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Plainsense (talk · contribs) / Press for Change Press for Change

Suggested authoritatively sourced article

Latest comment: 12 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

This is Christine Burns one of the former vice presidents of Press for Change.

I noticed that this page has just been begun. May I respectfully suggest the following material for inclusion by those interested in creating a strong and well-referenced article.

Clearly as I have a personal connection with the organisation (albeit having left about five years ago) it is probably best for independent editors to handle the material.

Note that many of the references are to archived copies of the campaign's material which were snapshotted by the British Library from 2005. As the original web site has been lost and since many people won't have been aware of this archive material I hope it makes a useful contribution.

Kindest regards Christine Burns Plainsense (talk) 19:33, 10 May 2012 (UTC)Reply

Press for Change

Press for Change [1][2] is a lobbying organisation for transsexual and transgender people in the United Kingdom, dedicated to improving the social position and legal protections of all gender diverse people through a combination of education and legal work. It was founded on 27th February 1992 by Mark Rees [3][4][5], Stephen Whittle [6][7] and others. Press for Change is best known for the successful judicial precedents which its legal collaborations brought about; for using those successes as levers to bring about permanent legislative protections; for its ground-breaking development of online techniques to coordinate grassroots activism; for beginning the process of constructive challenge towards the British media; for providing the first visible political representation for the trans communities; and for encouraging a transformation in the medical treatment of transsexual people.

Its best known advocates have been Stephen Whittle OBE and Christine Burns MBE [8][9], who both achieved their honours for work undertaken within Press for Change. Honours were also conferred on Claire McNab (MBE) [10] and Angela Clayton (MBE).

Accomplishments

Press for Change’s most significant achievements have been in identifying and supporting strategic legal cases which, through successful judgements, forced legislative and social changes which were otherwise strongly resisted. Through these means it brought about:

The Sex Discrimination (Gender Reassignment) Regulations 1999 [11]. This extension to the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act made it unlawful to discriminate in employment and vocational education against any person intending to undergo, undergoing or having undergone gender reassignment
The legal right for persons with gender dysphoria symptoms to receive treatment (including hormones and surgery) through services funded by the NHS. Prior to this, transsexual people had no confirmed right to receive treatment through the NHS. [12][13][14]
The Gender Recognition Act 2004. [15][16] This legislation provides transsexual people with an administrative process to enable formal legal recognition of their acquired gender. Legal recognition entitles a transsexual person to receive a birth certificate reflecting their acquired gender and enables them to marry or enter a civil partnership in accordance with that acquired gender (as opposed to the gender assigned at birth). Recognition also provides legal protection against unauthorised disclosure of a person’s former gender status by anyone who, in the course of official duties, comes into the possession of that information.

In addition to these landmark legal achievements, the campaign was successful in supporting hundreds of trans people and their families who approached the campaign directly for rights advice [17]; fielded representatives to appear in news and current affairs coverage [18]; lobbied extensively in Parliament [19]; worked closely with civil servants to draft new laws [20]; conducted research [21][22][23]; provided political commentary [24] and published guidance [25][26][27]

Although founded in February 1992, the peak of Press for Change’s activity is generally regarded as being between 1995 (with the start of publicly visible campaign activity) and 2008 (with substantially all of the campaign’s original objectives achieved). However, Press for Change remains a working organisation, with new volunteers replacing many of those who were involved at the peak.

Structure

Press for Change was established in principles learned by its founders in 1970’s feminism. Instead of a chief executive and hierarchy of leaders, the organisation began with four equal Vice Presidents and evolved to have a total of seven [28], accompanied by any number of volunteer ‘key activists’, [29]. Apart from encouraging people to volunteer to carry out particular functions, the organisation was otherwise at pains to empower anyone to campaign under the PFC banner, using the resources provided, subject only to the agreement that they should follow the campaign’s guidelines.

To facilitate this ‘anyone can campaign’ approach, much effort was placed in the early years on developing the guidelines, such as a clear Mission Statement [30]; rules [31]; a Code of Conduct [32]; and Principles [33]. These were supplemented by a campaign pack [34].

In spite of the egalitarian aims of the founders, the Vice Presidents realised that there was a need from outsiders to identify people who could be described as leaders. The campaign later therefore published more profile details about the Vice Presidents themselves, and took the hitherto unprecedented step of supplying pictures of them [35] (trans people had traditionally been shy of being identified). This step towards visibility led eventually to a far greater preparedness by UK trans people in general to be ‘out’ and recognised.

Work with Government

Press for Change was formed following a meeting with Alex Carlile MP (now Lord Carlile) [36], who recommended that transsexual people would need to create a campaign and be prepared to work for a decade or more to achieve their objectives. The story of that meeting is recounted in Mark Rees’ autobiography [37][38].

During the years of the Conservative Government (1979-1997) there was no opportunity for the campaign to formally influence policy; however Vice President Christine Burns used her position as a Conservative Party Branch Secretary and Vice-Chair [39] to lobby mininsters via her MP, Sir Alastair Goodlad [40]. As Chief Whip, Goodlad was in the position to obtain responses to her letters from senior ministers.

Press for Change became more politically visible through fringe meetings which it organised at the Labour and Conservative Party conferences in October 1995 (ibid, “The Diary of a Conference Campaigner”). However it was not until the landslide victory of the Labour Party in May 1997 [41], and the campaign’s success with the P vs S and Cornwall County Council case in the European Court of Justice that doors to civil servants and ministers were opened.

Early signs of access came with a sudden invitation for the campaign to take a display stand at the Labour Party Conference in October 1997 [42][43] along with indications of forthcoming opportunities to be consulted on legislation [44][45]. The actual consultation came in early 1998 and was not handled well by the Department for Education and Employment [46][47][48]; however the outcome was relatively successful and established a positive reputation for the campaign in Whitehall [49].

The next opportunity to liaise with Government came in April 1999 when the justice minister Jack Straw MP ordered an interdepartmental study of the issues faced by transsexual people and the options for what government could do. Press for Change formed an alliance of transgender activist and support groups to ensure a consistent message to Government and was among the first to publish a submission [50]. The working group reported back in April 2000 [51], although the report then languished until the European Court of Human Rights [52] ruled, in July 2002 [53], that the UK Government must resolve the human rights issues of marriage (Article 12) and the right to private life (Article 8).

The Goodwin and I v United Kingdom decision led to a far closer working relationship between Press for Change and civil servants (in first the Home Office and then the Lord Chancellor’s Department) to establish the principles for legislation and then assist in the drafting of what became the Gender Recognition Act [54].

The cordial working relationship between Press for Change and officials and ministers continued after the Gender Recognition Act was passed in 2004 – first in committee work to ensure the successful implementation of the legal recognition process and thereafter in consultations on the Equality Act 2006. Much routine policy work was achieved by asking supportive Members of Parliament to table questions for Ministers [55]

Latter Years

From 2005 the Press for Change leadership increasingly sought to redefine their work, having achieved the campaign’s primary objectives. The campaign explained the need to continue work on its home page of that era [56]

Legal work continued through individual cases, and by involvement in the process to set up the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights. This included the commission to carry out substantial research to inform the Equalities Review [57].

The campaign also defined new emphasis on media reform [58] and health and social care for trans people [59].

From 2006, however, some of the most involved Vice Presidents began to retire themselves. By the Spring of 2008 Claire McNab, Christine Burns, Angela Clayton and Tracy Dean had all quietly resigned and departed. Alex Whinnom also ceased to be active. However, Stephen Whittle decided to continue.

Press for Change is now in phase of regrowth, led by Stephen Whittle and with new volunteers on board, defining the campaign now as a consultancy, legal advice group and European equality NGO [60]

Expanding article.

Latest comment: 12 years ago4 comments2 people in discussion

Thanks for the above I will go through it and try to expand the main article. The text is a helpful idea/basis for expansion though some more sources outside of PFCs own website would be great as we have to be careful that an article about the group is not primarily based on its own sources. Also blogs are usually not considered reliable sources on her unless used to confirm material about the blogs author.RafikiSykes (talk) 21:08, 10 May 2012 (UTC)Reply

Hi [User:RafikiSykes|RafikiSykes]]. This is how I intended. I do understand about the need for reliable third party sources where possible; however, the challenge I foresee is that Press for Change achieved what it did in a world that was pretty intent on erasing any idea of this kind of trans advocacy. We sometimes obtained a couple of lines of individual quotation in news articles which the papers couldn't avoid reporting (e.g. because we had won major legal victories) but nobody in my recollection ever wrote for the mainstream specifically about Press for Change and why we were doing what we were doing. On the couple of occasions I was asked for interviews they were the kind that wanted 'before' pictures, and wanted to talk about my genitals and 'brave journey'. As political activists my colleagues naturally resisted that kind of trivialisation.

This, as I see it, is a challenge for WikiPedia's approach, which assumes that people and organisations doing notable things will have been profiled and discussed in the media long before being featured here. Indeed, one of the principal reasons for setting up the PFC web site as the way Claire and I did, was to overcome that mainstream erasure and document events ourselves. Remember that for much of PFC's history even the gay press wasn't interested. For the benefit of other editors (as I've told you this already) I've written about this on a number of occasions. E.g. [1] and [2]. I know that Blogs are deprecated as sources too. I'm not referred to those articles or others of mine in the expectation of anyone using them as references, but to provide background to editors coming fresh to this and having no clue about the unhelpful climate in which Press for Change worked.

PS. Please note by the way that, of the notable persons quoted on the page, only Stephen Whittle remains a present day vice president. It would be more accurate to describe Claire, Angela and myself as 'former' vice presidents. We all left PFC between 2006 and 2008.

Once again hoping this is helpful.

Kindest regards

Christine Burns MBE

Plainsense (talk) 11:04, 11 May 2012 (UTC)Reply

That is great thank you I will add former to those 3. Just wondered do you have details or links about more patrons? I am adding that section to help prove further notability.RafikiSykes (talk)

The full list of Patrons is here on the site archive http://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20060124120000/http://www.pfc.org.uk/campaign/whoswho.htm

Unfortunately with the exception of Julie Hesmondhalgh I don't think you'll find many third party references to the rest

Lord Beaumont Nicholas Blake QC Rabbi Lionel Blue Alex Carlile QC Edwina Currie Ven. Dr Mark Dalby Prof. Louis Gooren Rev. Dr Leslie Griffiths Jerry Hayes Julie Hesmondhalgh Dr Lynne Jones MP Paul Jones Lady Helena Kennedy QC Lord Lester QC Ken Livingstone MP Rt. Rev'd. Hugh Montefiore Jan Morris Rabbi Julia Neuberger Faye Presto Claire Rayner Mel Read MEP Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Plainsense (talk) 22:39, 11 May 2012 (UTC)Reply

PS. Stephen Whittle's honorific is "Professor", not "Dr" as given. Refer to his bio for the other post nominal letters I think you'll similarly find Angela Clayton's on her bio page My own post nominals, for information, are MBE., MSc., BSc., C.Eng., MBCS., CITP Plainsense (talk) 08:00, 12 May 2012 (UTC)Reply

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