Transsexual insists on going to women's jail

[emad]

'It's a matter of principle,' says woman after court treats her as still being a man

Henry McDonald, Ireland editor
Sunday October 23, 2005
The Observer


Denise Martin is fighting for the right to go to jail - as long as it's a women's prison. Martin, one of Ireland's first transsexuals who had a full sex-change operation 22 years ago, faces a prison sentence next month after refusing to pay a fine over a breach of the peace offence in her home town of Larne.

The slender, 45-year-old bleached blonde could find herself in the all-male top-security Maghaberry jail outside Belfast.

'It's a matter of principle,' she said in between sips of latte inside a hotel overlooking a windswept North Antrim coast on Friday.

'At my first hearing in Larne last month the court referred to me as "Mr Martin" or "he", because on my birth certificate I'm still Douglas Martin. But as you can see by looking at me, I haven't been Douglas for over 20 years.

'On my British passport it states that I'm Denise, and that's who I have been for all these years. But if the next court appearance in Ballymena treats me like a man, then I'm in danger of going to an all-male prison.'

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1598819,00.html

[katinmn]

1. It would be absurd to send her to a male prison.

Seems rather malicious since she has been living as a woman for 22 years!

[expatriot]

2. I work with a pre-op transexual who uses the women's restroom

over the objections of a few vocally intolerant women. Management has no intention to try and prevent her from using the restroom of her choice but the issue is not going away and the overall cultural consevative climate of this town does not bode well for her in terms of support in the long run.