Anybody who has read my diaries will know that Bindel is an avowed enemy of the transgendered.

So I wrote the following letter of protest

I am writing to express my considerable distress and dismay that you intend honouring Julie Bindel for her work in feminism when that body of work includes a high profile campaign against the transgendered members of the LGBT community.

I appreciate that, despite transgendered people being at the forefront of the actual Stonewall riots from which you take your name, you consider yourselves as a campaign only for the rights of the LGB portion of the community. Nevertheless your very own publication state the following about transphobia;-

Transphobia is the unrealistic or irrational fear and hatred of transgender people. Like all prejudices, it is based on negative stereotypes and misconceptions that are then used to justify and support hatred, discrimination, harassment, and violence toward people who are transgender.

Transphobic attitudes and beliefs include:-

the belief that trans women are not "real women" because they have been raised and socialised as men

the belief that trans men are not "real men" because they do not have, or were not born with a penis

the belief that transsexual people are actually gay people in denial

the assumption that transgender people are "sick" or that they are psychologically unstable

when a transgender person is excluded from services, activities, discussions or decisions because it is felt that that person doesn't "fit in"

the refusal to recognise or acknowledge the true gender of a trans person and the continual insistence to refer to them by their former name

I would assume from their publication by your organisation that anybody who supports and propagandises such sentiments would not be considered an ally of Stonewall. Yet they are the very distillation of Ms Bindel's written work on the subject. One only has to look on the Guardian website to see a whole series of articles that reflect the transphobic attitudes you describe, let alone her wider works available via google.

This shortlisting alone is insulting and disrespectful of a section of the LGBT community. I hope that you will have the grace to withdraw this invitation and apologise.

I suspect thaey are getting an awful lot of flak about this because within minutes I received in reply the standard response others have already posted

Dear Helena, (sic)

Thank you for your email. (which Stonewall obviously never read cos they got my name wrong)

Julie Bindel was shortlisted for a Stonewall award in recognition of her journalism during the last 12 months which often brings a lesbian perspective into the mainstream press.

The awards nominating panel are not endorsing everything she has ever written. A nomination in any category does not mean that the awards panel agree with all of someone's opinions. Stonewall recognises that some people may disagree with shortlisted nominees.

Regards,

Stonewall

Some people may disagree eh ?? I just wonder how often they'd nominate an obviously homophobic writer for bringing an interesting perspective into the mainstream press.

keep to the Fen Causeway