Dear The Right Revd and Right Honourable The Lord Carey of Clifton, FRSA FKC,

I noticed that you have published your entry into the Oppression Olympics on the front page of today’s Daily Mail. I’ve assessed your entry and unfortunately found it lacking. You will need to try much harder if you want to get on the medals table.

Firstly, “persecuted” groups don’t usually get their ex-leaders screeds published on the front pages, so that might have been a mistake. Also, the repeated references to “Lord” just highlight the automatic membership of parliament that you and your co-persecutees get, so perhaps you should have asked them to strip that out of the article too. Oh, and being a gendered title it also gives away that you’re male. Minus several oppression points.

At least there is no photo in the paper version, because the one in the online version gives away that you’re white. And I don’t think that stick is for walking either, so it appears you’re able-bodied.

Choice of other groups to go after is important too. Attacking the gays probably wasn’t great, perhaps you should have picked a less marginalised group instead? A bit tough I know, because you are a member of the majority religious group in this country.

Finally, I’ll admit to making assumptions here but as you’re married and an archbishop I’m going to hazard a guess that you’re straight. And probably not transgendered, either.

Sorry, what was the basis for your claims of persecution as a middle-class, white, able-bodied, straight, cis-gendered member of the religious majority with an automatic seat in parliament again?

Yours,

Zoe O’Connell

(A bisexual trans woman of uncertain religious beliefs in a same-sex polyamourous relationship whose communities have much to gain from same-sex marriage, but still able-bodied, middle class and white and able to recognise she has a huge amount of privilege)

P.S. Luckily, I don’t think you speak for the majority of Christians. Or even the majority of members of the Anglican church. Pretty sure you’re not speaking for most of the ones I know, anyway.

For those who have followed my previous commentary on such cases, much to do with the latest case will not come as much surprise. What is new is that this one was in England, thus increasing the threat that trans folk south of the border might risk criminalisation for entering into a relationship, as well as existing concerns north of the border.

What is not new is that a guilty plea was entered, so this has (by my understanding) not set case law. As far as I have been able to ascertain, no defended case of “sex by deception” bought against a person with a possible trans element has yet succeeded or even proceeded to trail in the UK.

Usual caveats apply in terms of the reporting. In this case, the only source I can find that has reported directly is the Daily Mail. Other outlets have picked up the story, but the timing and quotes used all indicate they’re regurgitating the Daily Mail story. This makes figuring out what actually happened rather more tricky than usual.

In brief, a couple had been involved in a long online relationship since they were barely teenagers but not met in person. They eventually met when both were over 16 and had sex. As a result of McNally, the defendant, being outed they were arrested and charged with six counts of sexual assault by penetration. (The age gap appears to be around the 12 month mark. The Daily Mail deliberately tries to give the impression it is more by quoting the age of one person at the time of the incident and the age of the offender now. This is a routine trick they use)

The prosecutor specifically stated the victim was “sexually assaulted…by deceiving her into believing that she, the defendant, was a boy” and the judge is quoted as referring to it as a “selfish and callous deception” when sentencing and there is no mention of any factors besides gender in the article. I find it difficult to imagine that someone using, say, a prosthetic penis or hand whilst engaging in any intercourse would end up in court. Rather, this case is more about “gay panic” – straight, cis folk being “tricked” into gay relationships by presumed-fake trans identities.

It is not made entirely clear what trans history McNally has and it is entirely possible they will end up identifying as lesbian. However, the defense does mention confusion over gender issues.

The sentence was for three and a half years plus a lifetime on the sex offenders register – years-long prison sentences are pretty much expected with sexual assault cases, which is how this was tried.

(Warning: All the news stories linked in here are highly transphobic, with references to acquired genders being a “pretence” or “fake”)

It looks like we have another case of someone trans being prosecuted for “obtaining sex by deception“. I am always wary of mainstream press coverage of cases involving trans people, because the facts can so easily be distorted either through ignorance or, in the case of The Sun’s article on this incident which I’m not going to link to, maliciously.

However, what has been widely reported seems to indicate that in this case, the person being prosecuted was definitely a trans man – they had presented as male for many years, with the STV coverage specifically using the word transsexual and they were already seeing a counsellor. One report also mentions they are on a gender reassignment programme, presumably a reference to a Gender Identity Clinic.

In summary, Wilson plead guilty to two counts of “obtaining sexual intimacy by fraud”. In the first case, this sexual intimacy apparently went no further than kissing and cuddling, with Wilson refusing to engage in anything more.

The second, later case is problematic in that actual intercourse took place and their partner was underage at the time, having mislead Wilson about their age. There was no prosecution for that mentioned however, so it would appear that Wilson’s actions in immediately terminating the relationship and refusing to see her any more when this was revealed were the correct course of action here.

This case makes it clear that the police and courts in Scotland regard failing to disclose trans status prior to kissing/cuddling someone as a criminal offense. Proving you told someone is of course tricky, so unless you’re very “out” there could be trouble ahead.

Featured on Liberal Democrat VoiceWilson has ended up on the sex offender’s register as a result. Full sentencing has not yet taken place.

Edited 1315, 8th March: From the Scottish Transgender Alliance:
In partnership with Trans Media Watch, we have just received advice to the effect that the charge of sex by fraud in this case does not relate to Wilson presenting as male but instead relates to the use of a substitute object under the pretence that it was a penis and therefore without consent. This means that reporting that states Wilson is in trouble over gender presentation is inaccurate. Please help us to raise awareness of this. We need as many of you as possible to write to the newspapers (and any other media outlets covering this) and explain.

Edited 1800, 8th March: Initial assurances that the conviction was related to the “use of a substitute object” were incorrect – it has now been confirmed the prosecution was related to identity.