People ask whether I wish I hadn’t been trans.  My answer is ’No’ - I have been able to be at the forefront of a new political movement that is really challenging the issues of body fascism.  If we can win the one about trans bodies, then we can win in all the other battle grounds surrounding the body whether to do with people being fat or thin, abled or disabled, black or brown, male or female.  Mostly though, being trans has been a privilege because I have met wonderful people, done wonderful things, been to wonderful places - all in all had a wonderful life!
Stephen Whittle, PFC co-founder

HISTORICALLY, trans people been have encouraged to be covert persons … advice that hardly needed repeating or explaining for any trans person who grew up through the worst of the era of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.  In those days, to be discovered as trans meant only one form of social reception.

One of the daunting objectives faced by the founders of Press for Change in 1992 was to overturn and reverse that most fundamental of repressive forces … to make it possible for trans voices to begin to be heard in Britain.

Press for Change campaigns for the right of trans people to be private, when they wish, but also for the option to be able to choose when not to be … to offer the option of taking a personal pride in all the achievements of their lives … but to be able to own their pasts as much as claiming their futures.

To achieve that goal … and at the end of 1998 there’s no denying that we have now achieved it … required a preparedness to challenge the oppression at its’ root.  The founders of Press for Change ended the tyranny of “fear of exposure” by showing it for what it was — a paper tiger.  Many of these pioneering campaigners took personal decisions to be “out” when to do so was considered not just brave, but potentially foolhardy.  But in showing that it could be done, they created a virtuous circle for others to join … so that nowadays there is really nothing exceptional about being widely known as a campaigning trans person.  Indeed it attracts admiration and a burgeoning attention to what we have to say.

Here, then are some of those who created that social revolution and are working every day to enable others to pick up the torch and carry it the next mile … to true liberation.

Angela Clayton | Sarah Rutherford | Ben Thom | Lewis Turner | Alex Whinnom | Stephen Whittle

PFC vice-president and co-founder Stephen Whittle isn’t just one of the UK’s best-known trans men through his countless media appearances, he’s also the legal brains behind many a victory in court, and writes prolifically on trans and legal issues.	PFC vice-president Ben Thom is a founder member of FTM London and has been part of the FTM Network since 1996 becoming a PFC member shortly afterwards.
PFC vice-president Alex Whinnom is most visible as the editor of the newsletter, but is mostly busy acting as the key point of contact for local activists, and disseminating PFC’s growing expertise in implementing anti-discrimination policies	PFC vice-president Angela Clayton is a physicist by profession, with a long history of activism within the trades union movement.
PFC vice-president Sarah Rutherford is best known as one of the plaintiffs in the X, Y & Z case in the European Court of Human Rights. As PFC treasurer she successfully manages the impossible job of ensuring that PFC’s miniscule budget is eked out to cover the huge range of campaign activities.	PFC vice-president Lewis Turner Lewis is Hate Crimes Officer for Wyre Borough Council, working with Lancashire Police.

Members

• Members: pen profiles of some PFC members