Lucy, a teacher in Accrington, Lancashire, was becoming active in the Union and many thousands of NUT members across the country will have wanted to send their solidarity and condolences tonight - as we will also hope to at NUT Conference as well.
A petition on http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/the-daily-mail-fire-richard-littlejohn-for-victimizing-lucy-meadows-leading-to-her-possible-suicide explains the background to the protest:
"Nathan Upton was a teacher at St Mary Magdalen's School in Accrington. Before the Christmas break the parents of children at the school were informed that after the break she was would be coming back to work after the holiday as Lucy Meadows.
It started out as confusion from parents, who simply didn't know what do think of it all, but most seemed to be simply concerned about the adjustment children would have to face rather than actively malicious. However, the more bigoted members of the community then went to the Daily Mail, where she was attacked by Richard Littlejohn who decided to single her out in the national paper.
No one deserves to have their lives turned upside down because of their gender identity being thrown into the national spotlight. The reason the parents who had a problem went to the Daily Mail is that there was no way to get her fired under equal opportunity law. So they tried to give the school bad press by saying how terrible it is that she is allowed to live her life freely. While little is known about the amount of abuse she ended up getting, the result is the same no matter what;
Lucy Meadows was found dead this week. If it was suicide, it was brought on from the hounding she received from Daily Mail readers. The possibility of this happening was enough for the daily mail to take down his original article without comment.
We, the undersigned, want a formal apology for the stress and pain that Richard Littlejohn and the Daily Mail caused Lucy Meadows and for Richard Littlejohn to be fired or resign from his post".
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