Trans Woman's Murder Case Enters Court, Husband Blamed

A UK court has been hearing evidence today about a young transgender woman, who was found with wounds consistent of being beaten to death, with the husband accused of causing her death.

Vanessa Santillan, aged 33 at the time of her murder, was beaten to death by her husband Joaquin Gomez-Hernandez after being found sleeping with another man according to prosecution at The Old Bailey this week,

Media outlet The Daily Mail has claimed that Vanessa worked as an escort, and after walking in on Venessa having sex with a client Gomez-Hernandez killed his with with trauma to her head and neck.

According to statements given by Gomez-Hernandez to police after finding Vanessa having sex with a client he left their flat to go shopping, returning later in the day to find the flat locked and his wife failing to answer the door.

Gomez-Hernandez states that he proceeded to break into the flat with a group of friends, where they found Vanessa dead.  After finding his wife's body he phoned 999 to call for an ambulance, but was later arrested under suspicion of murder.

Court Prosecutor Brendan Finucane QC said, 'Although their is evidence they were loving towards each other, there is some evidence of discord.'

Joaquin Gomez-Hernandez continues to deny the charge of murder.

The trial is currently ongoing.

Amy.
xx


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Nicky Morgan Claims Equality Is A Core Conservative Policy

It would appear that anti-equality Equality Minister Nicky Morgan is even more deluded than we already thought.  Making a speech today at the Conservative Party Conference the Secretary of State For Education and Minister For Women and Equalities made claims that the Conservative Party believes strongly in equality whilst simultaneously bashing the Labour Party.

Morgan said in her speech 'I hold not one but two jobs in government.  You know what they say - if you want a job done well, ask a busy man.  If you want two jobs done well, ask a busy woman.  it's the same philosophy - the belief that everyone  should have the same chances in life, that underpins my other job as Minister for Women and Equalities.

'Equality for us isn't about quotas, pink vans or separate train carriages.  Instead, it's about that core Conservative philosophy, which says the fact that you happen to be a woman, to be gay, to be from an ethnic minority, you should never have a barrier to you achieving your all.

'Unlike the Labour Party, we practice what we preach - because women are the backbone of this party, and unlike Jeremy Corbyn, we have put them at the forefront of this government.  That belief in equality of opportunity has been our guiding principal for the past five years.'

I've already made some of my views and opinions on Nicky Morgan clear in a previous article, that I believe having a Minister for Equalities who actively voted against marriage equality and publicly proclaimed that she stands by that vote should not hold the position that she does.

Her complaints that people can't 'get over' her vote have been falling on deaf ears, and her claim that equality is a core Conservative principal is sure to be met with the same level of scepticism and outright dismissal.  But perhaps she's correct, perhaps putting women 'at the forefront of this government' is key to the Conservative.  Maybe it's that important that one particular woman has been put in a position she clearly has no right to be in.  Yes Nicky, I'm talking about you.

Amy.
xx


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Transgender Woman Targeted in Pipe Bomb Attack

On Saturday 3rd October 27 year old transgender woman Rachel Keys was sitting at home alone watching television when an explosion rocked her home and left her covered in shattered glass.  It transpired that her Belfast home was the target of a pipe bomb attack in what police are calling a 'sectarian hate crime'.

'I was just watching TV in my living room,' Rachel described, 'suddenly the window came through, there was glass everywhere and there was a big bang and a flash.  I was covered in glass.

'To be honest I was completely dazed, I didn't know what was happening.  It scared the life out of me.  I just ran out of the house screaming to my neighbours.  I didn't even have time to get my poor cat, Jessie, who was sleeping in the bedroom.  I was terrified, shaking and upset.

'The police came and cordoned the place off and evacuated us all to the local community centre.  I was totally dazed.  One of my neighbours is epileptic and I was worried about her not being able to get her medication.  Another neighbour has a child who is autistic, another is a pensioner.  It was awful for them, just awful.

'I just moved to my home in December, it's a quiet area.  I liked living here.  I was getting my place done up bit by bit.  It was my home.  You think you'll be safe in your home.  You think you'll be safe in your home, that it is a sanctuary, but this has just shown me that it isn't.

'The police have told me that I can't go back home.  They said I have to be moved to emergency housing.  It makes me really sad that people won't allow others to get on with their lives, to live in peace.  It makes me sad and angry.  It's not fair, it's not right.  I don't deserve to live like this, I've done nothing wrong.'

Police are investigating possible motives, but Rachel feels that she was targeted for the attack due to her being transgender.

Amy.
xx


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Doctor Who's Deaf Character Is A Great Step Forward

Saturday saw the third episode of series nine of Doctor Who 'Under The Lake' air.  As a fan of the show I though that it was a good episode.  We're in an underwater base with a group of survivors being chased through small dark corridors by ghosts with black holes where their eyes should be.  It was tense, it was creepy and it was fun.  Everything that makes a good Doctor Who story.

What immediately jumped out at me about the episode though was the inclusion of the character Cass, who after the death of the team leader in the opening minutes of the episode becomes the De facto leader of the group (well, as much as you can be when The Doctor is around).  You see, what's interesting about Cass is the fact that she's deaf.

With an episode set in the not too distant future it would be easy for the show runners to create some kind of sci-fi device that made the characters deafness something minor, hell, we have hearing aids now so there's no reason to think the technology wouldn't progress far enough by 2119 to help people hear.  Instead of any hearing devices though, the character communicated only through sign language via her interpreter Lunn.

For the first time in the show's history we're given a deaf actress, Sophie Stone, playing a deaf character that communicates in a very real and everyday way, rather than something that feels far removed or alien.

Cass isn't once treated as 'handicapped' or 'disabled' during the episode.  No one treats her with pity or acts differently around her because she's deaf.  Despite the fact that she has Lunn interpreting all of what she says and what characters say to her people talk to her directly, not her interpreter.  In a world where so many deaf people are treated differently or ignored in our society it is refreshing and amazing to see Doctor Who embrace the fact that having a disability doesn't in any way change who someone is.

Sophie Stone was the first deaf actress to study at RADA, and the first deaf
actress to appear on Doctor Who.

Cass is strong, passionate and brave, she puts the lives of her crew first and takes action when it's needed, not because she's deaf, not to balance out that she can't hear, but because she's a real person.  She would act the same way whether she could hear or not, and the show knows that in they way that she's written and the way that she acts.

Her deafness has even come into play in an important way, allowing her to lip-read the silent muttering ghosts and giving The Doctor the chance to figure out a part of the bigger picture.  Her relationship with her signer Lunn is also quite important, her intuition at something being wrong with the strange alien writing the crew finds in the sunken space ship makes her stop Lunn from going inside.  This has already been shown to make him immune to the ghosts wanting to kill him, something that could come to be massively important in the second episode that could help to save the day.

I've seen a lot of incidents where people in real life are treated as less able or less competent because of what other people would see as a disability, so to see a television program showing audiences that being deaf doesn't mean that you're less able, that you can't be a leader is a great thing.  It might not mean much, it's only light entertainment after all, but if this show can take even a tiny step towards influencing people to see people with disabilities as regular people, to be treated equally and fairly, then it's only a good thing.

Amy.
xx


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Nicky Morgan Angry That She's Still Held To Account For Anti-LGBT Views

Last week I was in the same room as Nicky Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities.  The experience was not a pleasant one.  I didn't speak to her in person, she left the venue before anyone was able to get the chance to leave their seats, practically running from the building, which is unfortunate because I wanted to ask her some very specific questions.  It would appear, however, that I'm not the only person with these questions on their minds.

The question would be, 'why would someone who is a Minister for Equalities vote against marriage equality?'

I appreciate that some people will say that this is a non-issue, that the vote happened in 2013, and the vote passed despite her voting against it.  Some could also go on to say that Morgan has tried to explain her actions already, stating that she believed because she received criticism about marriage equality from 'a lot' of people in her constituency it was the views of the people she represented that it should be opposed.

There are many excuses that she could make towards why she voted against equality, but so far none of them have adequately explained why a person who voted against equality should hold the position of Equalities Minister.

Pink News are reporting that Morgan has 'slammed' people who cannot accept that she has changed her mind on the subject and can't accept that she 'got it wrong'.  It would appear that the age old 'I stood against a marginalised group but am now receiving criticism for doing so, I'm being oppressed/bullied' response has come into play.

Personally I don't care if Nicky Morgan feels that people can't 'get over' her vote in 2013, because it's not just her vote that is an issue, following the vote in 2013 she spoke to press the following year and stated on record that 'I stand by my vote in 2013.  But yes, obviously, since then, having spoken to lots of different people, and realised quite how excluded people in same-sex relationships felt from the institution of marriage, and marriage is a pretty important institution in our society, I have realised that yes, if the vote were to be re-run, I would probably vote in a different way'.

Is this the sign that someone went on to change their mind?  No, not really.  Look closely at what she says.  First of all, 'I stand by my vote in 2013', straight off the bat she's saying that she believes that she was right to vote against marriage equality and saw nothing wrong with doing so.  Despite whatever else she says beyond this point she has already said that she believes she was in the right to vote against it.

But why would she feel that it's okay to have voted against marriage equality?  Her personal faith.  Like so many other people who stand against LGBT+ rights she has used her personal faith as a shield to her bigotry.  'I have a personal faith, but that's not going to dominate every decision I make in relation to my constituency or to my ministerial post.  But I also think people should be free to be open about their own personal faith.'

I'm sorry, but saying that you stand by being against marriage equality, then stating that it's because of your faith is wrong.  Saying that it's 'not going to dominate every decision' isn't enough, not only is that quite clearly saying that it's already colored your choice against LGBT+ rights, but that it factors into some of your decision making is appalling.  Faith should have no bearing what-so-ever on political decisions.

I'm not saying that people cannot have faith, I have no issue with people having faith or following religious tenets, but when those views interfere with the way someone is supposed to perform their job it becomes an issue.  When someone's job is to shape the way the country is governed, those views become even more problematic.  What separates Nicky Morgan voting against Marriage Equality because of her religious views and what Kim Davis is doing because of her religious views?  Government backing and spin doctors.  That's all.  It's the same kind of anti-gay views, but where Kim Davis has kept on going Nicky Morgan had the sense to shut up and try to have people forget.

Go back to that quote of her saying she may vote differently in the future.  She's saying that it's because of the backlash from people who don't think the same way as her that she could vote differently if called to do so again, not because she has come to believe that her initial choice was wrong.  If she believed that herself she would not 'stand by' her initial vote.  And pay close attention to the fact that she says she would 'probably vote a different way'.  Probably, not even 'I would vote differently, but 'probably'.  She's not even saying she would vote in favour for marriage equality.  Political double talk if I've ever seen it.

Her complaints that people still haven't let it go, that she's still being held accountable because of that vote mean nothing to me.  I don't believe your claims that you've changed your mind, because every time you talk about it you always say that it's because of the backlash you've recieved or the letters you've been sent that you 'might' vote in favor of marriage equality.

You're not sorry for standing against equality, you're not pro-equality, you're just upset that you're being held accountable for your faith based bigotry.  And someone who has acted like that has no place what-so-ever being a Minister for Equalities.

I listened to your speech last week at the HeForShe launch and it just sounded like empty rhetoric.  I didn't believe a single word of what you said, I don't believe for a second that equality is something that you care about.  That's the damage that your stand against marriage equality has done.  People no don't think that you stand for equalities, it's not a position that you actively believe in, but one you were just assigned to.

Then again, you do work for the same political party that wants to scrap Human Rights in Britain, despite numerous experts and millions of citizens telling you that you shouldn't do so.  So maybe a Equalities Minister who votes against equality is exactly the kind of person this government wants in that position.

Amy.
xx


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