.
Maybe it is time to open ones mind to the possibility that life is not set in stone. That there are times when nature and chemistry don't quite mix correctly.
7:37 pm on October 21st, 2008
You have to admire someone for taking such a bold if misunderstood step in their lives. However, if this all turns out to be just some sort of cheap ploy to sell an upcoming book or memoirs, Penner deserves a punch in the nose, girl or no girl.
7:56 pm on October 21st, 2008
There's nothing funnier than a guy dressing up as a woman. That's great comedy!
Wait, he was being serious?
8:32 pm on October 21st, 2008
This story is a real drag.
8:37 pm on October 21st, 2008
Penner isn't bad, but he isn't great. If he didn't decide to go the sex-change route, no one would care much about it.
8:30 am on October 22nd, 2008
With the exception of SbB you should all be ashamed of yourselves. More important to thump your chests and act as f*cking masculine. Where's your compassion? You all make me sick.
8:31 am on October 22nd, 2008
Oops! I meant with the exception of "crash".
3:00 pm on October 22nd, 2008
This is not the time to take a person to task for shanging their mind.I a sure it is as difficult a decision to do this as was the decision to transition in the first place.What Christine does is her business as are her reasons for doing so.How many people have arrived at a destination,found it wanting and decided to go return. Remember the story of the prodigal son.
3:08 pm on October 22nd, 2008
How many of the ppl sympathetic to Penner on this thread aren't trannies themselves?
Zero.
5:40 am on October 23rd, 2008
Paul L - probably none. That's a pretty sad indictment, but only to be expected I suppose.
Oh yes, "tranny" while not quite as insulting as "jigaboo" is up there with "n***er".
I hope Mike has found the right path for him. Transitioning is <strong>hard</strong> and many take more than one attempt. But for some, the RLE, the Real Life Experience, a mandated 1 year (minimum) of living in the target gender, clarifies things, and shows transition is not for them.
In the main though, de-transition just means the verbal and physical assaults just get too much to bear.
I hope Mike is one of the exceptions. I wish him well, no matter what his path is, and he is the <strong>only</strong> one to get a vote in that.
8:51 am on October 29th, 2008
Wow he came back, Mike is a very good tennis writer new him back in college. Well I hope he has made up his mine, but you can never tell could go back. But all in all one of the best writers on staff at la times.
3:44 am on January 31st, 2009
Hi,
I too like the Mike very much. I enjoyed a lot his games. Thank you for sharing. Have a nice Week-end.
- Nancy.
6:33 pm on April 8th, 2009
Paul L. - I'm not transgender (by the way, there's a word for us too, it's cisgender) and I'm sympathetic. So there.
Zoe Brain - I completely understand your cynicism, but reasonable and informed cisgender people do exist, I promise
Still waiting for the day when everyone can stay out of each other's business, catch up with the times, and live and let live. I'm so repulsed by the comments on this article and the opinions that persist in this country.
9:19 pm on May 4th, 2009
SbB: you may be waiting for the day when everyone can stay out of each other's business, but readers didn't intrude into Mike's business — he shoved it down our throats by publicizing it in his column. If someone is going to go public with their identity angst, people are entitled to react as they will - whether it be with sympathy or revulsion or anything else.
4:00 pm on May 5th, 2009
Transgendered, transsexual, transvestite. There is no difference. Boys who want to play girls. Stop comparing these wack jobs to blacks and say they have been oppressed. They are kinky sexual freaks. To compare that to blacks who were beaten, lynched, enslaved and disenfranchised for hundreds of years is just digusting. Gay is not an identity it is a behavior.
6:08 pm on July 12th, 2009
Dear Mendoza, et alia,
What are you so afraid of? Why are you so upset by this? How does it materially affect your life? Why can’t you simply accept that not everybody is exactly like you?
Is a straight writer who mentions his wife “shoving his sexuality down your throat?” No. You’re a hypocrite, then. Penner’s byline changed and it was no big deal for him to write about it. He didn’t write that much about it and nobody forced you to read it.
Furthermore, your opinion that being gay or transgendered is a choice is simply wrong. Lemme put it this way. If somebody who never went to a ballgame tried to tell you about baseball, you’d tell ‘em they didn’t know what they were talking about, right? Well, how many gays do you know? You obviously don’t know any gays or transgendered people — at least none who’d admit to you that they are. You haven’t done your research and you should shut up because you simply don’t know what the f you’re talking about. People are born either straight or gay or sometimes with a gender that doesn’t match their psyche.
Next, how many of you haters say you’re Christian? You’d better go open the New Testament and check out what Jesus says about compassion and love. Not to mention judging other people.
You’re on a highway to Hell spouting that much hate. You’re supposed to live as good a life as you can and help other people. If He exists, God can probably sort out what to do with gays, lesbians, and transgendered people all by himself … Oddly enough, without ANY help from angry overweight unhappy undersexed men who have small penises … and no football team.
And by the way, you still haven’t answered my original question: how does this affect YOU?
5:53 pm on August 10th, 2009
“Transgendered, transsexual, transvestite. There is no difference. Boys who want to play girls. Stop comparing these wack jobs to blacks and say they have been oppressed. They are kinky sexual freaks. To compare that to blacks who were beaten, lynched, enslaved and disenfranchised for hundreds of years is just digusting. Gay is not an identity it is a behavior.”
The best part of reading comments like this is knowing that behind them are idiots who are so incredibly ignorant that they don’t even know when they’re being insulted, taken advantage of, ripped-off, laughed at, etc. We who comprise that small percentage of the population known as “leaders” are able to live off the hard labor and stupidity of these rubes for decades. Thank you for being you Mr. Vesco!