A JOURNALIST handed an honorary doctorate has dedicated it to sex workers and said she hoped the gesture might undo the stigma they face.

Paris Lees told the University of Brighton graduation ceremony she wanted people in the sex industry to know that they are valuable and not “wrong or dirty”

She said while sex work was now part of her past, she said she would not have been able to make it through university and into journalism without it.

The journalist and trans rights activist is among 5,000 students collecting degrees during the University of Brighton’s week of ceremonies.

The 27-year-old gave a heartfelt and honest speech on collecting her honorary Doctor of Letters in recognition of her major contribution to the understanding of trans-identity in contemporary society as a journalist and cultural commentator.

Brought up as a boy in Nottinghamshire, Ms Lees began identifying as a woman while studying English at the University of Brighton and has become a leading voice for the trans community.

In collecting the doctorate, she told the audience at the Brighton Dome about her first experiences trying on her grandmother’s dresses ten years ago as she prepared to move to Brighton and her initial difficulties even in this “open-minded” city where she faced abuse.

She described the honour as “mind-blowing” and talked how in the past seven years she had “taken off the cloak of shame” she once wore to campaign for greater equality, dignity and respect for trans people.

Ms Lees said: “I do not wish to distract from this wonderful and happy moment but I feel compelled to dedicate this doctorate to a group of people who seldom enjoy public praise: Sex workers.

“Sex work is part of my past now, but the truth is I would not have got my degree and forged the career I enjoy today without making some tough choices.

“I would like to use the prestige of this award to undo even just a tiny bit of the very great stigma sex workers still face.

“Making sex work criminal does not stop it from happening and simply pushes the whole thing underground and puts sex workers in danger.

“Sex workers, like trans people until very recently, are one of the most silenced groups in society.

“I want people in the sex industry to know that they are valuable, that they are not wrong, or dirty, and that I care about them.”