Ashley Reed

Ashley Reed is a student at the University of York (UoY), transgender activist and blogger. She received some media attention after raising a petition on the parliament.uk website to allow people to self-define their gender. She campaigns for legal recognition of non-binary gender identities, and spoke on them to a Select Committee in parliament. In 2015, she made the 'ones to watch' section of the The Independents "Rainbow List".
University
As a first year student, Reed was elected to be a trans* convenor for the University of York Students Union (YUSU) LGBTQ Network at the UoY. In this role, she supported self-defining transgender students and helped run awareness campaigns. She ran for LGBTQ part-time officer but did not succeed in the election. She raised a petition asking the UK government to allow transgender people to self-define their gender.
Over the spring vacation of her second year, Reed stood for election to the NUS LGBT+ Committee Women's Place. She was the most successful candidate, gaining the highest number of votes in the first round.
Also over this break, Reed chose to step down from all elected positions within YUSU due to rising levels of harassment.
Parliament
Reed was invited to speak on the inclusivity of non-binary identities and to argue for allowing self-definition, in front of the Women and Equalities Committee
Media coverage
Reed has been featured in several media outlets, including university and national newspapers. She was included in the 'ones to watch' section of the 2015 Rainbow List.
Several news sources mentioned her in articles following her evidence given to the Women and Equalities Committee.
The news website Breitbart implied that Reed is a post-Marxist gender theorist, in relation to her being invited to speak to the Women and Equalities Select Committee.
Reed was featured in a BBC Two clip regarding the release of the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee Transgender Equality Report, where she discussed her experiences growing up.
Reed was heavily quoted in a York Vision article which discussed the rising levels of on-campus transphobia - written as a response to very open incidents following her election to the role of LGBTQ Officer.

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