Minute Rant: Husband of Deceased 9/11 Hero Returns his Wife's Woman of The Year Award After Caitlyn Jenner Is Given The Same Prize

Back on September 11, 2001, NYPD officer Moira Smith died while helping people evacuate Tower Two, and she was posthumously honored by Glamour magazine as its Woman of the Year.

This year, her husband, James Smith — also a police officer in New York — is returning her award because this year Glamour magazine has named Caitlyn Jenner its Woman of the Year. In a letter posted to Facebook, Smith said the award to Jenner was a ‘slap in the face’ to the memory of his wife that a man was given the award':

“Was there no woman in America, or the rest of the world, more deserving than this man? At a time when we have women in the armed forces fighting and dying for our country, heroic doctors fighting deadly diseases, women police officers and firefighters putting their lives on the line for total strangers, brave women overcoming life-threatening diseases…the list of possibilities goes in…is this the best you could do?”

I feel sorry for this man, James Smith, because he’s lost; while his wife did indeed save countless lives in the towers that day, he has no idea how many lives Caitlyn Jenner has saved, will save; how many people might not swallow those pills, pull that trigger, jump in front of that car, because Caitlyn Jenner has stepped forward with her story of her struggles with a transgender identity. She has shown that you can live your truth, and I imagine there are many people following in her footsteps today that might have chosen a different path, with a much sadder outcome, had it not been for her. And for Smith to reiterate that hateful idea that Caitlyn Jenner is a man is more of a disservice to his wife’s memory than anything else.

“There was a French activist and writer, Simone de Beauvoir, who said, “You are not born woman. You become one. Words I live by.” — Caitlyn Jenner, in her acceptance speech receiving the Transgender Champion award at this year’s Glamour Women of the Year

For their part, Glamour magazine released a statement saying they were “proud to honor [Smith’s] wife… in 2001, and we stand by our decision to honor Caitlyn Jenner.”

Both women rescued people; one from a terrorist attack, and the other from people like James Smith who make them feel as though they don’t belong.

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