In an interview with the Sunday Life, he said that he had been spat at in the street just days after coming out last summer.

Mr Simmons, one of the best-known TV personaliltites in the province, has been a continuty announcer on ITV channel Ulster Television for decades.

He told the paper:

“I was standing at traffic lights and a van went past and a guy shouted out of it ‘There’s that gay fella from UTV’, and spat at me.

“It didn’t land on me – it landed on the woman beside me – which was pretty inconvenient.

“It’s horrible but you just have to say ‘There but for the grace of God go I’ because I could have that attitude.”

Simmons, who has been working at UTV for more than 25 years, added that he had developed a thick skin to deal with such situations.

However, he admitted:

“There is a bit of me that is easily hurt. These days though, you learn not to let that come to the front.”

Although currently single, the popular presenter revealed he had had his heart broken many times, saying:

“I’m not cynical but I just accept the fact that nothing lasts forever and I just enjoy the first flush of it when it hits as it doesn’t get any better than that.

“I’ve had my heart broken umpteen times and I do lose my heart easily, but these days I have learnt. It hasn’t happened in a brave few years.”

Simmons came out last July, telling the Belfast Telegraph:

“I’m gay, everyone knows I’m gay and they don’t care. It’s not what defines me, it’s just part of who I am.”

However, he admitted he had never told his mother Pearl, who died on Christmas Eve in 2006, about his sexuality although he said she had possibly guessed the truth.

Campaigners have blamed the murders on a lack of job opportunities for transgender people, saying that some have no option other than working on the streets where they are at risk from attacks.

Leeneshia Edwards was shot in the face, side and back in the ‘box town’ area of the city last week and is recovering in hospital. Her family have said she worked as a prostitute.

Her shooting follows the murders of Duanna Johnson and Ebony Whitaker, transgender women who also worked as prostitutes.

Ms Johnson was found dead from gunshot wounds in north Memphis on Sunday, November 9th. At the time of her death she had been considering suing the Memphis Police Department over an incident in which a video tape showed her being beaten by two officers.

In July, Ms Whitaker’s body was found by a daycare worker in Whitebrook Plaza, south-east Memphis. Members of her family said they believed she was shot by a customer who became angry on discovering
she was transgender. As yet her killer has not been found.

Transgender campaigner Casey Lanham has said some transgender people in the city have no choice but to turn to prostitution as employers will not hire them.

He told My Eyewitness News: “It’s very common. We’ve had several people that have had to do that
at least for sometime to make a living.

“A lot of times an employer will be up front and say ‘I don’t hire people like you’ and other times you don’t hear why, we just don’t get jobs.

“We want the employers to realise when we are given half a chance we have a lot to contribute to our community and our society.”

Mr Lanhan’s comments were echoed by the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition, which has called on Memphis to support the rights of transgender people.

In a statement, president Marisa Richmond said businesses which refuse to hire transgender people should open their doors to offer them an alternative to working on the streets.

She added: “This open season on transgender people in Memphis and elsewhere, regardless of whether or not they engage in sex work, must come to an end right now.”

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