United Kingdom
— A CHANGE to the Editors' Code of Practice to
cover discriminatory press reporting of transgender
people is announced today.
Individuals who are
undergoing or have undergone treatment for gender
reassignment will be included in the categories offered
protection from prejudicial or pejorative
references.
The Press Complaints
Commission <http://www.pcc.org.uk/>,
which adjudicates on complaints under the Code, has
always regarded trans individuals as covered by the
general provisions of the Discrimination clause. However,
the Editors' Committee - which writes and revises the
Code - has accepted that following the introduction of
the Gender Recognition Act <http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2004/20040007.htm>
last year, it was appropriate that more specific cover
should be given.
It has decided that the
word Gender will replace Sex in sub-clause 12i, thus
widening its scope to include transgender individuals. It
will now read:
12i) The
press must avoid prejudicial or pejorative reference
to an individual's race, colour, religion, gender,
sexual orientation or to any physical or mental
illness or disability.
The Committee decided
against a change to the accompanying sub-clause 12ii,
which covers publication of discriminatory details that
aren't relevant to a story, because trans individuals
would be covered under the existing rules.
Code Committee chairman
Les Hinton, chairman of News International, said: "The
Committee felt it right, in the light of the recent
legislative changes on transgender issues, to
specifically mention avoiding prejudicial or pejorative
references on the ground of a person's gender.
"However, publishing
details of an individual's gender reassignment that were
not genuinely relevant, would already be covered by the
current sub-clause, since gender dysphoria is a
recognised illness - and physical illness is already
specifically mentioned."
This applies both to
people in a state of gender transition and also to people
who have successfully completed gender reassignment,
since they would have previously suffered from gender
dysphoria.
The Code revision, which
followed representations from the trans organisation
Press For Change <http://www.pfc.org.uk/>
and the Parliamentary Forum on Transsexualism
<http://www.poptel.org.uk/lynne.jones/transsex.htm>,
has been ratified by the Press Complaints Commission. It
will take effect from June13, 2005.
------------------
From
Christine Burns, Press
For Change
To the sixty or
more trans people who contributed towards the policy
change described below with their personal lobbying,
the saga of our involvement with the UK's Press
Complaints Commission will need no explanation. For
the benefit of readers who may have subscribed to
PFC-News in the last six months, however, the
background can be studied here :
http://www.pfc.org.uk/pfclists/news-arc/2004q4/msg00075.htm
The treatment of
trans people by the Press over the last five decades
or so is one of the defining issues in trans lives.
Whether or not you have ever been directly on the
receiving end of unfavourable journalism, the effects
are something that every one of us has probably
experienced vicariously .. reminding us all through
our lifetimes of the way in which we could expect to
be viewed by strangers as a whole.
Neither the Gender
Recognition Act, nor this important change to the
PCC's code, is capable of eradicating discriminatory
attitudes overnight. I wish that they could. All that
laws and codes of practice can do is to define what is
unacceptable behaviour and provide a means to censure
those who ignore that standard.
Hopefully this
change to the PCC's code WILL have a direct and
immediate effect in fostering the kind of change in
attitudes which more responsible newspapers have
already begun. In the unfortunate event that people
still find themselves unfairly or inappropriately
described, the code does also provide a more certain
means of redress FOR INDIVIDUALS.
I'm afraid that
this small change to the code does nothing to prevent
or censure derogatory writing about communities like
ours as a whole. That move would involve a much
greater philosophical shift on the part of the
Commission, affecting the rights of every other
minority too. That's a battle for another day, and one
in which we should be prepared to join with other
groups of people who find themselves in exactly the
same boat. Nevertheless, the clear and unequivocal
language from the Commission in the press release
accompanying its code change does lay very strong
pointers about how journalists are expected to treat
the business of writing about us, so time will tell
what effects that has overall.
Above all thank you
and congratulations to everyone who contributed in
having their say and in requesting the kind of change
which the Press Complaints Commission is now making.
It is clear that they originally were not minded to
make such a move all those months ago, and the only
reason they have done so now is because of the power
of individual representations.
Well
done!
Christine
Burns
