Open Letter to Stephen Pritchard, the readers editor of the Observer

Dear Stephen Pritchard,

As a life long Guardian and Observer reader I felt sickened to my core to read Julie Burchill's piece on the recent twitter storm around Suzanne Moore. I'd avoided getting involved in the arguments that drove Ms Moore from twitter, as I'd felt there'd been little deliberate malice in her original offending article.

This however cannot be said for the piece by Burchill, which is a more odious piece of "trolling" than I have read in recent years. I have always trusted in the Guardian as a liberal and progressive newspaper that didn't treat the most vulnerable in society as punch bags - unlike most of the print media. I've known that, as with a lot of mainstream media, even you had a blind spot when it came to the trans community, but in recent years you have been putting this right.

So it was with real dismay that I read the article from Julia Burchill this morning, telling me that I am a "a dick in chicks' clothing" and a "bed wetter in a bad wig". You see I am a trans woman, and so take great exception to being described in such vile terms! I do realise that many people do hold such views about myself and trans people in general, but then many people hold horrible views about all minorities. What I do not expect, is having them given the validation of the platform of a internationally respected progressive newspaper like yours.

I feel very let down and will have to question if I buy the Observer in future, depending on they way you as a paper handle this from here on!

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this.

Regards
Cass Hoskins

Sent from my iPad