Sports page "Grantland" outing of a trans woman results in her killing herself

GRANTLAND lurker Caleb Hannan's article about a revolutionary putter seemed at first,a good job of investigative reporting. Hannan a self described golfing enthusiast received one of DR. V's Oracle putters as a gift. Despite realizing statistically his putting didn't improve he was still enthusiastic about the Oracle.

I then went to a public course to try the Oracle on some actual greens. I didn’t make every putt — far from it. But I did seem to sink more than usual. And like McCord, the more I used the putter the more I became its unofficial pitchman. I began to look forward to the “oohs” and “ahhs” from strangers when they would first see me use the club to pick the ball out of the hole. I enjoyed telling the wild story behind the putter’s invention. It turned a normal round of golf into an act of seduction. And it was all because Dr. V’s club had me putting with a lot more confidence.

I was ready to proclaim her an unknown genius with an idea that could revolutionize golf. All that was left to do was make sure the stories about engineering accolades and top-secret defense projects were legit. It was, I thought, just a formality.

Perhaps in hopes of cashing in on a new golfing craze Hannan became a advocate for its new design until...he discovered DR. V was transgender and not a MIT scientist who worked on stealth fighters as she had claimed..



Caleb, apparently in a fit of transphobic rage forgot his promises of confidentiality, the cornerstone of investigative reporting, and outed Ms.V a transgender woman which resulted in her committing suicide. The story would have barely made a ripple without outing her, a fact Grantland was well aware of.

Hannan reveling in the attention tweeted

Not sure what to say other than this is the strangest story I've ever worked on. http://t.co/3x9FXS2dy1
— Caleb Hannan (@calebhannan) January 15, 2014

How about if you said you are sorry for purposely inflicting such unnecessary pain on a fellow human? It would be appropriate if Grantland editors fired you, then you could say, got a job for a lurker? But no, Grantland posted this horrific picture of the Oracle putter in a trash can the same as Hannan did with Mrs. V's life.

Post by Grantland.

Grantland posted this picture to facebook making sure all who read it know how they feel about trans people. In the trash.

The top two comments on the Grantland facebook page sum it up pretty well.

• 

  James Saliba Words fail the callousness and lack of ethics that Hannan displays in the writing and pursuit of this story. A disgusting dismissal of a trans person's personal struggle that the author exploited for cheap hits. And to treat her suicide as a result of his bullying as an oddity? A "weird story?" Positively disgusting.

  Like · Reply · 45 · January 17 at 5:40pm
• 

  Reuben Poling A journalist's fidelity to the truth should not come before a human's responsibility to respect another human. An article on Dr. V could have been written that discussed her dodgy business practices and falsified credentials WITHOUT ONCE mentioning her sexuality and trans* background. It was irrelevant to the story. Instead, Hannan broke his promise to " focus on the science and not the scientist," engaged in bigoted rubbernecking and hounded a mentally-ill woman from an at-risk population to suicide.
  
  But hey, HELLA PAGE VIEWS. You got mine this time, just like every day for a while. You won't be getting them anymore.

  Like · Reply · 31 · January 17 at 7:57pm

You can still go to DR. V's YAR website  and customize a putter with a inscription if you wish..

 R.I.P. Dr. V.