The husband of a 9/11 hero is returning his late wife’s “Woman of the Year” award from Glamour magazine after Caitlyn Jenner was given the same award, Nov. 9.
NYPD Officer James Smith’s wife Moira (who had also been a NYPD officer) was honored in 2001 with one of Glamour’s “Woman of the Year” awards for her heroism in saving “hundreds” from the World Trade Center as it collapsed September 11, 2001. Smith was the only female NYPD officer to die that day.
This year, Glamour gave that same award to transgender, biological male Caitlyn Jenner for “her” heroic struggle in being “true to herself.” That decision didn’t sit well with Smith.
Smith admitted on Facebook, in an open letter to Glamour, that he was “shocked and saddened” to see Jenner given the same distinction as his late wife, whose long career with the NYPD had been characterized with by her commitment to saving lives.
Smith wrote:
“I find it insulting to Moira Smith’s memory and the memory of other heroic women who have earned this award. Was there no woman in America, or the rest of the world, more deserving than this man?”
He continued:
“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 on...is this the best you could do?”
Smith wrote that he would mail the award back to Glamour after this “slap in the face to the memory of our Hero.”
Liberal news outlet Mic picked up the story and attempted to portray Smith as a resentful bigot. Mic’s Tom McKay condemned Smith for “misgendering Jenner as a ‘man.’” McKay wrote that “aggrieved conservatives” sharing Smith’s Facebook post were “worried about social engineering and preserving the gender binary.”
