Transgender Hate Incident Reported After Mayor Slips, Calls Biological Male ‘He,’ ‘Him’
A councilor from England who identifies as transgender filed a report with police to complain that his Labour opponent misgendered him.
Zoe Kirk-Robinson, who attempted to transition from male to female over a decade ago, claimed Bolton’s former mayor, Guy Harkin, is guilty of a hate crime, reports the Telegraph.
Harkin reportedly addressed Kirk-Robinson with the wrong pronouns. Instead of referring to Kirk-Robinson as “she” or “her,” Harkin used “he” and “him.”
Allegedly, Harkin made the comments at a Bolton council meeting where they were discussing pensions.
“All I’m looking for is an apology and a chance to say why this is inappropriate,” Kirk-Robinson said. “It is hard to describe how cut to the core you are. To have someone attack me, for being me, it’s deeply upsetting.”
Harkin said that it was a “slip of the tongue,” and was unaware of it until someone pointed it out.
“I offered immediately to apologize as there is not a homophobic or any kind of phobic bone in my body,” Harkin said.
Kirk-Robinson reported what happened as a “hate incident” online to the Greater Manchester Police (GMP). The GMP said it will look into the incident to try and get some “restorative justice.”
“If I’m truthful, it hurt a lot. The guy had no reason to ever suggest that I was male — he has never met me as a male. I transitioned over ten years ago and I have lived in Bolton for seven, going on eight years. He never met me before I transitioned,” Kirk-Robinson said in a video blog.
Kirk-Robinson also called on the Bolton Labour Group to denounce Harkin’s comments, saying that “Bolton does not welcome transphobia.”
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