audio by artist 'various'

The Department of Health’s Equalities and Human Rights group organises an annual conference for stakeholders interested in the work of its Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Advisory Group (SOGIAG). Over the course of a full day’s proceedings each of the various work stream chairs normally present details of what their team has been working on during the year. Senior civil servants also discuss their work and inclusion aims too.

The closing plenary session was an opportunity for people from the floor to put questions to the day’s speakers and Barry Mussenden from the Department of Health, who led the session. A number of important points were raised by delegates such as Sue Sanders (Schools Out!) and Jan Bridget (GALYIC), eliciting some firm commitments from the Department and the Chairs to follow up.

	Julie Bindel

One of the unplanned diversions of summer 2007 was the reappearance of a debate first attempted by Lesbian Feminist Julie Bindel, somewhat provocatively, in the pages of the Guardian’s weekend magazine in January 2004, in the midst of Parliamentary debate on the Gender Recognition Bill.

Julie is a highly respected campaigner and writer in her normally chosen field. She writes for the Guardian newspaper and Weekend magazine, and various other British and European newspapers and magazines. She is the co-editor of The Map of My Life: The Story of Emma Humphreys (Astraia Press, 2003) and several book chapters and research papers on sexual violence and the criminal justice system. A founder member of the feminist law reform campaign Justice for Women, she has also written investigative features on international prostitution, sex tourism in Jamaica, stalking and harassment, being a lesbian schoolgirl, the beauty industry and serial killers. On some of these topics her writing provokes strong views on either side; however it is doubtful whether any article of hers has ever drawn as much angry criticism as when she wrote that one article, “Gender Benders Beware”.

In this strictly managed debate, recorded at the Royal Society of Medicine, Julie faces an array of well-known names who argue against her proposition. The opposing panel consists of Peter Tatchell, Michelle Bridgman, Professor Stephen Whittle and Kevan Wylie.

(First broadcast on BBC Radio 4; 1st August 2007)