Saturday 16 May 2009

The Boston T

T for Transphobia

From the Boston Herald
T operator: Drop probe and I’ll talk

Aiden Quinn, the texting T trolley jockey, is willing to help Green Line crash investigators figure out what happened - but only if prosecutors drop their criminal probe, his lawyer told the Herald.

The gambit to avoid criminal prosecution came shortly after the MBTA fired Quinn, 24, and blamed him for causing the accident last Friday that injured 50 and caused $10 million in damage.

General Manager Dan Grabauskas, in a letter obtained by the Herald, said Quinn admitted to text-messaging while on duty and violating T rules, and his “poor judgment” led to the crash.

Grabauskas said the T probe was concluded, and Quinn was ordered to turn in his “badge, pass, rule book, keys and any other” T property.
...
“If he were not the target of a criminal investigation, he’d be happy to speak with investigators,” said Michelle Meneken, adding that without the protection, Quinn would risk incriminating himself.

Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley declined to comment on Quinn’s offer. The DA’s office said no charges have been brought against Quinn yet.

As for whether Quinn would speak publicly about the accident, Meneken said he is recovering from surgery to repair his wrist, which was shattered in the accident. Moreover, with Quinn’s personal life as a transgendered male making headlines, she said, “The atmosphere is too charged.”

And here's some of the comments.
HedleyLamar2009
Cuff it & stuff it. If it doesn't talk, bring charges against it and go to jury. Does it really think it'll win? There was only one tranny loving judge - Maria Lopez - and she's off the bench. They'll love a cutie like it in Walpole.
#645036 - May 15, 2009 8:56 AM EDT

Clarence
This creature is simply pathetic,its butt is now fired and it could find itself in prison due to sheer stupidity..But where do you put it? Walpole or Framingham? Confusing for the defendant and the judge i bet.
#645230 - May 15, 2009 10:09 AM EDT

HeyCO
What an F'ing freak! Who the hell does IT think IT is? Send this loley scum-bag freak to Framingham for a couple of years, that oughtta set IT's little red wagon straight! Oh sorry, no pun intended! ;p
#645341 - May 15, 2009 11:09 AM EDT

bostown03
Where's the "...Oh, you guys are just being homophobes.." comment? Anyone? Anyone? Ok, nevermind. At least Deval is outraged! That should count for something. This freak might as well lose weight and grow a mustache because she'll be recognized wherever IT GOES!
#645426 - May 15, 2009 11:53 AM EDT

dank
Are you kidding me?! IT is out of IT\\\'s mind. IT causes 10 Million in damage that we have to pay for and IT injures 50 people which will be millions more in lawsuits that we have to pay for. How does IT think that IT has any right not to cooperate with investigators? How does IT feel about how the public should expect that the taxpayer-subsidized T provide safe rides? Maybe I\\\'ll text IT and find out! I should just throw up my hands, remember my quote from a couple days ago and say \\\"IT is what IT is!\\\"
#645542 - May 15, 2009 12:48 PM EDT

ironictwist
I am so sick of this tranny - why isn't IT in handcuffs?
#646164 - May 15, 2009 9:42 PM EDT

And then there's this:
violetlorien
edwards629: the hiring issue in this case has to do with quinn's driving record, which should have been better reviewed, not his or anyone's gender or sexual orientation. this is what happens when you give a young person with a spotty driving record a job as a transit operator, and aiden's transgender status has no bearing on why this accident happened. it's comments like yours that make me especially grateful for the antidiscrimination laws in place today, which prevent individuals with prejudices from stomping all over the rights of people they don't like. besides, if all the transgendered, gay, and lesbian folks in this country were prevented from holding jobs, they'd all be left with welfare or SSDI as the only option in order to survive, and i can only imagine how you'd feel about your tax dollars paying for their [insert epithet of choice here] lives.
#646276 - May 16, 2009 1:27 AM EDT

violetlorien - MA has no laws protecting trans people, only GLBs. Trans people have been waiting for 20 years now to have the same protections as gays do.// Most people don't realise that, and don't realise that the issue comes up every year in the legislature, but never makes it out of committee.
#646455 - May 16, 2009 7:31 AM EDT
Another view in a Letter to the Editor:
Respect lacking
By John H. Bickford Jr.
Friday, May 15, 2009

By Howie Carr’s twisted logic, it would have been fine to write “Catholic conductor crashes trolley” or “Irishman was texting girlfriend while driving train,” and no one would have taken offense (“He or she, T driver is a dolt,” May 13). It’s funny how it would never even occur to a reporter to characterize Aiden Quinn that way, yet Carr argues that his transgenderism - while equally irrelevant to the story as his religion or ethnicity - was somehow newsworthy. Such a double standard can only be attributed to transphobia.
And from the comments I quoted above, it had the desired effect.

2 comments:

Anonymous Woman said...

Given how long it will take just to get media in general to pronoun properly, how long are we going have to wait without the * being placed front and center?

mythusmage said...

Deja vu all over again.

We had a case much like this one here in Southern California. More specifically, in the LA County Area. With two big differences; the driver was killed in the accident, and he was male. He was texting; he missed signals; trains met where they shouldn't have met and in a way they shouldn't have met. The lesson here? Don't text while driving a train. Aiden Quinn's gender status has damn all to do with it.

And Aiden Quinn can take her obstinacy and stuff it. She is the target of a criminal probe because what she did has been judged to be a criminal act, or tantamount to one. Her status as a transgendered or intersexed person has nothing to do with the event, and for her to use it to avoid responsibility for her actions serves only to expose her as a spoiled brat.

Word Verification: theroper (They're beginning to suspect, Zoe.)