(More at Salon and elsewhere.)

It raises a lot of questions, particularly if you see her behavior as “trans-racial” in the same context as Bruce Jenner is “trans-gender”. Should a person be able to demand to be seen by society as whatever they sincerely wish or believe to be true?

“Dr. Paul R. McHugh, the former psychiatrist-in-chief for Johns Hopkins Hospital and its current Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry, said that transgenderism is a “mental disorder” that merits treatment, that sex change is “biologically impossible,” and that people who promote sexual reassignment surgery are collaborating with and promoting a mental disorder.”
(Also, you can bypass the WSJ paywall by searching for “Transgender Surgery Isn’t the Solution” to read Dr. McHugh’s original article, which is excellent.)

By extension of this idea, Ms. Dolezal’s thinking is also disordered, demanding to be seen as black when she is not. Hopefully, I’m not pulling this sentence from Dr. McHugh’s article too far out of context — “They become persuaded that seeking a drastic physical change will banish their psycho-social problems.” And her behavior has gone way past some sort of harmless charade, by making false police reports, and by demanding attention publicly as an NAACP leader.

I have sympathy for both Jenner and Dolezal, but they both put themselves at the center of some serious national political issues. It is bad for individual psychological health, and our national political health, to state that individuals are whatever they claim to be (with any and all benefits and legal rights), even when it flies in the face of reality.

I can imagine the people around her living in this constant state of 1984ish, eye-twitching anxiety, similar to when Winston Smith’s friend comments on how wonderful it is that the chocolate ration’s been increased from 30 to 25 grams.