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trans2006-09-09 10:24 pm
nobmouse.livejournal.com) wrote in trans2006-09-09 10:24 pm
Metropolitan Police Investigate BBC Over "Tranny Rachel"
Press For Change don't have this on their website's archive yet so here's a copy of their news bulletin instead
Events in the "Tranny Rachel" story took an unexpected turn on Friday this week when a trans woman made a formal complaint to the Metropolitan Police, citing the programme feature by Radio One DJ Chris Moyles as a transphobic Hate Crime.
PFC-News subscriber Femina Street made her complaint on Thursday, using the Met's online hate crime reports page, after we had reported details of the BBC's response to direct protests about the regular Breakfast
Show feature, in which the show's producer (the eponymous Rachel) has her voice electronically altered to sound uncannily like the psychotic serial murderer Jaime Gumb in the 1990 film "Silence of the Lambs". For the BBC's response see http://www.pfc.org.uk/pfclists/news-arc/2006q3/msg00065.htm.
The Met's hate crimes report page provides a very simple method for people to report concerns about homophobic and transphobic incidents to the Police.
See http://www.online.police.uk/english/description_hate_crime.asp.
A "transphobic incident" is defined to be "Any incident which is perceived to be transphobic by the victim or any other person". It is up to the Police to investigate and determine whether a "Hate Incident" is actually a "Hate Crime".
In Femina's case officers responded very promptly though. On Thursday night she was contacted by someone to check the details. A Police Officer then contacted her on Friday morning to check where the offending broadcast could be heard, and to verify how it had offended her. Her allegation, complete with a crime reference number, has now been forwarded to the Community Safety Unit, who will investigate further. One aspect which officers will probably weight up is whether the programme has attracted other complaints of a similar nature.
Chris Moyles is, of course, no stranger to controversy. In the course of his career he has been accused of Sexism, Racism and Homophobia -- the last in May 2006, when he rejected a ringtone by saying "I don't want that one, it's gay." live on air.
Complaints about that comment by many Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual people were rejected by the BBC, who argued that, "The word 'gay', in addition to being used to mean 'homosexual' or 'carefree', was often now used to mean 'lame' or 'rubbish' ". The complaints committee added that, in describing a ringtone as gay, Moyles was conveying that he thought it
was "rubbish" rather than "homosexual".
During Europride this year Stonewall supporters marched with placards
demanding that Moyles should be sacked. (Photo : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Chris_Moyles_protest.jpg). A spokesperson for Stonewall commented that the DJ was "not helping young
LGBT people struggling to come out through his comments."
This will not be the first time that Police have been called to investigate remarks by a presenter.
TV's Ann Robinson infuriated many people living or hailing from Wales in 2001, when she made derogatory remarks about "the Welsh" in the chat show "Room 101". North Wales Police confirmed at the time that it was investigating a complaint of Racism from a member of the public.
However,this is the first time we know of anyone reporting an alleged spoken transphobic incident. Femina's formal complaint is somewhat uncharted territory, though it's increasingly important now for trans people to ensure incidents ARE reported when people feel harassed, discriminated or in jeopardy. The Police may not always be able to bring charges -- that depends on whether an actual crime has been committed. All reported incidents add to the statistics, however, and will help to drive an awareness that trans people are subjected to these kinds of unpleasantness.
Events in the "Tranny Rachel" story took an unexpected turn on Friday this week when a trans woman made a formal complaint to the Metropolitan Police, citing the programme feature by Radio One DJ Chris Moyles as a transphobic Hate Crime.
PFC-News subscriber Femina Street made her complaint on Thursday, using the Met's online hate crime reports page, after we had reported details of the BBC's response to direct protests about the regular Breakfast
Show feature, in which the show's producer (the eponymous Rachel) has her voice electronically altered to sound uncannily like the psychotic serial murderer Jaime Gumb in the 1990 film "Silence of the Lambs". For the BBC's response see http://www.pfc.org.uk/pfclists/news-arc/2006q3/msg00065.htm.
The Met's hate crimes report page provides a very simple method for people to report concerns about homophobic and transphobic incidents to the Police.
See http://www.online.police.uk/english/description_hate_crime.asp.
A "transphobic incident" is defined to be "Any incident which is perceived to be transphobic by the victim or any other person". It is up to the Police to investigate and determine whether a "Hate Incident" is actually a "Hate Crime".
In Femina's case officers responded very promptly though. On Thursday night she was contacted by someone to check the details. A Police Officer then contacted her on Friday morning to check where the offending broadcast could be heard, and to verify how it had offended her. Her allegation, complete with a crime reference number, has now been forwarded to the Community Safety Unit, who will investigate further. One aspect which officers will probably weight up is whether the programme has attracted other complaints of a similar nature.
Chris Moyles is, of course, no stranger to controversy. In the course of his career he has been accused of Sexism, Racism and Homophobia -- the last in May 2006, when he rejected a ringtone by saying "I don't want that one, it's gay." live on air.
Complaints about that comment by many Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual people were rejected by the BBC, who argued that, "The word 'gay', in addition to being used to mean 'homosexual' or 'carefree', was often now used to mean 'lame' or 'rubbish' ". The complaints committee added that, in describing a ringtone as gay, Moyles was conveying that he thought it
was "rubbish" rather than "homosexual".
During Europride this year Stonewall supporters marched with placards
demanding that Moyles should be sacked. (Photo : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Chris_Moyles_protest.jpg). A spokesperson for Stonewall commented that the DJ was "not helping young
LGBT people struggling to come out through his comments."
This will not be the first time that Police have been called to investigate remarks by a presenter.
TV's Ann Robinson infuriated many people living or hailing from Wales in 2001, when she made derogatory remarks about "the Welsh" in the chat show "Room 101". North Wales Police confirmed at the time that it was investigating a complaint of Racism from a member of the public.
However,this is the first time we know of anyone reporting an alleged spoken transphobic incident. Femina's formal complaint is somewhat uncharted territory, though it's increasingly important now for trans people to ensure incidents ARE reported when people feel harassed, discriminated or in jeopardy. The Police may not always be able to bring charges -- that depends on whether an actual crime has been committed. All reported incidents add to the statistics, however, and will help to drive an awareness that trans people are subjected to these kinds of unpleasantness.