The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist Illustrates The Lengths (And Narcissism) Trans Rights Activists Will Go To "Pass"
And I Get A Handle On A Chronic Illness
As you’re all aware, I was diagnosed on July 27 with Type II diabetes and while that continues unabated I can finally give you some good news:
My glucose levels have stabilized.
Of course this also required that I work out six days a week and cut all sugar and carbs out of my diet as much as possible, but it certainly beats the alternative.
So while I have been solely focused on my health it would appear I have completely missed an event this week that appear to have brought the world one step closer to Peak Trans.
So let’s dive in.
The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist
Netflix’s new documentary series, Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist, tells the bizarre and shocking story of American football player Manti Te'o, whose life and career were sent spiralling after a clandestine online relationship hit the headlines.
In September 2012, just as his senior season was getting underway, Notre Dame linebacker and Heisman Trophy candidate Manti Te’o experienced not one but two great tragedies on the same day. First, his grandmother passed away. Only a few hours later, his longtime girlfriend, who he had never met in person, succumbed to leukemia. But there is just one thing: Te’o’s girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, didn’t exist. Instead, for the previous few years, Te’o had been catfished as part of an elaborate hoax that quickly got out of hand.
Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist is split into two 60-minute parts that provide a great deal of insight into the years-long hoax as well as the victims and perpetrator at the center of the story. The first episode largely focuses on Te’o’s life, collegiate career, and the relationship that was eventually exposed in an earth-shattering 2013 Deadspin article. The second episode touches on the fallout experienced by Te’o and others involved.
The documentary spends a large amount of time focusing on Manti Te’o and his story, but a near-equal amount is spent interviewing the person behind the fake account: Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, who has since come out as a trans woman named Naya. The addition of Tuiasosopo’s story doesn’t lessen the blow so much as it adds another layer of context to this incredibly complicated situation.
Kekua was a fake online identity created by Naya Tuiasosopo, previously known as Ronaiah, as explained in the Netflix documentary, UNTOLD: The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist. Tuiasosopo now identifies as a transgender woman and uses she/her pronouns.
Speaking in Untold, Tuiasosopo explained he had been trying to figure out his own sexual identity, which led him to create the fake account of Kekua, building relationships only online.
Tuiasosopo explained he and Te'o bonded over both being Samoan, their faith and their connections to football. Te'o played at the NFL level and Tuiasosopo's father played at USC, his uncle played for the Rams and his cousin played for the Raiders, details The Guardian.
Speaking in UNTOLD, Tuiasosopo reflected: "I just wanted to play football out of obedience, and I wanted to make my dad happy. But I totally felt this heaviness of fear. I didn't have that courage to just be like, you know what, this is who I am. I truly believed in my heart, being a natural-born male, I could never be who I wanted. That was when I had decided that I would be able to have that experience in the life of a female, even if it were fake."
In September 2012, in an attempt to end their online relationship, Tuiasosopo faked Kekua's death. Te'o was under the belief that Kekua had died from leukemia after a lengthy battle in the hospital. He recalls in UNTOLD, falling asleep to the sound of her breathing on the phone every night as “she” awaited a bone-marrow transplant.
The sporting world was fascinated and inspired by Te'o's success in football despite the devastating loss of his girlfriend and grandmother. However, doubt began to be cast by sports media outlets after Te'o's sporting career began to flourish, particularly after he was named as one of the three finalists for the Heisman Trophy, an award given to the most outstanding player of college football.
Things took an interesting turn in December 2012 when Te'o received a phone call from Kekua, who claimed to still be alive. He even received a photo from Kekua as proof.
However, it soon transpired the pictures used on Kekua's profile belonged to Diane O'Meara, who is a real person. As the Cinemaholic reports, O'Meara was unaware her images were being used by Tuiasosopo.
This is about the only way an obvious man can ever get a “relationship” as a “woman”: through deception and lies and what is worse is now Tuiasosopo is going to make the rest of the world believe he is actually a woman. As my most excellent friend Matt Osborne who writes for The Distance wrote:
Now a “trans woman,” Tuiasosopo is relieved it’s all over. He feels much better about what happened. He forgives himself for what he did. He wants to celebrate his new life. His authentic life. The life where he gets to pretend that he’s a pretty girl every day, and make everyone else respect it, not just online but in the real world. He doesn’t have to pretend anymore, hooray. We do.