Upcoming Burgess Murder Trial In Britain Begins Soon

I posted a few months about noted British Civil rights attorney Sonia Burgess being pushed to her death at a London subway station back in October by 34 year old Nina Kanagasingham.

Turns out the accused killer is a pre-operative transperson herself and is being charged with murder of the noted human rights attorney.  . 

My British trans cousins have been more than a little pissed about the sensationalist and transphobic coverage being generated in the British media concerning this case. They are also not happy about how Kanagasingham has been treated by the British legal system either.   In addition to being housed in a men's prison, she was hauled into Old Bailey unshaven, a point in which the British press took great glee in pointing out in their stories.

The British media has also pissed our trans cousins across The Pond off by sensationalizing Sonia Burgess' life away from the courtroom. 

I'm a person who believes that if a trans person does the crime, they should accept the consequences and do the time.  But I'm just as adamant that neither should trans people be put in a position in the process of being punished by the justice system for the crime the committed, which will result in mistreatment, gross violations of their human rights, bodily harm or sexual assault either.

The trial of Nina Kanagasingham for the murder of Sonia Burgess will take place at Old Bailey starting July 18.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out not only in the courtroom, but in the British media as well.

'Cars 2' British Flavor

With Cars 2 having a more international theme and storyline,  I found interesting the new characters that will pop up in the upcoming film.

In addition to Team Lightning McQueen getting to experience the hospitality of Luigi's hometown when the World Grand Prix's second race takes place in Italy, action takes place in Japan and England as well. 
 
The movie makes its British debut on July 22, and there will be more than a few familiar characters, voices and a home country feel for British audiences to enjoy.

In addition to seeing iconic vehicles like London bus Topper Deckington III, London cab Chauncy Fares, and Sgt. Highgate it was interesting to note that Queen Elizabeth II was immortalized in the film along with the just married Prince William. 

Character Art Director Jay Shuster was well aware of the tricky task of respectfully depicting a national sovereign for this movie
.  

Specifically with The Queen’s design it took some careful stepping as we, of course, were on hallowed ground emulating a nation’s sovereign as a car. The Queen’s design in our film is inspired by the elegant lines and paint schemes of British car designs of the finest vintage.

In addition to the Royal Family representatives, British Formula 1 champion driver Lewis Hamilton is one of the racers in this film. 

I thought (and my Formula 1 loving friend will probably agree with me) it should have been as a Formula 1 race car to be a stickler for authenticity, but the Hamilton character as one of the World Grand Prix racers in this movie still looks cool and better yet, he'll be doing the voiceover for it.. 

And yes, the British theme of this movie wouldn't be complete without me mentioning the Sir Michael Caine voiced British intelligence agents Finn McMissile, his sidekick Siddley and agent Holley Shiftwell. 

Think I need to reconsider eating buttered popcorn when i go see this one and get fish and chips instead..

British Transpeople Successfully Shut Down Transphobic UK Conference

Did I not stress to folks that the trans rights struggle in the 2K10's would be conducted under new rules?

In addition to fighting tooth and nail any unjust laws aimed at us and demand we be part of the process in compiling any laws that benefit us, we are also going to take control of the education message. 

In other words, we are no longer going to allow non trans people to lie to the public about who we are.

Our British trans cousins have been busy across The Pond fighting a May 20 London trans conference sponsored by the Royal College of Psychiatrists Lesbian and Gay Special Interest Group.


The ‘Transgender: Time To Change’ event by the RCP drew the ire of the British trans community because they felt not only was it going to feature two of our major detractors in the UK, radical lesbian hate feminist Julie Bindel and Dr.Az Hakeem, the RCP's Lesbian And Gay Special Interest Group had no expertise on trans issues.

Their efforts were successful when the Gender Identity Clinic at Charing Cross Hospital, the UK's oldest and most respected trans treatment center pulled out of the event and it was subsequently canceled by the Royal College of Psychologists.


A spokeswoman for the Center stated: “Although we were somewhat wary of engaging in what is essentially a clinical discussion with a predominantly non-trans panel, which, moreover, features a non-clinician (Bindel) whose personal opinion is already well known, we agreed to do so in order that discussion might focus on evidence rather than anecdote. 

“The Royal College should be aware that there is a great deal of disquiet around this event within the trans community. Interested parties should also note that the discussion as it now stands will be one-sided at best.”

Activist Jane Fae, speaking for the organizers of the trans protest said: “The only people to blame for this are the Royal College. They could have had a very successful event if they had talked to the trans community and included people.”

Gee, sounds familiar to what's been happening on our side of the Atlantic.

But congratulations British trans cousins for stopping what was certain to be a disastrous event in your nation's capitol that could have had a deleterious effect on trans policy issues in the UK.  

It also sends a message that the next time you wish to hold a trans conference, start by having the people who live trans lives involved in the planning of it.

It's Sade's Birthday!

Happy birthday to Helen Folasade Adu, known to the rest of the world as simply Sade.

Y'all know how much I love her music and wasn't letting today pass without at least doing some kind of shout out birthday post to her.

MAGNET Protests Stonewall UK Transphobia Outside British Consulate

No matter where we are on this planet, to paraphrase the late Houston crusading consumer reporter Marvin Zindler, 'It's hell to be trans.'

One of the things we deal with is the transphobia aimed at us from inside and outside the GLBT community, and the worst offenders many times are other GL people..  

MAGNET coordinated a protest outside the British Consulate in New York timed to occur at the same moment the Stonewall UK Awards were happening across The Pond.    It was about a video produced by Stonewall UK that includes the term 't****y', which has become a derogatory and insulting slur word to many in our community.

The New York trans community wanted to show solidarity with our British trans cousins, which was why the consulate there was targeted.

Ashley Love, MAGNET organizer had this to say about last night's protest:

"We protested tonight in front of the British Consulate, New York, because a very alarming situation is happening in the UK. A transphobic DVD named “FIT” has been approved to show children and youth in public schools. The anti-transsexual slur “tra**y” is being used, which is used as a taunt and insult when bullies and bigots harass people perceived to be transsexual, intersex or gender non-conforming. This outrage is being ignored by Stonewall UK, who not only advised on the DVD, but has an unhealthy past with the UK trans community, who they exclude from their mission statement, and then back lobby against their interests."

"We ask the Dept. of Education, The Teachers Union, Equality and Human Rights Commission and Stonewall UK to protect the well being of all the children who attend school, and make the responsible and socially conscious decision to edit out the dehumanizing pejorative from the DVD." she said.. 

"Normalizing the T-word, much like how the N-word was normalized decades ago to degrade Black people, will have severe consequences for the acceptance of trans people in mainstream society.  It’s unbelievable that an oppressed minority group, especially children, could have their human rights be disrespected like this by authority figures. As adults, we must protect trans children. Teachers being forced to show DVDs with anti-trans slurs will do no such thing. The good news is that the decision makers involved still have a chance to do what’s right and fix this horrid mistake."