Transgender Tory councillor reports Labour opponent she says called her a man during meeting
Police are investigating what a former mayor said was just a 'slip of the tongue'
A TORY councillor who changed from being a man to a woman a decade ago has accused a Labour opponent of a hate crime after he called her “he”.
Transgender Zoe Kirk-Robinson says Bolton’s former mayor Guy Harkin “misgendered” her during a recent meeting by repeatedly addressing her as “he” and “him” instead of “she” and “her”.
Cllr Harkin, 69, a retired senior management lecturer who served as the town’s mayor in 2012/3, insists it was a slip of the tongue, and said it happened a couple of times, not repeatedly.
Cllr Kirk-Robinson, a prominent LGBT campaigner and a Hate Crime Ambassador, has reported him to Bolton Council and Greater Manchester Police.
She says both are now investigating the incident.
In a tweet after the meeting she said: “Labour Cllr Guy Harkin repeatedly misgendered me in tonight’s council meeting, while going off on a personal attack against me.”
Later she added: “I can’t say I’m surprised at his behaviour but I had hoped that Bolton’s leading political group wasn’t transphobic.”
And in another tweet she said: “I will be calling on Bolton Labour Group to denounce his behaviour. Bolton does not welcome transphobia.”
The 35-year-old said: “This obviously was a shock, and not a pleasant one. I expected better of a member of the council.
“For someone in the highest public forum of the town to feel transphobia was acceptable is shocking — It is not acceptable in Bolton — it shouldn't be acceptable anywhere.”
She added: “Bolton has a problem with hate crime and for Cllr Harkin to engage in a personal attack against me in this matter only serves to legitimise transphobia in the eyes of the average bigot — which makes life harder for all LGBT people.”
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In a video blog, the Tory added: “If I’m truthful, it hurt a lot, the guy had no reasons to ever suggest that I was male, he has never met me as a male.
“I transitioned over 10 years ago and I have lived in Bolton for seven, going on eight years, he never met me before I transitioned.”
Cllr Harkin once suggested naming streets after Adolf Hitler and other Nazis in a bid to sabotage a controversial housing development.
He said he was “utterly unaware of the slip of the tongue” about Cllr Kirk-Robinson’s gender until it was pointed out to him the day after the meeting.
He added: “I offered immediately to apologise as there is not a homophobic or any kind of phobic bone in my body.”
Cllr Kirk-Robinson, who was elected to her Westhoughton seat last year, is a hate crime ambassador and added: “The incident has been referred to Greater Manchester Police, and therefore is now out of my hands.
“As a hate crime ambassador, I always urge people to report hate crime when it occurs and I will continue to do so.”