11 July 2013

What's Being Trans Got To Do With It?

At first glance, it looks like just another soap opera involving super-rich New Yorkers.

An agoraphobic heiress falls behind in her maintenance fees on her co-op. With fines and legal fees, she owes over $230,000.

Plus, neighbors in her building--the El Dorado, on Central Park West--complain that her chain smoking fill their apartments and adjacent hallways with noxious fumes.

So, those neighbors mount a campaign to evict her from the building, where Bruce Willis recently bought an apartment for $8.6 million.  

Leave it to the Daily News to find another "twist" in this New York story. Since you're reading this blog, you've already guessed it:  the woman they're trying to evict is transgendered.

Diane Wells doesn't sound like the sort of neighbor I'd want to have, especially if my digs were so pricy.  Still, nowhere in the story did it mention that neighbors want to evict her because of her gender identity.  In fact, from what I read, I'd guess that they didn't suspect her identity just because they probably saw so little of her.

If anything, I'd guess the real reason why someone wants to evict her is that she's been living in her apartment for a long time and someone--probably a member of the co-op board-- wants it for him or her self, or a family member or friend.  After all, it's a big three-bedroom apartment in one of the most desired residential neighborhoods on the face of the Earth.

If Ms. Wells' gender identity is, or might be, a reason why her neighbors are trying to evict her, Daily News correspondents Barbara Ross and Dareh Gregorian haven't explained it.