Fourteen years after heroic female cop Moira Smith was posthumously named Woman of the Year for sacrificing her life during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, her husband James returned the award to protest Caitlyn Jenner also being named Woman of the Year.
In a visceral letter Fed Exed to the Glamour offices alongside Moira’s award, Smith argued that awarding Woman of the Year to a transwoman is “a slap in the face to the memory of our hero.”
“I find it insulting to Moira Smith’s memory, and the memory of other heroic women who have earned this award,” Smith wrote. “Was there no woman in America, or the rest of the world, more deserving than this man?”
He also expressed doubt that Jenner, a reality television star, was more suited to win the award than other female heroes.
“At a time when we have women in the armed forces fighting and dying for our country, heroic doctors fighting deadly diseases, women police officers and firefighters putting their lives on the line for total strangers, brave women overcoming life threatening diseases. Is this the best you could do?”
Moira was one of 23 New York Police Department officers to die in the 9/11 attacks. According to witnesses, Smith spent her last moments guiding civilians out of the World Trade Center and was last seen darting back inside the collapsing South Tower to save more people. Though the event claimed thousands of American lives, Moira was the NYPD’s only female cop to die in the attack.
Jenner, who publicly revealed her new identity on the cover of Vanity Fair in July, was named a Woman of the Year for using her various media platforms to raise awareness about transgender issues. She is actually the second transwoman to be awarded Woman of the Year–‘Orange is the New Black’ star Laverne Cox accepted the award in 2014.
A Glamour spokeswoman said that the magazine is disappointed in Smith’s reaction to Jenner’s award, but it won’t change anything.
“We were proud to honor his wife . . . in 2001, and we stand by our decision to honor Caitlyn Jenner,” the magazine said. “Glamour’s Women of the Year Awards recognize women with a variety of backgrounds and experiences.”