Paris Lees

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Paris Lees is a British ex-convict and ex-prostitute who writes for the pornographic magazine "Vice". He is a man who identifies as a woman, a transgender activist and hard-working attention-seeker. He does not welcome alternative viewpoints or encourage free debate. [1] He has become a celebrity in LGBT circles and was chosen in April 2018 to appear on the cover of Vogue magazine, a fact that annoyed and offended many women. [2] His claim to be a "feminist" is likewise disputed.

Early life

Lees was born a boy in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire,[3] and self-identified as homosexual in early adulthood. At the age of 16 he was already working as a rent-boy and was convicted of taking part with another homosexual in a violent burglary. The victim, an elderly man, was beaten severely and later died of his injuries. Lees got a 2-year sentence, something quite exceptional for an offender under 18, reflecting the gravity of the crime. He served only eight months and it was in a juvenile offenders' institution, though he later alluded to it as a "prison" and narrated it in such a way as to milk the utmost pathos out of it and present himself as the victim in this situation. He said "I had dropped out of college. Basically, I had gone off the rails because I was terrified of going to prison. I ended up taking lots of drugs."[3] After leaving the juvenile detention center, Lees moved to Brighton to study English at university, where he started to identify as female: "In the space of six weeks I went from living in Nottingham as a boy with my grandma still alive, to living in Brighton as a girl".[3] He was referred to Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic where he received hormone treatment to begin gender transition. [3] This hormone treatment is paid for by the British tax-payer and is not cheap. His facial feminization surgery was paid for by his mother. [4]

Journalism and presenting

Lees writes lurid stuff for the pornographic magazine Vice, making good use of his experience as a rent-boy. He started the first British magazine aimed at the trans community, META,[5][3] and was the acting assistant editor of Gay Times.[6] He has columns in both Gay Times and Diva,[7] and was the first trans cover girl for Diva.[1][3]

Lees has also written for mainstream newspapers and magazines, including The Independent, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Sun [6][7][8][9][10] as well as for Channel 4 News.[11]

Lees has presented on both television and radio, being the first male>female transgender presenter on both BBC Radio 1 and Channel 4.[1][3] On Radio 1, he produced a documentary entitled "The Hate Debate" for BBC Radio 1's Stories in which all views apart from his own were dismissed as "hate " and "phobia".[9] An excerpt from "The Hate Debate" was played on BBC Radio 4's Pick of the Week,[12]. The Hate Debate was followed up with "My Transgender Punk Rock Story", and the episode "Trans" of Channel 4's The Shooting Gallery.[13]

On 25 October 2013 Lees took part as a panellist in the BBC's 100 Women event.[14] On 31 October 2013 Lees became the first openly transgender panellist to appear on the BBC's Question Time programme.

Career in Censorship

Lees, working with Trans Media Watch, challenged Channel 4 to remove material deemed "transphobic" from its broadcasts,[15] and consulted with the channel for its documentary My Transsexual Summer.[16][17] He has worked with a number of media outlets to provide guidance on covering transgender people; in its 2013 Pink List award coverage, The Independent on Sunday said "It was noted by our judges that the Daily Mail's coverage of trans issues has improved noticeably since she had lunch with its managing editor."[1] ["improved" meaning compliance with LGBT dogmas].

Lees currently works with All About Trans, a project that publicizes transgender people.[3][18]

In 2013, Lees topped The Independent on Sunday's Pink List, naming him as the most influential lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender figure in the UK; he was a judge for that award in 2011 and 2012.[1][3]

Lees is quoted as saying that social media is a key tool for transgender people.

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People have been taking the piss out of trans people for 60 years. The narrative on trans issues has been controlled by people who have no understanding of them. Social media is about us grabbing the narrative back and telling our own stories – this is our reality, this is what we go through and this is what matters to us. We're here, we're in your face, we definitely exist. That's the most important thing – realising we exist." [19]

Here and elsewhere he equates existence with forcing other people to believe that a man can become a woman or vice versa. Non-compliance is equated with "denying his existence".

In November 2014, Lees appeared in Hollyoaks, playing himself, and a friend of transgender character Blessing Chambers (Modupe Adeyeye).

On 11 August 2014, Lees was supposed to be on air with BBC Newsnight recording to talk about the impact of Kellie Maloney coming out as a trans woman. However Lees refused to be a part of the show and tweeted that "I've turned down BBC Newsnight as I'm not prepared to enter into a fabricated debate about trans people's right to exist/express themselves." So once again he equates disagreement with his claim to be a woman with denial of his existence. [20]

Inability to Walk

In 2018 Lees appeared on "Celebrity Island" a TV reality show hosted by the explorer Bear Grylls. The idea was meant to be to compete to show survival skills. When asked to lead a trek to find food, Lees gave up after about one minute, complaining that his legs hurt. Shortly afterwards, he dropped out of the show. This led to speculation that he is suffering from the side-effects of cross-sex hormones and surgery, and may be in poor health. A video of this programme is on the internet. [21]

Personal life and identity

Lees has publicly identified himself as a bisexual trans woman and as a feminist.[9][22] Lees has written about how in the early days of his gender transition he received criticism for not passing.[19]

In response to the announced gender transition of Chelsea Manning, Lees revealed that as a teenager and before his transition, he had gone to prison for robbery. [23]

LGBT awards

Lees has won a lot of the sort of awards that LGBT activists set up for themselves, so that they can all congratulate, promote and publicize each other. He has not won any awards based on merit.


External links

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Mr Henry Wimbush on Twitter: "Britain is transphobic, I hear. 1/ Paris ... https://twitter.com/MrHenryWimbush/status/995039879368265728 2 days ago - 1/ Paris Lees graced the cover of Vogue as a 'new suffragette'. ... a prostitute who had robbed a punter so violently that she'd earned a 2-year ...
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ http://transcrimeuk.com/2017/10/30/paris-lees/
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Paris Lees walks out on BBC interview, gaystarnews.com; accessed 9 December 2014.
  21. ↑ https://players.brightcove.net/2540076170001/B1Hli6KCG_default/index.html? videoId=5835572222001&fbclid=IwAR0PHj8NTKy2sHVac481BBSCAqOKHEWjZHHynsFM1FLYISW_rbYnxc1F_t4
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

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