Freedom of expression does not include hate crimes - or biased reportage [blog]

[Shana A]

Freedom of expression does not include hate crimes - or biased reportage

http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2008/02/freedom_of_expr

This is a guest post by Helen G

Recently there seems to have been an increase in the mass media's coverage of violent hate crimes against transgendered women. It's hard to keep up, but there seem to have been four or five such crimes in the past fortnight. The victims are all comparatively young, mostly of colour and they are all people who have been assigned male but lean toward the feminine.

Sadly, any positivity resulting from the mass media feeling more able to mention gender non-conformity is countered by the negative portrayal of TG women.