All About Trans

All About Trans
Commercial? No
Country United Kingdom
Status Active
Website allabouttrans.org.uk

All About Trans is a project that "positively changes how the media understands and portrays trans people". Its aim is to "promote trans voices in the media" and engage media professionals (journalists, presenters and editors) and other sector professionals with trans topics in creative ways.[1]

The project is managed by On Road, a charity that "tackles social problems by improving media coverage of misrepresented groups and issues."[2] All About Trans is supported and led by an advisory group made up of individuals and organisations from within the trans community (such as Mermaids)[3] and consultants including journalist Paris Lees, film-maker Fox Fisher [4] and pilot Ayla Holdom.[5]

The work is funded and supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.[6] Previous funders include the BBC [7] and Channel 4 television.[8]

History

All About Trans, originally named Trans Media Action began in October 2011. It was prompted by the director of On Road, Nathalie McDermott, witnessing the death of human rights lawyer and trans woman Sonia Burgess, when she was pushed from a platform at London's Kings Cross station during rush hour. The ensuing media coverage of her death alerted On Road to the appalling treatment of trans people in the media. Having noted the poor coverage of transgender people, McDermott approached members of the voluntary watchdog organisation Trans Media Watch,[9] a charity that focuses on changing the media representation and reporting of trans people, to improve this representation.

Interactions

All About Trans sets up interactions between media professionals and trans volunteers. These are social meet-ups designed to encourage greater understanding leading to better and more empathetic portrayals of trans people in the media.

By 2015, All About Trans has worked with over 200 trans and gender variant volunteers of all ages and over 250 media professionals from a range of media organisations across the UK.[10] These include The Observer, The Independent, The Sun, Daily Mail, Channel 4, BBC,[11] CBBC, Press Complaints Commission, Press Association and journalists for regional newspapers such as the Scotland Herald and Dorset Echo. More recently, All About Trans has met with the New Statesman,[12] the Mail on Sunday[13] and Hollyoaks.[14]

Advice

All About Trans has met more than once with the Hollyoaks team. Following a large interaction in 2014, the cast and crew asked volunteers from the trans community to advise them on their trans storyline between the characters Blessing and Dennis.[15] All About Trans supported them with casting workshops, leading to a new storyline in 2015 with new character Mrs St Claire played by Annie Wallace.[16] Filmmaker Lewis Hancox produced two backstage videos about trans experiences for the Channel 4 website.[17][18] Paris Lees made a cameo appearance alongside the character Blessing in November 2014.[19]

Trans Camp

Trans Camp took place in January 2012.  The day was dedicated to exploring creative solutions to major stumbling blocks in the media's portrayal of this often misrepresented and misunderstood community.[20]

Held at Channel 4, Trans Camp hosted over 60 innovators, developers, entrepreneurs, designers, media professionals and trans people from varied backgrounds to come up with ideas to address how the media portrayed trans people.[21]

Boy Meets Girl

One of the outcomes of Trans Camp was the Trans Comedy Award.[22] This concept was developed during the day by participants, some of whom went on to work in partnership with BBC Writersroom on a new initiative to encourage sensitive and accurate portrayals of trans characters in comedy scripts.[23] The winning script ‘Boy Meets Girl’, written by Elliott Kerrigan, was made into a pilot by Tiger Aspect and commissioned by BBC Two in the summer of 2014. Before its release on television, it was one of four pilots to be showcased at the Salford Comedy Festival.[24] It was then broadcast on BBC Two, Thursday 3 September 2015.[25]

Boy Meets Girl was a six-part series made up of 30 minute episodes, and appeared on BBC Two between 3 September and 10 October 2015.[26] It was set in Newcastle, and starred Rebecca Root as Judy and Harry Hepple as Leo.[27] Both Root and her character Judy are transgender, making this the first BBC comedy to feature a transgender character in a lead role, and the first sitcom to feature a transgender actor playing a transgender character.[28] The series focused on Judy and Leo's relationship, the age gap between the two and their "endearingly eccentric families".[29]

At the 2015 Stonewall Awards the show received the Trans Media Award for bringing trans issues to British prime time television.[30] Elliot Kerrigan won a Royal Television Society Rising Star Award for Boy Meets Girl in February 2016.[31]

In October 2015, it was announced that Boy Meets Girl would be returning for a second series.[32]

Television

All About Trans has been credited with the 2015 introduction of two new transgender characters played by transgender people on British soaps, following interactions held with both soap's writing teams.[33] Hollyoaks introduced ‘Mrs Sally St. Claire’, played by transgender actress Annie Wallace, and Eastenders have introduced ‘Kyle’, the brother of ‘Stacey Branning’, played by trans actor Riley Carter Millington.[34] This credit was reinforced with Riley Carter Millington topping the Independent On Sunday Rainbow List in 2015. The feature article accompanying the announcement stated that the "sea of change in the representation of transgender people in the media [was]as a result of tireless campaigning by groups such as All About Trans"[35]

After the All About Trans interaction with CBBC, I Am Leo, a BAFTA-winning documentary focusing on a trans child named Leo was created.[36]

Radio

Many All About Trans volunteers have been on British radio discussing their personal experiences and trans matters generally. In 2015, four volunteers worked with All About Trans and BBC Radio 4 and recorded clips for the Listening Project and the British Library. The first of these was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 18 and 22 November.[37] Paris Lees also presented three BBC Radio 1 documentaries after the All About Trans meeting with BBC Radio 1 Commissioning Editor Piers Bradford. The documentaries were called "Staying Out",[38] "My Transgender Punk Rock Story[39]" and "The Hate Debate".[40]

Press

All About Trans’ work has been written about by journalists such as Cathy Newman,[41] Radhika Sanghani[42] and Owen Jones.[43] These and further articles appeared in newspapers and news outlets such as the Bournemouth Echo[44][45] – Coming to terms with having a transgender son, Mumsnet, the Telegraph, the Scotland Herald[46] and the Guardian. Paris Lees also writes for a variety of organisations that All About Trans met with, including the Sun,[47] the Guardian,[48] and the Telegraph.[49]

Some All About Trans participants have written or blogged for the Scotland Herald,[50] the Dorset Echo,[51] Prancing Through Life[52] and the Observer[53] following interactions with the papers.

Dr Kate Stone's Press Negotiations

Sarah Lennox, an adviser for All About Trans, worked with Dr Kate Stone on a negotiation with the Press Complaints Commission (now Independent Press Standards Organisation) and several mainstream UK newspapers in 2014. This was following her trans status being revealed in articles about being attacked by a stag whilst on holiday. Terms including ‘sex swap’ were used in these reports. The six papers amended their stories and accepted that they were in breach of Clause 12 of the PCC's Editor's Code of Practice. These were The Daily Mirror, The Scottish Sun, The Daily Record, The Daily Mail, and The Daily Telegraph. The statements by each newspaper were reported by the PCC.[54]

Yvonne Roberts outlined the background and context of Stone's negotiation in The Observer,[55] while the story was picked up by several news channels, such as the BBC,[56] the Press Gazette,[57] The Guardian,[58] the Radio 4 Culture Show,[59] and on Channel 4 News.[60]

My Trans Story / Patchwork: Real People

Patchwork: Real People is the digital storytelling side project of All About Trans. This is a collection of digital media stories from trans people across the UK. All these stories focus on the themes of "support" and "celebration".[61]

In December 2013, All About Trans joined with Lucky Tooth Films (with their side project My Genderation) to create a collection of films with support from Channel 4.[62] Throughout the following year, Fox Fisher and Lewis Hancox filmed with 25 trans and gender variant people across the UK. Each short documentary features a trans person talking about their life, their experiences, passions and hopes.

The shorts were produced by All About Trans and made available as ‘My Trans Story’ in October 2015 on All Four, the Channel 4 on demand service and ‘Am I Normal’, the Channel 4 project that explores the idea through films, clips and advice, that there is "no normal".[63]

Further work

Volunteer and artist Sophie Green worked with All About Trans alongside Robin Esser, Managing Editor, from the Daily Mail, and the All About Trans Advisory Group to create an infographic that gives media professionals tips when writing about trans matters. This has been shared and mentioned in mainstream media.[64]

References

  1. ↑ "Gay Star News – British media get interactive with trans people".
  2. ↑ "On Road Media – About".
  3. ↑ http://www.mermaidsuk.org.uk/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ↑ "Huffington Post UK - 9 Inspirational Gay, Bisexual And Transgender Men Who Are Redefining Masculinity In 2015".
  5. ↑ "Attitude - ATTITUDE PRIDE AWARD WINNER: TRANS RAF PILOT AYLA HOLDOM".
  6. ↑ "Paul Hamlyn Foundation - All About Trans receives support for a new UK-wide project".
  7. ↑ "BBC Diversity - Equality Information Report".
  8. ↑ "Creative Diversity Network - Joint initiative to raise awareness about transgender".
  9. ↑ Trans Media Watch – About http://www.transmediawatch.org/about.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  10. ↑ "The Guardian – Changing the way the media represents transgender people".
  11. ↑ "The Guardian – Changing the way the media represents transgender people".
  12. ↑ "The New Statesman – What the row over banning Germaine Greer is really about".
  13. ↑ "Huffington Post UK – Fox Fisher is working with Britain's 'Evil' newspapers to change their coverage of transgender people".
  14. ↑ "Digital Spy – Hollyoaks newcomer Annie Wallace: 'Sally's storyline will have big surprises next year'".
  15. ↑ "Digital Spy – Hollyoaks newcomer Annie Wallace: 'Sally's storyline will have big surprises next year'".
  16. ↑ "Digital Spy – Hollyoaks newcomer Annie Wallace: 'Sally's storyline will have big surprises next year'".
  17. ↑ http://www.channel4.com/programmes/hollyoaks/videos/real-life-issues/transgender-storyline. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  18. ↑ http://www.channel4.com/programmes/hollyoaks/videos/real-life-issues/transgender-dispelling-the-myths. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  19. ↑ "Nottingham Post - Hollyoaks: Paris Lees will become first transgender person to appear in a British soap opera".
  20. ↑ "Reflections on #Transcamp (26.01.2012)".
  21. ↑ "YouTube – TransCamp at Channel 4".
  22. ↑ "Trans Comedy Award site".
  23. ↑ "Winners of BBC Writersroom Trans Comedy Award announced".
  24. ↑ "BBC Media Centre - BBC Comedy presents four comedy pilots at Salford Sitcom Showcase".
  25. ↑ "BBC2 commissions Britain's first transgender sitcom Boy Meets Girl".
  26. ↑ "BBC Media Centre - Kim Shillinglaw announces raft of new BBC Two commissions".
  27. ↑ "BBC Paris Lees and Rebecca Root on 'ground breaking' transgender romcom Boy Meets Girl".
  28. ↑ "The Guardian – BBC starts filming sitcom starring transgender actor".
  29. ↑ "BBC News - Transgender sitcom Boy Meets Girl ushers in new era for TV".
  30. ↑ "Stonewall – Stonewall celebrates a decade of achievements at final awards".
  31. ↑ "Chronicle Live - Brendan Healy, Kathy Secker and Alistair Brownlee remembered at Royal Television Society awards".
  32. ↑ "Chronicle Live - Ground-breaking Newcastle-set comedy Boy Meets Girl to get a second series".
  33. ↑ "Breibart - Revealed: The Powerful Lobby Group Behind New Transgender Characters In Eastenders And Hollyoaks".
  34. ↑ "The Independent - British TV drama putting trans on the agenda as BBC castings signal major step forward".
  35. ↑ "The Independent - Rainbow List 2015: Interview with No 1 Riley Carter Millington".
  36. ↑ "BAFTA Awards".
  37. ↑ "BBC Radio 4 Listening Project".
  38. ↑ "Staying Out".
  39. ↑ "My Transgender Punk Rock Story".
  40. ↑ "The Hate Debate".
  41. ↑ "Cathy Newman (19 November 2013). Prison will not be kind to Chelsea Manning".
  42. ↑ "The Telegraph – I met my girlfriend when she was a boy".
  43. ↑ "The Guardian You don't have to be trans to be an ally against transphobia".
  44. ↑ "Bournemouth Echo - All About Trans: how project is helping to bring transgender community and the media together".
  45. ↑ "Mumsnet – Coming to terms with having a transgender son".
  46. ↑ "Herald Scotland Transition Nation".
  47. ↑ "The Sun Hollyoaks sex change girl is a-gender setting".
  48. ↑ "The Guardian - A female Thor is good – a feminine male superhero would be better".
  49. ↑ "The Telegraph - Screw Putin - Transgender people are finally in the driving seat".
  50. ↑ "Scotland Herald - A Girl to a Man 0 why I need a binder to hide my chest".
  51. ↑ "Dorset Echo – Coming out and finding support in Dorset".
  52. ↑ "Prancing Through Life – Juno Roche on Trans Lives #gendercation".
  53. ↑ "The Guardian If the RAF can accept my gender transition, why can't the media?".
  54. ↑ PPC website http://www.pcc.org.uk/advanced_search.html?keywords=kate+stone&page=1&num=10&publication=x&decision=x&image.x=9&image.y=3. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  55. ↑ "The Guardian - Scientist Kate Stone hails landmark press negotiation over transgender reporting".
  56. ↑ "BBC News Stag gore victim Dr Kate Stone says press 'trampled on private life'".
  57. ↑ "Press Gazette Mail, Telegraph, Sun, Mirror and Record admit wrong to mention transgender status of stag attack victim".
  58. ↑ "The Guardian The PCC wasn't all bad as its latest transgender mediation illustrates".
  59. ↑ "The Media Show".
  60. ↑ "Channel 4 News - Newspapers rapped over stag attack transgender reports".
  61. ↑ "My Genderation & All About Trans: Patchwork TEASER". YouTube.
  62. ↑ "Channel 4 – My Trans Story".
  63. ↑ Am I Normal? https://aminormal.channel4.com/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  64. ↑ "Infographic shared on Huffington Post".

External links

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