From The Guardian UK: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/jan/17/transgender-protest-observer-offices-burchill
More than 100 transgender people and supporters stage peaceful vigil over ‘hate speech’ in Observer column
Amelia Hill
The Guardian, Thursday 17 January 2013
A peaceful protest took place on Thursday afternoon outside the Guardian Media Group offices in London over Julie Burchill‘s column in last Sunday’s Observer.
Organisers of the gathering of more than 100 transgender people and supporters said the column – for which the Observer has apologised and which has been removed from its website – was “transphobic hate speech” and a “deliberate baiting” of a community that is already the subject of widespread social abuse and ridicule.
“The Burchill piece was a deliberate baiting,” said Martha Dunkley, a member of TransLondon. “It was straightforward, transphobic hate speech for which, had she been targeting another group, she would have been arrested. It threw us back into the days when we could be the objects of violence and ridicule with impunity.”
The protest was the culmination of a row sparked by Suzanne Moore, who wrote in an article that women were, among other things, angry about “not having the ideal body shape – that of a Brazilian transsexual”.
Moore subsequently became involved in an increasingly heated row on Twitter with members of the transgender community, which concluded in her leaving the social media site. Burchill’s column was in defence of Moore, her close friend.
The protesters said they are seeking a full apology from the Observer and reassurance that they will take steps to ensure that the Guardian Media Group’s publications “will never again be used as a platform for hate speech”.
Continue reading at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/jan/17/transgender-protest-observer-offices-burchill
