Press For Change
LYNNE JANINE BRAITHWAITE: JULY 1ST 1934 – 12TH AUGUST 2008
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Lynne Braithwaite, a long serving trans activist died of a stroke in Lancaster Royal Infirmary on the 12th of August 2008.
Lynne served in the RAF for nearly forty years, from September 1949, retiring as a Flight Sergeant on the 1st July 1989. Her expertise was maintenance of Vulcan Bombers. It was with this experience that she was invited as a consultant to the Vulcan to the Sky Trust whose aim was to get a Vulcan bomber flying again. This was achieved early in 2008 when the Vulcan Bomber XH558 passed its air worthiness tests. Lynne was so very proud of this achievement.Not long after her transition to female in 1994, she contacted Lancashire Police Service asking what policies and procedures they had regarding trans people. Lynne had significant input advising on best practice for trans people as service users and employees in the police service. Until July 2008 she was an active member of Lancashire Northern Police Division’s Independent Advisors Group, where over the years she was consulted on a number of policing issues and policies. At the time of her death she was an active member of Trans Lancs group (see photograph). This is an advisory team for Lancashire Constabulary, keeping them up to date with the legal and social issues affecting trans people. Lancashire Police now have policies which have had a direct input from the trans community. Indeed the Deputy Chief Constable Mike Cunningham is the Association of Chief Police Officers lead on trans issues. Lancashire Police said ‘Lynne has been a real asset to the division. Her services and support to local policing will be sadly missed’.
Lynne enjoyed all aspects of educating people on trans issues whenever the need arose and was not afraid to challenge misconceptions. The trans community may have lost a strong activist but her achievements will have lasting positive effects for us all. Lynne hosted a Web Page www.lynnesdiaries.freeserve.co.uk which does more justice to the memory of her life than can be covered here. Please visit whilst it is still active.
Lynne was a vibrant indefatigable person who was always active and approached life with the enthusiasm of someone decades younger. She will be greatly missed.
Quote from Lynne: If you cannot be true to yourself then you cannot be true to anyone.
Why we are here
Press for Change is a political lobbying and educational organisation, which campaigns to achieve equal civil rights and liberties for all trans people in the United Kingdom, through legislation and social change.
This site is here to explain our work, and to support all those who campaign with us to achieve full equality and rights for gender diverse people in modern society.
Nowhere else in the world will you find such a comprehensive collection of information about the trans rights campaign, and details about the legal, medical, political and social issues surrounding the people it represents. If you’re a trans person, we aim to raise your consciousness. If you’re a researcher or a journalist we want you to have everything you could possibly want to report us accurately and fairly. If you’re a campaigner already, we want to provide you with the very best resources. And if you’re not, we’d like to show you what an astonishing challenge we continue to face even though many fundamental forms of protection are now in place through UK law.
| Editor : Tracy Dean, editor@pfc.org.uk Correspondence : letters@pfc.org.uk |
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Gender Recognition: apply now!
Application packs for the “Standard Track” and “Overseas Track” gender recognition processes are available from the Gender Recognition Panel (GRP).
As at September 2007, more than 2220 people have applied for legal recognition under the Gender Recognition Act 2004, 97.5% of which have been successfully approved.
See our special section for help with your application.
Why we are (still) here
Once upon a time we needed to explain the nature of the circumstances which resulted in people taking steps to live permanently in the opposite gender role to the one in which they were registered at birth. Nowadays that’s not necessary, so why are we still here and what’s the purpose of our web site?
The Press for Change web site has had a central role in everything that we have done as a campaign for most of our existence — providing an essential source of news about trans people’s lives throughout the world, enabling us to explain key issues, and providing a research tool which is second to none in this field.
Nowadays many of the key legislative tools to protect trans people are already in place. The enactment of the Gender Recognition Act in July 2004 marked the achievement of the campaign’s number one priority. Trans people have also had employment protection since 1999 and legislation on the supply of goods and services is expected by Christmas 2007.
Laws on their own don’t provide for better lives though. Advances in wellbeing and quality of health and support services demand a different kind of activity, backed by up-to-date information resources and research. It’s a sad fact that whilst trans people in Britain now have enforceable legal protection of the right to employment and privacy (in some circumstances) and recognition by the highest courts in Europe of the right to family life, there is still a great deal to do for the social reality to catch up.
In 1999 the Court of Appeal supported a right to treatment for gender reassignment under the National Health Service, but large numbers of transsexual people are still being told they cannot access a Gender Identity Clinic because their Primary Care Trust has no money. Many trans people still feel good reason to fear transphobic violence and verbal harassment. Newspapers, TV and Radio still sometimes insult and offend. Laws don’t change people’s fears, assumptions, prejudices and habits. Only people themselves can do that.
So our mission to advance trans people’s social equality is as important today as it always has been, and our web site undergoes constant improvement to reflect the changing demand for information and tools.
Nowadays the PFC web site still incorporates ALL of the content that we’ve built up carefully over a generation’s work. We think that’s important for historical reasons, and because a great deal of the content is still very relevant to our work today. The main sections reflect our current day agenda though — and we’re constantly improving the way the site works “under the bonnet”, to make it far easier for a small voluntary organisation like ours to keep a massive library up-to-date and ensure our relevance in the future.
We intend that this site will always continue doing what it has always done for our campaign work though — which is to educate those who want to understand the multiple issues that trans people still encounter from society, and to support all those who want to alter that state of affairs for the better.
PFC’s Leading Campaigners
Autumn 2007