Blog

  • At Boston Children’s Hospital

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    Plenty more to see in the thread. Lovely kind doctors talking about vaginoplasty, surgically removing female body parts, and all the other delights of "gender-affirming care" for kiddies. 

    Kathleen Stock:

    Nice colours, bright primary school teacher voices, soothing music, euphemistic descriptions of removing children's healthy reproductive organs.

    "People who are getting gender-affirming hysterectomies do not have to have their ovaries removed" (coy smile, reassuring little headshake). Well strictly speaking, Frances, they don't have to have hysterectomies either because there is absolutely nothing wrong with their wombs.

    Good to keep these, as a reminder of the gender madness…

  • On the EHRC and trans women

    -size: 11pt”>London NW11

    Sir, Your leading article says that the Equality and Human Rights Commission “should state that trans women must not be allowed in single-sex spaces” and that trans people cannot take part in women’s sport. If the EHRC were to publish such guidance, it would be wrong.

    Trans women are welcome in single-sex spaces, just not in those for women. Trans women can play sport, just not in the women’s category. Activists claim that trans people are banned from various organisations and activities, that they have been taken out of the Equality Act and that their existence is under threat. Misinformation like this feeds that narrative, to the detriment of us all, and particularly to women who are arguing for safety and fairness across the board.
    Ursula Doyle
    London SW16

  • Embracing the idea that some male people are in fact vulnerable women

    40px”>The difference in headlines is all-important. The first example suggests a singling out of trans women, targeting them for exclusion merely for being trans. The second simply states that female-only spaces are to be female-only in more than just name.

    It's the way that "trans" has been presented as the new "gay" – a persecuted minority who form the latest in the progressive list of victims to be rescued from the prejudices of the past. Noting that we're talking here about men pretending to be women, and insisting on their right to access women-only spaces, somehow robs them of their magic.

    At the heart of it all is the miscasting of members of a dominant group (males) as vulnerable victims of members of a subordinate group (females). In academic articles, Stonewall training sessions, books, and newspaper think pieces, something very justifiable and ordinary — women’s fear of male violence and right to privacy — has been recast as privileged, bigoted “cis” women’s paranoia about anyone who is different.

    How deeply ingrained this narrative has become was seen recently in the Sandie Peggie employment tribunal. Dr Beth Upton, a male employee who failed to respect Peggie’s need for a female-only changing room, ought to have been seen as precisely the kind of man who creates the need for such spaces. Instead Upton’s colleagues and employer rushed to portray Peggie as the aggressor.

    To many people, it is obvious how wrong this is. There is nothing different or boundary-shattering about the likes of Upton. Nonetheless, the past decade has seen a certain class of people embrace the idea that some male people are in fact vulnerable women. The law may have been clarified, but it will be a long time before such people stop insisting that the law is both confusing and a gross violation of human rights.

  • This is no longer tolerable

    nocide in Gaza!” Enough is enough. This is no longer tolerable.

  • The ends being seen to justify the means

    ge and intimidation to try to bring about an end to immigration, similar support would not be forthcoming from the people now supporting Palestine Action. This is a case of the ends being seen to justify the means: which is, ironically, the logic that terrorists have used for decades.

  • EHRC guidance on the way

    So many organisations have delayed following the law about women-only spaces by saying they were waiting for guidance. Well, now they're getting it:

    Schools, hospitals, leisure centres and cinemas will be told to ban trans women from using single-sex spaces including lavatories and changing rooms under equalities guidance to be submitted to ministers this month.

    The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is understood to have rejected demands from campaigners to water down rules that would restrict the ability of trans people to access services of their chosen gender.

    The statutory guidance will spell out that transgender competitors can be excluded from single-sex sporting competitions and that it would be reasonable for a woman to object to the presence of a transgender woman if she will be getting undressed or in a vulnerable situation.

    The guidance applies to any organisation that provides services to the public.

    Clear enough?

    Shops and gyms will be included in its scope but the guidance also extends to government departments, the NHS and prisons. It covers private organisations or charities if they are providing a public service, for example a private care home providing care on behalf of a council.

    The EHRC will submit its updated guidance to Bridget Phillipson, the women and equalities minister, before the end of the month. It is believed Phillipson will approve the guidance as long as it is in line with the law. It will then be laid before parliament.

  • Reinforcing delusional behaviours

    of £24,000 to LGBTYS. The charity turns down 90 per cent of good causes that apply for funding, yet money raised by BBC viewers was given to a charity whose outgoing chief executive sexually abused a baby….

  • Medicalising the kids

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    The Pritzkers are one of the wealthiest families in America. JB's cousin is Jennifer (born James) Pritzker, "the first and only openly transgender billionaire", and a leading advocate of transgenderism – what Jennifer Bilek prefers to call "synthetic sex identities".

    Added:

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  • Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Homelessness and Rough Sleeping

    Ah yes.

    Britain's homelessness minister increased the rent on a house she owns by hundreds of pounds, allegedly "within weeks" of the previous tenants' contract ending.

    The i Paper, external reported that four tenants who rented a house owned by Rushanara Ali in East London were sent an email last November giving them four months' notice that their lease would not be renewed.

    It says the property was re-listed shortly after the tenants moved out, at a rent that was £700 a month higher.

    Ali is Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Homelessness and Rough Sleeping. A spokesman said: "Rushanara takes her responsibilities seriously and complied with all relevant legal requirements."

    Update: She's resigned. Remaining in post would be a "distraction from the ambitious work of this government".

  • Staged photos in Gaza

    Hamas, “otherwise, the impression easily arises that it's propaganda or a deliberate fabrication, and that has consequences”.

    In the public's perception, these photographers are then placed close to combatants. That's brutally dangerous,” he said. “Once a name is circulating, these people receive death threats every second.”

    So we should happily accept these staged photographs to protect the photographers? But of course he's conceding the point here: everything that comes out of Gaza is controlled by Hamas, under threat of death. We just have to pretend that's not true.