ISSUES
: Sexuality and Gender
Chapter 3: LGBTQ+ issues
37
its messy, complicated glory.
The protagonist, Henry, was a
grumpy, selfish narcissist, entirely
disillusioned with his own life.
Most of the characters were gay,
but were they in any way cute or
aspirational? God, no. Or, at least,
not from where I was sitting.
Although the new study relies
on dated characterisations, the
researchers and I can agree on
the need for more multifaceted gay
characters – not least to quiet the
vocal minority. Perhaps as more
gay characters reach our screens,
both aspirational and abominable,
less will hinge on the few that we
do see. Because no TV show can
be all things to all gay people – and
shouldn’t be expected to try.
9 February 2016
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The above information is
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Limited 2016
Legal certificate or not, trans people
deserve better from the prison system
An article from
The Conversation
.
By Samantha Pegg, Senior Lecturer, Criminal Law,
Nottingham Trent University
T
he death of transgender
woman Vikki Thompson,
21, who was serving her
sentence at the all-male Armley
Prison in Leeds has drawn attention
once again to the treatment of
transgender persons by the
criminal justice system.
Since the UK Gender Recognition
Act 2004 came into force,
transgender people have been
able to have their acquired gender
recognised by going through a
detailed legal process which,
if satisfied, allows a new birth
certificate to be issued. For legal
purposes the applicant is then
recognised in their new gender.
While this was a valuable step
toward
recognising
gender
autonomy it seems to have created
a hierarchy for trans people, one
that permeates our legal and
criminal justice system.
As Thompson had no ‘gender
recognition certificate’ she was
placed in prison estate that
reflected her birth gender. This is
in line with the National Offender
Management Service guidance
that requires prisoners to be
placed according to their gender
as recognised by the law. There
are clearly problems in terms of
prison estate – housing those
transitioning from male to female in
female prisons have in some cases
been deemed to raise issues of
safety for other inmates.
There is some discretion in this
policy, where transgender people
are “sufficiently advanced in the
gender reassignment process”
they may be placed “in the estate
of their acquired gender”. This
was the case for Tara Hudson, the
transgender woman initially held in
an all-male prison who complained
of sexual harassment. Hudson
was moved to a female facility
after significant public attention
prompted the Prison Service to
recognise that, as she had lived as
a woman all her adult life and had
undergone gender reconstruction
surgery, she was – in all but law –
female.
It is this legal recognition of gender
that is the sticking point. The death
of Thompson will undoubtedly
prompt a rethink of the current
rules governing the placement
of prisoners – and indeed an
investigation is underway. But until
there is clearer guidance and rights
for trans people, there may be more
tragic stories like Thompson’s.
Self-identification
The convictions of Gayle Newland
and Justine McNally for sexual
offences that involved deceiving
others about their gender, show
how complicated it can be if
someone self-identifies as a
trans person but is not legally
transitioned.
Both
were
recognised
as
suffering from gender confusion
and, although both had sought
psychiatric help for issues
including anxiety and self-harm,
neither was undergoing medical or
legal transition. The fact they had
then misrepresented their gender
was considered to be something
which had prevented their victims
making a fully informed decision
about consent. That these young
women had lied was central
to the convictions here – that
the defendants may have self-
identified as male at the time of the
offences was given little credence.
The law here seems to be fixated
on binary gender roles with little
tolerance for gender variance.
However, whether their actions
would have been adjudged criminal
if Newland and McNally had legally
transitioned is also still unclear. It is
certainly relevant to prosecutions
for sexual offences and the Crown
Prosecution Service has advised
that, when an offence involves a
transgender suspect, “prosecutors
will need to know the suspect’s
position in relation to the Gender
Recognition Act 2004 (GRA)”.
While it is unsurprising that criminal
law has struggled to deal sensitively
with gender confusion, the rules
governing prison placements are
slightly clearer – although they still
focus on whether the prisoner has
undergone legal recognition.
