User:Nirame/Sonia Burgess

Sonia Burgess (born David Burgess) (25 September 1947 – 25 October 2010) was a leading British human rights and immigration lawyer born in Canada.

Burgess obtained a number of landmark decisions from British courts and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on behalf of immigrant clients. Notably, as a result of an ECHR decision in favour of 52 Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers represented by Burgess, British law was changed to allow asylum seekers to appeal against refusal of asylum before having to leave the country.

Burgess and Youdon Lhamo had 3 children(2 biological 1 adopted)in their 20 year long marriage and in 2005 they separated. Burgess, who was transgendered, then began to transition to become Sonia, only continuing to use her birth name/gender whilst at work. In October 2010, Burgess was killed after falling under a train. A woman, Nina Kanagasingham, has been charged with the murder of Burgess.

Many newspapers reported the death and details of Sonia's life in disparaging or innacurate terms for example "Cross-dressing tube death victim". "Many of Sonia's friends found the media interest difficult to stomach, especially because some newspapers used the male pronoun to refer to Burgess in spite of the fact that he had chosen to live as a woman".