[Ammi]

A council is considering plans to scrap the titles Mr and Mrs from forms because they offend the transgender community

All titles could be scrapped from paperwork after an investigation by Brighton and Hove city council into the lives of the transgender community in the city.

The proposal is backed by Phelim MacCafferty, the council’s deputy leader, but has been branded “political correctness gone too far” by a Conservative councillor.

A scrutiny panel will put forward a number of recommendations, including the scrapping of titles, to the council for approval in December.

Mr MacCafferty said: “Trans people aren’t necessarily male or female and sometimes they don’t want to be defined by their gender.

“Putting Mr and Mrs on a form is completely useless. This is an issue that concerns most institutions from banks to mobile phone companies. Why is Mr on my debit card, for instance? We should at least examine the issue.” Mr MacCafferty said the change would be “done sensitively” and with the backing of the public.

Steph Scott, a lesbian, gay and transgender activist, said: “Being called Mr or Mrs forces me to choose between genders. It’s assuming people live in a binary world where you’re either one thing or another and it pigeonholes people

“I think it’s a good idea to expand across the city because it’s about getting people to be aware that gender isn’t just male or female.”

Dawn Barrett, Tory councillor for Hangleton and Knoll, said: “It’s completely ludicrous and shows a complete lack of respect. How are they going to address letters properly? This is just political correctness gone too far.”

The Trans Equality Scrutiny Panel was set up to examine issues affecting transgendered people’s safety, welfare and job opportunities and visited support groups throughout the city in July.

The panel’s website, which can be found via the council home page, outlines the main issues for the transgender community when filling out forms.

The panel explains that sometimes “genderqueer” people feel there are “contradictions” in filling out forms. For example, gender has an “other” category but titles eg “Mr and Mrs” does not.

It adds that there are “no options for non-binary/genderqueer people”.

The advice given to combat this suggests “no honorifics” and to “ask gender only if needed”.

The themes were described as a preliminary “snapshot” and are used as “rapid feedback” for those who took part

Other articles:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...nd-mrs-1399751

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/10007...for_Mr___Mrs_/


......Personally, I think it’s about time….very few titles mean anything..if something is irrelevant, why have it..?...I don’t need a title to tell me I am male or female or that I have committed to a partner..and I wouldn’t need a title to tell me I hadn’t....

...do you think it's a good idea..?

[billy123]

As long as it makes them happy then so be it.

there are no options for non-binary/genderqueer people

I dont even know what that is i will leave that up to them and not feel guilty about it.
---------


Worrying about how others define you is overrated just get on with doing what you want to do.

[Alf]

few
i thought the were taking mr and mrs of the telly

[Marc]

Poor trannies

[Vicky.]

The only slight problem I see with mr and mrs is the minor gender discrimination. A male is always Mr (unless a child and then he is master I believe) whereas a womans title changes if she gets married...so its easy to tell if a woman is married just from a few forms whereas not with males. But I dont think its important enough to get anyones knickers in a twist over tbh

As for transgendered people...dont they usually refer to themselves as whatever gender they are mentally? Like if a male is trapped in a females body they would class themselves as female? So therefor, if not married would be miss...

If we scrap mr and mrs due to transgendered people, surely the next step would be to scrap male/female boxes on forms?

Other solution is just to add 'other' on both titles and gender boxes.

Actually come to think of it, a lot of forms I have filled in already have mr/mrs/ms/other 'please state' on anyways :S

[Marc]

'other' - 'transsexual'

[SharkAttack]

Classification by species only. Human? Yes _ No _

Not general enough? Mammal? Do you have a blowhole or a hoof?

[arista]

No Ammi
Thats a Stupid Green Party Idea.

They will not be in power after their next Election.

So it's all Hype.

[arista]

Originally Posted by Marc

Poor trannies

No this trannie radio is also a Shaver
$25


How a trannie Works

[the truth]

councils should all be totally abolished ...no one ruins the nation more than these corrupt back scratching petty minded bean counting overly burocratic free mason bung taking tax wasting amoral mooks

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by arista

No Amini
Thats a Stupid Green Party Idea.

They will not be in power after their next Election.

So it's all Hype.

..yes, I agree it hasn't been voted on Arista...I'm in total agreement with it...I mean, say I was applying for a job, and filliing in an application, whether I was male/female/married/unmarried would be irrelevant because discrimination laws protect me...so I can't see the point of having an extra box to tick..

Originally Posted by the truth

councils should all be totally abolished ...no one ruins the nation more than these corrupt back scratching petty minded bean counting overly burocratic free mason bung taking tax wasting amoral mooks

..well it's true it often takes a lot of time to get things done..everything seems to be passed from one department to another..and it can be frustrating waiting for anyone to make a decision..so I can't see them agreeing to abolish themselves happening very quickly....I can't imagine the red tape involved in that...

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by wannashag

few
i thought the were taking mr and mrs of the telly

me too.. .I thought we might have to have a whip round for the siliver fox to counteract the loss of earnings.

[the truth]

Originally Posted by Ammi

..yes, I agree it hasn't been voted on Arista...I'm in total agreement with it...I mean, say I was applying for a job, and filliing in an application, whether I was male/female/married/unmarried would be irrelevant because discrimination laws protect me...so I can't see the point of having an extra box to tick..



..well it's true it often takes a lot of time to get things done..everything seems to be passed from one department to another..and it can be frustrating waiting for anyone to make a decision..so I can't see them agreeing to abolish themselves happening very quickly....I can't imagine the red tape involved in that...

time for call me dave cameron to chop a lot of heads off. I ffing detest councils in this country. theyre evil scum. totally up to their eyeballs in corruption 24/7 taking back handers, bribes and ruining businesses often for their own self interest...its mind boggling what they get away with

[Saph]

but then how would they know if they were a mr or mrs

[Ammi]

..yeah, they're a little frustrating at times, that's for sure...and they do seem to have a few too many different departments and sections..nothing gets done very quickly...but I guess that's the nature of local councils..

[Nedusa]

Perhaps we shouldn't have titles or even names, perhaps we should all have numbers or even better a barcode imprinted on our wrists.

Where is this nonsense going to end....???

[Marsh.]

Absolute idiots.

I thought they found it offensive to be referred to as a he/she or whatever. Therefore, why the uproar about defining which gender they want to be?

If they've changed into a man they're a Mr, if a woman then Mrs.

As someone above said, when will this nonsense end? More important things in the world.

[the truth]

Originally Posted by 08marsh

Absolute idiots.

I thought they found it offensive to be referred to as a he/she or whatever. Therefore, why the uproar about defining which gender they want to be?

If they've changed into a man they're a Mr, if a woman then Mrs.

As someone above said, when will this nonsense end? More important things in the world.

TROUBLE IS whenever these scumbag councillors dream up yet more wasteful nonsense it costs millions , tens of millions....how much can our bankrupt nation continue to afford this wasteful decayed decripid waste?

all wasted tax payers money , is money the government could easily have chanelled into saving the lives of people on the nhs

[Shaun]

don't see the need for titles whatsoever

"oh i'm dr. mary mary"
well just say hi i'm mary mary and i'm a doctor instead

and i needn't enter the whole sir/dame/lord nonsense since it's all archaic and irrelevant

[lostalex]

Didn't they do something similar back in the women's lib movement of the 60/70's with women not being called ms. and mrs. anymore, and instead it was mZ. for everyone?

I don't understand why transexuals would have an issue with mr. and ms. wouldn't a transexual that identify as male like to me called mr. and a transexual that identifies as female like ms.? I don't understand what they have a problem with? If they identify as a female but still get called Mr. then i can see why they would be offensive, but getting rid of mr. and ms. wouldn't solve that, would it?

I'll never understand transgender people and personally i hate the fact that it's part of the gay/lesbian/bi movement. Transgenderism has nothing to do with being gay and it just perpetuates the stereotype that gay men want to be women. The vast majority of transgender people are straight.