[2] Later in his career, in addition to covering sports, Penner began writing about transsexual identity and the process of gender transition from an autobiographical perspective.
It has taken more than 40 years, a million tears and hundreds of hours of soul-wrenching therapy for me to work up the courage to type those words.
When you reach the point when one gender causes heartache and unbearable discomfort, and the other brings more joy and fulfillment than you ever imagined possible, it shouldn't take two tons of bricks to fall in order to know what to do.
[5]His wife, Lisa Dillman, submitted divorce papers on May 23, 2007, and said to Penner, "I don't even want to see you around the office unless I absolutely have to, and then I want to be as far away as possible.
The same week, Penner covered a press conference with Paul Oberjuerge, a writer for the San Bernardino County Sun, also in attendance.
Oberjuerge mocked Penner's appearance in an article, stating "(e)xcept anyone paying any attention isn't going to be fooled — as some people are by veteran transvestites.
[6] Penner lived and wrote as Christine Daniels for more than a year, continuing to document his own experience with gender transition in the LA Times' blog "Woman in Progress."
Penner tore up several notebooks he kept on transgender therapy, donated his clothes and jewelry, and ceased attempts to feminize himself.
[6] Penner repeatedly told friends his return to a male lifestyle was a last-ditch effort to reunite with Dillman, though he knew the odds were slim.
[2] Penner was found dead in his Los Angeles home on November 28, 2009, of an apparent suicide, a year to the day after his divorce with Dillman had been finalized.
A funeral closed to media was dedicated to Mike Penner, transgender friends who'd known him were turned away at the door for not being on the guest list.