As you know, All My Children's just introduced a transgender character dubiously named Zarf.

In celebration, the kids over at Out Magazine are playing a little game called "TV Trannies!" in which readers can vote on which television show they think needs a little tranny action, e.g.: The Tyra Banks Show as The Tyrone Banks Show.

Sure, it's kind of silly, but we're easily entertained. We would, however, like to offer a suggestion: The Wendy Williams Experience as The Wendy Williams Experience. Although, that wouldn't be very fair to the competition.

If you've ready Queerty for any length of time, then certainly you've happened upon our exclusive interview with Ryan Smith, a survivor of an April brutal gay bashing attack in St. Maarten. Since then, Ryan has received plenty of media attention and the effort to prosecute his attackers continues. Among the outlets covering the story is Out magazine, which originally posted an excerpt online from its August issue that generated much feedback – negative feedback – from readers. The excerpt seemed to slant the article's position as sympathetic to the men who attacked Smith and his friends, thanks to paragraphs like this:

On April 12, Time magazine’s Web site ran a story headlined, “The Most Homophobic Place on Earth?” It focused on antigay atrocities in Jamaica, and argued that “much of the rest of the Caribbean also has a long history of intense homophobia. Islands like Barbados still criminalize homosexuality, and some seem to be following Jamaica’s more violent example”—a point illustrated only by Jefferson and Smith’s experience in St. Maarten.

Such exaggerations were fueled by a handful of local newspapers. First, a hateful piece in the tiny St. Maarten newspaper Today praised the attack, and mockingly regretted that “Gay bashing is now a no-no.” The island’s largest newspaper, The Daily Herald, condemned the beating but suggested that “if the culprits felt the need to prove their manhood…they at least could have had the guts to fight them fairly, with their bare hands.” But The Daily Herald’s coverage of the attack has been fairly aggressive; a Herald reporter interviewed Smith and Jefferson in the hospital—which is more than can be said for the police.

Regarding the Caribbean more generally, the media’s hasty cries of homophobia were inflated. True, eight Caribbean countries still have antisodomy statutes on the books, but only Cuba and Jamaica have a reputation for enforcing those laws. Furthermore, it’s difficult to argue that island cultures—excepting Jamaica and Haiti—are overwhelmingly homophobic. Caribbean attitudes toward gay people range as widely as attitudes in the southeastern United States. Yet this isolated incident in St. Maarten almost immediately inspired reckless generalizations about the people of that region and ill-conceived threats from some gay leaders itching for vengeance.

In an updated version of its online item, Out decided to publish the entire story to counter readers' claims of sanctioned homophobic violence. And if you give the full article a read through, you might agree that the story isn't skewed against Ryan Smith and the survivors, but against a group of people so complacent with violence against any person, gay or straight. And that's how it should be.

Trouble in Paradise—The Complete Story [Out]
Earlier: Happy Endings: Out Blaming Ryan Smith For His Gay Bashing?
Related: Ryan Smith Speaks
Related: All Ryan Smith coverage