audio by year '2007'

Many people with gender identity issues are finding that their Primary Care Trusts are unsympathetic to funding any kind of referral to specialist Gender Identity Clinics - even just to explore the individual’s needs and support them. In the Calderdale area of West Yorkshire Claire Eastwood has taken a bold approach to dealing with such policies. She’s sought the backing of local councillors to help her fight an essentially political policy with political expertise.

Councillor Fekri says that the thing that has surprised him most about getting involved in Claire’s cause is the sheer numbers of ordinary decent people who sympathise and think trans people should have fair treatment too. In his view it is only the Primary Care Trust that is backward and failing to understand and reflect public opinion. He thinks that more trans people in other parts of the country should try take the same approach as Claire and seek out the help of local politicians.

Councillors on local health scrutiny committees cannot force a PCT to change its policies; yet they can have a very significant role in showing NHS administrators where the strength of public opinion lies.

These days it is often quite firmly in favour of trans people being treated fairly and equally like everyone else. Meanwhile Claire says she will fight on.

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Christine Burns answers the question on BBC World Service - 28^th January 2007

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	Jenny Roberts

Readers who are keen on crime fiction may feel the author of the “Cameron McGill Mysteries” needs no detailed introduction. Readers who’ve ever visited the Libertas women’s bookstore in York, or its online equivalent at www.libertas.co.uk may alternatively know Jenny Roberts as the original founder of the business that still bills itself, “The best in Lesbian Shopping Online”. In fact there’s lots to know about Jenny, but in true investigating style you’ll need to check that out yourself by visiting the engaging biography on her web site at:

http://www.jennyroberts.net.

In this recording, Jenny performs the first of three readings of her work, in support of LGBT History Month in February 2007.

• Part Two - Breaking Point
• Part Three - Dead Reckoning

	Jenny Roberts

Jenny Roberts is a published author of a series of lesbian crime novels. She also founded the Libertas women’s bookstore in York. In this second of three readings for LGBT History Month Jenny reads from “Breaking Point”.

For more about Jenny and how she integrates her trans background into her writing and everyday life, see http://www.jennyroberts.net.

• Part One - Needlepoint
• Part Three - Dead Reckoning

	Jenny Roberts

Jenny Roberts is a published author of a series of lesbian crime novels. She also founded the Libertas women’s bookstore in York. In this third of three readings for LGBT History Month Jenny reads from “Dead Reckoning”.

For more about Jenny and how she integrates her trans background into her writing and everyday life, see http://www.jennyroberts.net.

In Dead Reckoning, Jenny’s character Cameron Gill is part of a story with a strong transgender theme, set in Manchester.

• Part One - Needlepoint
• Part Two - Breaking Point

The North West Regional Assembly organised an LGBT Health Symposium in Manchester on 29th March, 2007 entitled “Promoting Health for the Region’s Wealth: Meeting the Health Needs of the LGBT Community”. The event was the joint brainchild of PFC’s Christine Burns and Jacqui Cross of the Manchester-based Lesbian and Gay Foundation (LGF) and was organised and funded by the North West Equality and Diversity Group - a body set up by the regional assembly to help promote the region’s goal to become a totally inclusive and equal community.

Christine was the first speaker of the day, following an introduction from the Chair, Evelyn Asante-Mensah, who coincidentally heads up the board of Manchester’s Primary Care Trust. Christine begins here by reflecting on how proper availability of healthcare is not only important to individuals but also affects a society’s wealth and social cohesion. She then explains some of the ways in which trans people are currently failed by public health provision in the region and sets down some basic goals for achieving better.

The North West Regional Assembly organised an LGBT Health Symposium in Manchester on 29th March, 2007 entitled “Promoting Health for the Region’s Wealth: Meeting the Health Needs of the LGBT Community”. The event was organised and funded by the North West Equality and Diversity Group - a body set up by the regional assembly to help promote the region’s goal to become a totally inclusive and equal community - and was part of a series of symposia taking place around the region to discuss inclusivity issues related to ALL ’strands’ or communities of need within our society. The audience of more than fifty health and social care managers and diversity leads included representatives from fifteen of the region’s Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) - the public bodies responsible for every aspect of first line health care in Britain.

Stephen Whittle began by outlining the legislative and case law background that health, social care and other public bodies need to comply with, before moving on to focus on the findings of his recently published research on trans people’s experiences and some of the example cases that revealed.

The North West Regional Assembly organised an LGBT Health Symposium in Manchester on 29th March, 2007 entitled “Promoting Health for the Region’s Wealth: Meeting the Health Needs of the LGBT Community”. The event was organised and funded by the North West Equality and Diversity Group - a body set up by the regional assembly to help promote the region’s goal to become a totally inclusive and equal community - and was part of a series of symposia taking place around the region to discuss inclusivity issues related to ALL ’strands’ or communities of need within our society. The audience of more than fifty health and social care managers and diversity leads included representatives from fifteen of the region’s Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) - the public bodies responsible for every aspect of first line health care in Britain.

This recording starts with an introduction to Dr Justin Varney’s background by the symposium chair, Evelyn Asante-Mensah. As she explains, Justin is a specialist registrar in Public Health, a member of the Executive of the Gay and Lesbian Association of Doctors and Dentists (GLAAD) and a leading member of the Department of Health’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Advisory Group (SOGIAG). Justin speaks here in some detail about the issues for health trusts and social care teams in NOT recognising and dealing with the socially influenced needs of LGB and T people.

The North West Regional Assembly organised an LGBT Health Symposium in Manchester on 29th March, 2007 entitled “Promoting Health for the Region’s Wealth: Meeting the Health Needs of the LGBT Community”. The event was organised and funded by the North West Equality and Diversity Group - a body set up by the regional assembly to help promote the region’s goal to become a totally inclusive and equal community - and was part of a series of symposia taking place around the region to discuss inclusivity issues related to ALL ’strands’ or communities of need within our society. The audience of more than fifty health and social care managers and diversity leads included representatives from fifteen of the region’s Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), the public bodies responsible for every aspect of first line health care in Britain.

The recording starts with an introduction by the symposium chair, Evelyn Asante-Mensah who explains that Paul Martin is the Chief executive of the Manchester-based Lesbian and Gay Foundation (http://www.lgf.org.uk/) and has been involved in Lesbian and Gay community support for many years. In his presentation Paul presents several surprising statistics about LGBT people in the North West and uses these to make a strong case for much greater attention to inclusion throughout regional life, including healthcare policy of course.

The North West Regional Assembly organised an LGBT Health Symposium in Manchester on 29th March, 2007 entitled “Promoting Health for the Region’s Wealth: Meeting the Health Needs of the LGBT Community”. The event was organised and funded by the North West Equality and Diversity Group - a body set up by the regional assembly to help promote the region’s goal to become a totally inclusive and equal community - and was part of a series of symposia taking place around the region to discuss inclusivity issues related to ALL ’strands’ or communities of need within our society. The audience of more than fifty health and social care managers and diversity leads included representatives from fifteen of the region’s Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), the public bodies responsible for every aspect of first line health care in Britain.

Councillor Paul Fairweather represents the Harpurhey Ward on Manchester City Council and is also the lead councillor on gay men’s issues. In his presentation he begins by stressing the value of engagement with Local Authority health scrutiny committees and strategic partnerships as ways to promote greater attention towards LGBT health issues in an area. Although he says that he now spends his days in the council chamber and on committees debating issues such as LGBT concerns, and thinks it important for more people to be actively engaged at the centre of such policy making and political debate, Paul also concedes that there is still a need for old-fashioned direct action too - urging that the two are both important and complementary approaches.

For more details of Cllr Fairweather see

http://www.manchester.gov.uk/site/scripts/councillors_info.php?councillorID=76&viewBy=name

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.

Barry Mussenden is a senior civil servant in the Depatment of Health, responsible for the SOGIAG programme and other Equality and Human Rights projects. He began his introduction to the day’s proceedings with a tribute to what’s been achieved by the various work streams so far and with a formal announcement that the programme’s budget for 2007-08 has leapt to £250,000 from the previous year’s level of £100,000.

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.

Christine Burns, as chair of the transgender workstream, began her presentation with a review of what is now known in firm statistical terms about the problems encountered by trans people in the National Health Service. On Gender Reassignment treatment she explained the way in which trans people can receive better services, including more choice, at no more cost to the public purse than today. On more general healthcare she strongly condemned the discrimination and ignorance that is manifested in recent research and introduced the first batch of training, education and support resources to begin working on the challenge through staff development. Graham Rushbrook of “Health First”, one of the training developers, also contributes his experiences of piloting the material with a selection of health service staff and managers.

See the slides that accompanied Christine’s presentation.

On 26th April Christine Burns was invited to address a conference organised by the Ambulance Services Association at University College London.

The ASA (http://www.asa.uk.net/) is the main body representing ambulance services across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, plus the public ambulance services of Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man and Gibraltar. The ASA provides a central forum for all things related to ambulance services, from education and training through to clinical developments and research. The association has a number of partners and they are part-funded by the Department of Health.

Speakers included experts from the Department of Health Gender Equality Group, NHS Employers, “Opportunity Now”, The British Association for Women in Policing, Men’s Health Forum and the Equal Opportunities Commission, plus Christine Burns to talk about the trans perspective.

All the speakers dealt with different aspects of the Gender Equality Duty, which NHS Ambulance Trusts must respond to like all public-funded bodies. Starting with “Gender 101” much of the material covered in this 40 minute presentation would be equally applicable as an introduction for virtually any organisation; therefore it’s hoped that many people will be able to benefit from the recording of Christine’s presentation.

“Celebr8, Don’t Discrimin8” is North West England’s annual week-long celebration of equality and diversity for the 6.8 million people living in one of Britain’s most culturally diverse region. The 2007 festival, at the start of June, will be launched with a special song, composed by Kate Threefold, a Student of Liverpool School of Performing Arts. For more information see www.celebr8.org.

Dominic Davies is the founder of Pink Therapy (www.pinktherapy.com). London-based Pink Therapy are the UK’s largest independent therapy organisation working with gender and sexual minority clients. According to their web site they aim to promote high quality therapy and training services for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and others who identify as being sexual minorities. In conversation with Christine Burns, Dominic reflected on the amount of work that SOGIAG has accomplished and the different position of NHS and private sector therapists.

Terry Reed and her husband Bernard are well known to Britain’s trans community as founding members of the Gender Identity Research and Education Society (GIRES - www.gires.org.uk). Christine Burns talked to Terry following the 2007 SOGIAG National Stakeholder conference about the educational literature that GIRES has been commissioned to produce for the trans workstream.

Ben Gooch describes himself as a Queer Trans Man. In this interview with Christine Burns following the annual SOGIAG stakeholder meeting he describes some of his day-to-day work for the LGBT hate crime charity Galop (www.galop.org.uk), his impressions of SOGIAG’s work and his own idea of a telephone line that people could ring to discuss and report bad experiences in the health service.

Tracy Dean is a Vice President of Press For Change. In this interview with Christine Burns following the annual SOGIAG stakeholder meeting, she talks about how things have improved in recent years and about some of the things that still need to change.

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.

Kate Schneider, who herself works in management in an NHS Trust and co-chairs this group, reflected on the amoint of prejudice, ignorance and naivety within the health service and spoke about the way the group had worked with the Reducing Health Inequalities stream and in listening to everyone’s views to inform their approach. She explained how a review of suicide among LGBT people with mental health problems had been completed and would be published soon in conjunction with the Care Services Improvement Partnership (CSIP). Kate also described the project to generate a comprehensive collection of short briefing papers on a range of LGBT issues - including one on transgender people and their concerns.

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.

Christine Trethowan, who chairs the inclusive services workstream is a manager working for the NHS in Coventry. She explained that the object of her group was to focus on the people who use services and to eliminate the discrimination they encounter and went on to describe how her team’s work had focussed mainly on two areas in the last year - making staff more aware of LGBT needs (and their obligations to address those) and making service users more aware of their rights and the standards they should expect.

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.

Ruth Hunt from Stonewall spoke twice within the proceedings. In this first presentation she previewed a major survey of lesbian and bisexual women’s health, funded by Lloyds-TSB Foundation and conducted as a partnership between Stonewall and DeMontford University.

NOTE: The survey has now been launched (see www.stonewall.org.uk/health) and it is important to note that trans people are welcomed to take part if they wish to do so.

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.

Ruth Hunt from Stonewall spoke twice within the proceedings. In this second presentation Ruth displayed draft artwork for the major lesbian and bisexual womens’ health study she had spoken about previously; she then went on to describe some of the findings which will appear in Stonewall’s forthcoming report, “Being the Gay One - Experiences of LGB People in the Health and Social Care Sector”. At the time of speaking this report was still being considered by the Department of Health; however it is expected to be published soon. Ruth describes some of the shocking levels of inappropriate treatment endured by LGB employees in the health service. It can be expected that this is also mirrored in the experiences of trans people as well.

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.

Dr Justin Varney chairs the Better Employment workstream. In his day job, Justin has a senior role in public health for the Barking and Dagenham PCT in London’s East End. He began his presentation by picking up on the examples that Ruth Hunt had highlighted in her talk about Stonewall’s report on workplace discrimination and then went on to describe some of the activities that the workstream has promoted in the last year to raise the profile of LGBT health workers and begin to combat the extent of homophobia and transphobia in services.

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.

	Jamison Green

Jamison - James - Green is an internationally respected leader within the US Transgender movement and beyond. A powerful speaker and compelling writer, he is an acknowledged inspiration to many - trans and non-trans alike. He is the current chairman of the board of Gender Education and Advocacy Inc. (GEA), and a board member of both the Transgender Law and Policy Institute and the World Professional Association for Transgender Heath (formerly the Harry Benjamin society). In addition he is also a member of the Human Rights Campaign’s Business Council, a board member of the Equality Project, and an advisory member of the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE). Before these appointments he was the leader of FTM International Inc from March 1991 till August 1999. Christine Burns caught up with James when he took part in the June 2007 Trans With Pride conference in London. During a break for lunch the two activists took a walk in the sun outside in the sun and Christine asked James for his perspectives on how trans activism differs on the opposite sides of the Atlantic.

• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamison_Green
• www.jamisongreen.com/

Search for books by Jamison Green

	Kate Bornstein

Kate Bornstein is an author, playwright, performance artist and activist. Her books are taught in over 120 colleges and universities around the world and she has performed her work live on college campuses, in cinemas and theatres across the USA, Canada and parts of Britain, Germany and Austria. She is currently touring colleges, youth conferences and high schools, leading workshops on sex, gender and alternatives to teen suicide. Christine Burns sat down for a chat with Kate during a break in proceedings at the 2007 Trans With Pride conference where she began by asking her how she had started out.

• www.hellocruelworld.net/
• www.katebornstein.com/KatePages/indexkb.htm

Search for books by Kate Bornstein

	Joan Roughgarden

Professor Joan Roughgarden is no ordinary biologist - and no ordinary trans woman either - though it is surpringly common these days to encounter high academic achievers within the world wide community of gender variant, transgender and transsexual people. Nowadays Joan is most famous for her 2004 book “Evolution’s Rainbow” - an academic work, written in a language accessible to the public, which challenges Darwin’s theory of Sexual Selection. Her latest book, “Evolution and Christian Faith: Reflections of an Evolutionary Biologist”, published in 2006, shows that her willingness to take on controversial subjects is, if anything, stronger and more confident, despite the inevitable way in which her critics have responded to the first. Joan transitioned in 1998 at the age of 52. At that time she had already been teaching at Stanford for over a quarter of a century and had three books and over 100 academic articles and papers to her name. She owes her ability to continue through that transition in her life to no less a figure than Condoleeza Rice - now US Secretary of State and arguably one of the most powerful women in the World. It’s an encounter that Joan describes in the interview she agreed to give when she met Christine at the University of East Anglia.

• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Roughgarden
• www.stanford.edu/group/roughlab/rough.html

Search for books by Joan Roughgarden

	Doug Ousterhout with his right hand woman, Mira

He describes the dramatic results of his speciality as “…the most exciting surgery I can conceive of”, and when San Francisco plastic surgeon Doug Ousterhout brought his “before and after” photographs to present to the Transgender 2007 conference in Norwich recently it was easy to see why. Facial Feminisation Surgery – the technique Doug has pioneered for two decades may not be necessary for many trans people to transition successfully. A few would strongly argue that it’s more important for society to change – and to adapt to the reality of some trans women having strongly masculine faces. The same people might argue that babies with congenital deformities should not be operated upon either. Whilst we fix the world, however, there’s no denying that a trans woman who passes well will have a very different life experience from one who doesn’t. Whilst he was a guest at the University of East Anglia, Doug was interviewed by BBC Norfolk reporter Jenny Kumah, who agreed to Christine Burns eavesdropping with her own microphone.

• www.drdouglasousterhout.com

	Christine Burns

The Transgender 2007 Conference took place at the University of East Anglia during the weekend of 16th-17thJune, and drew many speakers to talk about the historical and contemporary issues concerning trans people’s lives. Christine Burns began her presentation on present day issues with a recap of events spanning almost eighty years - from Lily Elbe to the Department of Health’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Advisory Group (SOGIAG), pointing clearly to things that still need to change.

With over 30 years of close involvement with the trans community, a decade and a half as an academic, honours, awards and international recognition as a rights campaigner, the public face of Professor Stephen Whittle OBE is well documented. Yet surprisingly little is known by most people about the private life of this immensely committed family man, in a loving relationship that’s matured for three decades and which has brought him four remarkable children. In this intimately biographical interview Christine Burns obtains a candid personal account of Stephen’s background - his childhood, transition, studying law, being an activist, marriage to Sarah, Multiple Sclerosis and his hopes for the future.

• Search for books by Stephen Whittle

	Christine Burns

Pride London 2007 sponsored a one day conference in June, organised by Transfabulous. The event, attended by over 100 people, drew international as well as UK trans activists together to spend time working actively on issues connected with health, the workplace, visibility, safety, privacy, families, friends and lovers.

Christine began her keynote address by reflecting on how the world had changed in 30 years and the way in which both trans people and the campaign challenges had evolved in the light of legislative changes achieved in the last decade. She reflected on each of the themes for the conference and urged people to strive for quality as a mark of their growing sense of worth. Tongue in cheek, she also offered a new way of describing people who aren’t as colourfully diverse as ourselves.

Pride London 2007 sponsored a one day conference in June, organised by Transfabulous. The event, attended by over 100 people, drew international as well as UK trans activists together to spend time working actively on issues connected with health, the workplace, visibility, safety, privacy, families, friends and lovers.

Catherine McNamara from Gendered Intelligence began by recapping on the points raised by Christine Burns and then went on to introduce each of the leaders of the four themed workshop strands to talk about their aims.

	Kate Bornstein

Pride London 2007 sponsored a one day conference in June, organised by Transfabulous. The event, attended by over 100 people, drew international as well as UK trans activists together to spend time working actively on issues connected with health, the workplace, visibility, safety, privacy, families, friends and lovers.

In her keynote address internationally renowned writer and performer Kate Bornstein works on the idea of being Fabulous…

	Christine Burns

In October 2007 the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) organised a heavily subscribed conference in Manchester. Entitled “Coming Out With the Goods: Care Services for LGBT People”. The conference began with keynote addresses from the Commission’s Chief Inspector (Paul Snell), Director of Regional Operations and Service Development for Age Concern England, Heléna Herklots, and Christine Burns.

In this recording of Christine’s contribution she is introduced by David Pennells, Chair of the CSCI LGBT Workers’ Group. Chris Wroe, Vice Chair, is also heard at the end of the recording, stressing the importance of trans issues.

For more about this conference see: http://www.csci.org.uk/about_us/news/conference_on_care_services_fo.aspx

For a transcript of Christine’s speech see: http://www.csci.org.uk/docs/LGBT_conference_christine_burns.doc

In the summer of 2007, during the course of the second LGBT Health Summit in Manchester, Christine volunteered to step out of her normal comfort zone as a trans rights speaker and try her hand as a stand-up entertainer instead. Armed with her book of poems, penned over the course of the past 30 years, she stepped up to the floor mic in Canal Street’s noisy and bustling “Taurus” Bar and invited the drinkers and revellers to a lesson in how to fish for birds.

	Richard Curtis

The Transgender 2007 Conference took place at the University of East Anglia during the weekend of 16th — 17th June, and drew many speakers to talk about the historical and contemporary issues concerning trans people’s lives. One of the guests at the event was Dr Richard Curtis, who owns and runs “Trans Health”, the London Gender Clinic. Richard was cornered by BBC Norfolk reporter Jenny Kumah, who agreed to Christine Burns eavesdropping with her own microphone.

Trans Health: http://www.transhealth.co.uk

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” — leading to a substantial published apology, two weeks later, by the paper’s Readers’ Editor.

In fairness it has to be said that Julie has since apologised for the language she chose, and was perhaps surprised, on meeting some real trans people for an earlier BBC Radio 4 recording, that they wanted to talk rather than be angry with her. That underlines the point that when people can speak and hear each other they can often find much more common ground and understanding than when simply reading the words on the page.

Julie’s views also deserved to be debated. If there was a particular criticism of the earlier Guardian debacle it was that the newspaper never set out to present a balanced view — simply one. This is what therefore makes this very civilised live radio discussion between two very articulate people so interesting and engaging.

Do make sure you listen to the whole programme — and don’t jump to conclusions from the first five minutes in which Julie sets out her beliefs. What emerges is something that comes a lot closer to bridging a seemingly impossible divide. The irony is that trans campaigners tend to share the essence of some of Julie’s views about gender — just maybe from a slightly different angle. However the dialogue has to happen, and the tone of the voices needs to be heard, in order for that commonality to be appreciated.

Links:

• Gender Benders Beware (The Guardian)
• A Change, Of Course

	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)