Yesterday, the Sunday Mirror published an article and a short online interview with Kellie Maloney, a well-known and respected former boxing promoter, most famous for guiding Lennox Lewis to the world heavyweight title, in which she reveals that she is undergoing gender confirmation/reassignment.
(Main picture courtesy of The Guardian online)
Focus: The Identity Trust send their best wishes and complete support to Kellie as she is embarking on her new life. We feel certain, that just by speaking out, she has helped many transgender individuals who have gone or are going through this same torment in their own lives. Telling friends, family, partners, children etc is extremely difficult and requires a great deal of bravery, and we applaud Kellie for her bravery and not least of all for her decision to speak publicly on such a personal issue.
Placing herself under the media spotlight highlights the huge difficulties that transgender individuals face every day, and by creating a wider discussion, Kellie’s story will hopefully enlighten more and more people on Gender Dysphoria (the clinical term for the recognised medical condition describing the extreme discomfort felt by transgender people owing to the contradiction between their physical sex and their core gender identity).
“What was wrong at birth is now being medically corrected. I have a female brain. I knew I was different from the minute I could compare myself to other children.” Kellie, quoted online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28730751
There has been a great deal of response in the media, much of it Focus are pleased to note, extremely positive. Kellie has drawn broad support from both inside and outside the boxing world, and by and large the media have responded responsibly. Most articles online have rightly addressed Kellie by her name and using appropriate pronouns. Not all articles have used appropriate language, but there is evidence by most mainstream newspapers of an effort to get it right, and there has been progress since the treatment newspapers dished out to Chelsea Manning where she was repeatedly addressed by male pronouns. (Click here to read the Focus editorial on the media treatment of Chelsea Manning)
As a support organisation, Focus: The Identity Trust are always here to help any transgender or intersex individual, or their families, who feel in need of peer support or assistance. Contact us in confidence at info@thefocustrust.com or via our contact form on this website.
Picture (right) courtesy of the Sunday Mirror
Below are links to a selection of articles on Kellie’s announcement, and whilst we do not endorse everything in these articles, they do offer the background to Kellie’s story. There are, of course, many other newspaper articles you could access to read about Kellie’s story.
