Bus rapid transit not meant to replace light rail Re: “Purple Line should be Bus Rapid Transit,” Local Editorial, Nov. 1
Montgomery County Council member Marc Elrich does indeed have an exciting proposal for a network of Bus Rapid Transit lines throughout the county.
But The Examiner editorial gives a misleading impression that such a system is meant to replace light rail as the mode of transportation on the proposed Purple Line from New Carrollton to Bethesda.
The Montgomery County BRT study map shows that the bus rapid transit network is meant to supplement — not replace — a light rail Purple Line.
Jeff Cronin
Takoma Park
Transgenders are only following their nature
Re: “Before Chaz, there was the ‘stop snitching’ scandal on ‘DTWS’,” Oct. 31
Gregory Kane’s rant against transgender Americans may resonate with many. Like Kane, I used to struggle to grasp how someone born female could want to live as a man. But I’ve had the good fortune to meet transgender classmates and coworkers who’ve opened my eyes on this topic.
Through my friendships, I’ve learned that being transgender is not a choice or a fad, as Kane implies when he states that Chaz Bono has “embraced the transgender phenomenon.” From an early age, transgender folks feel innately and intensely that their true gender just doesn’t match their body. For far too many transgender Americans, every moment is a struggle to manage the gap between what others see and what they feel inside.
Far from a trivial desire to be more “comfy,” as Kane puts it, this gap creates a crushing weight that transgender folks can only resolve by embracing the gender with which they truly identify.
Kane does a great disservice to transgender Americans and all Examiner readers when he promotes contempt instead of curiosity and dialogue toward transgender Americans, who already face staggering rates of violence and unemployment for being true to themselves.
I hope The Examiner will recommit to serving as a vehicle of knowledge rather than a mirror for ignorance.
Jonathan Branfman
Washington
Obama deplores end runs, except his own
It was amusing to see how rapidly the Obama Administration pulled funding from UNESCO after their backdoor endorsement of Palestinian statehood. This action demonstrates the failed foreign policy efforts of this president and highlights his complete hypocrisy.
Mr. Obama has no problem using the backdoor approach to accomplish his policy objectives. Defying the very Constitution he swore an oath to protect, he seems determined to do an end run on every policy decision that Congress — including members within his own party — rejects. For example, the Justice Department recently filed a lawsuit against another state that decided to take things into their own hands on immigration.
Apparently end runs are only acceptable if the president is doing them.
William Shifflett
Edinburg, Va.
