A story about a transsexual rape counsellor which used the word ‘tranny’ has landed a weekly newspaper in trouble with the press watchdog.

On 1 November Sunday Life, sister weekly to the Belfast Telegraph, carried a story headlined ‘Tranny worked in rape centre’ about counsellor Keira McCormack, a male to-to-female transsexual.

The article reported concerns about the complainant’s employment, referred to her as a ‘tranny’ and used adjectives such as ‘strapping’ and ‘burly’ to describe her build.

Ms McCormack complained to the Press Complaints Commission under Clause 12 (Discrimination) of its Code of Conduct, saying use of the word ‘tranny’ was deeply insulting. The complaint was upheld.

In response, Sunday Life said it had not intended to cause any offence by using the word ‘tranny’ which it considered to be widely used in articles about transsexuals and transvestites.

Additionally, while the complainant might not have appreciated the adjectives to describe her build, these were relevant in the context of the story, the paper said.

Ms McCormack said there was a significant difference between transvestites and transsexuals, arguing that the term tended to be used by the former and not the latter.

The PCC ruled: “While the newspaper was entitled to publish a story about people’s concerns over the suitability of the complainant’s employment, her gender identity should not have been open to ridicule.

“Taking into account the full context of the piece, the Commission considered that the use of the word ‘tranny’ – which was a needless abbreviation, held by many to be offensive – was pejorative.”

Comments

Daily Turnout (04/01/2010 16:45:21)
“Tranny” is considered as offensive as the n-word among transsexual people. This judgement is long overdue. The accepted abbreviation for transgender people is simply “trans”.
(Mr_Osato: counsellor)

Diane (05/01/2010 01:23:04)
I think the major cause for the confusion is the use of transgender (a term inclusive of tv’s, cd’s etc.) to include many who are not trans’ing their gender but correcting their sex – the transsexual. Maybe more specific use of terminology is in order rather than throw everyone under the transgender umbrella of mix and match.

biter (05/01/2010 11:10:23)
Phew! Glad I passed on that story. Having said that, wouldn’t have used the ‘t’ word.

Roger (05/01/2010 11:12:30)
In response, Sunday Life said it had not intended to cause any offence by using the word ‘tranny’ which it considered to be widely used in articles about transsexuals and transvestites.
What a crass attitude.

Derek Smalls, Squatney (05/01/2010 11:22:52)
My brother Terry collects stamps. So what?