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Talk:Sheri Swokowski

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What sort of nonsense is it to not note that this person's birth name, whether they were "notable" before changing gender or not, this person's name at birth was "Jeffrey J. Swokowski". If you want to put "(Swokowski didn't become notable until after her transition, so her former name isn't relevant)" then delete out everything she did as a he before 2006, because you are stating that it is not, in fact relevant. Since when do editors here decide whether or not factual information about a person is relevant based on life achievements? If Jeffrey J. Swokowski became Sheri Swokowski, that is in fact relevant to the article. The only thing that makes her relevant is the fact that she used to be a man, without that tid bit of information, she has no reason to even be on Wikipedia (and even then it is debatable as to the reasoning for the article). You yourself don't decide "notable", if someone is transgendered, and you want to make an article about them on Wikipedia, then most certainly the birth name IS in fact "notable". It's public knowledge for crying out loud.

Swokowski isn't notable for being transgender, she's notable for her activism, all of which came after her transition. If a transgender person wasn't already a notable figure (based on the project's notability guidelines) before their transition, then we have to be careful about including former names in order to not violate the biographies of living persons policy, as many transgender people don't want their former names to be spread around if they can help it. Wikipedia doesn't publish everything that's public knowledge, especially when it's sensitive information like this, and there's a big difference between having your former name included several paragraphs into a news article and having it in the first sentence of one of the first Google results about you. TheCatalyst31 ReactionCreation 04:09, 28 July 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for that clarification, I've edited the article to match your opinion on the matter 68.13.136.247 (talk) 17:23, 28 July 2017 (UTC)[reply]

You're disrupting the article to make a point; none of that other information is a potential BLP issue, while her former name is. TheCatalyst31 ReactionCreation 23:32, 28 July 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Your entire POV makes absolutely no sense. If a person is on Wikipedia, they and their entire life are in fact public. You can't pick and choose what is public knowledge based on your personal feelings. It is hypocritical to add in achievements by this person when she was a man, then go on to say "her name at that time isn't important". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.13.136.247 (talk) 01:42, 30 July 2017 (UTC)[reply]
I'm perplexed, so TheCatalyst31 is saying that this person's former name isn't relevant, but achievements the person made while known as that name are relevant? This is confusing, under what living figure guidelines exactly are you basing this? I know of no other situation on Wikipedia where a person's name, previous or otherwise, is to be kept secret. The entire point of Wikipedia is to be an encyclopedic knowledge base, and you are cherry picking what is put in the article. Either this person's entire life is relevant, or the entire life is NOT relevant. Same goes for birth name. I await the response on this issue, and whatever section of the living person's guidelines you are justifying this from, because when reading the guidelines, it appears, if anything, you are in fact breaking the rules by not including the person's birth name. 76.79.10.92 (talk) 20:21, 4 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Agreed. This webpage wouldn't even be on Wikipedia except for the fact that the person in question's achievements while they were "Jeffrey J. Swokowski". It is astounding that self hatred, one of the major contributors to "gender dysphoria" in the first place, is embraced in such a way by an editor on Wikipedia. No response from the editor in question either, which is interesting. Is the person doing the editing in fact the person this page is about? One has to wonder at this point. This page should likely be removed in its entirety, as the relevance for its existence is 100% predicated on the persons "pre transition" role of being a male military officer who changed genders. Either that should also be documented with the person's name included, or the entire page be removed. 68.13.136.247 (talk) 14:29, 20 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]