As part of my look at how the press used to talk about trans people, I decided to try a search for ‘transgender’ and ‘Belfast’, looking just at Belfast papers.
Many of you reading this won’t have heard of the Sunday Life, but it’s a Sunday tabloid that prizes sensationalism above most else, for the main.
Imagine my surprise at coming across a sympathetic answer to a question from a young girl who had come home to find her dad dressed in her school uniform.
There was no cries of ABUSER! or warnings to be careful because men like him just want to dress up like women to gain access to women-only spaces.
Nope, there was just non-judgemental advice. From Belfast. In a tabloid. 20 years ago. On a Sunday!
The question:
The answer:
The full page:
As I said, no judgement, just advice that this is difficult for the person involved and here’s something that could possibly help.
I’m not entirely sure I’d expect anything close to an answer like that these days from the majority of the British press.