AFTER reading the inquest report on Paula Greenall (LET, January 6) and the humility she suffered all through her short life it grieves me to call myself "human" when so many people out there have no sense of humanity.

What gives a person the right to castigate another human being just because of their own ignorance? Bigotry and hate are the evil bedfellows of ignorance and seem to breed prejudice.

Transsexuality is not some fetish or fantasy. Transsexuals are just ordinary people caught in an extraordinary situation. They feel incongruity between their bodies and their inner self. These feelings get so strong that they have to change the outer shell to complete their inner feelings before the emotions they have totally destroy them.

People have altering surgery every day and no-one bats an eyelid, whether it be plastic surgery, breast augmentation, face lifts etc, or medical procedures to remove cancerous growths on the skin. What's the difference between that and sex realignment surgery?

To accept a person, you have to get to know a person and not just ridicule them because you don't understand them or what they are going through. There are enough bigots in the world as it is.

BILLY GEDDES, Southmead, Bristol (via email).