All About Trans
| All About Trans | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Commercial? | No |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Status | Active |
| Website | allabouttrans |
All About Trans is a project that "positively changes how the media understands and portrays trans people". Its aim is to "promote trans voices in the media" and engage media professionals (journalists, presenters and editors) and other sector professionals with trans topics in creative ways.
The project is managed by On Road, a charity that "tackles social problems by improving media coverage of misrepresented groups and issues." All About Trans is supported and led by an advisory group made up of individuals and organisations from within the trans community and consultants including journalist Paris Lees, film-maker Fox Fisher and pilot Ayla Holdom.
The work is funded and supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Previous funders include the BBC and Channel 4 television.
All About Trans, originally named Trans Media Action began in October 2011. It was prompted by the director of On Road, Nathalie McDermott, witnessing the death of human rights lawyer and trans woman Sonia Burgess, when she was pushed from a platform at London's Kings Cross station during rush hour. The ensuing media coverage of her death alerted On Road to the appalling treatment of trans people in the media. Having noted the poor coverage of transgender people, McDermott approached members of the voluntary watchdog organisation Trans Media Watch, a charity that focuses on changing the media representation and reporting of trans people, to improve this representation.
All About Trans sets up interactions between media professionals and trans and non-binary individuals. An interaction is a relaxed, social meet-up between a senior media or sector professional and someone with personal experiences to share. It’s designed to encourage a greater understanding of the community, leading to better and more empathetic portrayals of trans people in the media.
By 2015, All About Trans has worked with over 200 trans and gender variant people of all ages and over nearly 350 media and other sector professionals from a range of media organisations across the UK. These include The Observer, The Independent, The Sun, Daily Mail, Channel 4, BBC, CBBC, Press Complaints Commission, Press Association and journalists for regional newspapers such as the Scotland Herald and Dorset Echo. More recently, All About Trans has met with the New Statesman, the Mail on Sunday and Hollyoaks.
All About Trans has met more than once with the Hollyoaks team. Following a large interaction in 2014, the cast and crew asked members of the trans community to advise them on their trans storyline between the characters Blessing and Dennis. All About Trans supported them with casting workshops, leading to a new storyline in 2015 with new character Mrs St Claire played by Annie Wallace. Filmmaker Lewis Hancox produced two backstage videos about trans experiences for the Channel 4 website. Paris Lees made a cameo appearance alongside the character Blessing in November 2014.
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