“Survivor” contestant Zeke Smith had the most beautiful response to being outed as transgender on national television
In case you missed it, something both historic, and well, downright wrong happened on this week’s episode of Survivor. As in, contestant Jeff Varner outed fellow contestant Zeke Smith as a transgender man during a tribal ceremony…even though the information had zero to do with the competition or the situation at hand.
Smith, with utter grace and composure, has responded to the incident now that the episode has aired.
"I’m not ashamed of being trans, but I didn’t want that to be my story, he shared with People. "I just wanted to go out on an adventure and play a great game. I just wanted to be known for my game."
During the actual episode — literally within minutes of his fellow contestant revealing something incredibly personal about his life (that again, had nothing to do with the game), Smith said,
"One of the reasons I didn't want to lead with that is because I didn't want to be like, the trans Survivor player, I wanted to be Zeke the Survivor player."
We cannot control the hazards we face, we can only control how we respond. Love each other. #Survivor #Zekevivor
— Zeke Smith (@zekerchief) April 13, 2017
He went on to note that, ““I think he hoped others would believe that trans people are dangerous and fraudulent. That reasoning is infinitely worse than him outing me because it’s the same one used to discriminate against, attack and murder trans people. What’s great is that nobody bought it.”
We’re glad to report that the other contestants quickly pointed out that the information was “personal,” had “nothing to do with the game,” and that Varner should never have brought it up in the first place.
"It’s important people see he lost that fight," Smith said in the same interview. "The message should be clear that hate will always lose."
When it comes to forgiving Varner, Smith says it’s not easy.
"I really struggle with forgiving him every day. I’ve had to think a lot about what forgiveness is. Forgiveness is not forgetting what happened. It’s not excusing what happened. I don’t even think forgiveness means I have to be his friend — and I don’t think I ever will be his friend.
“But I think forgiveness is about hope – hope that he understands why what he did was wrong, hope that he doesn’t ever do something like this again and hope that whatever compelled him to give into his worst instincts in a dark moment is resolved for him,” he continued. “I do wish him the best, I just think I wish him the best from afar.”
We’re genuinely inspired by Smith’s words, and we know that this will serve as an inspiration to so many people who have witnessed this debacle unfold.
