Launceston newspaper publishes fake letter about trans person entering female changing room

A Tasmanian newspaper has published a transphobic letter that falsely claimed a “man” undressed in front of children in the female change rooms at the Launceston Leisure and Aquatic Centre.

The newspaper, the Launceston Examiner, shared the letter under the headline “Girls getting changed, then in walks a man.”

According to ABC, the facility has denied that the incident ever happened, leading the Examiner to issue a retraction - which read, “unfortunately we appear to have been misled.”

It went on to state, “after inquiries with the letter writer the Examiner has concerns that the letter contained incorrect information.”

However, the letter had already been reshared by TERF (Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist) groups with one being shared at least 160 times on Facebook and another viewed over 74 thousand times on Twitter.

Commenting on the reporting, City of Launceston Mayor, Danny Gibson stated “disappointingly, the newspaper made no attempt to check the veracity of the letter with the council.

“The publishing of this letter has, as you could expect, resulted in considerable angst and grief for council staff, particularly those at the front desk, at the aquatic centre, and indeed those on the ends of the telephone, who continue to be the subject of ongoing abuse.

“I know I have, and I’m sure other councillors have also received additional information and letters concerning this, the tone of which is less than desirable.”

Mark Westfield, Editor of the Examiner, Mark Westfield, told the ABC that he was solely responsible for placing the letters and that he did not check the claims as he had no time.

Westfield noted “it seemed to be, obviously, someone very upset about the situation. She wrote about the experience (and) I have to trust my readers. 99.99% of letters I’m pretty confident are correct.

“I spoke to the writer. I think she made it up. She wasn’t very convincing. I asked her what happened, to give me some detail, a time, date, but she wouldn’t.”

Westfield became Editor of the Examiner in December. Prior to that he was a former media adviser to prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and a campaign manager and media adviser for controversial Liberal candidate Katherine Deves.

Last month an anti-trans group staged a protest outside the Doone Kennedy Hobart Aquatic Centre objecting to the facility’s trans-inclusive policy.

Hobart City Council’s trans-inclusive policy at the facility is understood to have been in place for four years without previous public complaints.

Update: As of late today it has been reported that Westfield has left his role at the Examiner.

Image: Launceston Leisure and Aquatic Centre. Credit: City of Launceston.