Ashley Reed

Ashley Reed is a student at the University of York (UoY), transgender activist and blogger. She received some media attention after raising a petition on the parliament.uk website to allow people to self-define their gender.[1] She campaigns for legal recognition of non-binary gender identities, and spoke on them to a Select Committee in parliament.[2] Reed is also the chief editor of CampusRag.uk, a satirical campus newspaper.[3] In 2015, she made the 'ones to watch' section of the Independent Newspaper's Rainbow List.[4]

University

As a first year student, Reed was elected to be a trans* convenor for the University of York Students Union (YUSU) LGBTQ Network at the UoY. In this role, she supported self-defining transgender students and helped run awareness campaigns. She ran for LGBTQ part-time officer but did not succeed in the election. She raised a petition asking the UK government to allow transgender people to self-define their gender.[1] At the beginning of her second year, Ashley organised a sex worker solidarity campaign at UoY which raised awareness of issues affecting sex workers, and conducted a survey which showed 1 in 16 student respondents had engaged in sex work.[5]

In her second year Reed was re-elected as the Women's Committee trans* convenor, to work alongside the LGBTQ Network convenors. Reed became the National Union of Students LGBT+ committee disabilities representative by co-option after the elected representative vacated the post.

Also in her second year, Reed won the LGBTQ part time officer election as one half of a pair. She used her victory speech to call out rising levels of transphobia on campus which had been directed at her during the campaign. Since winning, she has been featured in several media pieces regarding the harassment and transphobia she received.

Over the spring vacation of her second year, Reed stood for election to the NUS LGBT+ Committee Women's Place. She was the most successful candidate, gaining the highest number of votes in the first round.[6]

Also over this break, Reed chose to step down from all elected positions within YUSU due to rising levels of harassment.[7]

In April 2016 she will be attending NUS National Conference as a delegate for YUSU.

Parliament

Reed was invited to speak on the inclusivity of non-binary identities and to argue for allowing self-definition, in front of the Women and Equalities Committee[2] at the House of Commons. In her evidence she advocated allowing 'x' markers on UK passports and pointed out flaws with the current gender recognition process.[2][8] She spoke alongside Peter Dunne, Karen Harvey, and James Morton.[2] Reed then visited Morton in Scotland to discuss campaigns across the two countries (which have different legal systems).

As a result of the evidence given to the Women and Equalities Committee, the UK Equalities Minister Nicky Morgan has said the Government are "open" to people self-defining their own gender.[9]

Media coverage

Reed has been featured in several media outlets, including university and national newspapers. She was rated the third biggest name on campus at UoY by York Vision, and made the 'ones to watch' section of the 2015 Rainbow List.[10]

Several news sources mentioned her in articles following her evidence given to the Women and Equalities Committee.[1][8][11]

The news website Breitbart implied that Reed is a post-Marxist gender theorist, in relation to her being invited to speak to the Women and Equalities Select Committee.[12]

Reed was featured in a BBC 2 clip regarding the release of the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee Transgender Equality Report, where she discussed her experiences growing up.[13]

Reed was heavily quoted in a York Vision article which discussed the rising levels of on-campus transphobia - written as a response to very open incidents following her election to the role of LGBTQ Officer.[14]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Vision, York. "Thousands back York student's transgender campaign | York Vision". York Vision. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Parliamentlive.tv". parliamentlive.tv. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  3. ↑ "ABOUT". Campus Rag. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  4. ↑ "Rainbow List: 2015: Ones to watch". The Independent. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  5. ↑ "Sex-Work-Infographic.pdf" (PDF). DocDroid. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  6. ↑ "Find out who was elected during LGBT+ conference 2016 @ NUS connect". www.nusconnect.org.uk. Retrieved 2016-04-06.
  7. ↑ Vision, York. "Ashley Reed resigns as YUSU LGBTQ officer | York Vision". York Vision. Retrieved 2016-04-06.
  8. 1 2 "6 reasons why the UK's gender laws are failing transgender people". PinkNews. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  9. ↑ "You could soon be allowed legally to choose your own gender in Britain". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  10. ↑ "Rainbow List: 2015: Ones to watch". The Independent. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  11. ↑ "UK Parliament to hear case for introducing a legal 'third gender'". PinkNews. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  12. ↑ "'Third Gender': Parliament Considers Enshrining Post-Marxist Gender Theory Into Law". Breitbart. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  13. ↑ "Victoria Derbyshire on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2016-01-19.
  14. ↑ Vision, York. "York Vision | The UK's most awarded student newspaper". York Vision. Retrieved 2016-04-06.
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