I have hesitated to write about the Lucy Meadows case in the UK. Part of that hesitation has been because many of the reports of her "unsuspicious death" on March 20 labeled it as a suicide before it had been declared to be so. It has now become apparent, with the convening of an inquest and its subsequent adjournment, that may not happen.
My own relationship with the press upon transitioning…as a teacher…in Arkansas in 1992 contributes to that hesitation.
I have written about it. I am not sure if I ever shared the entire event.
Here's a snip:
"Hello. I'm [name forgotten] and I am a reporter for the Log Cabin Democrat [the small local daily] and I wondered if I could ask you some questions?"
"To what purpose?" I asked.
"Well, we received a copy of the letter you sent to your colleagues and we are planning an article about you."
After a long silence, as I contemplated which one of my "colleagues" had exhibited his collegiality in such a nice way, I replied, "And what is it you want from me?"
"I would like to interview you for the article."
This was another one of those occasions when one has to make a decision that can have momentous consequences...and one gets about a minute or less to think about it. I agreed to be interviewed by the woman on Thursday morning. I figured that at least this way I might have some input into the article.
There was a vigil for Lucy Meadows on Monday, March 25.
Primary school teaching is the most stressful job. The sort of pressure Lucy would have been under would have been enormous.
--Natacha Kennedy, who quit her own job as a primary school teacher before transitioning because it would have been "too risky"
On a Saturday, March 30, teachers, students and union members marched together in Accrington, England in remembrance of Miss Meadows. Please consider the March to be the focal point of this column, as I will continue to return to it.
Lucy was a teacher at St. Mary Magdalen's Primary School. She is presumed to have committed suicide.
Lucy began her gender transition at the beginning of this term with the support of the school. But a local newspaper outed her to the community and then Daily Mail columnist Richard Littlejohn was, however, displeased with that, so he outed Lucy to the entire country in an opinion piece that was nothing more than a personal attack.
The offending column, He's not only in the wrong body…he's in the wrong job, published on December 20, 2012, has since been withdrawn, but has been archived at the link.
Littlejohn quoted a few parents.
I saw what I thought was Mr Upton dressed as a woman in town one weekend, but I decided I had imagined it.
The school's Christmas newsletter included the follwoing in the Staff Announcements section:
Mr Upton has made a significant change in his life and will be transitioning to live as a woman after the Christmas break. She will return to work as Miss Meadows.
The editor of the newsletter also expressed that the school was "proud of our commitment to equality and diversity." Upon returning from the Christmas break, teachers informed the school's 169 students that they should refer to her as"Miss" rather than "Sir" in the future.
This has been a long and difficult journey for me and it was certainly not an easy decision to make.
--Lucy Meadows
Littlejohn laid his unease at the feet of the children.
But has anyone stopped for a moment to think of the devastating effect all this is having on those who really matter? Children as young as seven aren’t equipped to compute this kind of information.
No. Mr. Littlejohn. Children are very adept at change. It is people like you who are deficient in that regard.
Littlejohn chased down a parent to affirm his distaste:
For the past three years he has been taught by Mr Upton, but has now been told that he will be punished if he continues to call ‘Miss Meadows’ ‘Mr Upton’ after the Christmas holidays. ‘My middle boy thinks that he might wake up with a girl’s brain because he was told that Mr Upton, as he got older, got a girl’s brains.’
--Wayne Cowie
I'm willing to bet that Wayne is the one with the problem.
[M]any parents have been quite annoyed with the press, too, especially those that were trying to give positive comments but were turned away.
--Lucy Meadows
By insisting on returning to St Mary Magdalen’s, he is putting his own selfish needs ahead of the well-being of the children he has taught for the past few years.
--Littlejohn
I was lucky to have a supportive head, but I think I'd have done it here regardless as I couldn't put it off any longer and I have family and financial commitments as well. The guidance I've had from the trans community has been generally sound and very much appreciated, and I'd like to be able to say I've given something back. I suppose the best way for me to do this would be to educate the people around me and children at school – I am a teacher after all!
--Lucy Meadows
Over 200,000 people have
signed a petition calling for Littlejohn to be dismissed from the Daily Mail.
Care.org has also joined in.
The march was organized by Debs Gwynn of the North West National Union of Teachers.
This rally was called for two reasons - to allow the local community to show support and solidarity for what happened and to raise the issue of transphobia more widely.
I have been talking to parents and pupils today and the kids were supportive of Lucy. And they are devastated that their teacher is now dead.
It was a great success, lots of people spoke at the end and they were keen to stress that they were there to support Lucy, her family and her colleagues.
They were there to say any kind of prejudice won't be tolerated and links were made with other issues of people being targeted and scapegoated in society.
--Gwynn
Meadows' emails have been retrieved by some of the press. In them we learn that she spent considerable effort avoiding them and above all wanted to prevent any photo of her from appearing in it. So the press invaded the Facebook pages of her relatives to steal images of her from before transition and printed them instead.
We know that Lucy suffered a huge amount of monstering and harassment by the press when she was very vulnerable around Christmas. That level of press attention could not have helped her mental state one bit.
--Helen Belcher, TransMedia Watch
Members of parliament provide their own reaction to the situation.
It is totally unacceptable to humiliate people or invade someone's privacy when there is absolutely no public interest in the story. Surely the media have learned from Leveson to stop this kind of horrendous intrusion into individual's private lives.
--Kate Green, Labor MP
Former Labor MP Alistair Campbell tweeted this:
I hope journalists are doorstepping Dacre, Murdoch and Littlejohn for their reaction to Lucy Meadows' suicide. The Mail really is scum.
--Alistair Campbell
Meadows' MP Labors's Graham Jones, has http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/trans-media-victim-lucy-meadows-death-sparks-debate-uk-parliament270313">
sought a debate in parliament about the circumstances leading to her death. Jones called Littlejohn's column "a dark moment for the transgender community and the Lucy Meadows case is a deplorable tragedy."
It also raises the issue about the way the transgender community are treated and I think that they’ve had an unfair press.
I think that a debate around the issues of transgender and other minorities will perhaps highlight the oppressive nature of some of the journalistic articles that have appeared over time targeting transgender people.
--Jones
As always, trans-activist Jane Fae was contacted for a comment. She said parliament must not make the mistake of thinking that people are only upset about about the death.
It is because of the appalling way the press treated Lucy in life, and the vile way they treated her after her death.
It may be the press has finally gone too far.
--Fae
In supporting the idea of a parliamentary debate, hate crime activist Una Morris noted that 299 gender identity hate crimes were reported in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2011, but that:
In our experience it is a very real fear for some trans people that reporting hate crime to the police and involvement in the criminal justice process as a witness will result in details of the incident they experienced being reported in the media, for no other reason than they are a trans person.
The freedom of the press is there to hold power to account, not to repeatedly monster and victimize vulnerable, innocent people, exploiting them and their stories which are then warped for commercial gain.
--Belcher
Seven-year-old Daisy Moreton
shared a poem she wrote for her teacher at the march:
Makes you happy
in high spirits
smiles
said kind things
Made us feel good
ever helpful
always nice
delightful
one of a kind
wonderful teacher
scientist’
The poem reminded me of a letter to the editor of the local newspaper in response to the campaign generated by a local church designed to shame me out of my profession and out of the community.
Response to Letter
From Leah Hammett,
Conway:
This letter is in response to the many letters concerning Dr. Robyn Elaine Serven.
As one of Dr. Serven's students, I would like to explain what our class is like. Students sit at their desks, with pencil in hand, taking notes as she presents a well-prepared, detailed lecture. She asks questions to make sure we understand what is being taught and is very receptive to all questions we ask. She makes homework assignments that help in understanding a topic and is available for office hours above and beyond those required by the university.
As you can see, this is just like any other class where the instructor's concerns are with the class. Dr. Serven's personal life is just that...personal...as is mine. I did not choose to attend the University of Central Arkansas because of who the instructors were but for the quality of education. I only hope that anyone wishing to attend college will choose that college on its educational values rather than their own personal views.
---LCD, March 18, 1993