Monday 30th January 12

Quite a mixed day... some of it was taken up with dealing with the aftermath of a post I put on facebook without thinking of the consequences.  It was a photo of what is colloquially known as a 'ladyboy'; a person, usually from a far-eastern country such as Thailand, who was born male and has chosen to live as a woman, a situation known as 'transgender'.  I have several transgender friends and therefore I should have known better to share a picture which used an image to get some cheap humour. I got several comments from friends and people I know who were horrified by what I'd done. There were other comments from people who thought it was hilarious.  This only enraged the offended group more.  Others chimed in and said that the Politically Correct crew were over-reacting. The response to this was a claim that trans people suffered more bullying and attacks than any other identifiable group in society, and many trans people commit suicide. I apologised for any offence given and hoped that some good might have come of the discussion, that people might have learned some facts about transgender people.  I have certainly learned to think before sharing things, and to stop and think if it might be offensive.  I don't mind discussing controversial subjects, but I don't set out to upset people... unless I want to deliberately upset people, of course.  The picture was later removed by facebook from everyone's walls who had shared it, probably because of complaints.

More of the day was taken up with organising the York in Transition Energy Event on March 10th, inviting renewable energy installers to come and have a stall.  I rang at least 8 different organisations.

I also got a welcome phone call from The Phone Co-op who said they thought I was spending too much on my phone bill, and that they thought I could, should, change my tariff. How nice of them!