![\"Penner](\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/media\/photo\/2010-03\/52960553.jpg\" "\\"Penner")
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The death <\/a>of Times sports writer Mike Penner brought an outpouring sympathy from both his longtime readers and those moved by his public transition to a female identity, Christine Daniels.<\/p>\n After Penner’s death last November, The Times’ Chrisotpher Goffard spent several months reporting<\/a> the sportswriter’s story. Here is a sampling:<\/p>\n In late April 2007, Mike Penner published an article unlike any of the Under the headline "Old Mike, new Christine," Penner explained that he \nA year after the essay, the Daniels byline vanished from the newspaper, A year after the essay, the Daniels byline vanished from the newspaper,\n
\nthousands he had written for the Los Angeles Times. It was brief, just
\n823 words, and placed without fanfare on the second page of the Sports
\nsection that had been his home for 23 years.<\/p>\n
\nwould soon assume a female identity and byline, a decision that
\nfollowed "a million tears and hundreds of hours of soul-wrenching
\ntherapy."
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\nIt was "heartache and unbearable discomfort" to remain a man, he
\nexplained. Being a woman promised "joy and fulfillment." The article
\nended on a hopeful note: "This could be the beginning of a beautiful
\nrelationship."
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\nGone was quiet, circumspect Mike Penner, replaced by ebullient,
\noutgoing — and instantly famous — Christine Daniels. Celebrity meant
\na megaphone, and Daniels vowed to use it as an advocate. She told her
\nstory at transsexual conferences across the country, becoming a symbol
\nof courage to a transgender community inspired by the most visible
\ncoming-out in decades.
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\nand within months Penner was back at work, living as a man and writing
\nunder his male name. Once so voluble about the reasons for becoming
\nChristine, Penner was silent about the reasons for abandoning the
\nidentity.<\/p>\n
\nand within months Penner was back at work, living as a man and writing
\nunder his male name. Once so voluble about the reasons for becoming
\nChristine, Penner was silent about the reasons for abandoning the
\nidentity.
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\nThis time, there was no essay, no explanation. But friends saw a person
\nin torment. Last November, in the parking garage of the apartment
\ncomplex where he lived alone, Penner killed himself. He was 52.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n