THE mother of a transgender child from Worcester has called an article by a controversial national newspaper columnist disgusting.

Julie Burchill provoked a storm on Twitter with an article published in the Observer on Sunday in which she described transgender people as “a bunch of d**** in chicks’ clothing” and as “shemales, trannies and a bunch of bed wetters in bad wigs”.

Coalition minister Lynne Featherstone has called for Burchill to be sacked, accusing her of a disgusting rant against transsexuals.

The newspaper has released a statement saying it is taking reactions to the article extremely seriously.

Burchill wrote her article in defence of her friend, the writer Suzanne Moore.

Burchill called the critics “grim groupies” of the “transsexual lobby”.

Moore was criticised for writing in a book of essays that women were angry about “not having the ideal body shape – that of a Brazilian transsexual” for which she refused to apologise.

The article by Burchill in defence of her friend is already the subject of an inquiry by the Observer readers’ editor.

A note above the article, which is still on the Observer and the Guardian websites, says there have been “many e-mails protesting about this piece”.

Burchill also wrote: “Don’t threaten or bully us lowly, natural-born women, I warn you.”

Sacha Hitchen, the mother of 11-year-old Livvy James, a girl trapped in a boy’s body condemned the article by Burchill.

Mrs Hitchen, aged 38, said: “This is my daughter she is talking about.

“She hasn’t read this and I wouldn’t let her read it.

“It is the most offensive and disgusting thing I have ever read and I was absolutely gob-smacked that it got printed.

“I can’t even put it into words. It’s bang out of order.

“My daughter is suffering with this but has been really brave and strong.

“I’m a ‘natural-born woman’ and I haven’t got to face half of what my daughter has got to come.

“She did want to kill herself but she has got through that. She is thriving now.”

Livvy, a name she chose to protect her identity, returned to school as a girl in September 2011, and is due to undergo hormone blocker treatment this year.

Last year Mrs Hitchen organised a petition against the use of offensive terms to describe the transgender community.