page_title: Christine Burns
section_title: LGBT History Month and public speaking
hierarchical_section_title: Christine Burns / Political work and departure from PFC / LGBT History Month and public speaking
caption_attribution_description: English: Christine Burns interviews Mark Rees for her regular Podcast about Equality and Diversity issues, "Just Plain Sense". Mark Rees (author of the book 'Dear Sir or Madam' and a one time Liberal Democrat Councillor for the Rusthall district of Tonbridge in Kent) was the first transsexual Briton to take the UK to the European Court of Human Rights in 1984, over the right to have a birth certificate recognising him as male
context_page_description: Christine Burns, MBE is a British political activist best known for her work with Press for Change and, more recently, as an internationally recognized health adviser. Burns was awarded an MBE in 2005 in recognition of her work representing transgender people. In 2011, she ranked 35th on the Independent on Sunday's annual Pink List of influential lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the United Kingdom.
context_section_description: In 2005 Burns became involved in supporting LGBT History Month and contributed profiles on Mark Rees and Stephen Whittle to the charity's website. She also produced a lesson plan on gender variance. She has recounted key moments in her work as a trans activist on the site, including PFC's trip to Downing Street and Alex Carlile's Private Members Bill proposing means to correct transsexual people's birth certificates and status in the mid-1990s. Burns was invited to become a Patron of LGBT History Month in 2010, making her the educational campaign's first trans patron.
  Burns spoke at a conference on trans issues organised by University of East Anglia in 2007. In 2008, she was a key note speaker at a conference held by the Trans Resource and Empowerment Centre and the Centre for Local Policy Studies. At the Commission for Social Care Inspection conference in 2007 she explained that trans service users, relatives, professional stakeholders and care staff are often vulnerable and require protection from abuse.
  Burns introduced podcasts to the PFC web site when the term was largely unheard of, and continued to broadcast on the site till her departure in 2007. In 2008 she presented the first season of "Just Plain Sense", her personal podcasts detailing a variety of equality and diversity topics from contemporary Britain. One of her earliest guests was Lynne Jones MP, the original chair of the Parliamentary Forum on Transsexualism in the 1990s.
caption: Mark Rees interviewed by Christine Burns MBE
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