At 5.58pm on the 17.09.24 Councillor Laurie Burton, who Sophie Molly never previously engaged with, sent her a tweet (via X, previously known as Twitter) which contained the following.

"Sophie is male and nothing can change that reality"

Reading the Councillor's tweet caused Sophie great distress. Sophie is a trans woman and calling her a male is both inappropriate and transphobic.

We believe this is in breach of section 2.3 of the Southend On Sea City Council members code of conduct. Under the Equality Act 2010 Sophie's gender reassignment is a protected characteristic. Calling her male is therefore unlawful discrimination of this protected characteristic. Additionally Sophie holds a Gender Recognition Certificate and therefore legally her sex is female (not male).

This not only caused Sophie great distress but it also shocked others on X and given Councillor Burton's  position caused alarm to the wider community.

The LGBTQIA Plus community feel that this does not meet the standards we expect from our elected representatives.  We feel disciplinary action against Councillor Burton by Southend On Sea City Council  is the only way forward.