Author: Steph

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(Pronouns - she/her) - Steph Richards is a 72-year-old 'post-op' trans woman with a Gender Recognition Certificate and works as a human rights activist. She is a former Women's and LGBT Officer at Portsmouth Labour Party, CEO of Translucent.Org.UK, winner of the LGBT Organisation of the Year at the National Diversity Awards in 2022, co-founder of Women's Action Network (Portsmouth) and a volunteer at a Women's health charity. Steph has been platformed live on BBC Radio 4 three times, including Women's Hour. She has also appeared on Times Radio, LBC Radio and Channel 4 News. In 2023, Steph debated trans human rights at an American university event alongside Harvard biologist and author Carole Hooven, PhD. Steph (an intersectional feminist) is passionate about the inclusion and acceptance of trans people in society. She advocates for women in prison, specifically pregnant women and calls out the mounting concern that abortion rights are at risk in the UK. She was the recipient of an Inspirational Women of Portsmouth Award in March, 2023.

HelenJoyceFlagNew

Twitter has been accused of being an echo chamber of hate, and indeed some posts border on the weird, cruel or damn right hateful. As a platform, at least before the new owner Elon Musk took over, there was a feeble attempt to protect trans people from threats, abuse and misgendering… sadly those ambitions are now gone. This week we saw Helen Joyce (left of picture) writing a cruel Twitter thread about how (in her opinion) trans women didn’t “pass” – what Helen doesn’t realise is the public doesn’t care one iota. I certainly have friends who don’t pass, but…

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EXPOSED

Tuesday 4th of April – sixteen minutes after 2:00 PM and in pops a “message” in my mailbox from Marcial Boo, Chief Executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.  Farcical.  In a classic move by Kemi Badenoch – she, who “reigns” over “Equality”, succeeded in creating a problem when one doesn’t exist. And unsurprisingly, the EHRC, with a board loaded by her government with like-minded people, duly obliged.  Ms Badenoch has decided that there is a need to define “sex” to operate the Equality Act 2010 effectively. This, too, is farcical because the “need” can’t be established – the…

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US AIR 2

To declare a bias, I’m not exactly fond of Dr Jon Pike, who judging by his Twitter feed, has just one hobby – being hostile to trans women. I suspect Jon is not that keen on me, either. Jon has a specific interest in “saving women’s sports” and often aligns in this issue with some people who may be considered transphobic, meaning discriminatory against trans people – specifically trans women. The “saving women’s sports” trope suggests that hordes of trans women have, can or will dominate women’s sports is wearing thin these days – indeed, we can look back over…

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Scrabble letters making the word feminist

At nearly seventy-one years of age, one dont expect to be jetted around the world talking about trans and women’s human rights, but earlier this month, that is exactly what happened to me. It was a week my body won’t forget. Friday, 3rd of March, a flight to the USA, returning overnight, arriving at Heathrow early Wednesday morning with just five hours of sleep over two long days. No time to unpack; it was International Womens Day. I was in the house for less than ten minutes before leaving so to attend a Portsmouth Labour women’s event to celebrate IWD…

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If there is one controversial topic even within the TransLucent leadership, it is the issue of trans women competing in the female category of sport. So, to be clear, this article is very much “personal” and not our organisation’s policy.  Before my discussion at the University of New England in Maine with Carole Hooven, PhD earlier this month, I thought testosterone-suppressed trans women athletes with potential puberty advantage should not compete with females in elite sports. However, before the discussion with Carole, I did considerable research and even received advice from double Olympic Champion Dame Kelly Holmes OBE.  After my…

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Hate Dec 6th 2022

Being a human rights activist both for trans people and women, I guess it’s normal these days to upset some people. Sadly, though for some, a reasonable debate is not on the agenda, and they turn to hate. The message on this page (technically a hate incident) was sent to me via the contact page via the old Steph’s Place website on December 6th 2022. It was reported to the Police, who have done nothing other than send a letter saying they were sorry that I was a victim. Trans hate crime has, in the last year, increased by 56%,…

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TransInSportUK

On Monday 6th of March, I was in discussion with Carole Hooven at UNE regarding trans women athletes competing in the female category of sports. No one doubts it is a highly contentious issue.  For trans folk in the UK, though, it’s not a problem compared to the hate we suffer daily from our abhorrent right-wing Conservative government and their media or the lack of available healthcare that sometimes leads to trans people taking their own lives. Indeed while some 32 million people in the UK participate in some form of sports activities, just 63 have registered in the related…

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HelenJoyceFlagNew

It’s Saturday 4th of March 2023, a cold, snowy day in Biddeford, Maine, USA. I am in the states to defend trans women competing in the female category of sport in a university discussion with the esteemed evolutionary biologist Harvard’s Carole Hooven, PhD.  Carole is not, in my opinion, gender-critical, but she has shared platforms with those who are – she also wrote the fantastic book “T: The Story of the Hormone that Dominates and Divides Us”, which I reviewed last year.  I have been preparing for weeks, and I know exactly the angle Carole will take – that testosterone-suppressed…

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UNE EVENT

As a trans and human rights activist, the issue of trans women competing in the female category of sport is clearly on my radar. The subject, though, is not a priority – heck, many British trans women won’t even come out of their houses for fear of the abuse on the streets. For them, competing in sports is impossible. My invitation to talk about trans women in sports at the University of New England in Maine, USA, came out of the blue – shock, horror; why me? Still, after Zooming with the university’s President, James Herbert, I committed to accepting…

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