The Huffington Post has removed an article from last week, which asked its readers, in a poll, whether actress Sofia Vergara or actress Blake Lively “has got the more ‘tr*nny’ look.”

The question stemmed from separate interviews with both actresses, in which each of them compared her appearance to that of drag performers – heavily made-up, big hair, lots of jewelry, etc. 

(Screenshot via Equality Matters)

Lively did actually use the word “tr*nny” in an Allure article.

"I feel like a tr*nny a lot of the time... I don’t know, I’m...large? They put me in six-inch heels, and I tower over every man. I’ve got this long hair and lots of clothes and makeup on. I just feel really big a lot of the time, and I’m surrounded by a lot of tiny people. I feel like a man sometimes."

Vergara did not use that word, but did refer to herself as looking like a “transsexual” and a “transvestite” in an interview with the Advocate. (The highly defamatory word “tr*nny” was only used by celebrity gossip websites describing that interview and was then unfortunately repeated by ABC’s Cynthia McFadden in an interview segment that ran on both Good Morning America and Nightline.)

Apparently Huffington Post writer Ellie Krupnick thought it would be perfectly okay to use in a fluffy celebrity piece about high heel and makeup extremes.

But make no mistake – despite the fluffiness of this piece, this word is a transphobic, discriminatory slur, commonly directed at members of the transgender community who are very much NOT okay with its use.   LGBT advocates slammed the website for its decision to use this slur, and readers asked the Huffington Post to remove it. This afternoon it did – stating:

Editor's Note: This entry has been removed from The Huffington Post. In reporting actress Sofia Vergara’s comments comparing her appearance to that of a transgender individual, the story adopted an inappropriate tone. We regret the error and apologize to anyone who was offended.

We thank the Huffington Post for taking the post down, and are reaching out to offer to further educate their editorial staff about transgender issues.