‘Transgender Isn’t an Insult’ Judge Tells Richard Simmons in Defamation Case

Credit: FameFlynet Pictures

Richard Simmons defamation case against the National Enquirer took an interesting turn when the judge called Richard out for implying that being called transgender, in fact, is not an insult.

The case is from a story the Enquirer and Radar Online printed in May about the fitness entrepreneur, claiming he was in the midst of transitioning. The Hollywood Reporter reports that Richard’s lawyers say he has a legal right to “not be portrayed as someone he is not.”

No official ruling has been made in the case, but the judge made it clear they plan to treat transgender the same way they’d treat claims of race, illness, or other “ummutable characteristics.”

This court finds that because courts have long held that a misidentification of certain immutable characteristics do not naturally tend to injure one’s reputation, even if there is a sizeable portion of the population who hold prejudices against those characteristics, misidentification of a person as transgender is not actionable defamation absent special damages,” L.A. Superior Court judge Gregory Keosian said.

Read more at Page Six.