| To the Editor: Choice of speaker at BGSU is criticized |
| Written by Celia Jane |
| Wednesday, 20 February 2013 10:43 |
|
This is an open letter to the Office of Multicultural Affairs at Bowling Green University and the BG News: Recently, you had a speaker on the transgender experience which was reported in the BG News. Since the BG News would not respond to my questions and the Multicultural Center has been likewise unresponsive, I'm writing here. Your choice of speaker to represent the transgender experience leaves much to be desired. I think someone else would have been better as Lillian Briggs may do more harm than good to the cause of transgender acceptance. Quoting from the BG News story: "Transgendered people don't just struggle with their family's acceptance, Briggs was also discriminated against by others. "During one instance, Briggs was trying to get away from someone discriminating against her. She hit the person with her car twice to get away and was sentenced to six years in jail." I understand that this is from a college newspaper, but some due diligence on the part of the journalist (one hour on the internet), would have revealed that this incident never took place. The incident for which Cameron (Lillian ) Briggs was convicted was felony assault for stabbing a man several times with a box cutter. Also why wasn't the speaker questioned as to how being discriminated against would justify hitting someone with his/her car? Twice! This incident resulted in the conviction: At about 11:30 PM, Briggs and Tyrone Maddox walked from a mutual friend's apartment to Briggs' car. Maddox may have been helping carry some of Briggs' personal items to the car. After placing the items in the car Briggs' transferred a box cutter from his work apron to his coat pocket. According to State of Ohio witnesses, no one else was near the car or had spoken to Briggs, when a fight broke out between the two. Briggs was the aggressor. At one point Maddox put his arm around Briggs' neck who stabbed him several times. When Maddox realized he was bleeding, he returned to the apartment until paramedics arrived. It took over 300 stitches to close the Maddox's wounds. The jury found the State's witnesses more credible than Briggs' account of being verbally harassed by people on the street and convicted him. The Multicultural Center could have chosen a better representative of the transgender cause. It is disappointing that this person was invited to our community to speak. Celia Jane Rudolph |
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