ACCRINGTON, England – A transgender primary school teacher – who was subject of a ‘shock’ story about her transition in British tabloid newspaper the Daily Mail – has been found dead.
Some commentators are claiming the death was a suicide, although this has not yet been verified.
Gay Star News reported that the death of Lucy Meadows, 32, was announced to pupils and staff at St Mary Magdalen’s School, in Accrington, Lancashire, North West England where she taught.
In a statement made to Gay Star News, a Lancashire Police spokesman said: ‘At 4.45pm on Tuesday (19 March) police were called by the ambulance service to a report of a sudden death at an address on Ramsbottom Street in Accrington.
‘On arrival they found the body of a 32-year-old woman. There are no suspicious circumstances and a file will be prepared and passed to the coroner.’
Headteacher Karen Hardman wrote on the school’s Web site, saying: ‘It is with great sadness that I have to inform you of the death of Miss Lucy Meadows.
‘Our staff will be working closely with bereavement teams and are here to offer the children and yourselves any support in any way we can.’
In December 2012, tabloid newspaper the Daily Mail ran a story with the headline ‘Shock at CofE [Church of England] school where Mr. Upton will return after Christmas as Miss Meadows’.
Columnist Richard Littlejohn also wrote an article asking if anyone had thought of the ‘devastating effect’ Meadows was having on children who are ‘not equipped to compute this kind of information’.
‘Pre-pubescent boys and girls haven’t even had the chance to come to terms with the changes in their own bodies,’ he said.
Helen Belcher, director of Trans Media Watch, claimed Meadows had committed suicide. The Gay Star News report stated, however, this has not been independently verified by a coroner.
She said: ‘Reports of Lucy’s suicide are hugely distressing, and our thoughts must be with her family, friends, colleagues and pupils right now.
‘Many trans people have reported problems following unwanted press exposure, something that Lord Justice Leveson identified in his report. Lucy’s national exposure, simply for deciding to be herself, must have amplified those problems.’
Leveson’s report into standards in the British press last year particularly highlighted discriminatory reporting about transgender people. A shake-up of press standards is currently being debated in the UK.
Speaking to Gay Star News, trans activist Jane Fae said: ‘At this moment, we do not know the cause of Lucy’s death. Whatever the reason it’s incredibly sad, that someone who is just beginning to live their life is no longer with us.
‘For now, all that we can do as a community is think of her and of her courage in coming out in an environment that could be perceived as many as a hostile place to do so. Further comment must await.’
U.K. members of SumOfUs.org, enraged by the paper’s callousness, have organized a petition calling on the Daily Mail to sack Richard Littlejohn.
The petition text states, “Sack Richard Littlejohn for his disgusting attack piece against Lucy Meadows, apologize for printing it, and institute an editorial review process to prevent this kind of discrimination from ever ending up in print again.”
A statement released by SumOfUs.org read, ”Richard Littlejohn has a long history of using his perch at the Daily Mail to mock and harass others, including people of color, the LGBT community, and people with cerebral palsy. Littlejohn is a disgrace to journalists, but the Daily Mail is defending him. The paper released a statement that ‘it is regrettable that this tragic death should now be the subject of an orchestrated [attack on us], fanned by individuals… with agendas to pursue.’ Disgustingly, the Daily Mail thinks that it is the victim in this situation.”
The statement continues, “Everyone has the right to say what they think, but mainstream publications like the Daily Mail shouldn’t promote this sort of hate. The Daily Mail needs to ensure that this never happens again — by not only yanking Littlejohn’s column and apologizing for the paper’s decision to run the hateful opinion piece, but also instituting an editorial review policy that prevents discriminatory writing from ending up in its paper again.”
There is also a petition on Change.org
Richard Littlejohn actually lives in Florida most of the time. Specifically, he lives at 936 Roland Miller Drive, Vero Beach, Florida in a $1.3M mini-mansion. Trulia.com has all sorts of lovely pictures of the ouside and inside of his home, while Google shows a sporty red car with a moon roof parked in front. Of course, *this* doesn’t constitute a violation of privacy, because unlike Lucy Meadows, Richard Littlejohn is a newsworthy, well-recognized public figure, worthy of public criticism.