London Calling : Transphobic Julie Bindel Nominated Writer of the year by Stonewall UK

Liz McLaren posted an announcement to the Facebook cause Stop Transphobia

Subject: A call to action from Trans London regarding journalist Julie Bindel's nomination for Journalist of the Year by the Stonewall organization.

Hi Everyone! I want to forward to all of you a letter I received from Tessa Hauke regarding a journalist by the name of Julie Bindel with arguably trans-phobic views. Please have a read and if you or others you know are in the London area, please let them know!

Yours,
Liz McLaren
Founder, the "Stop Transphobia" Facebook cause
________________________________________

Hello to the Stop Transphobia Cause Members,

I am writing to you asking for your support in protesting against Stonewall's nomination of Julie Bindel for their "Journalist of the Year" award. Please see http://www.stonewall.org.uk/

Stonewall" is a very influential gay political lobbying group in the UK. It differs from Stonewall organisations in the US in that it does not include Trans issues in its agenda, except for its youth affiliate, which is very queer in its outlook.

Just to outline the situation, Julie Bindel has previously made many transphobic comments, on her column in the Guardian UK newspaper, on message boards and when she took part in a debate on BBC Radio 4 regarding gender reassignment surgery as "unnecessary mutilation".

I have included the following links to some of her work:

www.guardian.co.uk

news.bbc.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

She believes that the use of "Talking Therapies" should be used instead of gender reassignment surgery. Whilst this may be a viable option for some people, it is certainly not a panacea for all.

As recently as April 2008, she criticised the British Film Institute when they hosted the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival for making available "Gender Neutral" toilets for Trans people who were uncomfortable with using male or female toilets (including some Trans people who use wheel chairs).

Trans Activists in the UK believe that by Stonewall giving her recognition, she will do considerable damage to Trans people in the UK.

We have organised a campaign on Facebook: Transphobic Julie Bindel nominated for Stonewall Award and to date, the number of people offering their support has reached over 400 members, including the radical feminist Linda Bellos who campaigned vigorously in the 1970s and '80s..

On November 6th, activists will be demonstrating outside the venue for the Stonewall Awards Ceremony.

Kindest regards,
Tessa
Co-Founder TransLondon.org.uk


You can tell Stonewall of your objections by email: info@stonewall.org.uk

Human Rights First : 2008 US Violent Hate Crimes against LGBT Increasing

By Kelli Busey
Sat. Oct 18, 2008
planetransgender

According to a recently released report from Human rights first, violent attacks on people because of sexual preference and gender identity have increased in 2007.

Government statistic's do not report all incidences according to The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) nor differentiate between violence targeting people for their gender identity and sexual orientation in the United States.

Non governmental sources, the only reliable and comprehensive record keeper, indicate that crimes targeting gender identity has increased the most.
Due to the horrific nature of the crimes, usually murder these deaths receive a heavy dose of sensationalistic self promotional commercialization from some unscrupulous mainstream and LGBT media. It is usually the outrage of bloggers that the media has begun recently to consider the consequences of irresponsible reporting.

It is important to note that in 2007 area's with recently defeated anti bias laws saw a increase of violent incidents and areas that saw an enactment of protective laws, a marked decrease.

Those regions included: Minnesota (+85, 135%)which denotes a correlation between the time hate crimes bills were being considered and the increase of violence after the defeat of the bill.

Michigan (+201, 207%) with more than double the number of reported violent incidents in 2007. This is an increase of 133%. Michigan passed a constitutional amendment in 2004 that bans gay marriage,

Kansas City (+17, 142%).

Other regions reporting increased numbers of victims in 2007 over 2006 include San Francisco (+24, 7%) and Pennsylvania(+10, 28%).

Regions reporting decreases in numbers of victims in 2007(Both which enacted gender protective laws) include New York City with 82 fewer victims than in 2006 (-14%) and Colorado (-27%), which received 45 fewer reports.

There is no way to estimate the worldwide suffering caused by the Human Rights Campaign(HRC) and Congressman Barney Frank when they so publicly and inexplicitly removed inclusion of transgender people from the national GLBT human rights movement HR2015 (ENDA), a bill which had no chance of passage.

In an unanticipated backlash to this transphobic behaviour cities, counties and states have moved to enact gender protective laws. Most cities are experiencing protests of HRC by a coalition of disenfranshised, when HRC has subsequently meets to raise 20 million dollars annually at fundraisers while proclaiming to be a advocate for transgender people.

The tentacles of this massive entity extend into religion and respected local LGBT groups as they become inebriated by the availability of funds and make commitments way beyond their means.

It is this current situation that leads some transgender and queer to wonder, what does HRC, lesbian and gays have to motivate it to seriously commit to a inclusive ENDA?