Heavy metal's most sensitive and compassionate personality, Phil Labonte decided to chime in arguably the biggest story of the week… the official coming out of Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Bruce Jenner. Caitlyn is undoubtably the highest profile transgender person, and overall the publicity has been incredibly positive. Labonte, though, is over it…
To his credit, Labonte, who has previously said he enjoys stirring the pot for publicity, didn't really say anything offensive. He's just saying it's not that big of a deal, that there are plenty of trans people out there in the world and they don't get this adulation when they transition. He added we should speak positively of MtF trans porn actress Bailey Jay:
Bailey is very brave, as is Caitlyn, but here is why Caitlyn is such a big deal. The Kardashians are one of the highest rated shows on television, my parents watch it… a lot of people watch it. To many, this is the first time they could put a face to the movement. If there is some kid in the middle of the country struggling with their own gender dysmorphia, this may be the first time somebody publicly addressed it. And, do you know how difficult it must've been for Caitlyn to do this in the public eye. How many terrible gossip rags posting offensive headlines in every super market in America? It was not easy. Ultimately, Caitlyn's coming out opened the flood gates of the conversation of trans rights. So we think Caitlyn is really brave and really metal. I'm sure there will be plenty of bigoted comments below and to those people I ask "how are you directly affected by this one person finally being comfortable in their own skin?" You're not at all affected by it. And if you think this was some easy decision for Caitlyn, like she just woke up one day and decided to be put through the public ringer of judgment, you are grossly mistaken.
And, on the scale of dumb things Labonte has said, this ranks much lower than when he said stuff like only black people have the right to be offended by slurs.
[via MetalSucks]
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