There is, actually, some good news

I spend a lot of time on this blog bemoaning the generally sorry state of affairs in this fucked-up, kyriarchically-dominated world. But today, a good thing happened. Today, a piece of barely-human scum who thought he could murder a woman and get away with it because nobody cared about that woman was sent to prison for twenty-two years.

Of course, it's not enough time, and with time off for good behaviour, Neil McMillan could be out in eleven years. Frankly, as far as I'm concerned, the bastard can rot until the end of fucking time. But read the summing up from Michael Lawson QC. That guy is in no doubt about what kind of scum McMillan was:

'What you did that night brought to an end a life which in many views was one of relentless difficulty faced with extreme courage.

The person you killed was a person who always sought to overcome difficulties.


On the other hand, faced with a difficulty in that flat, whatever that was, you chose to take it out on her.

There was the distinction between you and her.'

Note two things here, and note them well. One: Michael Lawson QC refers to Andrea as 'her'. No pronoun confusion from him. But also note that he underlines, in no uncertain terms, what a weak, pathetic, cowardly piece of shit Neil McMillan was. McMillan killed a trans woman, one who worked in the sex industry, too, and thought he could get away with it because, hey, who cares about women on the margins of society? McMillan killed Andrea Waddell and smirked to himself as he left her apartment because he figured the police wouldn't devote a lot of effort to investigating the death of a murdered trans woman sex worker. But, fortunately for us and sadly for Neil McMillan and his evil little excuse for a heart, Brighton police cared enough to carry out a thorough investigation of the case, leaving little doubt that McMillan was the man responsible; the jury cared enough to find him guilty; and the judge cared enough to heavy into him verbally and ram home how vile his act was.

Of course, none of this corrects the fundamental injustice of this situation, which is that a talented, intelligent and courageous woman like Andrea should never have been in a position where someone like McMillan could kill her in the first place. But the conviction of Neil McMillan sends a message: in the eyes of the law, trans lives are every bit as important as cis ones. In the eyes of the law, when it works properly - as, I admit, it rarely does, and I can't help wondering what sort of prejudices might have been in play if Andrea hadn't been middle-class, well-educated, and caucasian - in the eyes of the law when it works as it should, everyone matters.

As we enter a period under the sway of a government which, in many peoples' eyes, does not believe all people are equal, a judgement like this is a shot in the arm and an encouragement to hope that, one day, if we all stand up to the kind of prejudices which lead someone like Neil McMillan to think they can get away with murder, the world might really be a fine place, and worth fighting for. Until that day we can at best hope, like Morgan Freeman in Se7en, that the latter part is true; but it's days like this that bring us closer.

(Days like this, and people like Helen at Bird of Paradox, who has dilligently followed and reported on each twist and turn of this story. If you want to acquaint yourself with the full facts in the case of Andrea Waddell, and a lot more besides, you could do worse than visit her blog.)

Hear Hear

Gore Vidal once said that every time one of his friends succeeded, a little piece of him died. But, there again and let's be honest, Gore Vidal, though he may be a genius, is a tiny little bit of a prick. I have never quite been able to muster this level of antipathy towards those friends of mine who succeed, perhaps because I lack the killer instinct which beats in the heart of the true man of letters, or then again it may just be that I actually like my friends and would rather see life as a colaboration than a contest. From what I understand of ecology the idea of nature red in tooth and claw as some kind of Hobbesian war of all-against-all is a very selective view of affairs formed by people who only watch nature documentaries during Shark Week. It's the Spirit of the Blitz that rules down on the jungle floor. Even your own body is a collaboration between armies of bacteria which keep your digestive system ticking over.

All of which is a long-winded way of saying that one of my online friends, Helen G at Bird of Paradox, has won the Gender Trust's NICE (Not-offensive, Interesting, Clear and Educational) Award for Good Journalism on Trans Issues, and I couldn't be happier for her. If you aren't already reading Helen's blog, then you should be, because she's performing a vital role in drawing peoples' attention to the abuses being visited on the most marginalised people in the world on an almost-daily basis.

That isn't a pleasant job. It's not even Helen's job: like millions of bloggers, she does it in her spare time, because she knows it's the right thing to do. And it's a good thing she does, because when people try to report on the truth about trans issue in the mainstream, so-called 'professional' media, they can face heavy penalties.

Helen is exactly the kind of person who should be winning an award like this. She's reporting on an issue which too many people ignore, and she does it consistently, day-in, day-out, no matter how tired she is or whatever her emotional state. Allegedly 'proper' journalists are fond of looking down their noses at bloggers, but as far as I'm concerned, what Helen is doing is far closer to real journalism than the sort of churnalised crap or lazy, bigoted opinion which fills up the papers these days. So, Gore be damned, I'm happy for the girl.