The readers' editor on... reporting transgender issues
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2011/jan/23/readers-editor-on-reporting-transgender-issues1/23/11
'People think we are child-molesting perverts because of media reporting, or pantomime dames – figures to ridicule, to be pointed out and laughed at, regardless of our feelings," runs a desperate cry on Trans Media Watch, a website offering guidance to journalists on an area which is often misunderstood: how to portray transgender issues and people.
The Observer would like to think of itself as reasonably progressive in this area, careful to give the correct pronoun to someone who has a gender identity that is different from their biological sex or who has undergone gender reassignment. But reaction to coverage of the death of brilliant human rights lawyer David Burgess, also known as Sonia Burgess, shows that, however careful the approach to the story, the issue is extremely sensitive.
