All About Trans is a project that aims to improve how the media understands and portrays

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

people. Its aim is to "promote trans voices in the media" and engage media professionals (such as journalists, presenters and editors) and other sector professionals with trans topics in creative ways. The project is managed by On Road Media, a charity that "tackles social problems by improving media coverage of misrepresented groups and issues". All About Trans is supported and led by an advisory group made up of individuals and organisations from within the trans community and consultants including journalist

Paris Lees Paris Lees is an English author, journalist, presenter and campaigner. She topped ''The Independent on Sunday''s 2013 Pink List, came second in the 2014 Rainbow List, and was awarded the Positive Role Model Award for LGBT in the 2012 National ...

, filmmaker Fox Fisher and pilot Ayla Holdom. The work is funded and supported by the

Esmée Fairbairn Foundation The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation is a registered charity founded in England in 1961. It is one of the larger independent grant-making foundations based in the UK, funding organisations which aim to improve the quality of life for people and communit ...

and the

Paul Hamlyn Foundation Paul Hamlyn Foundation is a registered charity, and a company limited by guarantee, which has been established in its current form since 2004, succeeding an earlier incarnation that was founded in 1987, which itself formalised established philan ...

. Previous funders include the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

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 railway 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 become aware of the poor coverage of

people, McDermott approached members of the voluntary watchdog organisation

Trans Media Watch Trans Media Watch (TMW) is a British charity founded in 2009 to improve media coverage of transgender and intersex issues. By improving media coverage, TMW strives to "foster social acceptance and civil recognition for trans persons", and to pr ...

, a charity that focuses on changing the media representation and reporting of trans people, to improve this representation.

Activities

Interactions

All About Trans sets up interactions between media professionals and trans and non-binary individuals. An interaction is a relaxed, social meet-up between a senior media or sector professional and someone with personal experiences to share. It is designed to encourage a greater understanding of the community, 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 people of all ages and over nearly 350 media and other sector professionals from a range of media organisations across the UK. These include ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'', ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', ''

The Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...

'', ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

'',

, the

Press Complaints Commission The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) was a voluntary regulatory body for British printed newspapers and magazines, consisting of representatives of the major publishers. The PCC closed on Monday 8 September 2014, and was replaced by the Ind ...

Press Association PA Media (formerly the Press Association) is a multimedia news agency A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and All-news radio, radio and ...

. In 2015, All About Trans has met with the ''

New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...

'', and ''

The Mail on Sunday ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. Founded in 1982 by Lord Rothermere, it is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK. Its sister paper, the ''Daily Mail'', was first published i ...

''.

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. 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.

Accomplishments

''Hollyoaks''

All About Trans has met more than once with the ''

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which originally began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. From 2005 to 2023, episodes h ...

'' team. Following a large interaction in 2014, the cast and crew asked members of the trans community to advise them on their trans storyline between the characters Blessing and Dennis. 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. Filmmaker Lewis Hancox produced two backstage videos about trans experiences for the Channel 4 website.

made a cameo appearance alongside the character Blessing in November 2014.

Dr Kate Stone's press negotiations

Sarah Lennox, an adviser for All About Trans, worked with Dr Kate Stone on a negotiation with the

(now

Independent Press Standards Organisation The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) is the largest independent regulator of the newspaper and magazine industry in the UK. It was established on 8 September 2014 after the windup of the Press Complaints Commission (PCC), which h ...

) 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 ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...

'', the Scottish edition of ''The Sun'', the '' Daily Record'', the ''

'', and ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

''. The statements by each newspaper were reported by the PCC.

Yvonne Roberts Yvonne Roberts is a freelance English writer and journalist. She was born in 1948 in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire and has worked in newspaper and television journalism. She has published sixteen books, including novels and discussions of hu ...

outlined the background and context of Stone's negotiation in ''The Observer'', while the story was picked up by several news outlets, such as

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

, ''

Press Gazette ''Press Gazette'', formerly known as ''UK Press Gazette'' (UKPG), is a British trade magazine dedicated to journalism and the press. First published in 1965, it had a circulation of about 2,500 before becoming online-only in 2013. Published wit ...

'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', the Radio 4 ''

The Media Show ''The Media Show'' is a weekly United Kingdom, British current affairs (news format), current affairs radio programme and podcast on BBC Radio 4 which examines the current state of the Mass media, media. First broadcast on 1 October 2008, it is p ...

'', and by ''

Channel 4 News ''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982. Current productions ''Channel 4 News'' ''Channel 4 News'' ...

''.

''Boy Meets Girl''

One of the outcomes of Trans Camp was the Trans Comedy Award. 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. The winning script ''Boy Meets Girl'', written by Elliott Kerrigan, was made into a pilot by

Tiger Aspect Tiger Aspect Productions (formerly known as Tiger Television from 1988 until 1993 and also known as Tiger Aspect Films for theatrical films) is a British television and film production company, particularly noted for its situation comedies. Fou ...

commissioned by

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

in the summer of 2014. Before its release on television, it was one of four pilots to be showcased at the Salford Comedy Festival. It was then broadcast on BBC Two, Thursday 3 September 2015. '' Boy Meets Girl'' comprised six 30-minute episodes; it aired on

from 3 September to 10 October 2015. It was set in Newcastle, and starred Rebecca Root as Judy and Harry Hepple as Leo. 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. The series focused on Judy and Leo's relationship, the age gap between the two and their "endearingly eccentric families". At the 2015

Stonewall Awards The Stonewall Awards was an annual event held by the British charity Stonewall (charity), Stonewall to recognise people who have affected the lives of United Kingdom, British lesbian, gay, bi and trans people. The event was first held in 2006 a ...

the show received the Trans Media Award for bringing trans issues to British prime time television. Elliot Kerrigan won a

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

Rising Star Award for ''Boy Meets Girl'' in February 2016. Rebecca Root was awarded the Breakthrough Performance Award at the Attitude Awards in October 2015 for her role in the sitcom. In October 2015, it was announced that ''Boy Meets Girl'' would be returning for a second series. This consisted of six episodes, broadcast 6 July to 4 August 2016. Rebecca Root, playing the role of Judy, has since become All About Trans' Patron.

''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". 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. 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".

Transgender soap characters

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. ''Hollyoaks'' introduced 'Mrs Sally St. Claire', played by transgender actress Annie Wallace, and ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...

'' have introduced 'Kyle', the brother of 'Stacey Branning', played by trans actor Riley Carter Millington. This credit was reinforced with Riley Carter Millington topping ''

The Independent On Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'' 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 ass a result of tireless campaigning by groups such as All About Trans".

''I Am Leo''

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

Listening Project

In 2015, four volunteers worked with All About Trans and

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

to record clips for the Listening Project and the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

. The first of these was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 18 and 22 November. Paris Lees also presented three

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

documentaries after the All About Trans meeting with BBC Radio 1 Commissioning Editor Piers Bradford. The documentaries were called ''Staying Out'', ''My Transgender Punk Rock Story'' and ''The Hate Debate''.

Media infographic

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.

Press

All About Trans' work has been written about by journalists such as

Cathy Newman Catherine Elizabeth Newman (born 14 July 1974)Campbell, Lisa (20 October 2011)"Cathy Newman, C4 News" ''Broadcast''. . Newman's date of birth is given as "Bastille Day 1974". is an English journalist, and presenter of ''Channel 4 News''. She ...

Radhika Sanghani Radhika Sanghani is a writer and journalist who has contributed to publications including ''The Daily Telegraph.'' She is also the author of books such as ''Virgin: A Novel'' and ''Not That Easy''. Education Sanghani attended Haberdashers' Ask ...

and

Owen Jones Owen Jones (born 8 August 1984) is a left-wing British newspaper columnist, commentator, journalist, author and political activist. He writes a column for ''The Guardian'' and contributes to the ''New Statesman'', ''Tribune (magazine), Tribune ...

. These and further articles appeared in newspapers and news outlets such as the ''

Bournemouth Echo The ''Bournemouth Daily Echo'', commonly known as the ''Daily Echo'' (a.k.a. the ''Bournemouth Echo''), is a local newspaper that covers the area of southeast Dorset, England, including the towns Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch. Published b ...

'' and the Glasgow ''

Herald A herald, or a herald of arms, is an officer of arms, ranking between pursuivant and king of arms. The title is commonly applied more broadly to all officers of arms. Heralds were originally messengers sent by monarchs or noblemen ...

''. Paris Lees also writes for a variety of organisations that All About Trans met with, including ''

'', and the Telegraph. Some All About Trans participants have written or blogged for the Glasgow ''Herald'', the ''

Dorset Echo The ''Dorset Echo'' is a daily newspaper published in the county of Dorset, England. The title publishes Monday to Saturday from editorial offices in Weymouth, and covers issues concerning south, central and west Dorset. The ''Dorset Echo'' ...

'', and ''The Observer'' following interactions with the papers.

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.allabouttrans.org.uk LGBTQ political advocacy groups in the United Kingdom Transgender organisations in the United Kingdom 2011 establishments in the United Kingdom

History

Activities

Interactions

Trans Camp

Accomplishments

''Hollyoaks''

Dr Kate Stone's press negotiations

''Boy Meets Girl''

''My Trans Story'' / ''Patchwork: Real People''

Transgender soap characters

''I Am Leo''

Listening Project

Media infographic

Press

See also

References

External links