Transsexual LA Times sports writer Mike Penner dead at 52, believed to have committed suicide

[The Straight Story]

LA Times sports writer Mike Penner dead at 52


LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Times sports writer Mike Penner, who announced two years ago he was a transsexual and was changing his name to Christine Daniels, has died at age 52, the newspaper reported Saturday.

Penner was pronounced dead Friday at a hospital, said Los Angeles County coroner's Lt. Brian Elias. He said coroner's officials hadn't yet performed an autopsy or issued an official cause of death.

The Times said in a story Saturday Penner was believed to have committed suicide. Penner had returned to using the name Mike Penner last year and was a Times columnist at the time of his death.

In 25 years with the newspaper, Penner covered Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the Olympics, World Cup soccer, tennis and other sports. A fluid writer with a sharp wit, he worked at various times as a reporter, columnist and the newspaper's Los Angeles Angels beat writer.
...

"I am a transsexual sports writer," Penner wrote. "It has taken more than 40 years, a million tears and hundreds of hours of soul-wrenching therapy for me to work up the courage to type those words."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091129/ap_on_sp_ot/us_obit_penner

[gateley]

1. I am so sorry. nt

[malaise]

2. Very sad

:cry:

[Sarah Ibarruri]

3. It must not be easy to change that way.

And there's no way to really know what it will be like once the change is done, of course. It might feel very different from what they imagined. Plus people around them might feel uncomfortable, and even if kind, their eyes might give away some discomfort.

I can't even imagine what the suffering must be.

[peacebird]

4. How sad...

[Cleita]

5. I liked his writing. He made sports interesting and

I don't like sports. That's too bad.

[951-Riverside]

6. What a beautiful person

...its a shame it had to end this way :(

[MineralMan]

7. How sad, in so many ways.

[Berry Cool]

8. This is heartbreaking.

I remember reading a story that appeared when he first made the change. Thought "Here's a pretty brave person."

Very sad.