Tackling Transphobia

In schools, LGBT pupils are routinely excluded from school and college curricula. Stonewall’s survey (PDF) in 2006 provided a sobering reminder of the misery faced by gay youth in schools when it was revealed that 65 percent of gay pupils had experienced bullying. While the awareness of bullying and homophobia has been raised thanks to celebrity campaigns such as Ben Cohen’s ‘Stand Out’ and a handful of sports personalities coming out, a Times Educational Supplement survey found that homophobic attitudes and language are rife in Britain’s schools today.

The key challenge is that in many cases, teachers have insufficient training, confidence, understanding or guidance to tackle homophobic bullying. Some teachers are too afraid to bring up the subject of homophobia or transphobia, for fear of a backlash from pupils and parents. Furthermore, autonomous academies have greater freedom to set their own curriculum, and consider diversity as a low priority. And some – though by no means all – faith schools expose pupils to homophobic teachings in the name of ‘teaching sexuality according to religious ethos,’ as the law allows them to do. As for transphobia – a term not even recognised by the notebook with which this article is written – ignorance of the condition is institutionalised.

SchoolsOUT, which has been campaigning to create a culture of inclusiveness for LGBT people since 1974, is determined to tackle these issues head-on. Central to the organisation’s campaign is its eighth annual LGBT History Month, in which participating schools in Britain counter the legacy of silence by celebrating the achievements of sexual minorities. The group has met the demand for teacher resources with a new website, The Classroom, which has had over 22,000 hits since its November launch. The SchoolsOUT conference, held at the RADA Studios in Central London on February 4th, provided an opportunity to hear about the state of progress in promoting inclusiveness.

The first session examined the issues surrounding transgenderism. Terry Reid O.B.E., founder of GIRES (Gender Identity Research and Education Society), which provides transgender-related policy advice to the public sector, explained the prevalence of and scientific explanations for gender variance.

Statistics show that a school of 1,000 pupils will have six pupils who have to deal with transgenderism throughout their lives. Recent estimates suggest nearly 7,500 people have undergone for treatment of gender dysphoria, at a rate of 1,500 per year, and growing at fifteen percent. More trans youngsters are having the confidence to come out because they talk to each other and on the internet and learn that they feel the same way as others do.

Rooted in the brain

The evidence that gender identification is rooted in the brain, determined in the womb and largely stable thereafter, is extensive. Variations may result from additional hormones in the pregnant mother’s system, or unusual X/Y chromosomal patterns. There is a spectrum of variance, from undetected cases, to Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, in which a person grows up with the brain wiring and external appearance of a woman, yet shortened female genitalia with undescended testes. Furthermore, research by Professor Milton Diamond has shown a raised incidence of gender and sexual orientation variance among twins, who are vulnerable to different inputs of hormones. Unlike those with atypical sexual orientation, pupils with gender variance need medical attention. Trans people may experience stress at the onset of puberty, when their bodies become increasingly discordant with their gender identities. At this point, after careful screening, hormone blocking treatment may be given, so children can have more time to decide their gender role.

But while nature loves variance, society hates it. One only has to look in a children’s toy or clothes store to see how boys and girls are straitjacketed into gender specific roles, almost from birth. Those who don’t fit the mould often face rejection and abuse.

The Leveson inquiry this week showed that while the press have by and large moved on from depicting LGB people as objects of ridicule, trans people are still fair game (PDF). The Tavistock and Portman Clinic in North London, the only gender clinic for young transgender people, reports that 23 percent of its patients have attempted self-harm.

The challenge, says Reid, is to help people understand that gender is not a choice but like sexual orientation, it is who you are. Ignorance about causality of gender prevails even in the medical community. Eighty-four percent of NHS doctors believe public money shouldn’t be spent on gender reassignment because it was a ‘lifestyle choice’.

Educating teachers

Reid also highlighted the need for educating the teachers themselves. Twenty-five percent of trans people experienced bullying from teachers, often because they don’t understand how hurtful it can be to address the child by the wrong pronoun (for that matter, even when mistakes are made by well-intentioned people, the ignorance can be hurtful, as a cringeworthy moment in the 2009 series of BBC1’s Apprentice reminded us). A gender variant child might approach a teacher for help because they may be unable to approach their parents. It is essential therefore that teachers be supportive without expressing horror or surprise. The Home Office has commissioned the charity to develop a toolkit for fighting transphobic bullying.

Mermaids

Susie Green from Mermaids, a support group formed by parents of children who are affected by longstanding gender issues. Gender variance describes people who have a different identity and/or expression than the sex they were assigned with at birth. Within this spectrum are children who have the external appearance of one sex, but may have determined they are another on the inside, or children who exhibit non-conformity in the type of toys or clothes they play with. Mermaids brings these people and their families together to talk about the issues in a safe environment.

Susie’s motivation for setting up Mermaids sprang from the experience of the trauma suffered by her 18 year-old daughter, Jackie, who was born as a boy and faced daily abuse from peers and isolation in a school that rigidly enforced sex segregation.

It’s important not to fit children into boxes and to be told that it’s OK to be different. The best time to introduce diversity is at primary school, when children first come across peers of other social groups that they don’t see within their home. Prejudices are strongly diminished when children at this age get in touch with real people or even learn through storytelling. This helps them to empathise and understand that people from different ethnic or sexual groups are real people, not the lazy stereotypes portrayed in the media.

She takes inspiration from a primary school teacher from America, Melissa Bollow Tempel, who pioneered ways of expanding her class’s idea of the ‘norm,’ after having a gender-variant child in her class. Bollow Tempel’s essay, ‘It’s OK to be neither’ has numerous practical ideas. Line-ups can be formed on different, fun personal preferences, such as ‘milk or juice’, for example, rather than gender. AN effective way of countering ideas of stereotypes was a class discussion about things that were supposedly girlish or boyish. Class members discovered among their poeers girls who played with Lego and skateboards, while boys identified with pop artists who used nail varnish and make-up.

Empowering transgender people through the arts

Jay Stewart, co-founder of Gendered Intelligence, believes that the creative arts are a way into discussion and debate about gender issues, and opening up opportunities for gender expression, to empower them and enable their voices to be heard. They facilitate workshops to all young people in school or youth settings, to think about how everyone can contribute to debates in which trans people’s voices are embedded. A crucial objective is to create spaces for young trans people to really feel confident and strong in their own identities that they can go out and challenge exclusion.

Stewart notes the superficial school objectives around gender or sexual orientation, relate to bullying and not to the underlying causes. It is not enough that children don’t feel afraid to go to school; the only way to challenge prejudice and raise the self esteem of its targets is to challenge the preconceptions that underpin it.

GI has plenty of experience of working with schools where a pupil is transitioning, and ensure that person is thriving. For a student at an Oxfordshire school, GI created an action plan, to gather the core staff team, including the heads of year, with the young person. They informed the staff and created a peer group of friendship where the trans status of the person was disclosed among friends. This created a wall of protection, and they felt proud to be included. The idea was to make a safe network among the group, so they understood what it meant to embark on this transition from male to female. At the end of the session, the year head led an assembly pledging the school’s support for the student and encouraging the year-groups support for the peers. The student had put together a video to express her feelings and hopes about how she would like to be treated.

Read part two of this report.

An inspector calls – at last

An especially encouraging note is the involvement of Ofsted for the first time in a SchoolsOUT conference, Janet Palmer, the National Adviser for Personal Social and Health Education on the curriculum explained how the Ofsted inspectorate is changing, and how it has responded to the Equality Act in their new framework, called a whole-school Section 5 Assessment that went into force in January 2012.

Ofsted, for the first time, will rigorously grade schools according to their record on tackling homophobia and transphobia and on creating an inclusive, accepting environment for LGBT people, who are at lasted listed in the framework guidance. LGBT issues are evaluated in the grade descriptors for behaviour and safety, to ensure action by the school. Inspectors will evaluate pupils’ behaviour towards and respect for other young people and adults including bullying and harassment. The new Assessment specifically spells out the types of bullying that can occur, such as cyber-bullying, and prejudiced-based bullying related to various minority groups.

The guidance lists a host of actions required to prevent and tackle all forms of bullying and includes the views of pupils. New pupil-teacher-parent questionnaires specifically mention homophobic bullying.

To achieve outstanding achievement, schools must prove that all groups of pupils feel safe at all times. The hidden nature of homophobic bullying, requires a sophisticated, sensitive approach to questioning pupils, to find out what’s really happening. It is so difficult for a young person to admit they are being bullied, because doing may come with the added burden of coming out.
Palmer added: “Once the bullying has occurred, it’s too late. To prevent it in the first place, we have to measure and seek improvements in all areas of school: the ethos, curriculum, management and leadership styles, even the displays among others.”

Schools will receive unsatisfactory grades overall if a significant minority of pupils show lack of respect and intolerance, even if it is directed towards just one minority group, and if pupils have little confidence in the schools’ ability to deal with bullying successfully.

Sadly, examples of poor practice are all too prevalent. On inspection tours, Palmer might ask groups of children if it was okay for a pupil to be out and gay. Suspicions are raised when she is told that there ‘none at this school’ or confronted with evasive silence.

A school is also judged by whether its pupils understand the impact of bullying on others and whether they actively challenge all forms of bullying. Outstanding grades go to schools where all children do so. A key indicator is the pupils’ attitudes towards prejudiced language. For instance, a school might clamp down on the term ‘gay’ as an insult, but if pupils cannot say why it’s wrong to utter the word, school has failed to promote understanding. It is not sustainable just having one or two teachers fighting for equality while others remain ambivalent.

Creating the safe environment depends fundamentally on empowering the teachers with the confidence and skills to discus sensitive and controversial issues. But teachers must be adequately trained if they are to tackle these issues head-on, and here lies the problem. The subject-specific training has not been available to teachers because PHSE is a non-statutory subject in the first place. However, ministers are in the middle of a thorough review of the curriculum. A white paper claims the new SRE curriculum will be informed by organisations such as Stonewall. “It will be a big step forward to have SRE that actually meets the needs of LGBT young people, and we are at the early stages of this,” added Palmer.

Palmer says that many schools are in breach of the Equalities Act because they omit to mention homophobia and transphobia in their policies. Bullying including prejudice based language is not consistently or effectively tackled.

Though she warns change won’t happen overnight and some inspectors will miss cases of homophobia and transphobia, many inspiring case studies and reports are coming though. Ofsted has launched a good practice website, with case studies of role-model schools including one of Stoke Newington.

Anti-bullying checklist

Palmer sums up with a checklist to determine how well a school is tackling bullying. The starting point is acknowledgement of the problem. St. George’s boarding school in Harpenden earned praise for its efforts after its head and governors were motivated by their Christian duty to promote inclusion.

Promoting a positive social environment, in which different types of families are reflected. Traditional mothers’ and fathers’ day cards are bad examples!
Addressing staff training needs means TA, admin and supervisors too.
Age-appropriate information and support, must be there for families as well as children. Notice boards must provide support information for youth groups for young people who are not confident to ask for help.

Bringing in outside expertise and role models, for consultation or presentations is key as well. Former pupils who are LGBT, or their parents might give talks about the issues they face.

Furthermore, it is imperative never to make assumptions: most schools are very hetero-normative places to be. Palmer singled out a school that proudly announced it had started debating whether gay parents should be able to have children. Palmer’s reaction: if you had a class of mixed race children, would you be discussing whether it is OK for their children to exist, and for their families to be called legitimate? This can be devastating for a child to be subjected to such a debate. They are assuming that every child in front of them is heterosexual and from a traditional nuclear family.

This initiative by Ofsted will almost certainly put it at loggerheads with the Department of Education and hard-line religious lobby groups. Michael Gove has already ruled out making sex and relationship education compulsory, or ending parents’ right to withdraw. And what will it make of the country’s largest provider of schools, the Church of England? Now, it mussed be stressed, there are many faith schools that are doing an outstanding job in creating an accepting environment for LGBT people. But some aren’t, and the C of E hierarchy sees no problem in teaching the view that homosexuality ‘falls short of the ideal’ and that all pupils in its care should have the opportunity to examine the ‘full range of views, including Christian views’ before they reach their own considered opinion. This is cruel lunacy: there are some extreme views that children should be protected from. The Department for Education, for instance, specifically prevents schools teaching the ‘full range of views’ on Evolution, because evidence overwhelmingly says it happened, contrary to what some religious lobbyists and school academy trustees believe. For that matter, would we consider exposing black children to the BNP’s views on race relations? The overwhelming evidence says it is cruel and dangerous to intimidate LGBT pupils with ideas that their very nature is wrong. Let’s stop the double standards.

It was particularly disappointing to hear Emma Reid, head of LGBT Equality in a panel at the LGBT History Month launch last November say that schools “can teach the Pope has a particular view on sexuality, but it cannot go on to say that you are wrong,” as if this made any difference. The Pope’s ‘particular view on sexuality’ of course, is that LGBT people are disordered and are called to live in life-long loveless celibacy. Janet will have face determined opposition, and she will need all the support she can get.

Christine Blower, general secretary of the NUT reiterated the dire lack of training for teachers on this issue. “It’s perfectly clear that there isn’t proper initial teacher training, either through all of the subjects or just in a general sense. We are concerned in the change in initial teacher trainign to the idea of teaching schools. If you are in one of the schools that has fantastically good practice, that’s great. But there will be schools that become teaching schools and get outstanding in Ofsted, but miss some of the things we want them to do, like LGBT or disability needs.”

The NUT is launching a toolkit for use in schools, so they can understand what the equality duty is about. At Easter the NUT will launch a project with five primary schools on gender stereotyping in schools with literacy co-ordinators. “It’s an issue for everybody. Our primary schools need to have the resources, tools and skills to talk about this. Otherwise, gender stereotypes will run riot and we will have bullying.

Blower stated that sexual minorities are not visible enough within the union. Out of over 300,000 members, just 1500 members who identify as LGB and 114 as trans.
Blower said: “Their contact with the union may not be a safe place to tell us that information, or maybe there is a lack of confidence of being out at school. At an LGBT caucus at the last AGM, only one third of delegates admitted to being out. If it doesn’t feel safe for a teacher, it won’t be for the child there either. It shows the enormity of the task ahead of us.”

“We are not happy about the curriculum review. We don’t think there is enough emphasis on equality generally, we don’t think there is enough emphasis on how you can teach about the whole range of things that happen in our society, and how you make sure everyone is visible through the curriculum.”

Reactions

A delegate offering diversity training to schools in a West Yorkshire LEA commented: “I was reassured to hear the Ofsted representative speak on LGBT issues. It’s been my feeling that the current government has been focusing on attainment and results at the expense of PSHE. So it has been difficult for people like me to get our resources into schools who don’t see the connection between the need for all pupils to feel safe and higher attainment.

We have had to become a traded resource and we are having to see services to schools that we formerly offered freely. SO far, schools are demanding English, maths and science consultants, while those of us in inclusion are increasingly regarded as unnecessary, especially by the Academies. But Ofsted are out there looking at what they are doing, so that gives me optimism.” 

Because trans is in the news not, as so often, as sensation, as spectacle: but as grown up, fully-fledged participants to ongoing political debate. Can it be? Can it possibly be? And is this just flash in the pan, or the beginning of something larger?

Today’s stories are actually quite closely linked. First up is the news of ten-year old trans girl, Livvy James. Sick and tired of being picked on at school: fed up, too, with the way press intervention has made matters worse, she has started a very simple petition. It asks the press to lay off trans folk.

She pulls no punches in stating that press prurience contributes to bullying, abuse and worse. The bottom line is inevitable: careless talk costs lives. And Livvy thinks its time that stopped.

Co-incidentally (or not: I don’t much care, since the cause is pure), Helen Belcher from Trans Media Watch is to appear before the Leveson Inquiry this afternoon to talk about trans experience of the press. There will be cases similar to Livvy’s.

There will be heart-rending stuff, too, about lives destroyed and families riven asunder by this same press carelessness. In sharp contrast to the wilful complacency of former PCC Director Tim Toulmin, there will be evidence that this continues, two years after the PCC allegedly put a stop to that sort of thing.

The two events are rounded out by a great deal more serious media interest than the trans community usually receives. Paris Lees, of TMW, and Livvy on the BBC’s Breakfast Time today. Pieces likely to follow in the broadsheets.

Does this mean change is on the way?

Er, no. And yes. Because the real point is that what is happening today – the willingness of the establishment to take trans issues seriously – is not the beginning of anything: it is the culmination of months, years of work. It’s there in some small improvements in the press.

There too in Ministers like Lynne Featherstone, and in every comment on trans-related articles – more often from women, I fear – that acknowledges trans people should just be left to get on with their lives.

Leveson will report. Government will obfuscate. Some time in the distant future, laws will change.

Meanwhile, it is to be hoped that editors and bigots everywhere will understand the message behind today’s dignified display of quiet anger from the trans community. We have teeth: and this is no flash in pan. Its too late for that.

Because in the UK at least, the trans minority has come of age. Today is not the beginning of change – but a sure sign that it is happening already.

Jane Fae is an independent writer and sexual rights activist. 

The Inquiry has been investigating invasions of privacy by the British press since it opened in mid-November.

Paris Lees, the charity’s Project Manager said: “Our evidence reveals monstrous intrusion into the lives of private individuals, including children and rape victims, leading to people being forced out of their jobs and the breakdown of families. Some have received death threats following unwanted and hostile press attention.”

She added: “Newspapers have incited witch-hunts by neighbours, and families with children have been trapped in their own homes by media camped on their doorsteps. Some children have even been forced to move school or to new neighbourhoods.”

In their submission to the Inquiry, the charity refers to a “climate of prejudice” against trans people fostered by the media.

They added that trans people are vulnerable to allegations which often disrupt their lives and put them at risk of violence.

The charity’s submission includes numerous tabloid headlines about individual trans people with multiple references to sex “swaps” and “changes” as well as incorrect use of pronouns and the use of quotes when discussing transgender and intersex status in a way which appears to cast doubt over their existence.

TMW’s witness for Leveson, Helen Belcher, says fear prevents many from seeking justice: “Perhaps most sinister are the many accounts of families and individuals afraid of complaining to the PCC, and who dare not take legal action – for fear that the bullying will start again.”

“None of these people led public lives; there was nothing in their lives of any public interest. The interest was pure prurience and sensationalism, due to the fact that they were undergoing medical gender transition – a highly personal process.”

On 30 January, Tim Toulmin, a former Director of the PCC, gave evidence to the Inquiry, saying “not very long ago, it was quite commonplace for people to be ridiculed on the basis of gender dysphoria, and that’s something that the Code Committee recognised needed to change and they changed the rules and you just don’t see it any more.”

Lees says this is not true: “Mr Toulmin’s evidence to Leveson flies in the face of what TMW sees regularly in the British press. Most of our evidence was gathered from press articles published in 2011. We see a number of abusive pieces each month. It just shows how out of touch the PCC actually is.”

Gender identity has been protected since 2005 under the PCC’s Code of Conduct in the same way as race, disability and sexuality.

But the charity alleges that ordinary people are relatively defenceless against poor reporting.

Among seven key recommendations for future regulation, TMW suggests allowing complaints to be registered by marginalised groups, the provision of an ombudsman for those with limited means, and the regulation of press agencies.

This week, the editor of the Daily Mail, Paul Dacre, told the Inquiry there was “not a homophobic bone in Jan Moir’s body” when he was questioned on her column about the death of Stephen Gately.

Click here to watch the Leveson Inquiry live.

This is the sorry tale of how US Customs officials decided to apply such a test – and as a result humiliated and embarrassed a Canadian woman who was on her way to run a marathon and visit friends.

The story, released today by Christin Milloy, who also alerted the world to Canada’s no-fly rule, is that of Jennifer McCreath, from Newfoundland.

Following GRS in January 2011, Ms McCreath applied for a new birth certificate from the Nova Scotia administration, secure in the knowledge that according to officials there, she should expect to wait no longer than 10 days for her new documentation.

Seven weeks later, and with no certificate in sight, Ms McCreath was forced to set off carrying only her current passport, which included a gender marker of “M”.

All went well, until Toronto Pearson international airport, where she had to go through customs before boarding her next airplane, to the United States.

A US Customs agent inspected her passport, where and directed Ms McCreath to ‘Secondary Screening’, where she was photographed and fingerprinted. A further 90 minutes elapsed before anyone else spoke to her: since other individuals were dealt with in the intervening minutes, there is some concern that this was done deliberately in order to ensure she would miss her plane.

There then followed a search of her bags and according to Ms McCreath: “They started asking me all sorts of bizarre personal questions about my sexuality.” They also asked a number of intrusive and personal questions about surgery they assumed she had had, as well as questioning her about her medication and the purpose of a highly intimate device – a dilator – that they discovered in her luggage.

This last line of questioning continued despite the fact that Ms McCreath was carrying with her a doctor’s note which, she explained, “describes (the medical device) as urgent for me to have on my person, and can’t afford to lose them in luggage and to please let me carry them on board”.

In the end, Ms McCreath was permitted to continue on her way, paying out an additional $80 for having to change flights. To add insult to injury, it subsequently transpired that had she chosen to do so, she could have obtained a temporary passport from the Canadian Passport Office in the two years prior to her surgery. However, despite several conversations and a visit to the offices of that body, she was at no time informed of this option.

Following so soon after attempts by Canada’s Ministry of Transport to justify similar discriminatory legislation in respect of flying over Canada, this is a stark reminder of what happens when bad rules are allowed to lie on the books.

Spokespersons for that Office told us last week that:

- The no-fly rules were not new: they had originally been implemented in 2007, and were re-issued last summer;

- They were designed with “security” in mind and would help transport officials in determining whether an individual resembled their photographic identity

- They were in line with International Civil Aviation Organisation rules, as well as similar rules enforced by every other government in the world

They declined, however, to answer questions as to how a subjective assessment of gender might help an individual match a face to a photograph: nor would they give any further information as to how this measure would assist with security.

Despite several requests to substantiate their claims in respect of ICAO rulings, they declined to provide any text to corroborate their claims: nor were they prepared to back up their claims that these rules were the same as rules implemented elsewhere in the world.

Spokespersons for both the UK Border Agency and UK Dept of Transport told us that they were not aware of any such regulation being implemented in the UK.

Most chillingly, when asked how it could be possible for an official to determine whether a passenger appears “to be of the gender indicated on the identification he or she presents” – and whether there were any plans to carry out strip searches in this respect, they again declined to respond.

Ms McCreath understands that US officials are allowed to operate on Canadian soil so long as they abide by Canadian Human Rights legislation: if nothing else, the existence of Canada’s no-fly regulations seems likely to be used by US officials as justification for their action in this instance.

The protest was good-natured and polite, with around 40 members and supporters of the UK’s trans community giving out leaflets, displaying placards and engaging embassy staff in good natured debate.

Nonetheless, protesters were clear that the issue is serious and will not go away.

The dispute arises from the fact that under Swedish law, dating back to 1972, trans individuals may not obtain recognition in their identified gender unless they first undergo sterilisation. In many instances – MtF gender re-assignment, for instance – this will be the natural outcome of surgery anyway. But there are other circumstances – FtM re-assignment, for instance, where this is not the case.

Not only does this run counter to what is now accepted practice in a number of countries, including Portugal, the UK and Spain, but Sweden also sets an additional requirement: the destruction of any biological reproductive material, including sperm and eggs, which could later be used in IVF procedures. It is an approach that has been condemned by Thomas Hammarberg, the commissioner for human rights of the Council of Europe, who has said that such a requirement “clearly runs against principles of human rights and human dignity”.

Outrage is all the fiercer, as it is understood that there is a majority in the Swedish parliament in favour of abandoning this stance…but that moves to do so have been blocked by Sweden’s prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt in order to retain the support of minority right-wing elements within the governing coalition. This claim has, however, been explicitly denied by Minister Erik Ullenhag.

Giving support to the demonstration was internationally acclaimed gender variant visual artist/activist/educator, Del LaGrace Volcano, who said: “It has taken more than a decade for the mainstream lesbian and gay community in Sweden, represented by RFSL, to wake up to this issue, but THEY are now finally making some headway.

“My feeling is that a new, younger – and more militant – component within Sweden’s trans community are emerging: in the past, many tended to self-pathologise. This generation refuses to do so – and are determined to stand up for their rights as human beings.”

The Swedish ambassador was unavailable for comment at this time – but may do so at a later date.

This is the result of new rules, introduced last July, but only now coming to light, which state that an air carrier “shall not transport a passenger if … the passenger does not appear to be of the gender indicated on the identification he or she presents”.

The reason that it has taken so long for this provision to percolate through to public awareness is that it was introduced not through formal legislation before the Canadian legislature, but as part Identity Screening Regulations, implemented unilaterally by the Ministry of Transportation, in support of Canada’s so-called Passenger Protect programme.

Its impact will be felt first by members of the Canadian transgender community, who may only change the ‘sex’ designation on a Canadian Passport, on provision of proof that surgery has taken place, or will take place within one year. This, it is argued by blogger, Christin Scarlett Milloy, means that non-operative transgender persons, gender nonconforming (genderqueer) persons, and the vast majority of pre-operative transsexual persons will find it literally impossible to obtain “proper” travel documentation.

However, there is likely to be some degree of impact on trans persons from any other country travelling through Canada on documents that fail to meet these new criteria.

A petition calling on the Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, to have these regulations set aside has been launched on change.org.

Meanwhile, cynics are speculating whether this move is ill-thought accident – or a rather more sinister piece of revenge by Conservative MP and Minister for Transport, Denis Lebel.

The change to regulations took place shortly after the federal election in 2011. In the previous parliament, Bill C-389, a bill to amend the Human Rights Code to explicitly enshrine protections against discrimination for transgender people, had successfully passed in the House of Commons, only to die on the Senate floor when the election was declared.

As Ms Milloy asked yesterday: “Is the timing of this disturbing and blatantly discriminatory regulatory adjustment merely a coincidence?

Analysis

Some people have been asking how many individuals have actually been prevented from flying by these regulations: but that misses the point entirely – which is that the use of perceived gender in this fashion is deeply offensive not simply to trans men and women, but to all men and women who fail to live up to societally imposed “norms” of gender and appearance.

A particular issue, which i have reported on in the past, is how women whose appearance is in any way “butch” or masculine frequently report difficulties in some women’s spaces.

While some will inevitably defend this move on grounds of “security”, it is important to understand what is being required here. No-one is objecting to government rules that require an individual’s appearance to match to their description on their pasport – or indeed that they should be allowed to duck out on biometric measures such as fingerprinting or retinal scans.

But this is about something else: whether an individual fits with the preconceived notions of what a border guard believes constitutes a “normal” appearance for their declared gender.

Over the last twelve months, Australia has stated its aim of permitting an “indeterminate” status to be recorded on passports for intersex individuals: and the UK Government has revealed that it is examining the entire question of whether gender markers on official documents are useful – not just, as critics would have it, for reasons of “political correctness”, but because there are genuine doubts that it really adds much that is useful.

This makes the Canadian regulation looks all the more like a seriously retrograde – and spiteful – step.

Jane Fae is an independent writer and sexual rights activist. 

A petition has also been started on change.org.

According to a statement released by IGLYO yesterday, the girl, elsewhere identified only as “Alex” (Alexandra) lives with her mother, who supports her gender expression. However, the girl’s father, divorced and separated from her mother, strongly rejects this view of his daughter’s gender identity and wants to force her to grow up as a boy.

If all else fails, there is a real and present possibility that pressure from her father, supported by the Youth Welfare Office in Berlin, means that Alex will shortly be confined in a closed ward of a psychiatric institution to ensure that “he” returns to “normality”.

This is despite the fact that Alex claims, in an interview published earlier this month in online lifestyle magazine taz.de, that she has identified as female for as long as she can remember. She is accepted as female at school, and has been registered as such from her earliest days there.

This led to conflict with her father, who insisted on calling her “Alexander” and forcing her to wear boy’s clothes. When Alex reacted negatively, he accused her of being badly behaved. Her parents split over the matter of Alex’s gender.

Now, with puberty fast approaching – and Alex claiming she would rather die than go through the changes it is likely to bring about – her father has besieged the Youth Office with written submissions.

His motives are unclear: what is clear is that the child has not been examined by independent experts – but a new member of staff in the Berlin Youth Office believes him and claims that the correct response to Alex’s suicide threats if she does not receive treatment for gender dysphoria is for her to be committed to a mental institution.

Alex should be encouraged to identify with male role models and to follow male pursuits: female preferences would be discouraged. Thereafter, according to a proposal that has shocked Professor Udo Rauchfleisch, a recognized expert in the care and treatment of transsexuality with the University of Basel, she should be separated from her mother and placed with foster parents.

There are clear similarities between this and approaches adopted by John Money in respect of David Reimer and David Rekers with Kirk Murphy: both cases ended badly with the subsequent suicide of the individuals – Reimer and Murphy – who were the target of this reparative therapy.

This is echoed by a statement from IGLYO. They write: “The board of IGLYO strongly advocates the rights of transgender youth and are concerned with the institutionalization of this happy and healthy child. We would like to highlight the endangerment of forced “therapy” to make children fit into the gender roles the society thinks are right for them. IGLYO follows the wealth of research that shows that reparative therapy regarding sexual orientation or gender identity can be seriously harmful to the child.

“The Board of IGLYO declares our solidarity with the girl and her mother. Moreover, we ask the authorities of Berlin to intervene with the actions of the Youth Welfare Office and stop the removal of the child from her mother. We find it extremely irresponsible and unacceptable to remove any child from a loving and supportive home without thorough research and consultation with experts.

“In line with international human rights standards, IGLYO advocates for the best interests of the child. The institutionalization of this child violates many human rights instruments, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the European Convention on Human Rights.”

The case is now being referred upward to Germany’s supreme court.

Jackie, 18, is currently leading in her heat of the quarter finals of the competition.

Now she speaks to PinkNews.co.uk about Miss England, Lady Gaga, her aspirations, goals and love life.

Did you have any doubts about entering the competition, given the discrimination you have experienced in the past?
No. I didn’t even think about not being accepted into the competition. I felt and still feel that I deserve just as much a chance to compete as anyone else. I am a woman (or a ‘Miss’ for the sake of the competition) and no one can tell me otherwise.

What would it mean to you to win Miss England and in what ways will you use the exposure of the competition to get your positive message across?
To win Miss England would be beyond amazing. To be honest just being in the quarter finals feels great, and to be competing with other beautiful girls just confirms to me more that I deserve to be in the competition.

I want to promote the charity Mermaids because it helped me and my family through a lot of hardship. I met some amazing people in similar situations to me which made me feel less alienated. I hope to be a role model for kids struggling with gender issues. There are not many people for them to look up to and thus they fear for what might happen to them. I want to show people that trans people are very normal and that there is hope.

Other than the exposure of competing in Miss England, how do you plan to champion transgender rights, and combat transphobic bullying?
I am working with a organisation called ‘Trans Media Watch’ who aim to guide the media in the way they portray Trans people to ensure that it is fair.

I hope to shed light on trans people so that society can understand we are very normal people and all we wish is to live our lives. We are not hurting anyone, we were simply born a little different, with a defect if you like, and have a right to be comfortable in our own skin and treated as who we are, human beings.

I understand you want to be a model – is there a particular type of modelling you’d like to do?
I want to be a high fashion model for two reasons. I am told that I have a very ‘High Fashion Face’ and I also love how expressive and unique the clothes can be. I love the very ‘out-there’ designs and I feel fashion is an art form and one of the best ways to express yourself.

What would your dream job be?
I would love to model for either Vivienne Westwood or Heatherette and do a shoot with Lady Gaga. I love Gaga. I would also love to get a role in the new show starring Zooey Deschanel, ‘New Girl’. It would also be amazing to appear in ‘Glee’.

What special talents will you bring to the Miss England if you get through to the next heat?
If I was to get through to the semi-finals I would most likely sing. I have sung since I was young and am told I am rather good!

In what ways has the competition boosted your confidence, and what would you say to others who have let low confidence hold them back?
Being in the competition has given me a huge boost of confidence. To see how many people have voted for me and to be in the quarter finals with such gorgeous women is just amazing. I cant even describe how outrageously great this feels. The support from family, friends and strangers who have read my story makes me well up! It is very humbling too.

I feel that at the end of the day if you dont try something then you will probably regret it and what is the worst that can happen? I know that Modelling is a hard business to get into and I know that I will be rejected a lot but I can’t let that stop me.

All you need to know is that you are who you are and you are beautiful both inside and out.

Being the youngest person in the UK to have full gender reassignment surgery, do you have a message for anybody who might feel unsure?
I have always been very sure and known what I wanted and who I am. I will say that if you are unsure because you are worried how people will react and you feel people may think of you as selfish then don’t. Is it not selfish of them to expect you to live in the wrong body knowing how much pain you are in and how much you are suffering? You are who you are and people should be able to accept you for that.

You’ve said that you want to combat transphobic bullying. What would you like to say to anyone experiencing bullying, or more generally bullying of any kind?
It’s not your fault. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Kids (and adults) can be cruel but it is due to fear and ignorance. Stay strong and talk to someone about it. Don’t keep quiet or it will hurt even more.

(Photo: Maxine Heron)

A lot of the time bullying can come from misunderstanding – what would you like to say to the bullies of LGBT people, and what message do you want to get across to people who perpetrate hate crime?
You are not big, you are not clever, all you are doing is making a fool of yourself. I just wish that people could understand that we are all humans, we are not hurting anyone and if we are going to hell, as so many religions say we are, then thats our business and I will go down there knowing I have lived my life how I want to and not fallen to conformity.

How supportive is your boyfriend of you competing in Miss England and how difficult was it to tell him about your choice to have the operation?
He has been amazing. He is very proud of me and loves that he is dating a Miss England contestant and model! It was scary telling him due to the fact that I had received a lot of hatred in my past and so was scared he would run a mile, but he didn’t. He told me he didn’t care because he already had fallen in love with me. We are still going strong at two and a bit years.

How far do you think there is to go in the fight for equality? You’ve talked about not hiding who you are. How important do you think it is that people come forward rather than hiding away?
I think that people need to see how normal we are. I came forward to do that. I am your average teenage girl who has friends, a boyfriend and so on. I go out, I play Xbox and I love to read. I am a normal person just born in the wrong body.

Jackie’s heat of the Miss England quarter finals closes on 6 Feburary, and voting is currently open.

The proposed system would replace the current ‘gender’ field with one marked ‘sex’, with the stipulation that this be the student’s ‘legal sex’ and only offer two choices, male or female, with no opt-out.

Alongside this would be the question “Is your gender identity the same as the gender you were originally assigned at birth?” with answer options ‘yes’, ‘no’ or ‘information refused’.

Equality campaigners have noted that this may cause problems for transsexual students who don’t want to be open about their background, with some regarding it as a private medical matter. Due to the protection given by Gender Recognition Certificates and the fact some trans people have their birth certificates amended, there may be legal complications.

Similarly, under the proposals people who have transitioned without state recognition would be obliged to identify their ‘legal sex’ and not be able to provide their gender identity alone or simply opt out of the question.

People with non-binary gender identities would have no appropriate means of identifying themselves and intersex people would be obliged to register a sex which could erase the reality of their bodies.

“I just don’t think HESA will get accurate data from this because most trans people won’t respond to it,” said Natacha Kennedy, who is an education researcher at Goldsmith’s College, London. “I think it has been done with the best of intentions but without consultation with trans people themselves. You can’t just take an approach from another area of diversity, such as race, and apply it to trans people.

“This is about collecting data but what’s really needed is qualitative research looking at things like whether or not trans people feel safe to come out at university.”

The proposed changes may be an attempt to bring HESA’s work into line with EHRC gender identity monitoring guidance, which has already been criticised for its focus on sex as recorded at birth. A Scottish focus group found that trans and intersex people prefer the existing system.

A spokesman from HESA stressed that the changes have not yet been finalised. “At this stage we are still working with a draft document and we welcome suggestions to improve it. We are trying to bring our work into line with other data standards such as the Census.” He noted that students submitting their data need not fear that it could get into the wrong hands, as it will not be available in a form that enables people to look up individuals.

Elmhurst College, based outside Chicago was the first university in the country to ask prospective students the question at the end of last year.

Shane L. Windmeyer, of Campus Pride told the Chronicle of Higher Education last year: “By standardizing this question, we can match students up with resources and start to communicate with them.

He expected many schools to follow Elmhurst’s lead, saying, “In the next 10 years, we’ll look back and ask why colleges didn’t make this change much sooner.”

Gary Rold, the Dean of Admission told the Chicago Tribune: “We didn’t know what to expect, which is why we asked the question.”

63 of the 109 openly gay, bi and trans students were accepted onto a course out of 2,200 applicants in total.

While between 85 and 90% of applicants answered the question, Rold acknowledged the true number of gay students may be higher as many families are closely involved with university application forms.

The Common Application system, which is used by 400 schools, declined to include a similar question on their forms last year.

A statement said: “Many admissions officers and secondary school counsellors expressed concern regarding how this question might be perceived by students, even though it would be optional.”

But Rold said five other universities had approached Elmhurst College since the move, which may include Harvard, which announced it was considering such a move in November.

Last year, Harvard hired a director of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender life.

Many have argued that the current law breaks Article 3 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which protects “the right to respect for [everyone’s] physical and mental integrity”.

The majority of the Swedish Parliament are reportedly in favour of the change, but the process has been blocked by a small conservative party.

Sirpa Pietikäinen, Finnish centre-right MEP told The European Parliament LGBT Intergroup: “This isn’t about LGBT rights; it’s about human rights and torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.”

Raül Romeva i Rueda, Green MEP from Spain added: “The government’s decision is rather surprising: forcibly sterilising transgender people is recognised as inhumane across the political spectrum. It’s barbaric, outdated and highly unnecessary—not to mention against Sweden’s human rights commitments.”

At this time, the World Health Organisation classifies gender dysphoria under “mental and behavioural disorders”, a definition the European Parliament have already called to be changed.

As well as mandatory sterilization, the 1972 law also makes divorce compulsory for trans people, which it has been suggested, does not line up with recent “gender neutral” marriage law changes in the country.

Speaking to news agency TT in 2010, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt described the law as “a dark chapter in Swedish history.”

Other party leaders also supported this suggestion, including Christian Democrat Göran Hägglund.

Jane Fae, feminist writer and campaigner on issues of sexual rights responded today, saying: “It is wholly ironic that Sweden is in the news today over this issue – since the question has surfaced in relation to moves to repeal existing laws in this respect, which would be wholly positive.

“It is to be hoped that the Swedish Prime Minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt, currently in thrall to a small reactionary right-wing party, will pluck up the courage to resist their pressure and allow reform through his parliament.

“However, we should not overlook the fact that despite Human Rights declarations to the contrary, in Europe and elsewhere, the requirement for surgery that effectively sterilises an individual before they can be recognised in their identified gender, is pretty widespread, throughout much of Europe and the United States. Or worse, as in states like Tennessee, gender assertion is not recognised at all, no matter what an individual does.”

Some European countries have already put an end to sterilisation as a prerequisite for recognition, including the UK, Austria, Germany and Portugal, whilst others are soon to follow.

The Nederlands LGBT Equality Policy states that they are currently abolishing the sterilisation requirement, but several other Western countries uphold this law.

France has been at the centre of controversy surrounding this issue, specifically in the case of Delphine Ravisé-Giard, who, despite living as a woman for some years, was told in 2010 that she had to prove that her “change of sex” was “irreversible” before the state would recognize her gender.

Several American states also still have the same law.

A key player in the fight to have these laws changed, Thomas Hammarberg has, in the past, criticized the EU for a general lack of knowledge on these issues.

Hammarberg, the commissioner for Human Rights, wrote in 2009 that “Discrimination against transgender persons must no longer be tolerated” and has criticized the slow move towards the end of transphobia.

There have also been calls from the Swedish Left and Green Parties to review the minimum age for gender reassignment surgery, however this news comes as a blow to those in support of the changes. 

The most recent case of police violence was reported on 7 January 2012, where three transgender women were brutally detained. Gay Middle East has also been reporting on this continual abuse and the rise of transphobia in general throughout Kuwait following the introduction of a discriminatory law in 2007 (amendment to article 198) that arbitrarily criminalizes “imitating the opposite sex” in Kuwait.

Following the introduction of Amendment to article 198 of the Kuwaiti Penal Code police have been given a free hand to “determine” whether a person’s appearance constitutes “imitating the opposite sex” without any specific criteria being laid down for the offense.

These reports, by Human Rights Watch and Gay Middle East (see also here), reveal how transgender women (individuals born male but identify as female) suffer daily persecution, physical, sexual, and emotional abuse both at the hands of the police and the public at large.

Speaking with Gay Middle East, a transgender Kuwaiti activist pleaded: “the situation in Kuwait is horrible for us, just intolerable. There are at least thirteen transgender women in jail right now.” Her friends have been abused physically, emotionally and at times sexually.

She also noted that blackmail for sex and money was commonplace. In addition she stated that Sheikh Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, the Prime Minister of Kuwait, was approached by Human Rights activists and when he was shown a list of transgender prisoners he claimed they were arrested for “other offences” and denied the whole issue. Attempts to interview the prisoners were also denied by the Kuwaiti authorities. Gay Middle East will publish later this week a detailed interview with the aforementioned activist.

Human Rights Watch documented that transgender individuals were being arrested even when they were wearing male clothes, only later to be forced by police to dress in women’s clothing, who claimed that they arrested them in that attire.

In some cases documented by Human Rights Watch, transgender women said police arrested them because they had a “soft voice” or “smooth skin.” Despite an official recognition of gender identity disorder (GID) by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Health as a legitimate medical condition, the law criminalising “imitating the opposite sex” makes no exception for people who have been diagnosed with GID. In fact there have been cases where papers have been presented to the police and were ignored.

Gay Middle East calls upon the government of Kuwait to immediately start proceedings to repeal amendment to article 198 criminalising “imitating the opposite sex.” The government should immediately halt the arrests and harassment of transgender individuals and free all individuals detained by the police. We also call on the government to commence an investigation into the alleged police brutality and protect transgender individuals.

HRW report: ‘They Hunt us Down for Fun’: Discrimination and Police Violence against Transgender Women in Kuwait.

The public vote is open for the heat 4 of the Miss Fresh Photographic competition, which Jackie Green, 18, currently leads with 189 votes.

Green, an aspiring model from Leeds, was the first trans woman to enter the competition, after she was approached by talent scouts at the Next Top Model show in London.

Speaking to the Sun, she said, “Miss England is a prestigious competition. I’d love to win. I’ve as good a chance as anyone.”

She had gender reassignment surgery at 16, after attending school as a girl from the age of 10, but knew she wanted to change gender from the age of four.

She hopes to use the exposure of the competition to raise awareness of bullying and issues surrounding trans people.

Because of bullying, Green attempted suicide five times when she was younger, but is grateful for the support of her mother. She said, “I can never thank my mum enough, she saved my life.”

Voting is open until 6 February, and the winner of each heat will go on to the semi-finals of the Miss England competition later this year. 

Yuval Topper, 24 had his child at the Sheba Medical Center on Thursday of last week.

Topper underwent a sex change operation three years ago, Ynet news said.

He was travelling to Jerusalem, but stopped to give birth in Tel Aviv.

Topper told the paper: “We preferred to go to Hadassah Mount Scopus, a hospital where we received excellent treatment in the past, but we were forced to head to Sheba as result of the birth’s quick progress.

“The staff at the hospital treated us with dignity and consideration.”

Topper shocked medical staff in central Israel a few months ago after walking into an emergency room and informing doctors that he underwent a sex change operation and is pregnant.

A patient at the hospital reporedly said: “Everyone was in shock. He looked like a man in every way and insisted that medical staff address him as a male.”

In 2010, American trans man Thomas Beatie gave birth to his third child.

Mr Beatie, who was born female, had his first child in 2008 because his wife Nancy was unable to conceive.

Before starting a family, Mr Beatie had been on hormone treatments, but stopped taking them in order to resume menstruating and conceive through artificial insemination.

Speaking to Oprah Winfrey in April 2008, he said: “I actually opted not to do anything to my reproductive organs because I wanted to have a child one day. I see pregnancy as a process and it doesn’t define who I am.”

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation had slammed the series, saying its premise mocked the transgender community.

Work It was to follow two unemployed men who “learned the hard way that the current recession is more of a ‘man-cession’ and their skills aren’t in high demand”, according to publicity.

When one of the main characters saw a pharmaceuticals company’s advert for female sales representatives, he attended an interview dressed as a woman and was hired.

Matt Kane, Associate Director of Entertainment Media for GLAAD, said at the time that Work It was “based on the notion that men dressed as women is inherently funny”.

“Work It invites the audience to laugh at images of men trying to adopt a feminine appearance, thereby also making it easier to mock people whose gender identity and expression are different than the one they were assigned at birth.”

The show had apparently been a ratings flop with fewer than 5 million viewers and Herndon Graddick, Senior Director of Programs and Communications at GLAAD, said: “While many of ABC’s positive and groundbreaking portrayals of LGBT people have been critical and popular successes, the public had little interest in this outdated show.”

After seeing the pilot episode, GLAAD had placed an advert in Variety magazine calling on ABC to axe the show. It included the following facts about transgender life in the US:

• Transgender Americans can be legally fired in 34 states today simply for being who they are.
• 97% of self-identified transgender people reported being harassed or abused at work.
• 26% reported losing their jobs because they are transgender.

Reuters reported that ABC’s Entertainment President Paul Lee “didn’t get” people’s complaints over the show. He said: “I thought there was room personally for a very, very, very, very silly show.”

He reportedly compared the show with Sydney Pollack’s 1982 hit Tootsie, in which Dustin Hoffman plays an actor who dresses as a woman to secure roles.

Earlier this month, a New Zealand tampon company pulled an advert after it provoked outrage among the trans community by apparently featuring a trans woman “competing” for in a nightclub toilet with another woman.

But the actor who played the character, Sandee Crack, said the transgender people who had complained were “dragphobic”, pointing out that he “never considered” himself trans, “and never will do”.

Ben Stephenson, Controller of Drama Commissioning at the BBC, said the character would appear in the third episode of the second series, to be filmed later this year.

He told the Broadcasting Press Guild: “He’s playing a transsexual, a brilliant story, untold I think on mainstream television”.

Bean said: “I’ve wanted to work on a Jimmy McGovern drama for a while and I think this cracking script really delivers a powerful, emotional drama for the audience.”

Bean is set to play an English teacher known as Simon who has a female identity, Tracie, in the show, which features a different story in each episode.

Tracie’s search for love is reported to lead to a “terrible crime of passion”.

The series is directed by Ashley Pearce, who was also responsible for episodes of Downton Abbey’s second series.

Sandee Crack, a stage name, said the transgender people who had complained were “dragphobic”, pointing out that he “never considered” himself trans, “and never will do”.

Libra pulled the tampon ad in question earlier this week. It featured the drag queen in a club bathroom “competing” against a woman in the mirror.

After each adjusts their mascara, lipstick and cleavage, the second woman produces a tampon from her handbag.

Sandee Crack’s character leaves the room, apparently beaten in the competition.

Libra said it regretted any offence caused, but Crack has hit back at the critics.

The Australian performer wrote on his blog: “I feel hurt that representing myself as a drag queen on television and playing out a common place scenario in my life has lead to a clear “dragphobia” among some transgendered individuals who wish to pull the plug on something that reflects true honesty about the life of a drag queen.

“A drag queen is a man in women’s clothing and if that offends a trans woman I am afraid I cannot apologise, as by doing so I am apologising for being me.”

Crack had spoken of his feeling that the ad was “a great opportunity to participate in a positive step towards acceptance for drag queens & gay men among the wider community”.

He added that the tampon manufacturer, Libra, was “sensitive, professional and accepting of my needs”, and did not give him the impression he would be depicted as a trans woman.

In June of last year, Rose White, a 64 trans woman, claimed drag acts promote negative stereotypes about trans people and encourage hatred and called for them to be banned from pride events.

In a letter to event organisers, she wrote: “Drag queens – homosexuals dressed as women – and drag kings, women dressed as men, performing as stereotypical crossdressers promote, foster and reinforce the belief among the audience that any bloke in a frock must be a homosexual.

A petition which was asking for the ad to be pulled said it was “very stereotypical and discriminates on so many levels against transgender woman and women of all kinds”.

The company said it regretted “any offence taken” to the ad, which depicted a trans woman in a nightclub bathroom appearing to compete with a gender-normative woman in the mirror.

After each adjusts their mascara, lipstick and cleavage, the second woman produces a tampon from her handbag, causing the trans woman to leave the room with the implication that she has been beaten in the competition.

The company issued a statement earlier today saying: “Libra regrets any offence taken to our recent tampon advertisement. It was never intended to upset or offend anyone.

“Independent research was undertaken and the advertisement was viewed positively during that testing.

“Libra takes all feedback very seriously, and in response to this, we will immediately review our future position with this campaign based on the feedback received. There are no further advertisements scheduled in New Zealand.

“The advertisement has not aired in Australia. The advertisement was placed on Facebook however this has also been removed.”

The ad had been criticised by members of the trans community. Cherise Witehira, president of Agender NZ, said: “It’s extremely offensive because it’s pretty much saying the only way you can be a woman is to get your period.

“That’s where a lot of the anger in the community is coming from – it’s saying you are not a woman unless you can get your period.

“Obviously we can’t menstruate. However, we identify as female.”

A Change.org petition, signed by 1,600 people, was launched yesterday calling on the company to pull the ad and issue an apology, saying it was “very stereotypical and discriminates on so many levels against transgender woman and women of all kinds”.

A counter-petition on the site, signed by 146, calls on Libra to “keep the hilarious drag queen commercial on air”, saying those trans people who objected a clear message to the world not to depict “the humorous side” of being transgender.

It continues: “Should we hide the fact that biological women menstruate in case we hurt the feelings of all non-menstruating woman around the World?

“If Libra pull this advertisement on behalf of the transgender community they are censoring the right for people to talk openly about the modern age World where you DO pump into drag queens in the toilet at a nightclub and have a giggle at each other, or find yourself having something interesting to talk about when you leave the bathroom. [sic]”

The decision is provoking a large number of comments on the company’s Facebook page, both criticising and supporting the advert.

Some have said the character on the advert is “clearly a drag queen” and those who complained were “up in arms about nothing”.

Before Christmas, US network executives said they would meet with LGBT groups over a comedy which was drawing criticism for its depiction of men dressing as women to find work.

ABC’s Work It follows two unemployed men who have “learned the hard way that the current recession is more of a ‘man-cession’ and their skills aren’t in high demand”.

If organisers can provide accommodation and transportation, she says she would like to promote the LGBT community around the world at any pride event possible.

Having performed at Las Vegas Pride in 2009, and at Alicante Pride in Spain and Exeter in the UK this year, the artist told PinkNews.co.uk she wants to play as many pride days as possible in the next twelve months in the name of charity.

Edkins, who works a DJ with 103.9 Voice FM in Southampton and SpirtfireFM.com said: “I’d like it to be non-stop, to go from one to another on a daily basis. I would play a pride event every day of the week if I could.

“I want to try to make a difference and show my support by doing what I love to do – performing.

“Pride is all about being proud of who are and showing the world there is nothing wrong with being the way you choose to be”.

She added that if scheduling conflicts occurred over June, when most Pride events happen, she would be happy to visit anyone who misses out in 2013.

Chrisie Edkins, who is signed to Play Records, can be contacted through her website, www.chrisie.net.

Watch the video below for a look at her song, Hate.