Last week, Caitlyn Jenner was honored with the “Woman of the Year” award and named the “Transgender Champion” at Glamour’s Women of the Year Awards. Although there has been some backlash over Jenner winning the honor, none has stood out more than the recent news that a 9/11 widower decided to return his late wife’s posthumous award because Jenner received the same award.
According to the New York Post, Long Island, New York, police officer Moira Smith was honored with the “Woman of the Year” award in 2001, a month after she died after entering the south tower during the 9/11 attacks.
Recently, her husband, James Smith, decided to snatch the award off his mantle and FedEx it back to Glamour as an act of protest to them for giving the same award to Jenner.
“I was shocked and saddened to learn that Glamour has just named Bruce Jenner ‘Woman of the Year,’ ” Smith wrote in an angry letter to Glamour editor Cindi Leive.
“Was there no woman in America, or the rest of the world, more deserving than this man?” Smith wrote. “At a time when we have women in the armed forces fighting and dying for our country, heroic doctors fighting deadly diseases, women police and firefighters putting their lives on the line for total strangers, brave women overcoming life-threatening diseases . . . the list of possibilities goes on . . . is this the best you could do?”
Despite Smith’s harsh words, a spokesperson for the magazine says that they stand by their decision to honor both women.
“We were proud to honor his wife . . . in 2001, and we stand by our decision to honor Caitlyn Jenner,” a Glamour spokeswoman said. “Glamour’s Women of the Year Awards recognize women with a variety of backgrounds and experiences.”
Well, everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but it’s unfortunate that Smith has inadvertently dragged his wife’s legacy into controversy over an award. Hopefully, this scandal blows over and the world can get back to remembering his wife as a hero and not as a tabloid subject.
