I think this is the wrong jill to fight on.

I was going to agree with you but then I had this second thought: Danny writes for "Faithfully Yours", is a Deacon at his church, and has other positions which run along the lines of religious, and/or sociological and/or psychological and/or moral advisor.

So if someone like him doesn't talk about these kind of issues, whose job is it?

What I see from my own initial reaction: the problem in that he writes too much here like he is making a political argument! I.E.: Lil Duval’s comments were seen as crude, crass, and offensive by a large segment of our society, but they also resonated with many of his core supporters.  I wasn't aware that a comic had such things as "core supporters" and was in a leadership position. Wouldn't it be better to talk about Lil Duval's fans that might agree with Lil Duval on this, have the same feelings?

I think the problem is that the style of writing should be more "advice column" and not political opinion. I.E.: people, you should think about this when you think that or say that or agree with that or do you realize what you are really doing when you are a celeb and use language like "she dying" to express in pop culture media that a certain sexual persona is a big turnoff to you? isn't there a better way to express that which won't feed hate?

If one expresses sexual preferences in a more acceptable way, it should be no different than saying you like or dislike other things (blonds, food, movie, literature, big mamas, Danny's writing, Michael's scripts.....) No one but teh stoopids tries to debate someone into liking something that they don't like.

Here's a good very short 2009 interview at The Guardian with a trans woman that I think makes clear the basic human decency issues you were trying to address.. With photo, in which one can see one would not necessarily know that this person used to be a man:

I used to be a man

I'd just like to point out two things to you without adding my own pecadilloes, as I am not someone who is trying to advise a community about the proper approach.

She says at the start

As a boy, my perception of transsexuals was of burly men in dresses; unfortunate people who didn't fit into society and were a source of ridicule. So when I realised that I wanted to be a girl, I was appalled and deeply ashamed.

So seems to me when trans activists are all upset about things like Lil's statements, what it is about is trying to break the culture of ridiculing them. They feel the that the ridicule, that people feel uncomfortable with them, does a lot of damage, from making trans ashamed of themselves to encouraging nuts to feel free to perpetrate violence against them.

On the other hand, edgy comics have always traded in ridicule, one of the things they do is play with the nervous boundaries of what is acceptable..

And at the end she says

There's no need to announce my past to everyone I meet, but it's not a secret. When people find out and are shocked, that's the greatest compliment they could pay me.

My underlining. So it's not like one has to walk on eggshells about it all, either. And it's not like she is trying to hide something. She's actually done trying to hide something! I'd venture a guess that she didn't try to fool that fiance about anything.

Thanks for the post. Duval made himself an easy target because he said that he would kill a transgender woman. If you read his comments, Duval was concerned about being lied to. The transgender woman had taken away his choice to have sex with what Duval considered to be a man, He felt that transgender sex made him gay. Duval did note that he was not going to kill anybody because he realized that it was a hypothetical situation, Unfortunately in follow up interviews Duval sticks by his statement about violence. Several of his standup comedy gigs have been canceled.

There is strong condemnation of Duval as bloggers standup for transgender rights and safety. It is interesting that after the election, there was criticism of the Democratic Party for engaging in "identity politics". Transgender bathroom rights were among the reasons given for Democrats losing the white working class. Blacks were obviously going to be thrown under the bus. I think blacks will have to consider themselves on their own in upcoming elections, as connections to white allies is tenuous.

Thanks again for treading into this territory..