20/20
Well another exciting Friday night…picked up my tuxedo for a wedding I am attending this weekend and then home…I was SO glad to be home that I was on my bed with the TV on in no time.
I suffered through the usual blah Friday night broadcast offerings when I stumbled upon a very special edition of 20/20 hosted by Barbara Walters herself.
The entire program was dedicated to transsexual youths…with the first segment dedicated to the youngest trans-youth on record…a six year old boy-to-girl named Jazz. (And she is simply gorgeous I may add.) When I heard her amazing parents speak so articulately and sensitively about their (new) daughter I was overcome.
With comforting words like “you’re special…God made you special, because there aren’t many girls out there with a penis” I knew I was watching something truly groundbreaking.
Jazz’s parent recall the turning point at a dance recital when Jazz was 4 and the dance instructor refused to let Jazz wear a tutu. (Fuck that short-sighted, uninformed bitch.) It launched jazz into despair…the kind that no 4 year old child should experience…so soon after her parents allowed Jazz to fully transition to being a full-time girl.
The rest of the show was equally as enthralling with a segment on a ten year old boy-to-girl (whose father was so heart-breaking I almost could not watch) and a teenaged girl-to-boy, so smart and so articulate that I was embarrassed at the memory of what a frivolous teenager I was.
Now mind you, I am no expert on transsexualism…but I did have a dear friend transition from m-to-f and so I was able to watch what an amazing transformation that was for her…chrysalis to butterfly.
That said, this program was unbelievably educational to me and I could hear the scribble of the religious right and all the rest of the arch conservatives’ pens and frantic fingers banging away at their keyboards firing off cruel heartless, close-minded letters and emails about how 20/20 has erred in their judgement by producing and airing a show on transsexual youths…but of course, it is just opposite…this show should be heralded as brave, thoughtful, insightful journalism. And everyone should see it!
So thank you ABC. Thank you 20/20 and, in particular, thank you Barbara Walter. You made me restore a bit of faith.
And I encourage every one of you to log on to abcnews.go.com/2020 and check it out for yourselves. I guarantee you will be happy you did.
More later.
J
