Paris Lees
| Paris Lees | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, England, UK |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Journalist, presenter, LGBT activist/campaigner |
Paris Lees is an English journalist, presenter, and transgender rights activist. She topped the Independent on Sunday's 2013 Pink List, came second in the 2014 Rainbow List, and was awarded the Positive Role Model Award for LGBT in the 2012 National Diversity Awards.
Lees was born in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, as a boy, and self-identified as gay in early adulthood. At the age of 16 she committed a robbery, for which she served eight months in prison when she was 18. She later said "I had dropped out of college. Basically, I had gone off the rails because I was terrified of going to prison. I ended up taking lots of drugs." While in prison Lees decided to change: "I just thought, 'I'm this silly teenage boy in a prison cell who has made a huge mistake and I want to be this happy person'." Lees moved to Brighton to study English at university, where she started to identify as female: "In the space of six weeks I went from living in Nottingham as a boy with my grandma still alive, to living in Brighton as a girl". She was referred to Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic where she received hormone treatment to begin gender transition.
Lees founded the first British magazine aimed at the trans community, META, and was the acting assistant editor of Gay Times. She also has columns in both Gay Times and Diva, and was the first trans cover girl for Diva.
Lees has also written for mainstream newspapers and magazines, including The Independent, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Sun and Vice, as well as for Channel 4 News.
Lees has presented on both television and radio, being the first trans woman presenter on both BBC Radio 1 and Channel 4. On Radio 1, she produced a documentary entitled "The Hate Debate" for BBC Radio 1's Stories in which the attitudes people have to minority groups were considered, along with racism, homophobia, transphobia and Islamophobia. An excerpt from "The Hate Debate" was played on BBC Radio 4's Pick of the Week, with critics praising Lees for doing "a fine job of provoking her listeners" and for seeming "genuinely interested in the opinions of the young people she interviewed." The Hate Debate was followed up with a second documentary in the same slot, "My Transgender Punk Rock Story", interviewing transgender rock star Laura Jane Grace and introducing the teenage audience to trans concepts of identity both within and outside of the binary. She also presented the episode "Trans" of Channel 4's The Shooting Gallery.
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