A Week in the War on Women: Monday June 22nd - Sunday 28th June
Monday 22nd June - Police Seek "Person" to Help With Their Inquiries
FAIR COP: Police are accused of pandering to trans sensibilities after they bungled an appeal for witnesses to a serious sexual assault.
New blog
"In their craven acceptance of Stonewall Law, the police are guilty of a dangerous inversion of morality, where real victims come a distant second to the imagined grievances of the transgender lobby."https://t.co/IH4PUmuB2b
— WeAreFairCop (@WeAreFairCop) June 22, 2020
Last December Hertfordshire Police asked for help from the public after a victim was left traumatised by a sexual assault in Bishop's Stortford. However, when they issued a description of the assailant they omitted two very important details which could have made identification so much easier; that he was male and that he was wearing women's clothes. They simply stated they wanted to hear about "Anyone acting suspiciously in the area".
These pertinent facts about the perpetrator's sex and appearance only emerged after a man was charged with the assault at the end of May. In a press briefing, a senior officer confirmed that the force were aware the alleged perpetrator was male and wearing women’s clothing, they'd just chosen not to make that information public for fear of upsetting the trans community.
Detective Inspector Justine Jenkins of the regional major crime unit stated, "It is absolutely vital that any coverage of the case in the media is handled supportively and sensitively... We do not want to be in a situation where members of the gay or trans communities in particular are being targeted by hurtful comments or actions as a result of this information being released".
But then Hertfordshire Police do have form in this area; they came under fire a couple of years ago when handling the case of paedophile rapist, Gary Cooper. Because he decided to 'identify as female', Herts Police played along and issued a press release entitled “Woman sentenced for historical sexual offences against a child”. Perhaps they think lipstick trumps reality, even where sex offenders are concerned.
Tuesday 23rd June - Never Let the Truth Get in the Way of a Good Story
The failing Pink News ran an emotive story about a transwoman who was allegedly assaulted by 'Abusive drunk cis women' in what they describe as an 'Horrific transphobic attack' in a public toilet.
According to the report of this incident on the CBC News website, 57 year old transwoman, Lara Rae, was visiting the foodcourt of a Winnipeg shopping centre. He was on his way into the ladies' toilet (to "Put on lipstick", just in case the reader has any doubts about Rae's lady-credentials) when two women barred his way.
Rae states that these women were both drunk and one of them immediately started screaming, abusing and "misgendering" him. He claims he held out his driving licence to her and the woman 'karate chopped' his wrist.
Mall security arrived and, Rae claims, the security officers allowed the woman to continue screaming at and 'traumatising' him without taking any action. The two women then left the mall together with a male companion.
In a written statement, the mall's management said that there isn't any video surveillance footage of the incident which Rae described, nor did the security officers witness it.
Despite there being no corroborative evidence of Rae's description of events, the mall's general manager met with him to apologise and discuss the incident. Rae stated that he wants the mall to "Better protect and enhance LGBTQ safety" and that this should include "Washroom signage and sensitivity training." In other words, women must be instructed not to challenge males in their spaces and security officers must be told who to side with should they disobey.
Lara Rae
Lara Rae, formerly known as Al Rae, is a comedian who gained prominence and success in the entertainment industry as a man. At 49, having been married for 23 years during which he fathered a child, he 'came out' as gay man. Two years later, aged 51, Rae declared that he is trans.
Back to recent events, Rae told reporters that this is not the first time women have challenged his presence in a ladies' toilet. Has he ever stopped to wonder why that might be?
Wednesday 24th June - Man Steals Woman's Role (Because, Inclusivity)
4W: A male has won a "female leadership" role on the New York Democratic Council.
Emilia Decaudin, a man who identifies as both a transwoman and 'non-binary', has won the Female District Leader position for New York City's 37A district (Queens).
All formal parties in New York State are required to have at least one district leader per assembly district. District leaders are unpaid but elected party officials who oversee the party's activity in their area. While it is a relatively minor and voluntary role, it's often a stepping stone via which political hopefuls can attain more senior positions or even run for office.
For a century the New York Democratic Leadership Council had a 'gender parity rule' which required districts to have a leader of each sex. This regulation was implemented at the time of women's suffrage to ensure women could be involved in the democratic process. Last October the New York State Democratic Committee voted to amend its gender parity rule. Whereas it used to require one man and one woman per district, the rule now requires two leaders who “Do not identify as the same gender, unless they both identify as a non-binary gender.”
Emilia Decaudin proposed the amendment to that regulation. Of course he did.
Emilia Decaudin
And that worked out very well for him; despite only moving to the area in May, he defeated long-time Queen's resident, Deirdre Feerick, for the female position and is now its Female District Leader.
As MK McFain says, "It's unclear what the future holds for women in District 37A or in New York politics as a whole".
Thursday 25th June - Women Only Institution Also Welcomes Males
The WI is a place which welcomes and celebrates all women. As we near toward the end of #PrideMonth, we would like to wish a Happy Pride to all our transgender members.
This brilliant trans pride flag was made by @SocialLitesWI #Pride pic.twitter.com/vfJWHiSwJQ
— Women's Institute (@WomensInstitute) June 25, 2020
The Women's Institute was originally formed in 1915 and it is now the largest voluntary women's organisation in the UK. For almost a century the institution was strictly female-only and a space in which women could find friendship and support. But now it admits anyone who 'identifies as a woman' and if actual females don't feel comfortable with that they are "Free to leave".
"We pride ourselves on being a trusted place for women of all generations to share experiences and learn from each other."
A woman who shared her story of abuse by TRA’s in a member run Women’s Institute group is told by admin they want to know which WI she belongs to as they’ve had complaints about her comments
So she has to reveal her location with an implication she may be reported to her WI
— Lorelei 🌕🧙♀️🕸🍄 (@hatpinwoman) June 28, 2020
Friday 26th June - Actual Lesbians Not Welcome On Dating App
Twitter user luluchops fell foul of a dating app for being one of those lesbians who doesn't fancy men. Dating site Hinge appears to think she's not allowed to set boundaries which don't include males.
I’ve just been banned by the dating app @hinge
My crime ? I specify on my profile and that I seeking ‘a biological female only’
So there we have it , a homophobic dating app
— luluchops (@luluchops1) June 26, 2020
Apparently, they have form in this area.
My friend (philosopher Holly Lawford-Smith) just got banned from lesbian dating app @hinge for answering "what is your most controversial opinion?" as ""i agree with jk rowling, it's not "people" who menstruate or experience period poverty, it's women. #homosagainstpomo"
— Kathleen Stock (@Docstockk) June 14, 2020
Saturday 27th June - The "Now You See It, Now You Don't" Crowd Justice Fundraiser.
A black lesbian barrister set up a Crowd Justice page to fund her legal action only to have it closed down hours later.
Allison Bailey is a criminal defence barrister, a feminist, a lesbian and a lifelong campaigner for racial equality and lesbian, gay, and bisexual rights. She's also a survivor of child sexual abuse.
Together with other LGB campaigners, Bailey co-founded the LGB Alliance in order to uphold the rights of those same-sex (not gender) attracted and to challenge Stonewall's all-pervading influence in UK public life. Stonewall retaliated by colluding with the chambers of which Bailey is a member to try and silence her. Garden Court Chambers, which bills itself as being "Committed to fighting injustice, defending human rights and upholding the rule of law", placed her under investigation. That's right, they decided to 'investigate' a black lesbian for setting up an LGB campaign group.
She is now suing both her chambers and Stonewall and has instructed a legal team.
Bailey set up a CrowdJustice page in order to fund her legal action. CrowdJustice vetted and accepted her pitch and the appeal launched on Saturday morning. The page was extremely successful and within two and a half hours the initial target of £20,000 was exceeded and stretched to a target of £60,000.
By early afternoon CrowdJustice had taken down Bailey's case page, stating that they had received "Complaints about some of the content" and that due to the "Serious nature of the complaints", they needed to investigate.
CrowdJustice believes firmly and fundamentally in the right of everyone to access the legal system. We do not pick sides or editorialise. We have received a number of complaints about a case page today that we take seriously and have closed the page while we investigate. 1/2
— CrowdJustice (@CrowdJustice) June 27, 2020
Just before midnight reinstated the page but it looked totally different than previously; Bailey's statement had been almost totally expunged with only a few paragraphs remaining and both her photograph and the comments from donors had disappeared completely.
(Since CrowdJustice has left only a brief excerpt on the case page, you can read Allison Bailey's full statement on the WPUK website.)
Clearly the suspension did not prevent people from donating in huge numbers and early the following morning the stretch target of £60,000 had been reached. In a change from their usual process of leaving the page open, CrowdJustice then prevented further donations from being made.
Allison Bailey requested that CrowdJustice increase the stretch target on her case page (as is usually standard procedure) but they have, thus far, not done so.
Update: pic.twitter.com/wtGhcCDnhF
— Allison Bailey (@BluskyeAllison) June 28, 2020
Sunday 29th June - She Who Will Not Be Shamed
Today I discovered that I was accused of hate by shadow environment minister Lloyd Russell-Moyle in the pages of @tribunemagazine. He claimed I was ‘using’ my experiences of sexual assault and domestic violence to ‘discriminate’ against trans people. 1/9
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 28, 2020
Earlier this week Labour Party frontbencher, Lloyd Russell-Moyle, wrote an article for The Tribune magazine. It was little more than a hit piece on the women and feminist groups who opposed self ID legislation and it contained all the usual hyperbole and untruths. But in it Russell-Moyle accused JK Rowling of "Using her own sexual assault as justification for discriminating" against trans people.
Lloyd Russell-Moyle with Owen Jones
Russell-Moyle has already proved that he really doesn't like uppity women protecting their sex-based rights, as demonstrated by his clash with Professor Selina Todd on BBC television a few months ago.
On this occasion, his victim-blaming comments about JK Rowling caused outrage from both within and outside the party. A scathing article appeared in The Daily Mail and was posted online at around 10pm Saturday night. By Sunday morning Russell-Moyle had been forced to issue this mealy-mouthed apology.
There were demands that Labour leader, Keir Starmer, remove Russell-Moyle from his position as shadow environment minister. Last week Starmer sacked Rebecca Long-Bailey from her role as shadow education secretary after she praised an interview in which actor, Maxine Peake, made a comment that could be deemed anti-Semitic. However, Starmer is keeping Russell-Moyle in post.
Speaking on the BBC Today programme (at 2:17:00), Starmer said that he hadn't taken any action over Lloyd Russell-Moyle's article because the MP had apologised. "I have accepted his apology... that's my judgement call."
Two things, Sir Keir. Firstly, I'm not sure the accepting of Russell-Moyle's apology is up to you. Secondly, he actually wrote that article. He didn't just 'like' it or retweet it or compliment it, he wrote it. These are his words, his beliefs. He chose to denigrate a female victim of sexual assault and domestic violence. He holds a position of public office in which he may be called upon to assist a woman who has suffered just the sort of male violence JK Rowling described. How can he now be trusted to do that?
Also Today - The Party of Double Standards
While a Labour MP displays his rank misogyny in print yet keeps the whip and his job on the front bench, a woman who works tirelessly for the victims of male violence is rejected from the party.
My application to (re)join the Labour Party @UKLabour was rejected because I will not stand quietly and watch the erasure of women’s sex-based rights and protections.
I refuse to ignore male violence against women when I see it. https://t.co/zhaVj0J6AG
— Karen Ingala Smith (@K_IngalaSmith) June 28, 2020
Karen Ingala-Smith is the CEO of Nia, an organisation which runs services for women and girls who have been subjected to sexual abuse and domestic violence. She also set up and runs Counting Dead Women and co-founded The Femicide Census, vital sources of data about men’s fatal violence against women in the UK.
Around three months ago she applied to re-join the Labour Party. She received an email saying that her application had been rejected because, “Information brought to our attention is that you have engaged in conduct online that may reasonably be seen to demonstrate hostility based on gender identity.”
Karen Ingala-Smith appealed against the decision and submitted a subject access request. Eventually, about three months later, she received an email with an attachment containing 14 of her past tweets which, she assumed, must constitute the "Conduct online" referred to in the initial communication. She was offered the opportunity to make a statement in response to the decision to reject her membership application. She has chosen to make her reply public.
"You win Labour. Good luck with the next general election – but I’m interested to see what you plan to do to end male supremacy and women’s sex-based oppression, especially if you can’t even count who is a woman."
See you next week.