Why Make A Big Deal of....?

Why Make A Big Deal of....?

Jackie Pollock, Guest Author 

It has come to my attention that on the hit television series Survivor a Transgender man was outed. I have to agree with the article on CNN's website that this “....has sparked outrage.” Zeke Smith is the gentleman in question and as far as I can tell he's handled this with class and grace of a true gentleman. 

CBS's Survivor webpage reports that Mr. Smith is a twenty-eight (28) year old Asset Manager from Brooklyn, New York. Websites are reporting that fellow contestant Jeff Varner asked Mr. Smith "Why haven't you told anyone you're transgender?" This folks is called outing a person and it not up to you to do so it is up to the transgender person to do so. Looks like Mr. Varner does not remember the words of Matthew 25:40 “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” 

Yet in an interview conducted by US Magazine with Mr. Varner he was quoted as saying “I have spoken to Zeke several times and forgiveness keeps coming out of him. I’m amazed and just stunned at his forgiveness. He’s an amazing human being. We’re both on separate journeys to accept what happened and move forward. Those journeys don’t intersect. He reached out to me and the conversations we’ve had have allowed me to heal. He’s calling me some rough stuff out there today and I get it. I give him every bit of room to come after me and I respect him for it. I deserve everything he’s doing. My focus is on Zeke and his health and his well-being and what I can do to help him.” 

Yet People reports “While the show was filmed eight months ago, Smith told People he struggles with forgiving Varner. "I don't think (Varner) hates trans people. I just think he has a lot of misconceptions about trans people," Smith said. "I think if he wants to be an ally to trans people, he has a long way to go." 

A lot of us reading this weren't there so we don't know exactly what happened yet I ask why are we making a big deal out of this? It seems to me the wrong doer and the person who was done wrong to have patched things up; let's just let these two gentlemen be. Nothing lost on either side; nothing gained on either side and I say it appears that pure forgiveness has been shown to both sides.