Bad T-Timing

OK, first some background for non-Gothamites: Jeffrey Epstein, 54, is this billionaire New Yorker playboy financier who is fighting charges that he hired numerous underage female hookers masseuses. Epstein is being defended by Alan Dershowitz and last month it was reported that Epstein was about to plead guilty to reduced charges in exchange for a 15-month prison sentence.

Epstein's story has been daily fodder for the tabloids, who have droolingly recounted sordid tales of "purple vibrators" used on 14 year-old girls. Last month, the now 23 year-old Maxilimia Cordero came forward to sue Epstein for "bizarre and unnatural sex acts" committed against her when she was an "aspiring 16 year-old model". Cordero says that her mental illness prevented her coming forward for the last seven years, and NOT because she's just found out her former john was a billionaire. Yeah. I know. (Tabs are saying that as many as 40 other girls have $melled $omething too and may be suing Epstein, including girls who only waited in his kitchen while their co-workers gave him his "massage". That must have been one bizarre and unnatural kitchen.)

Under headlines like "I Was Teen Prey Of Pervert" and "My Kinky Sex With A Billionaire", Cordero's life story has been a bonanza for tabs like the NY Post, who have gleefully recounted her self-described drug abuse, mental illnesses and general taste for the high-life. Cordero posed for the Post sitting on the lap of her lawyer (and ex-boyfriend), a schlumpy unshaven old dude who couldn't look more like Chester The Molester if he tried.

But today comes the topper to the story. Under the headline "Kinky Sex Suit Gal Is A Man!", The Post reveals that Maximilia Cordero's birth name is Maximilian. She is a transwoman who has been taking hormones and living as a girl since age 12. On two of Cordero's three MySpace profiles she describes herself as female, but on the third she lists herself as male. A choice quote: "I'm a spoiled bitch and really mean. I love to have fun, hang out and party! Oh and I'm a junk head (pills, designer substances. . . ." (She also describes herself as 17, not 23.) Epstein's lawyer is "shocked". For his part, Cordero's lawyer/roommate/ex-BF doesn't believe it, saying "I may also be female. I'm checking with my doctors."

At this critical time for transgender equality, Cordero's is exactly the sort of sleazy story the movement doesn't need. Trans folk are continually accused of deception or trickery as they merely attempt to go about their daily lives as the gender they were destined to be. And these "Surprise! She's a MAN, baby!" news events don't help. As I am not a trans person, I have no right to comment on the issue of passing and when or whether disclosure is called for. I just hate that we have to have this story on the front page of New York's newspapers, especially right now.