Hannah Schau is a sophomore journalism major and writes "Hannah's Hot Topics" for the Daily News. Her views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Hannah at hschau@bsu.edu.
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Imagine having a massive secret that only one person knew about and then having them spill the beans to a group of people. Now imagine having a secret come out that isn’t only told in front of a group of people, but to millions of viewers on national television. That is exactly what happened to one of the contestants on an episode of "Survivor."
This season of Survivor is called “Game Changers,” and after this episode it’s clear why.
As tribal council took place, one of the players, Jeff Varner, felt he had a good chance of going home. He made it extremely clear at the beginning that he wasn’t going out without kicking and screaming; he wasn’t kidding.
Varner tried his hardest to convince the others that Zeke, a player on his tribe, was deceitful. He thought it would be a great idea to out Zeke on TV by saying he is transgender and he is deceitful because he had kept this a secret. The other players at tribal council were completely outraged that he would expose Zeke like that. Varner was voted out unanimously on the spot.
What is shocking about this whole thing is that Jeff Varner is a 51-year-old gay man. One would think that a man who is gay and in his fifties, would never share a secret about someone being transgender. People of this age that are gay usually say they have had a hard time coming out, or that people didn’t accept them. It is mind boggling to me why he would ever think to do this.
Being transgender in today’s world is starting to become more accepted each day. Not everyone is 100 percent comfortable about the idea, but people are getting used to it over time.
The way Zeke handled this was incredible. You could tell by his face that he was shocked and hurt. At the end of tribal as Varner was walking out with tears in his eyes, Zeke was the one that told Varner that everything would be OK and that they are still "good."
I hope no one remembers Zeke as the transgender player, like he was so afraid of, but instead to remember him as a fierce competitor and for his character.
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