Trans rights: a perspective

[Aruntraveller]

Disagree. Those that I have seen in the main (and Turner says mainly) questioning Rowling in reply to her tweets about throwing away her legacy are left wing, often have BLM in their bios and the biggest group are left wing men with beards. Note Noakes is in no sense a counter argument here since the left wing men comment was  specifically about those commenting that Rowling was throwing away her legacy.


It isn't purely a left vs right wing matter but those speaking up against gender woo in the Tories are mainstream and not widely vilified by those in their own parties. In the Greens, SNP, Labour, and Lid Dems, those speaking up against it are outliers and receive oceans of abuse from within their own parties that are then ignored by the leadership of those parties.

Not at all sure about this. I see it mainly as a generational divide and a divide between some people who regard themselves as progressive (but who have only cloaked their reactionary tendencies with a pretence of being forward thinking) and others who have a firmer grasp on the reality of biology. The people I've seen criticising JKR have been overwhelmingly young and have that smooth faced look that for some reason reminds me of The Stepford Wives or possibly Midwich Cuckoos.

[Nearly Sane]

Not at all sure about this. I see it mainly as a generational divide and a divide between some people who regard themselves as progressive (but who have only cloaked their reactionary tendencies with a pretence of being forward thinking) and others who have a firmer grasp on the reality of biology. The people I've seen criticising JKR have been overwhelmingly young and have that smooth faced look that for some reason reminds me of The Stepford Wives or possibly Midwich Cuckoos.

Progressive is surely a close synonym for left wing here?

[Aruntraveller]

Progressive is surely a close synonym for left wing here?

I'm sure there is a whole essay or possibly even a book that could be written about how left wing can be considered to be far removed from progressive. It is a question of definitions which are far too broad I fear. Which brings me back to my point about her comment it was far too broad a brush stroke.

I talk to quite a few old friends who are left wing (much more so than me) some even have beards, not one of them is in agreement with "gender woo" (to borrow an excellent phrase).

That is totally anecdotal I realise, but sometimes those we know are the only true reflection we can get of what is going on (although I'm well aware that can have an opposite effect) but I don't trust the world of Twitter and it's ability to so easily escalate a minority view so as to make it appear that it is an overwhelming trend. I really don't think it is, even amongst bearded left wing men.

[Nearly Sane]

I'm sure there is a whole essay or possibly even a book that could be written about how left wing can be considered to be far removed from progressive. It is a question of definitions which are far too broad I fear. Which brings me back to my point about her comment it was far too broad a brush stroke.

I talk to quite a few old friends who are left wing (much more so than me) some even have beards, not one of them is in agreement with "gender woo" (to borrow an excellent phrase).

That is totally anecdotal I realise, but sometimes those we know are the only true reflection we can get of what is going on (although I'm well aware that can have an opposite effect) but I don't trust the world of Twitter and it's ability to so easily escalate a minority view so as to make it appear that it is an overwhelming trend. I really don't think it is, even amongst bearded left wing men.

And yet as pointed out already the progressivelwdt wing parties are institutionally committed to getting rid of women's sex based spaces. Look at the vitriol thrown at Rosie Duffield, or Joanna Cherry by their own party supporters, and their leaders remain silent.

I think you are over reading Turner's statement because of it being published in The Times. Turner would describe herself as left wing.

[Nearly Sane]

Dangerous fetishism



https://4w.pub/norwegian-university-required-students-to-attend-fetish-club-dress-in-lacquer-and-rubber/

[Christine]

Re the left/right thing

https://grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/a-disaster-ahead-for-democrats?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

I subscribe to Linehan’s substack and YouTube channel now, I admire his resolution to continue supporting women’s rights and safeguarding in the face of unjustified career-destroying vilification. If his name is taken off the Father Ted musical he’s been working on for years I’ll have something else to boycott.

I’m buying merch and gifts from https://thefamousartistbirdyrose.com/ and I’d also buy from https://www.jessdewahls.com/ if I could afford it. Jess De Wahls has a piece on her website called Over The Rainbow which sets out the main issues relating to women well.

Following the Nolan documentary on Stonewall, I think rational voices are starting to get heard. Kelly-Jay Keene on Talk Radio, followed by Debbie Hayton (male interviewer, unsurprisingly, less antagonistic towards a man saying the same things as a woman), Richard Dawkins speaking up. Gender woo is worse than young-earth creationism. We are instructed to disbelieve the reality we can see with our own eyes, the reality that made the evolution of humans possible. And to further this post-modernist, reality-undermining, dangerous ideology, children are being sterilised and mutilated. Worse than YEC.

By the way, Linehan does a weekly ‘good news’ update among all the horror - it’s worth reading if you need a bit of a faith-in-humanity top up.

[jeremyp]

Dangerous fetishism



https://4w.pub/norwegian-university-required-students-to-attend-fetish-club-dress-in-lacquer-and-rubber/

Not quite sure what the point of that is. Sexology course field trip to fetish club requires students to dress appropriately. Whether or not that is appropriate for a university course is one thing. Has it got anything to do with trans rights is another - and I'm not sure what.

[Nearly Sane]

Not quite sure what the point of that is. Sexology course field trip to fetish club requires students to dress appropriately. Whether or not that is appropriate for a university course is one thing. Has it got anything to do with trans rights is another - and I'm not sure what.

Did you miss that it was lead by a 'trans-identified woman'?

[jeremyp]

Did you miss that it was lead by a 'trans-identified woman'?

The Third Reich was led by a man with a moustache. What does that tell us about men with moustaches?

[The Accountant, OBE, KC]

Re the left/right thing

https://grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/a-disaster-ahead-for-democrats?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

I subscribe to Linehan’s substack and YouTube channel now, I admire his resolution to continue supporting women’s rights and safeguarding in the face of unjustified career-destroying vilification. If his name is taken off the Father Ted musical he’s been working on for years I’ll have something else to boycott.

I’m buying merch and gifts from https://thefamousartistbirdyrose.com/ and I’d also buy from https://www.jessdewahls.com/ if I could afford it. Jess De Wahls has a piece on her website called Over The Rainbow which sets out the main issues relating to women well.

Following the Nolan documentary on Stonewall, I think rational voices are starting to get heard. Kelly-Jay Keene on Talk Radio, followed by Debbie Hayton (male interviewer, unsurprisingly, less antagonistic towards a man saying the same things as a woman), Richard Dawkins speaking up. Gender woo is worse than young-earth creationism. We are instructed to disbelieve the reality we can see with our own eyes, the reality that made the evolution of humans possible. And to further this post-modernist, reality-undermining, dangerous ideology, children are being sterilised and mutilated. Worse than YEC.

By the way, Linehan does a weekly ‘good news’ update among all the horror - it’s worth reading if you need a bit of a faith-in-humanity top up.

Glad to see the Girls Day School Trust, which runs my daughter's school, have issued a statement regarding their Gender Identity policy to say they will not accept transgender pupils because it would “jeopardise” their status as single-sex institutions.

The guidance states that GDST schools do not accept applications from pupils who are legally male, even if they identify as female.

A female pupil who begins to transition while already at school should be supported to remain at the school for as long as they wish to do so, it adds.

School leaders have said that in the absence of any official guidance from the Department for Education (DfE), they are left with advice from lobby groups as they decide how to react when a pupil identifies as the opposite gender.

Julie McCulloch of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said that as more and more children “come out” as transgender,  heads are forced to wade into the fraught debate between biological sex and gender.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) was due to publish guidelines to help schools interpret the 2010 Equality Act and how it applies to trans pupils.

But last year the guidelines - that would have forced girls schools to admit trans pupils - were scrapped by the equalities watchdog, blaming a “lack of definitive case law” on the issue.

The equality watchdog has now urged the Government to “show leadership” and publish its own guidance.  “We recently wrote to the Department for Education to ask whether they intend to do so and to offer our advice and support in the process if they decide to do so,” a spokesman told The Telegraph.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/01/01/group-girls-schools-says-will-not-accept-transgender-pupils/

[Nearly Sane]

Another academic being accused of 'transphobia'

https://archive.vn/IUIBy

[Nearly Sane]

Incredible that people have to stand up (again) for important facts being recorded in the census - Scottish version this time


https://fairplayforwomen.com/scottish-government-in-court-over-unlawful-definition-of-sex-in-census/

[The Accountant, OBE, KC]

The judicial review in the Alex Salmond case did not end well for the Scottish government - they ended up having to pay Salmond £500,000 from taxpayer funds for their botched handling of the complaints against Salmond.

I hope this Judicial Review on their definition of "sex" in the Census goes the same way for them.

[Nearly Sane]

The judicial review in the Alex Salmond case did not end well for the Scottish government - they ended up having to pay Salmond £500,000 from taxpayer funds for their botched handling of the complaints against Salmond.

I hope this Judicial Review on their definition of "sex" in the Census goes the same way for them.

They paid £500k. They did not pay Salmond £500k.

[The Accountant, OBE, KC]

They paid £500k. They did not pay Salmond £500k.

I thought they paid him for him to pay towards his legal expenses? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-49331140

[Nearly Sane]

I thought they paid him for him to pay towards his legal expenses? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-49331140

I suppose it's a matter of perspective but I don't see costs awarded as being a pay out to the individual.   

[jeremyp]

I suppose it's a matter of perspective but I don't see costs awarded as being a pay out to the individual.   

Well it is, effectively. It means they don't have to pay their own legal fees.

[Nearly Sane]

Great thread from Ross Tucker


https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1484469424837074947.html

[Aruntraveller]

So just so that you are all up to date on the old alphabetty soup that is emanating out of this whole transgendered debate, I bring you this, courtesy of a foray into the Twittersphere:

 2SLGBTQQIA+

It stands for: 'Two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual, and all other sexual orientations and genders'.

They could just have said "everyone".

[Nearly Sane]

So just so that you are all up to date on the old alphabetty soup that is emanating out of this whole transgendered debate, I bring you this, courtesy of a foray into the Twittersphere:

 2SLGBTQQIA+

It stands for: 'Two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual, and all other sexual orientations and genders'.

They could just have said "everyone".

Not sure it's wise publishing your wifi password.

[Nearly Sane]

Equality and Human Rights Commission criticise Scottish Govt gender recognition reforms

https://archive.vn/2022.01.26-204807/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/01/26/nicola-sturgeons-transgender-reforms-wont-protect-women-says/

[Christine]

My MP didn’t answer my questions so I sent them again:


“Can you explain to me what human rights trans-identified people lack in this country please?

Re self-ID - Do you think that some predatory males might falsely claim to identify as women in order to access spaces where women are vulnerable? Do you propose any safeguards to mitigate the risk?

Do you think it is acceptable for a fully intact adult male who has not undertaken any medical or surgical procedures relating to sex reassignment to have applied for and been appointed to a job advertised, legally, as reserved for a woman? Do you think that person should be counted in employment stats as a woman?

Are you currently, pending the outcome of the Cass review, in favour of giving puberty blockers to physically healthy children?

I have continued to research this subject and everything I have read, from both sides of the argument, has only increased my concerns. This is a fundamentally irrational ideology that denies easily verifiable reality and undermines safeguarding for children and women.

I have discussed my concerns with family, friends and neighbours and so far everyone turns out to be ‘gender critical’ once they know what self-id means and what is happening to confused children. It’s clear why gender ideologues don’t want open debate. I’ll be sharing my questions on the same forum I shared my initial email to you.”

Meanwhile, in Gwent

https://www.gwent.police.uk/news/gwent/news/news/2022/january/statement-following-a-53-year-old-woman-from-newport-being-arrested-on-suspicion-of-criminal-damage-and-displaying-threatening-or-abusive-writing-likely-to-cause-harassment-alarm-or-distress/?__cf_chl_captcha_tk__=pVIdxSHufxxOtpulCVZSpmZ9PNPh0.fBl8BqiAlHdBI-1643151133-0-gaNycGzNCL0

[Christine]

So just so that you are all up to date on the old alphabetty soup that is emanating out of this whole transgendered debate, I bring you this, courtesy of a foray into the Twittersphere:

 2SLGBTQQIA+

It stands for: 'Two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual, and all other sexual orientations and genders'.

They could just have said "everyone".

Hi Trent, I think the elevation of 2S to the beginning is to promote the idea that people who oppose this lunacy are racist, or at least the equivalent of racist. Characterising trans realists as right-wing is just another attempt to stifle debate.

[Aruntraveller]

Hi Christine

That sounds about right.

On the small matter of changing people's minds about this, particularly on the Left, if you are a member of the Labour Party you can make your thoughts known on their Policy Forum website. I have put forward my thoughts. It is not the easiest of sites to navigate and there seem to be multiple discussions about most issues, so to cover all bases you have to find all the discussions on any particular policy.

It is encouraging that the majority of people responding to the Trans threads are keenly aware of the nonsense being promoted. Whether it has any effect on the direction of policy I don't know but it's worth a shot if you are a member.

I lapse shortly and am not yet convinced I'll renew but I thought I'd have my say before I go!

The forum is here:  https://www.policyforum.labour.org.uk/commissions/trans-rights

[Aruntraveller]

A very welcome editorial from The Observer on the recent EHRC hoo-hah:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/30/observer-view-ehrc-decision-scotland-gender-recognition-reforms

It strikes me as being very balanced and sensible in its approach. I can only help that this balance and sense will spread to its stablemate.