My friends at Trans Media Watch should be back in front of the Leveson Inquiry on media ethics soon with a new submission. As I have noted over the past few days, ever since TMW first gave evidence, the tabloid press has ramped up its campaign of harassment against trans people. As Pink News reports, in the fortnight since the Leveson appearance, 34 articles on trans people have been published in the British press, 14 of them in the Daily Malice and its subsidiaries. They are almost entirely hostile (using terms like “freakish” and “revolting”). Some follow the practice of presenting an article as an interview when in fact they just stole quotes from other online sources. And some are almost laughably inaccurate. According to one Malice article, trans people didn’t exist 20 years ago. Well it is good to know that I can’t be any older than 20.

A rather better account of trans history, in this case black trans history, can be found in this fine article by Monica Roberts in Ebony. The first known African American trans person was born in 1886.

Meanwhile the Huffington Post has asked someone who actually works with trans kids to counter some of the lies and distortions being spread by the tabloids. It is an excellent piece, and in particular shows clearly how, under the excuse of providing “balance”, the media privilege the views of people with loud opinions but no actual knowledge above those who work in the area in question.