Attorney Michal Johnson
THE GUERRILLA ANGEL REPORT — Among other things, the trans person’s neighbor, Wilna van Staden, would call her neighbor “it”, routinely tell people of the trans person’s gender change, circulated a petition to get the trans person evicted, and invited visitors to watch her trans neighbor over the bordering fence.
After complaints to the housing management and the police failed to curtail the neighbor’s harassment, the trans person’s attorney took van Staden to court.
Earlier this year South African Magistrate M J Thobela ruled van Staden’s behavior amounted to unfair discrimination and hate speech. Thobela ordered van Staden to pay damage for moving expenses, for the pain, suffering and humiliation she endured as well as counseling expenses. Thobela cited the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act of 2000 as the basis for the decision.
The trans person’s attorney Michal Johnson: “People have been allowed to say what they wanted to vulnerable groups of our society for far too long without suffering the consequences. The ruling sent out a clear message that the act afforded protection to victims of hate speech and that the courts would enforce their constitutional rights.”
[Trigger warning!] Transsexual triumphs over abusive neighbour – Crime & Courts | IOL News | IOL.co.za.
Attorney Michal Johnson
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Filed under: Judicial, Courts, Transgender, Transsexual, Trans, Violence, Hate, Magistrate M J Thobela, Michal Johnson, Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act of 2000, South Africa, Wilna van Staden
Don’t some of these “reporters” ever get it (referring to the linked article) that persistently and deliberately referring to a transwoman as HE throughout an entire article, especially one on a subject such as this, is also deliberate hatespeech and committing the same crime as the “defendant” ??? I think the lawyers job is not over yet and significant damages should be sought from the publishers of this article also. (iol news)
I don’t see anywhere in this article that the “trans person” was referred to as “he”. This article doesn’t even indicate the gender of this person, except by only one reference to “she”. Get off your sensitivity wagon. I do agree that appropriate reference amounts to respect.
Okay, I stand corrected and take back the above reply! I just found that there was more to the article than I first read.
I think there’s a difference between the deliberate hate this woman was heaping on her neighbor, and simple ignorance from a media that frankly just doesn’t get it yet. I do believe that they are working on that, as I’ve seen many articles refer to transgender people by the correct pronoun. I know many people who don’t really mean any harm, they just can’t break through their confusion and need to be reminded a lot.
Misgendering by reporters is not just ignorance on the subject of gender; it’s ignorance of well-accepted journalistic standards (such as the GLAAD guide at http://www.glaad.org/reference/style), which is gross unprofessionalism. And if the management of a news publication fails to enforce those standards on their reporters, they’re also unprofessional.
I agree!!
The reference to “he” in the linked article is because the case was brought by the transwoman’s BROTHER – who is still a “he”!
No, the article repeatedly says “Lallu and his brother”. (It’s not very clearly written so I can see why you misread this.)
Taking on the media would be a full-time job in itself and I’d get nothing else done.
I believe they are referring to the transgender as a he because that is what he factually is, and that’s what journalists do, they report the facts.
That’s incorrect on two counts.
First, journalists don’t just “report the facts,” they report the version of the facts that garner the most readers (or, in today’s dying newpaper industry, the most pageviews). Also, like any content creator, journalists report the new through the lens of their own experience, biases, and privileges.
Second, trained journalists adhere to a style guide called the AP style guide — at least, American journalists do, and I imagine journalists elsewhere follow a similar set of guidelines. Unfortunately, while the style guide is updated regularly, it’s sadly archaic in certain areas. At this point in time (2012), the AP style guide uses the following language for new stories about trans* individuals: http://www.glaad.org/reference/transgender.
Furthermore, many news bloggers are not trained in the usage of the AP style guide, and simply refer to trans* persons by the most familiar terms to them.
In other words, its less an issue of what you term “facts” and more an issue of subconscious bias, lack of training, and archaic style guides.
Journalists report the facts. Yes. Did they get the facts straight? No.
Reporting facts? During WW2, a reporter saw crates stenciled “G.I.”, unaware it general issue, bivouac gear. Due to his ignorance, our troops are called GI.
Following the 2000 election, in Florida, over the radio (I was there), Katherine Harris stated, “some of them were a chad loose,” meaning the punchouts on the ballot. A reporter converted the adverb chad (tad) into a noun and the chad was born.
No, sorry. Im actually really surprised nobody has said anything about how transphobic and ignorant that statement was.
Because the person who posted it has nothing better going on in life than to try to rile others up by being an a-hole, and no one took the bait.
Personally I have a neighbor who did this to me but I personally met my neighbors and now better than 3/4 now friends and she is taken as she is by them . It was an opening when they took the time to meet me and I said you know I am transgender and the conversation went on from there mostly about the neighborhood
Oh even the prejudiced guys have acepted and told me they just are themselves and have a hard time with me because of me but are still friends.
[...] Judge Tells Trans Person’s Neighbor to Pay Up for Years of Harassment and Hate Comments: South African magistrate M J Thobela told Wilna van Staden that her behavior toward her trans [...]
This specific post, “Judge tells trans persons neighbor to pay up for years
of harassment and hate comments The Guerrilla
Angel Report by Lexie Cannes” was in fact perfect.
I am creating out a backup to present to my buddies.
Many thanks-Lino
Thanks and good luck!
[...] We’ve seen these things before and this is exactly why housing in specifically noted in many trans rights legislation and policies. If you are being abused by your neighbors, you may have options, including lawsuits. While I can’t say this is a solution for everyone, there is a case where a South African trans person sued her her long time transphobic neighbor and won. Read about that case here: http://lexiecannes.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/judge-tells-trans-persons-neighbor-to-pay-up-for-years-o… [...]
Precisely how long did it require you to create “Judge tells trans persons neighbor to pay up for years of harassment and hate comments
| THE GUERRILLA ANGEL REPORT by Lexie Cannes” exclusivebuyerrealty ?
It possesses an awful lot of great information and facts.
Many thanks ,Dena
[…] A South African judge makes transphobic neighbor pay up: http://lexiecannes.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/judge-tells-trans-persons-neighbor-to-pay-up-for-years-… […]