A councillor who
called a transgender opponent “he” instead of “she” is refusing a police
request to take part in a restorative justice programme.
Guy Harkin, a former
Labour mayor, maintains it was slip of the tongue, and described the row as a
“ridiculous charade”.
Conservative Coun
Zoe Kirk-Robinson, 35, said she was “incredibly disappointed” by his refusal to
meet face to face.
Last week she
reported Coun Harkin, 69, to Greater Manchester Police , alleging she was the
victim of a hate crime.
Coun Kirk-Robinson,
a writer, artist, filmmaker and game developer, prominent LGBT campaigner and a
Hate Crime Ambassador, transitioned from male to female more than 10 years ago.
In a tweet after
the meeting of Bolton council she said: “Labour Cllr Guy Harkin repeatedly misgendered
me in tonight’s Council meeting, while going off on a personal attack against
me.”
Officers downgraded
it to a “hate incident” rather than a “hate crime” — and suggested the two
councillors sit down together to discuss the issue and come to a resolution.
But Coun Harkin, a
retired senior management lecturer, says he won’t participate in a restorative
justice programme.
“I have had a
conversation with the police and made it plain that I have no interest in
anything but a dropping of the whole ridiculous charade or of me being
prosecuted — an action which I would defend most vigorously,” he said.
“I am also letting
them know that if they want to see me I will go to them rather than have them
come to me so as to minimise the outrageous wasting of police time and
resources which this attention seeking individual has already caused.”
I will be calling on Bolton Labour Group to denounce his behaviour. Bolton
does not welcome transphobia. https://t.co/djCE6hg0pN
— Zoë Kirk-Robinson
(@ZoeKirkRobinson) 24 August 2016
He added: “Anyone
who knows me knows that I am utterly uninterested in a person’s age, sex,
colour, creed, sexually orientation, gender or any other factor about them
other than our common humanity.
“The fuss that Cllr
Kirk-Robinson wants to make of this inadvertent error on my part tells you much
more about her than it does about me.”
Det Insp Charlotte
Cadden, hate crime leader for Bolton police, said: “We believe restorative
justice is an ideal way for the two parties to get together in a professional
environment and discuss the issue and learn what impact has been had by what
has taken place, so that is what we are planning to do.”
Cllr Harkin says the
comments represented a ‘slip of the tongue’ and is unhappy with his council
colleague’s handling of the situation.
Greater Manchester
Police has now confirmed that it is not treating the issue as a hate crime,
instead downgrading it to a hate incident — and has suggested getting the two
councillors together to discuss the issue and come to a resolution.
However, this is not
something Cllr Harkin is happy with.
Coun Kirk-Robinson
added: “I want this issue to be resolved as soon as possible because I don’t
want it to happen to anyone else in the future.
“As for attention
seeking, I didn’t ask for any of this but as a hate crime ambassador I feel it
is important to raise these issues — if you don’t call it out at the highest
level then how can you ask people to call it out when it happens in the street.
“I would really urge
Coun Harkin to change his mind and co-operate so we can get this resolved.”
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