Transphobia: Freedom Of Information

A very interesting/scary piece on Pink News by Jane Fae about how newspapers have been using FOI [Freedom Of Information] requests to generate "stories" about trans people.

'The most recent example surfaced in the People a fortnight ago, in a story about the number of transgender officers in the Metropolitan Police. This originated in a FOI request made on the popular WhatDoTheyKnow website in May, which turned up the fact that some 582 Metropolitan Police officers identified as LG or B (or 8.5% of those who expressed a preference). In addition, 8 identified as intersex, and a further 6 as transgender/transsexual... *

'Similar issues arose earlier this year when The Sun claimed that the Ministry of Defence was paying for troops’ gender reassignment surgery. This arose from an FOI inquiry that revealed that over a possible two year period, the MOD had spent around £7,000 – out of a budget in excess of £100bn – to support military personnel in gender re-assignment.

'While accurate, this piece was condemned at the time by members of Trans Media Watch for stirring up controversy by running a story out of all proportion to the actual impact of the money involved...'

Jennie Kermode of Trans Media Watch told Pink News; "In the absence of any other context for the story, we can only conclude that the FOI use in this case was speculative and was intended to acquire material for a negative story about vulnerable minority groups. The negative intent in this case is clear from the paper’s choice to change the word ‘intersex’ in the police data to the inaccurate word ‘hermaphrodite’ which most intersex people find offensive.
“The deliberate omission [of background] suggests that the intent is to mislead readers.”
Quite rightly, Kermode says she does not wantto see any restrictions placed on FOI requests.
But what to do?

It's strange though that Pink News has headlined this article; 'Concern over ‘pernicious’ Freedom of Information requests on LGBT issues' - why not specify here this is a trans issue?
I can't think of any similar cases involving, say, gay men.
As Fagburn keeps repeating, trans people now occupy the same place in tabloid demonology as gay men once did.
So someone being trans is a story in itself - they hold a particular fascination if they work in "manly" professions, such as the police, the fire service or armed forces.
The tabloids think it is quite legitimate to out trans people.
And trans people are - almost always - only allowed to be presented as either a joke or a threat.
It really is quite dreadful, shameful, hateful stuff.

PS Worth stating again how vastly improved Pink News is since Stephen Gray became editor last year.
It's great to have a UK-based gay news where I can find out some things I didn't know were going on, rather than scream at all the things they've got wrong.
Pink Paper seems to have given up - the whole thing now appears to be written by interns...

* The Pink News article also details several “material inaccuracies, use of pejorative language and disingenuous statements”.

Brian Paddick: Hmm...

"I don't see my husband very often because he lives in Oslo. He arrived about midnight last night and I had to throw him out on the streets because you were coming around.
"Last time, he took two months off to be with me during the campaign. This time, I said to him, 'Look, I'd rather we spent time together when the pressure of the campaign is not on. So today was difficult because I saw him for breakfast and I haven't seen him since and it's now more than 12 hours later."

Brian Paddick, The Independent.
The People claimed Brian and Petter had split up last year...

Justin Fashanu: Outing The Facts

Steven Davies' coming out this week inevitably leads many to remember the sad story of Justin Fashanu.
It's often held up as a morality tale, or parable - this is what happens when a footballer comes out...
Alan Duffy of The Justin Campaign writes on Goal.com; "Fashanu’s career never went on to reach the heights it should have, with his sexuality and the reaction to it no doubt playing a major part in his very sad downfall.
"His public declaration of his sexuality in 1990 and his death in 1998 could and should have been moments when football started to confront the issue of homophobia in the game, but nothing happened."
A few points are often gloosed over in the Justin Fashanu story, some of the facts are outed in a surprisingly good piece in The Daily Mail today by Martin Samuel;
"It is commonly stated that football failed him, that homophobia and years of living a lie contributed to the fragile mental state that took his life. And perhaps it did.
"Yet, equally, Fashanu's decision to embrace the evangelical Christian faith, which disapproved of his sexual orientation, was also harmful to his well-being, as was the generally negative reaction of the black community and members of his family to his announcement in 1990.
"People remember Fashanu coming out after his retirement, yet his career continued for several years as a gay man, albeit one who often seemed to be in denial."
Indeed Fashanu once announced he was dating Coronation Street actress Julie Goodyear, a lesbian.
He was also out as a Tory.
Allan Hall who wrote his coming out interview in The Sun said Fashanu had no noble motivation; "He was only interested in the money".
This was "a five-figure sum". Many wondered why he decided to come out in a paper as homophobic as The Sun. Fashanu explained it was because it was the paper most football fans read.
(I've wondered if he came out as he'd been threatened with being outed, as has often happened with the UK tabloids. This seems unlikely as they paid him).
In 1994 Fashanu went to both The People and The News Of The World claiming to have slept with two Tory cabinet ministers, and asking for £300,000 for the story. Both thought he was lying (Profile, The Independent, February 12th 1994).
And his tragic suicide was spurred by a factor unrelated to football;
"At the time of his death, Fashanu believed he was to be charged with the sexual assault of a 17-year-old male in Maryland, USA. His suicide note protested his innocence but said he did not want further embarrassment for his family and friends."
Martin Samuel concludes; "So it is far too glib to say attitudes within football alone killed him. There were all manner of wrong turns along the way."
However Samuel, like so many journalists, omits one important part of the Justin Fashanu story - the media's own role in his breakdown, downfall and untimely demise.