Transsexual sportswriter Mike Penner is dead. Los Angeles Times reported that Penner was found in his home, with suicide being suspected as the cause of death.

Penner is a highly talented writer. In 2007, he announced he was transsexual, changing his name to Christine Daniels. However, in 2008 he switched back to being Mike Penner again.

In August 2007, Penner, as Christine Daniels, was honored by the National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Assn. at a San Diego convention for sharing her story publicly.

“I am a transsexual sports writer,” Penner wrote in his first column discussing his transition. “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.”

Penner has become a celebrity in the LGBT community. He was always sought after as a speaker. However when he switched back to being Mike Penner, reports say he was embarrassed to have “created a stir, only to switch back.”

(via Outsports)