As San Francisco continues to hand out 'marriage licenses' to same—sex couples, its neighbor across the Pacific, China, is developing a newfound respect for the sensitivities of cross—dressing persons. The China Daily  reports the following brief story:

A transsexual hairdresser in Shuangliu County, Sichuan Province, who was abused by a patron almost took the elderly man to the court, reports Chengdu Commercial News.

Last week, Zhou, a retired medical worker, went to the local barber shop and found Zhang Lin — originally a man — dressed in women's clothes; he insulted her and swaggered out. The embarrassed Zhang immediately told her boyfriend about it and the outraged man planned to take the matter to the court.

The matter was resolved after Zhou apologized to Zhang and claimed he was unaware that she had undergone transsexual surgery late last year.

The American Thinker strongly supports civility, and urges all people of all nationalities, races, and sexual identities to treat one another with politeness. However, we are disturbed to see that China is evidently following America's path of inserting (or at least threatening to do so) the courts into ordinary human conflicts. We also hope that those who choose to dress in the characteristic garb of the opposite sex will do so with style and due consideration for comfort.

Posted by Thomas  03 01 04