Author: ashjayy

Planning: queer activists are not letting COVID-19 silence them.

Sourcing the story:

I saw a few posts on Instagram about the #queerprotestathome digital protest set to take place on Friday 24th April, and I decided it would make a good, relevant news story.

Getting quotes:

I sourced my quotes from the protest announcement post on the Voices 4 Instagram page.

View this post on Instagram

QUEER PROTEST AT HOME Friday 24th April We need to ensure that the issues facing queer people around the world are not forgotten during the global outbreak of COVID-19. Since we cannot assemble in physical space to protest and amplify queer voices, Voices4 is organising Queer Protest At Home, an online queer protest on Friday 24th April. Since the beginning of this year alone: – Poland has seen parts of the country declared “LGBT-free” zones amid a rise in anti-queer propaganda; – the Hungarian government has drafted a law to end legal gender recognition for transgender people; – in Uganda, police raided a shelter housing members of the LGBTIQ+ community, falsely arresting them for allegedly breaching COVID-19 distancing rules; – the British government has continued to delay the release of the GRA consultation amid a rise of anti-trans groups; – in Idaho, the governor has passed two bills into law that discriminate against trans people in the US state; – and intersex youth around the world continue to face non-consensual surgeries. We want you to create a ‘placard’ that highlights an issue affecting you or others in the queer community. It might be a protest against the issues listed above or it could be a protest against racism within the queer community, or the lack of access to healthcare for queer people, or the continued practice of intersex surgeries without consent, or the difficulties queer people are facing during the COVID-19 crisis… Your placard can be made physically or digitally, all we need you to do it share your ‘protest’ on Instagram anytime on Friday 24th April using the hashtags #QUEERPROTESTATHOME and #STAYINGINBUTNOTSILENT. The Voices4 motto says that ’queers anywhere are responsible for queers everywhere’. We cannot let queer voices be forgotten in this unprecedented global crisis, so join us on Friday 24th April and make your voice heard!

A post shared by Voices4 (@voices4_) on

Production:

I looked through the hashtag on the morning of the 24th and chose a selection of posts to include, then I used the notes I’d made from the announcement post to write up my story.

Social Media Posts

March 2020

Twitter =

Facebook =

Instagram =

April 2020:

Twitter =

Facebook =

Instagram =

Planning: Lesbian weddings and queer assassins.

Sourcing the story:

I was scrolling through the #KillingEve hashtag after watching the first episode of series three, and I noticed that it was getting an extremely good reception from queer people on Twitter, and so I decided that I’d compile reactions together in a news story.

Getting tweets to include:

To get a varied compilation of tweets I set up keyword searches throughout the #KillingEve hashtag including words such as ‘lesbian’ ‘queer’ and ‘gay’.

Production:

I conducted some research into the show, and into the costume production and then wrote up the story using my research and compiled tweets.

Planning: Celebrating Transgender Day of Visibility in self isolation.

Sourcing the story:

I saw a post on Instagram about the virtual event that Jecca Blac were planning for Transgender Day of Visibility, I thought it would make a good news story as it fitted with my project brief of positive LGBTQ+ stories, and related to the current major news story of COVID-19.

Getting quotes:

I sent a message to Jecca Blac on Instagram requesting a quote that could accompany the piece.

Production:

I used the information about the event from the Jecca Blac social media and website, and my quote to write up the news story.

Planning: Spreading positive messages throughout the trans community.

Sourcing the story:

I saw on Twitter that a text service had been set up to send positive messages to the trans community during this pandemic, and I thought it would make a good short positive news story.

Getting quotes:

I messaged one of the creators of the project requesting a quote that I could include in my story:

Production:

I used the information shared on Twitter, and the website created for the project to complete some basic research, and then wrote up the news story using the quote I got from KC.

Planning and Evaluation: what does it mean to be a trans* ally?

Sourcing the story:

When I was reading through my interview with Kiran Evans for the article What’s in a name? I realised that the responses they had given to one of my questions (how can people be a better ally to non-binary people) was in a format that could easily be converted into an infographic (a list of five actions), and also correlated with advice that I had given in the past on how to be a better ally to binary trans people, so I decided to turn the information into an infographic on how to be a better ally to both trans and non-binary people.

At the same time that I had decided to create the infographic, a petition was being shared on social media with the aim of preventing the anti-trans hate group LGB Alliance from gaining charity status, and the tweet had been shared by some notable cisgender people within the LGBTQ+ community: Owen Jones and David Paisley. This was a great example of allies taking a stand for trans rights, so I decided to write a story on it, and incorporate my infographic into the story.

Research:

To get a wider perspective on allyship I read through a few pieces of content on the topic, these included Tips for Allies of Transgender People – GLAAD, How To Be a Trans Ally – Vice, and What Does Allyship With Non-binary Students Look Like? – GLSEN

Problem Solving:

When I first approached Kiran for my interview, I hadn’t mentioned creating an infographic, or the fact that I had adapted it to benefit a wider number of trans* and non-binary people, so I sent them a message just double-checking that I was okay to create the infographic:

Production:

I created the infographic using the editing software Canva, I took one of their basic five box infographic charities, and changed the colours to reflect those of the transgender pride flag. Once I had done this, I selected a symbol for each action included in my infographic, and then added short explanations to each, keeping the basics of Kiran’s answers, and adding a few extra snippets of information. I added the title to the top box, and a link to my website in the bottom one.

Once the infographic itself was complete, I cropped it down to just the title and, using Canva again, pasted that on top of an image of the trans flag, to create a post for Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. I had the infographic and social media content completed, so I used my research to write up the accompanying short story, and edited everything together.

Then I shared the infographic on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

You can find the article and infographic: here

Evalua

I would have liked to get a quote from either Owen Jones or David Paisley to accompany my story, but I didn’t think about it until after I had written and published the piece, so that’s something I learnt.

Overall, I’m pleased with how this piece pulled together; my story was short but effective at conveying the point and my infographic was aesthetically pleasing. Although, if I could have found a way to convey the five points using less words I would have.

Planning and Evaluation: An insight into non-binary life in Britain.

Sourcing the story:

After seeing the massively negative response on Twitter to a video posted by the BBC which featured a non-binary person reading a poem they wrote about the difficulties of getting a haircut, I decided that I wanted to interview a non-binary person about their experiences living as a non-binary person in Britain, as I felt it would make a current and relevant feature article.

Setting up interviews:

I had heard about Kiran Evans through through related activism circles, and knew they were heavily involved in activism within the LGBTQ+ community as well as being a non-binary person which made them an ideal candidate for interviewing, so I messaged them on Twitter to ask if they’d be interested in being interviewed. They responded yes and so we set up a date and time.

Problem Solving:

The first problem I encountered was that Kiran had some issues come up in their personal life which meant that we could not conduct the interview over the phone as I had originally planned, so we organised for them to send me their responses to my questions via email instead.

The second problem I encountered when I was writing up the article, I realised that I had not got any images of Kiran to accompany my piece, so I sent them another message requesting some photographs, and they sent me a selection to chose from.

Research:

I began my research for this piece by reading through content produced by LGBTQ+ charities and publications on the non-binary experience to give myself a better understanding before I began to write my questions for Kiran. The pieces of content I used for this part of my research were from: Stonewall UK, All About Trans, and OutLife.

I then went and looked into articles on the topics of non-binary issues from mainstream newspapers that are known for being LGBTQ+ friendly such as The Independent and The Guardian, to get an idea of the ways in which non-binary issues were making the news. The articles I read were on Sam Smith, legal recognition, and education laws.

Finally, I watched the poem that was published on Twitter by BBC The Sounds, and read through as many of the replies as I could, to give myself an idea of the opinions that are directed towards non-binary people.

Production:

Once I had completed all this reading and research, I felt I had a good enough understanding of the issues faced by non-binary people to write up my interview questions, so I wrote them up, ensuring they were all open questions, and emailed them to Kiran.

Once I had received Kiran’s responses to my questions, I copied them all into a word document and read through them, highlighting the quotes I thought were most relevant, it was during this process that I had the idea to create my infographic. Once I had all my quotes, and the research I had collected, I set out writing my article; using the tweet from BBC The Sounds and the photographs that Kiran had sent me of themselves to break up the writing.

Once the article was written and edited, I published it, and hared the links onto Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram Stories as I had already posted a picture that day and didn’t want to mess up the algorithm by double posting.

You can read the completed article: here

You can see the original tweet: here

You can see the original Facebook post: here

The Instagram story can be viewed as part of the ‘our stories’ moment on the @awildeplace Instagram profile.

Evaluation:

I am really happy with how this article was received both by Kiran and by the wider LGBTQ+ community, the article itself received 64 views, and on Twitter it received four retweets, nine likes, two quoted retweets (one from Kiran, and one from Trans Pride Leeds) and a response from a reader who thanked me for writing the article and sharing Kiran’s experience.

If I was to do this article again in future, I would push more for a compromise that still included a phone call as then I could have gone into even more detail about their experiences. however, I am pleased with how much detail I was able to go into with this article, and I’m glad that I had the opportunity to write a feature that included more in depth quotations from my interviewee.

Planning: Trans solidarity is more important now than ever.

Sourcing the story:

I found this story through a tweet from the activism group London Bi Pandas, they tweeted about a protest that was happening on Monday (9th March).

Setting up interviews:

On Tuesday I messaged both London Bi Pandas, and LwiththeT (another group involved in the protest) with an interview request.

Problem Solving:

After waiting a day, on Wednesday (11th March) I wrote a second message to both groups re-requesting information and emphasising the fact that I wanted to get the article written and published as soon as possible.

I did not get a response from London Bi Pandas, however I was sent a press release by LwiththeT that meant I was able to write up my article.

While I was writing the article, I realised that I had not been sent any photographs of the protest, but I had been sent a link of another article on the same issue, so I sourced my images from there.

Production:

Using the information from the press release I was sent, I wrote up my article, and shared it on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. I sourced images from another article on the protest.

You can view the article: here

The Instagram post: here

The Facebook post: here

The Tweet: here

Planning and Evaluation: What’s in a name?

Sourcing the story:

In February, it was announced that the charity Mermaids, whose work supports transgender and gender diverse young people, had formed a partnership and created a campaign with Starbucks UK and that Starbucks would be selling a limited edition Mermaid cookie, and 50p from each cookie sold would go to Marmaids to expand their services. I watched the reaction on social media, and tuned into the premier of the advert, and thought that it would make a good feature article.

Setting up interviews:

If possible, I wanted interviews with a representative of both Starbucks and Mermaids, so I sent an email to Mermaids’ press coordinator, and to the Instagram account of one of my local Starbucks branches.

Research:

Mermaids =

  • A charity that has been supporting trans and gender-diverse children, young people, and families since 1995.
  • One of the UK’s leading LGBTQ+ charities.
  • They seek to educate and inform wider society on gender identity by helping professionals accommodate and reassure gender-variant young people.
  • Supports gender-diverse children and young people until their 20th birthday.

#whatsyourname campaign:

  • Mermaids partnered with Starbucks UK for the campaign.
  • The James’ story advert premiered on Channel 4 on Sunday 2nd February 2020, the advert was awarded Channel 4’s Diversity in Advertising Award.
  • Inspired by the discovery that many of Mermaids transgender service users were trialling their chosen names at Starbucks.
  • Throughout the campaign, Starbucks will sell a limited edition Mermaids cookie, 50p from each cookie goes towards funding Mermaids helpline services, Starbucks have also committed to a contribution of £100,000.
  • Mermaids worked with Starbucks on developing their transgender inclusion policies in the UK.
  • As well as the James advert, Starbucks asked four people to tell their story of choosing their names, these people are Cairo, Eliza, Nicole, and Otto, and there was a poster and a video created for each story.
  • The tagline for the campaign is:

Every name’s a story.

  • Every Starbucks store has a sticker in the window that reads:

Welcome.

Whoever you are, or want to be, this is your Starbucks.

Research links: Mermaids , Starbucks

Problem Solving:

After a week, I had not received a second response from either Starbucks or Mermaids, so I sent out another message to both.

The second message worked for Mermaids, and I got a response to my questions, but Starbucks read my message and sent no response, so I tried to get in contact with the national Starbucks account.

However, once again my message was read and ignored. So I decided to write my feature article using just my interview from Mermaids.

Production:

I set out writing my article using the research I had conducted, and my interview. Once the written elements were complete I sourced visuals (photographs and gifs) to break up the piece, and credited them to their original sources.

I then created a post for Instagram, using a photograph of me with one of the cookies, and edited it on top of the transgender flag, using the Canva editing software.

I shared the story on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

You can view the story: here.

Evaluation:

My article was published on Monday 2nd March 2020, and to go with the article I published a post on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to promote it. A week later, Monday 9th March 2020, the article had achieved 64 views, the Instagram post had 32 likes, 6 shares and 2 saves, the Facebook post reached 238 reached, 2 likes and 3 shares, and the Tweet had 175 impressions and 24 engagements.

As first articles go, I am really rather pleased with how this one turned out, I got an interview from a relevant source, and managed to write up a high-quality article that was visually pleasing and got a fairly high number of views. However, I was disappointed with myself that I did not get a second interview for this piece, as I think it would have given the story much more depth.

Going forward, if I feel a piece would benefit from multiple interviews, I will expand my list of potential interviewees, so I’m not focusing all my energy on getting an interview from one entity.

Bibliography

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Meka Beresford (2017), What is a TERF and why should you be worried? [online], last accessed 9th March 2020 at: https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/04/16/what-is-a-terf-and-why-should-you-be-worried/

The National Centre for Transgender Equality (2018),
Understanding Non-Binary People: How to Be Respectful and Supportive [online], last accessed 9th March 2020 at: https://transequality.org/issues/resources/understanding-non-binary-people-how-to-be-respectful-and-supportive

Amy Ashenden and Vic Parsons (2019), 15 rights LGBT people in the UK still don’t have [online], last accessed 9th March 2020 at: https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/06/13/15-rights-lgbt-uk-still-dont-have-pride/

Merriam-Webster (2020), Definition of Cisgender, last accessed 9th March 2020 at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cisgender

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LITTLEJOHN, Richard (2012), He’s not only in the wrong body…he’s in the wrong job, The Daily Mail, 21st December

Lily Wakefield (2020), Local councils are asking young people kicked out of their homes for being LGBT+ for ‘proof’ of their homelessness, last accessed on 9th March 2020 at: https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/03/09/councils-england-lgbt-homelessness-youth-albert-kennedy-trust-bbc-three-investigation/

Steve Brown (2020), TRANSGENDER MAN FIGHTING TO BE NAMED FATHER ON CHILD’S BIRTH CERTIFICATE LAUNCHES APPEAL, last accessed 9th March 2020 at: https://attitude.co.uk/article/transgender-man-fighting-to-be-named-father-on-childs-birth-certificate-launches-appeal/22983/

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Mermaids (2020), About Us, last accessed 9th March 2020 at: https://mermaidsuk.org.uk/about-us/

Mermaids (2020), #WhatsYourName, last accessed 9th March 2020 at: https://mermaidsuk.org.uk/whats-your-name/

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