Crossing The Divide

The Big Issue,
No. 282,
May 4-10 1998

"A transsexual person is essentially somebody who has the body of one sex and the mind of another," explains Bristol City Councillor Rosalind Mitchell, the first transsexual Councillor in the UK. "People respond to the body and as a result respond inappropriately to the mind. They respond to me as a man and I can’t respond back as a man and that was always my problem" Chatting away chirpily Mitchell explains why she decided to reveal all and go to the press at the end of last year. "Having made my decision to switch over I sat down and realised that because I was an elected Councillor I was easy prey for the tabloids and so I had to work out a strategy that would limit the damage." The clock was ticking so she sought out a responsible journalist from a respected paper, told her story and hoped for the best. Luckily her gamble paid off.

There are around 5,000 trans people liv- ing in this country. All of them have made that agonising decision to ’make the switch’. "It’s not something you do on a whim," says Mitchell. "It’s not something that you have completely free choice in. I lived 43 years getting by, but not really feeling very happy about it. Seeing the way forward, ever though it was a very difficult way forward was something I felt I had to do - it really becomes a necessity for many of us." Living with it means facing life with added day-to-day problems legally, professionally and socially.

Mitchell’s transgenderism really hit the news when the women’s section of Bristol West Labour Party recently took a vote to decide whether she would be asked to leave a meeting she had turned up to. The vote was taken in front of her and the motion car ried. "They voted to ask me to leave, which I did, but no reason was given as to why," says Mitchell.

According to Graham Manuel of the South West Labour Party: "They took a decision, which they are entitled to do, that they did not consider at that moment in time that Rosalind was in fact female - and the meeting was open only to female members." But, he adds: "You’re also talking about a meeting which happened in January We are now in May, and for the record I would like to suggest that a lot of water has gone under th bridge. A different decision is likely to b made if Rosalind wants to test the. wate again in the near future."  Mitchell has been living as a woman sinc last October. But she is one of the luckie people who is receiving her treatment an eventual surgery privately. The current NHS process requires that after you have satisfied a psychologist at Charing Cross hospital in London that you are trans, you must go through a minimum of two years of real life tests. This means living and working as a man or woman depending which way your sex will be changed. Having said that, the life tests can last anything up to seven years and even at the end of this time people are merely added to the bottom of another waiting list for surgery. This stretch lasts around eighteen months.

That means potentially eight and a half years waiting for surgery for a medical condition which costs no more than the average hip replacement, with an outstanding success rate, and well worth the price of around 5,000 in terms of quality of life.

Press for Change are a group campaigning for equality and respect for all transsexual and transgender people.  They have a paid-up membership of 2,000, of which 80 are active members.  Spokesperson Alex Whinnom says that there is a decreasing number of people who are being given access to surgical treatment on the NHS, adding that "most people can’t afford to go private".  But even when surgery is performed, trans people are coming up against other obstacles.  The main problem is that they are unable to correct their birth certificate to show their true sex.  This causes a whole number of dilemmas.  Couples are unable to marry and pension rights are often violated. Dr Zoe-Jane Playdon is the Regional Advisor for Post Graduate Medical and Dental Education at the University of London.  She co-ordinated the production of a report for government by the Parliamentary Forum on Transsexualism.  "The simplest thing would be to correct the birth certificate to show people’s real genders," she says.

"Most people are horrified to hear that, previously, no matter how well you had done a job or how long you’d been doing that job you could be instantly dismissed just because you were transsexual," says Mitchell.  Following a court case involving Cornwall County Council, trans people have now been given equal rights at work under the Sex Discrimination Act.

But concerns don’t stop here argues Playdon. "It’s horrific that if someone is biologically female and no different in her external anatomy to any other female in the world, and they are unable to pay a parking fine, they would be sent to custody in a male prison.  It’s only now that the Home Office are starting to reach new guidelines on this.

’You are talking about a very small proportion of the population, just 5,000 people.  From a civil liberties point of view this tiny community is a microcosm of all the injustices which might be enacted on any one of us."  And then there’s public opinion.  Councillor Mitchell was ’pleasantly surprised’ by the positive response she has received on the whole.  But it has had its fair share of moments.  "I did an interview on Radio 5 Live a few weeks ago and somebody called in and said we were all on a level with people who had sex with sheep.  That sort of thing actually does us good because it shows that we’re sensible and our opponents are a bit bonkers," she says laughing before adding, "there are people who think we have intimate relationships with our Sunday lunch. It makes you wonder a bit."

It’s also interesting to note that by switching to life as a woman, Mitchell noticed changes in the way people treated her generally "Some of the things I actually quite enjoy, but I’d imagine I’d find them irritating if I’d been a woman all my life.  People are more and more likely to open doors and it’s easier to cross the road because people stop and smile at me."  But the downside?  "One of the things I did notice very early on is that when I was driving a car I got treated appallingly on the roads in a way that totally threw me."

The most famous trans woman to have graced the nations psyche over recent months is without a doubt the Coronation Street character Hayley Press For Change were in with Granada from the word go.  They even told them their original story-line wasn’t accurate enough.  Granada went away and re-wrote the script.  But what does Councillor Mitchell think of Bettabuy’s newest check-out girl?  "I think the character of Hayley’s a very good thing even though I know it’s come in for a lot of criticism.

"There’s a slight problem though.  If I came from Mars and was shown Coronation Street and had to pick out the transsexual I wouldn’t pick out Hayley, I’d pick out Deirdre," she chuckles. "I feel very positive about the fact that Granada have chosen to introduce a trans character into the storyline and make her a sympathetic character and somebody whom people come to like. It’s opened people’s eyes.  I think the story, as it unfolded, was handled very sensitively and very well." But whether or not Hayley returns to the street, stories like hers struggle to be heard every day.  "We have a medical condition which should be regarded as such," concludes Mitchell.  "We’re people the same as everybody else and all we want to do is lead quiet lives and be acknowledged for what we are and who we are".

For information write to The Gender Trust, Press for Change at BM Network, London WC1X 3NN.

Copyright © The Big Issue, 1998