Back from the conference

["Christine Burns" <C_Burns@classic.msn.com>]

>From Christine Burns
Press for Change

Sunday 5th October, 1997

-------------------

BACK FROM THE CONFERENCE

A curious thought wafted through my head as we stood watching the Prime 
Minister's speech to the Labour Party conference on Tuesday on closed 
circuit 
TV, alongside our fellow exhibitors at the Brighton Conference Centre. 
There 
he was, sporting a blue tie, framed against a blue background .. for a 
regular 
visitor to Conservative conferences these last five years, it all seemed a 
bit 
too disturbingly familiar .. Was this, in fact, a self help convention for 
Transpoliticals, I wondered ? <grin>

As with transSEXuals, transPOLITICal is a bit of a misnomer, of course. 
It's 
nothing to do with policies, but about convictions and how others percieve 
you. The similarity ends at that point, however, since transpoliticals 
don't 
appear to lose the right to marry when they transition, and are free to 
alter 
all their documentation to reflect their new identity. Even the concept of 
a 
Real Life Test takes on a new meaning too .. but then I'm perhaps in 
danger of 
forgetting what I'm here for in my enthusiasm to share a rich potential 
vein 
of word-playing humour. I'll turn that thought over to the rest of you 
now, 
therefore...

Joking aside, however, it has been a very successful and productive week, 
and 
our many thanks to everyone who helped to make it possible .. principally 
those of you who dug deep in purses and pockets to ensure that Press for 
Change was able to afford not just the stand, but some smart publicity 
material to stock it with too. It was a very impressive stand, and will 
have 
left an enduring memory about the transsexual community in the minds of 
the 
hundreds of people who stopped to talk, and the countless others who 
looked 
but didn't venture.

The conference got off to a very good start on Monday, when Cherrie Booth 
(aka 
Cherrie Blair, of course), made a special point of coming to the stand to 
be 
photographed and to talk .. the first of several well-known names to tread 
the 
same path as the week went by. Cherrie had a success of her own to 
celebrate 
the next day too, of course, when the "Grant v South West Trains" case (in 
which she'd represented the plaintiff, Lisa Grant) received a favourable 
recommendation from the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice 
.. 
in a judgement that referred back to and reminded us of our very own P vs 
S. 
Like P vs S, the Grant case recommendation will need to be confirmed by 
the 
full court. However this is generally viewed to be a formality and means 
that, 
in a very real sense, the campaign by Press for Change for transgendered 
people's employment rights has made a significant contribution to the 
employment benefits of 35 million gay europeans.

On Wednesday, we were twice blessed .. with a visit in the morning by Mo 
Mowlem, the Northern Ireland minister (who displayed a great deal of 
interest 
in the display and pointedly wished to be photographed between three of 
us, 
behind our desk) .. and then in the afternoon we were later visited by 
Tessa 
Jowell, who has a particular interest in equality issues. When we get 
copies 
of the photographs (they ALL wanted to be photographed with us) we'll 
display 
them in a new feature on the web site.

During the week we were also visited by many other less-well-known MP's, 
their 
partners or political advisers .. and page upon page of petition 
signatures 
were collected to add to the enormous stack destined for Number Ten 
Downing 
Street at the end of this month.

On the Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, Alex and I also grabbed a 
handful 
of literature and set off in search of the media centre, tucked away in 
the 
back corridors of the conference centre, where we introduced ourselves to 
the 
political journalists of all the broadsheet newspapers, and lobbied hard 
for 
coverage of the fringe meeting on Wednesday. It's a strange feeling, these 
days, to realise that journalists ask "Why, what's special ?" when invited 
to 
attend these gatherings .. a far cry from even just two years ago, when 
our 
fringe meeting in the same town, at the same party's conference, was still 
guaranteed to draw in journalists simply on its' freak-appeal. Still, 
who's 
complaining ? The BBC, ITN and Channel 4 were equally unimpressed. Still, 
as 
one political journalist from the Guardian commented, "I think you folks 
are 
far too polite..."

I wonder if Mo Mowlam is aware of that irony ? .. Dealing, as she does, 
with 
people who get attention for their cause by killing and maiming the 
innocent ?

The fringe meeting was, sadly, still not very well attended by 
non-transsexuals .. though the TS folk and their friends who made the 
journey 
to see us and hear Dr Lynne Jones, Michelle Wilson and Susan Marshall 
speak 
(in a session ably chaired by our other Christine), certainly made up for 
the 
numbers and helped to ensure that those strangers who DID join us got 
involved 
in a lively discussion afterwards. Mind you, we had strong competition .. 
since the other meeting in the hotel that night featured some chap by the 
name 
of Blair ...

(Thank you to our new recruit Ros Mitchell, incidentally, who turned up 
and 
gave a passionate speech from the floor, spurred on by her Bristol Council 
colleagues, who came along to see what it was all about).

So, on balance I think the community got a great deal of value out of this 
week .. enabling us to be seen and appraised by many more people than 
we've 
ever got near to before.

There were one or two golden nuggets of hope in the conversations we had 
during the week too .. especially in the comments from the solicitor 
general, 
answering questions in public at Jack Straw's fringe meeting about the 
government's intentions to pursue the Sheffield and Horsham case all the 
way 
to court in February .. and in the very clear political messages about how 
we'd come to get a place at the conference in the first place. .. You can, 
in 
fact, take it with a degree of trust that some very senior members of this 
administration are more than just sympathetic to the case we have for 
change.

All in all, therefore, a fantastic week .. and worth every penny of what 
it 
took to get us there.

Next week .. Number Ten.

Christine Burns
Press for Change