Veteran Times sportswriter Mike Penner dead

Mike Penner, the veteran Los Angeles Times sportswriter who made international headlines in 2007 when he announced he was transsexual and began working under the byline "Christine Daniels," has died.

Colleagues said today that Penner was found dead at his Los Angeles home and that suicide was the suspected cause of death. He was 52.

"He was one of the most talented writers I've ever worked with," said Times Sports Editor Mike James, adding that Penner covered numerous beats including the National Football League and sports media during his more than two-decade-long career at the paper.

"He was a gentle man, a kind man," James said. "It's just a tragedy."

Penner garnered much support and some criticism when he announced he was a "transsexual sportswriter."

"During my 23 years with The Times' sports department, I have held a wide variety of roles and titles. Tennis writer. Angels beat reporter. Olympics writer. Essayist. Sports media critic. NFL columnist. Recent keeper of the Morning Briefing flame. Today I leave for a few weeks' vacation, and when I return, I will come back in yet another incarnation. As Christine," he wrote. "I am a transsexual sportswriter. It has taken more than 40 years, a million tears and hundreds of hours of soul-wrenching therapy for me to work up the courage to type those words. I realize many readers and colleagues and friends will be shocked to read them."

Penner ended up blogging about his transition and later wrote a Times sports blog. In 2008, he began using the "Mike Penner" byline again.

Read the full Times' obituary here. A colleague shares some memories of Penner here and invites readers' thoughts.

The Mike Penner story:

• When someone is trapped inside the wrong body
• A writer's transformation makes the personal public
• NPR interviews Christine Daniels (audio)
• Old Mike, new Christine
• Recent sports stories by Penner
• Archive of Penner's Totally Random column

-- Shelby Grad

Comments

[Kim Irwin]

My deepest sympathies to the family. This is so sad. I hope you're finally at peace, Mike.

[NHS95]

joneric...Thanks for missing the point completely. The point is that people should be doing exactly what you said, honoring Mike's life and work, and not using the occasion to push their political agenda. He decided, in his last days, to go by Mike Penner. Why don't you honor that and stop trying to put words in his mouth? Let the man have some peace.

[Jim Rainey]

I interviewed Mike shortly after he went public in 2007 with his gender change decision. He was so good humored and hopeful about the future, poking fun at himself for his upcoming shopping spree for a new, feminine wardrobe. He was a good and caring soul. I'm so sorry things didn't work out for him.

[Marco]

Thanks for all the *great* writing... hope you found some peace.

[Michelle Gould]

As a transgender person she tried to live in the world she was given.
She had s sports understanding because of who she had to live and those who kept making her to "fit" lost a true incite to real unbiased reporting from her after she opened up. She was what others wantedas she could. That unbiased led colloquies to to accept her view as a woman raised as a man, sometimes. In my simple view she felt she was not accepted as herself and had to fit to be believed to report. Someday each person will be recognized for their talent and how they fit even though they are off simple definitions.

Talent and personality are true
a real loss

michelle

[claire]

May he finally find the peace he sought in life.

[johnnie b. baker]

the death of mike penner truly saddens me. i was surprised when he came out with his transsexuality, and i admired him for being so open about it considering the homophobic fake-masculine world he covered. even when the story faded away, and his christine daniels column disappeard, i wondered what had happened. and then suddenly mike penner reappeared at the times. I did some googling and learned he had stopped the se-change procedure. on gay-themed websites like the advocate, readers dissected his motives, both condemning him and understanding of the difficult life choices he was dealing with. To now hear of his possible suicide just hits me.

i am not gay or transgender or anything, i am as straight a white guy as you can find. and because of this, I cannot possibly understand the deep personal conflicts that mike penner sought to confront, conflicts that he perhaps no longer could deal with.

[DPierre]

Am I the only one who feels uncomfortable about a "comments" section under an obituary? (Yeah, I know. The "full obituary" is later. But, still ...)

[DPierre]

Am I the only one who feels uncomfortable about a "comments" section under an obituary? (Yeah, I know. The "full obituary" is later. But, still ...)

[Cloud]

Rest in peace, dear soul. My condolences to the family and loved ones.

[Sports Fan]

Rest in Peace. You will be missed.

[Sports Fan]

Rest in Peace. You will be missed.

[Andy]

First of all, I am saddened by the death of a brave and courageous person. Christine Daniels was an inspiration to many. She deserves to be remembered as such. By ignoring her decision to transition to female in her public life, you are doing a great disservice to your readers and to her memory. Please correct this egregious error when writing her full obituary.

[Sara]

I knew Christine. My heart breaks for the pain she endured, something which is more common than many think and is beyond misunderstood. I am so sorry to hear of this tragic news.

[Barbara Sehr]

I never knew Mike Penner, but I knew Christine as a wonderful, warm human being. I got to know her during her brief shining public moment, an inspiration for a community still very much in hiding. We met at an Atlanta conference, where I had the opportunity to hear her speak, and we exchanged tales of two journalists. Both of us made very public transitions while working with supportive publications. We kept in touch during the 2007 battle for ENDA that was eventually stripped of its provisions to to reduce the employment stress for trans individuals, before it eventually failed that trip through Congress. I was proud to help reward her public efforts with a community service award on behalf of Ingersoll Gender Center here in Seattle.
I thank my lucky stars that so far, I have been strong enough to overcome the rejection, hatefulness and discomfort that drives much of our community into hopelessness. I am also thankful that I was able to share a brief period in Christine's life.

[Leah Peters]

What a shame. She's in a better place now.

[Scott M]

I found this news so incredibly sad. I had a brief email exchange with Christine after the initial article, and found her very charming.

It's odd, but she popped into my head a few weeks ago... I wondered how her life was these days.

I wasn't aware that he had reverted back to a male identity. I can't imagine how painful and confusing this must have all been for him.

So sad, so sad...

[djork]

This is heartbreaking. The Woman In Transition blog entries Christine wrote were beautiful and offered a powerful insight into her transition. They should be read by everyone, especially those folks here who can't wrap their head around the idea that there is more to gender than genitalia.

[Elizabeth]

This news is heart-breaking, truly tragic for all. Such a great person.

[debra]

I knew Christine. Beyond being a great writer, passionate about sports, she was a warm and sweet person. I'm hearing that she (yes, 'she' -- the person I knew was decidedly female) de-transitioned and probably committed suicide because of an uncompromisingly and pervasively unaccepting and downright hostile atmosphere among her frat-boy jock-wannabe colleagues.

[Peter323]

My condolences to all those who loved Mike or knew him. We all knew of his reporting and writing abilities and of his courage, of course, and we will miss him for that reason alone. I am hopeful Mike has found his peace and happiness, but I am sorry that it has come through our loss of him. It's terribly saddening.

[Mike Dudnikov]

I was not aware of Mike Penner's situation. I remember someone mentioning Christine Daniels' situation, but did not realize that the two were one person. The one thing I can say was that I wrote to Mike Penner several times with comments when he was doing the Morning Briefing and he was kind enough to quote me and print several of my comments in his column. One ironically concerned an obituary, that of former baseball player Gene Oliver who had caused the Dodgers to lose a pennant in 1962. Other newspapers picked up the column and I found myself being quoted in newspapers around the nation. Thanks Mike, and I hope you find the peace that eluded you in life.

[sancho-2]

poor man. being overwhelmed is the most frightening and lonelyfeeling one can imagine. at least he had some friends but they were not enough it seems.

[Michael Martinez]

I knew Mike as a baseball beat writer. He was extremely talented, but more than that, he was a good, caring person -- someone I considered my friend. My condolences to Mike's family and to those who knew him.

[Michael Martinez]

I knew Mike as a baseball beat writer. He was extremely talented, but more than that, he was a good, caring person -- someone I considered my friend. My condolences to Mike's family and to those who knew him.