Paper guilty of transsexual slur

[Shana A]

Paper guilty of transsexual slur

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8439112.stm

A Belfast newspaper has been found guilty of breaching the press code of practice for describing a transsexual as 'a ->-bleeped-<-.'

The Sunday Life was reported to the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) by a male-to-female transsexual who had worked as a rape counsellor in Belfast.

The paper had raised concerns about her suitability for the role and described her as a '->-bleeped-<-.'

The PCC said the use of the word was pejorative and upheld the complaint.

[Nero]

I don't get what the big deal about a trans rape counselor is. These women are traumatized and need help. Why would they care if that help is trans?

[Shana A]

I don't get what the big deal about a trans rape counselor is. These women are traumatized and need help. Why would they care if that help is trans?

I think their perception is; once a man, always a man... 

Z

[sarahb]

The newspaper had said that no offense had been intended in the use of the word which it considered to be "widely used" in articles about transsexuals and transvestites.

Uh, yeah, and those papers are also guilty of breaching the press code. Just because others do it doesn't make it right. Ignorance!

~Sarah

[tekla]

To claim that the rights of the councilor somehow supersede the rights of the victim is an interesting study in sympathy.  It almost feels like the old Mafia deal of making your bones.  Sure, you got to be a rape councilor, that the victims didn't get better, oh well, you can't win them all.

[Shana A]

Trans woman wins complaint against newspaper for '->-bleeped-<-' headline

By Jessica Geen • January 4, 2010 - 12:14

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/01/04/trans-woman-wins-complaint-against-newspaper-for-->-bleeped-<--headline/

The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) has ruled that a Belfast newspaper breached the press code of practice for calling a trans woman a "->-bleeped-<-".

Keira McCormack complained she had been deeply insulted by the November 1st 2009 article in the Sunday Life which described her as "burly".

She had worked as a rape counsellor in Belfast between 2005 and 2009 but the newspaper questioned whether the "5ft 10in transsexual" was suitable for the job.

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'->-bleeped-<-' tale earns Sunday title press watchdog rap
by holdthefrontpage staff

http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/code/100104->-bleeped-<-.shtml

A story about a transsexual rape counsellor which used the word '->-bleeped-<-' has landed a weekly newspaper in trouble with the press watchdog.

On 1 November Sunday Life, sister weekly to the Belfast Telegraph, carried a story headlined '->-bleeped-<- worked in rape centre' about counsellor Keira McCormack, a male to-to-female transsexual.

The article reported concerns about the complainant's employment, referred to her as a '->-bleeped-<-' and used adjectives such as 'strapping' and 'burly' to describe her build.