Adviser Update Adviser Update Spring 2017 | Page 34

Well-known
blogger presents
“TRANSGENDER 101”
Q&A session
at national
journalism
conference
HOWE’S STORY PUTS A FACE TO AND
IS EVIDENCE OF THE COMPLEXITY OF
THE TRANSGENDER ISSUE
By Michelle Harmon, MJE
S
peaking to a full room at the
national JEA conference in
Indianapolis in November,
48-year-old Bethany Grace
Howe (formerly Barton Grover Howe)
shared her coming-out story.
Her narrative revealed how the media
should report on transgender issues–
with one exception: there aren’t any
shoulds.
Howe’s story puts a face to and is
evidence of the complexity of the
transgender issue, which she defines
as “somebody who self-identifies
differently than biology started them
with.”
Dressed in stylish high-heeled boots
and a black ensemble to match,
she revealed to her audience of
approximately 100 teen journalists
both the comedy and tragedy of a life
ensnarled in gender identity issues.
Taking care of business with her
6-year-old daughter, and feeling
the recent gratitude of being able
to take her child into the women’s
restroom instead of the men’s, Howe
realized that she should have taught