‘There won’t be anything to let my mum know what it is?’ ‘No, it’ll have nothing from us on it’
A MAIL on Sunday undercover reporter posing as 13-year-old trans boy ‘Riley’ calls Morf, a Manchesterbased support group run by the LGBT Foundation, and speaks to ‘Barry’.
‘Barry’: Good afternoon. You’re through to the LGBT Foundation. How can I help you today?
‘Riley’: I wonder if I could speak to someone about free binders.
B: You can speak to myself and I can find out some information for you.
R: My friend at school told me that you offer free binders and that you can send them out. There’s a scheme. I’m interested in trying to get a binder because I can’t get one myself. I’m not able to pay for it. So I wondered if I could order one through you.
B: I’ll have to find out for you. I’ve recently just come through my training and it was something that was discussed. So I will have to do some research and find out for you.
Second phone call after Barry had been to check with his colleague
B: I’ve been speaking to my colleagues so we do have some binders here. We have a couple of choices here. We can either send one to you or you can come in and try some of them on to see which is the best fit. Where abouts are you based? Are you local?
R: I’m in London. Because I’m 13, I wondered if you could send it to me without letting my mum know what’s in the package. Is that possible?
B: It is. In terms of measurements. I’ve had a quick look at the binders here this evening. Obviously I’m not massively familiar with bra sizes so you might need to help me out here. Have you looked at the sizing around binders on the internet?
R: Yes. I had a quick look
B: So do you know what size you might be?
R: I’m 32B I think? If you sent me the binder, would you send it so my mum wouldn’t be able to find out what it is?
B: We can send you a package and it’s not going to be franked with the LGBT Foundation or anything like that. But in terms of whether your mum will access the parcel before you get into it yourself, that’s something I can’t really say.
R: But it won’t have anything on it that says what’s in it?
B: No. It would literally be a package. It won’t have anything from the LGBT Foundation on it and it will be quite a small package as well.
Barry then offers advice about the suitability and safety of the binders before ‘Riley’ expresses concern again about her parents finding out
R: When the package comes there definitely won’t be anything that will let my mum know what is in it?
B: No. From my perspective it’s going to look like a padded envelope with an address on it and your name. What’s your name?
R: Riley Manning… You wouldn’t be talking to my parents?
B: Not at all. This is completely confidential.