Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics (by hormone therapy, body modification, or surgery) of the opposite sex and present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth. If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly.

So why does Jessie L. Bonner's recent AP profile of transgender mayoral candidate Melissa Sue Robinson keep zig-zagging between male and female pronouns? Robinson has acquired female physical characteristics, and prefers the female pronoun. And yet, Bonner's story refers to Robinson with female signifiers (she, her) 17 times, and male signifiers (he, him, his) six times.

Perhaps the AP standard isn't so helpful after all. In the piece, Bonner applies the rules differently to Robinson before and after her gender transition. Each current reference to Robinson refers to the candidate as female; each reference to Robinson before she "legally changed his name and underwent surgery in 1998" employs the male pronoun. There's some AP style hidden beneath the awkward usage: technically, Bonner refers to both Robinson and her former legal identity, Charles Staelens Jr., in a manner that's "consistent with the way the individuals live publicly." Staelens lived publicly as a man, so gets a "he"; Robinson lives publicly as a woman, and earns a "she."

Bonner's usage may be technically correct, but it also borders on the offensive. (First, let's overlook the fact that nine-tenths of the story is entirely fixated on the fact that a female mayoral candidate "previously lived as a man.") As Bonner switches between "his" and "hers" in order to hew to AP style, Robinson comes off looking confused:

The 58-year-old was born male and still carries the slightly larger-than-an-average-woman build of Charles Staelens Jr., who legally changed his name and underwent surgery in 1998 to become a woman.

She also kept his voice.

He was married for 17 years, owned a construction company, and was a Republican when he ran for city council in Lansing, Mich., where he was raised with his identical twin brother until their parents divorced in the 1960s.

Now she says she is celibate, a telecommunications worker who is "just another cog in the machine," and a Democrat who in 2004 became the first transgender to run for the state legislature in Michigan.

Later in the story, another component of the AP "sex changes" rule comes into play—the part that instructs reporters to use the pronoun "preferred by the individuals" in question. According to Bonner's story, Robinson has never personally identified as male. Sure, that preference wasn't publicly known before 1998, but it's now been out in the open for 11 years. And yet, Bonner still churns out phrases like this one:

"as an adult, [Robinson] always thought of himself as a woman but waited until his late 40s before undergoing the gender reassignment surgery."

Actually, Robinson has always thought of herself as a woman. And yet, to the Associated Press, Robinson's forever gender remains male. Why? Because to the AP, you only get to be referred to as female after you undergo intensive surgery—and even then, your gender only applies to the years you've spent since going under the knife. That sucks. No person should be forced to invest in a legal name change and live up to a set physical standard—according to AP style, "hormone therapy, body modification, or surgery"—to be identified by their true gender identity.

No matter what the AP treatment suggests, Robinson didn't become female when she changed her name and underwent surgery. That's just the point at which the Associated Press learned that Robinson was female. With any other developing story, the AP will update its outdated, incorrect narrative when new information comes to light. Why should a transgender person's story be any different?

FINALLY: FIANCEE TURNS BABYDADDY, says Sharon Cobb, who thinks the whole blessed holy matrimony schtick Palin paraded the kids around for was just some racist bullshit to begin with:

Why is it that when a white teenage woman gets pregnant out of wedlock it's a 'blessed event' and the father is the 'fiancé,' but a person of color is someone we think of as someone on welfare and the man is just the baby daddy? . . . Racism. Alive and sick in America. That's the difference, and had the Obamas had an 18 year old daughter who was pregnant during the election, you know damn well the stereotypes would have run rampant.

Cobb ends her smack-down by sending Bristol some well-wishes: "Hopefully, her baby daddy former flame will participate as a father."

LEVI SEES TRIP, Bristol says and AP reports: "Levi sees the baby whenever he wants, the family sees the baby whenever they want," family spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton told the news org. "Bristol is not preventing anybody from seeing Tripp at any point in time."

AP IS ALL OVER THIS BRISVI SHIT: The motives of Mercede Johnston, or "Sadie" to Stapleton, have come into question. Stapleton "speculated money was involved in the tabloid interview," saying that "the fact that it is a tabloid and a soft interview, there could be an incentive to say things. . . . We don't even know if Sadie said that." Martin Gould, senior executive editor for Star, the magazine that published the Sadie interview, "declined to say if Mercede Johnston was paid to speak to the Star. But he said the report was accurate."

WHAT WILL LEVI DO WITH HIS "BRISTOL" RING TATTOO? No, really, what is this dude going to do about that. Cover it with a real wedding ring?

COULD BRISTOL'S SPLIT HELP PALIN'S FUTURE? "These are not the kind of news stories that Palin might hope for, adding to earlier controversies over her fondness for expensive clothes and use of public money for family holidays that have consistently dogged her. Yet once again she is back in the news, and in media-saturated America that gives her an enormous strength that few within the flailing and defeated Republican party can emulate."

BRISTOL AND LEVI WERE DOOMED, Chicago Tribune reports. Dooooomed, I tell you!:

"Despite high expectations, less than 8 percent of teen mothers marry the baby's father within one year of the birth," said Bill Albert, chief program officer for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. "That is magical thinking. It almost never happens."

Steve Waldman over at Beliefnet wonders if Bristol should have put Tripp up for adoption. Along the way, he actually admits that he thinks a former Vice Presidential candidate's seventeen years old indignation over fictional unwed mother Murphy Brown was spot-on. "I dunno. I was with Dan Quayle on that one," he writes. Awesome.

Above: Associate Press video of last week's March for Life activities. But before you watch, beware! This footage has not been approved by the seasoned media critics over at the comment section at ProLifeBlogs.com. Among their critiques:

"Why is it that the prolifers can go through the entire march without spotting a single proabortion counter protester, but the MSM can always find them and give them airtime?"

"Notice too how they mostly interview a white male for the prolife side, and the woman for the pro-choice side? That's another myth they love to perpetuate, that it's only or mostly white men who are prolife. WHat a crock of doo-doo."

"AP is worthless. Have been for a long, long while."

* In case you missed it: Washington Post reports killer story on drunk man who finds bed in wrong home. The story just keeps getting better. The lede is solid:

There's drunken confusion, and then there's the place that a 50-year-old Montgomery County man found himself—in the wrong bed in the wrong house.

The late night snack graf is darling:

Bob Breiner walked upstairs to the master bedroom and flipped on a lamp. Less than two feet away: a man he'd never seen, wrapped in blankets, sound asleep. On the floor were shoes, socks and pants. Earlier, the man had apparently helped himself to a crab cake from the refrigerator.

But this quote makes the story:

One of the officers asked him whether—upon entering the house and seeing a white Persian cat—he realized he was at the wrong place. "I thought maybe my wife had gone out and gotten another cat," he told the officer, the Breiners said.

* New PSA tries to get kids not to use "gay" as a derogatory term. "Will a public service announcement help make accepting homosexuality more OK among kids?" asks Jessica of Tango Mag. "Or is that idea. . . totally gay?"

* Gawker posts a scan of what is claimed to be Sarah Palin's report card from her senior year at Wasilla High (above). The grade sheet hasn't been confirmed to be "real," but doesn't the reported 841 out of 1600 SAT score jibe with your own stereotypical assumptions of Sarah Palin's horrifically deficient intelligence? And isn't that the true test of "reality"?

* Nepalese living goddesses grow up so fast! The Associated Press gives the profile treatment to the three-year-old girl who "will be worshipped by Hindus and Buddhists as an incarnation of the powerful Hindu deity Taleju" . . . for now. The girl will live as a goddess in Katmandu "until she reaches puberty and loses her divine status."