September 22, 2020

Helen Saxby @helensaxby11

Glad to see such a ringing endorsement of @fairplaywomen and @AskNic in this article, because they have been absolutely brilliant 🙂 spectator.co.uk/article/how-wo… via @spectator

spectator.co.ukHow women won the war against gender ‘self-ID’ | The SpectatorLiz Truss, in her role as equalities minister, has confirmed to Parliament that the Government will not amend the Gender Recognition Act 2004 to allow people to change their legal gender without the approval of doctors and officials. ‘Self-ID’ is not happening. There is a lot to say about this state…

There is some muddy language in the report—ahh, ‘gender’, that wonderful word that means something different to everyone who uses it and hears it— but overall it feels like they’ve kept the worst demands of trans rights activists at bay.

Here’s the response from the LGB Alliance.

Malcolm Clark also did this nice little thread.

Malcolm Clark @TwisterFilm

😂 The Pink News comedy show keeps getting funnier. Here’s @benjamincohen responding to the govt’s announcement it has rejected gender Self-ID, which he championed for 5 years. He starts with a trademark bizarre accusation, this time about genital inspections. Click here to see👇

Speaking of Cohen

“Women don’t exist, except when we require them to be our baby-making machines.”

Benjamin Cohen @benjamincohen

In England, the NHS provides no support for gay male couples starting a family through surrogacy. In Scotland it does. So we have to do it privately, including blood & semen tests. All of our tests are invalid because of lockdown shutdown, so it means paying again (1/2)

Ｓｕｅ Ｖｅｎｅｅｒ @sueveneer

He is actually talking about a human being here...a woman. Not that you would know from that tweet

Benjamin Cohen @benjamincohen

Just to add: Of course the expenses of the surrogate shouldn't be necessarily covered by the state. But I do resent having to get my credit card out for medical services that would be free if I was straight.

This is not an untypical response.

Señor Vichón @Julio_Vichon

@benjamincohen My friend Julia identifies as a fertile woman and would be happy to act as your surrogate. She's already under contract at the moment (and has quite the baby bump) but will soon be ready for another.

Keir Starmer, the quiet man

Yesterday was the 30th anniversary of Helen Steel and Dave Morris receiving the writ of libel from McDonalds.

Helen Steel @helensteel12

On this day 30 years ago, McDonald's served a libel writ on me as I stepped from the van of my then partner, who unbeknown to me was an undercover policeman, John Dines, who was spying on me & other campaigners in London Greenpeace #spycops #McLibel #OTD

smh.com.auHelen Steel and John Dines: The spy who loved meImagine spending years of your life with a man you saw as your soulmate, only to find he was an undercover policeman sent to spy on you.

Giving Helen advice on a pro-bono basis was a young solicitor by the name of Keir Starmer. I don’t know if Helen and he kept in touch, but the next time they spoke—to our knowledge—the circumstances were quite different, and Keir didn’t say much.

When it comes to women’s rights, Keir Starmer is very, very quiet indeed, as Joan Smith points out in this Unherd piece: “Starmer may think he has more important things to worry about, such as the impending publication of the Equality and Human Rights Commission report on the party’s handling of antisemitism. But if his stance on that issue is principled, as it surely is, it’s hard to see why the same argument doesn’t apply to another group of people who’ve been singled out for vicious personal attacks and smears. Just to make a practical point for a moment, these are the very same Labour activists that the leadership relies on to knock on doors and stand for hours outside polling stations during election campaigns.”

Meanwhile, JK Rowling continues to shout

J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling

Sometimes a T-shirt just speaks to you... (From wildwomynworkshop.com, in case you know a witch who'd like one 😉)

Whoop!

chris elston 🇨🇦 @christophelston

San Francisco ❤️ JK Rowling.

Hmm, let’s see what the narrator has to say about this

Nancy Kelley @Nancy_M_K

Putting in place a straightforward legal process would have allowed trans people to get on with their lives, and brought GB in line with countries like Ireland 🇮🇪 which has used a system of legal declaration for 5 years now 2/4

NARRATOR: “Self-ID happened in Ireland because there was literally zero debate on the matter and it was dishonestly tacked on to marriage equality legislation. It is currently causing havoc in Irish prisons for obvious reasons, ones which Nancy pretends don’t exist, for reasons known only to herself.

Do they really not hear the racism?

“There are many ways to arrive at womanhood” is certainly true, but “having a penis” is not one of them.

Wearied Woman 🙍🏻‍♀️ @wheezy_dobby

@RealistZain @JustDavidDavid ...a different journey. Black, white, Asian, poor, rich, privileged, tragic, etc etc. There are many ways to arrive at womanhood.

And finally…

How on earth did they let him get through the whole statement?

cole hersch @ColesTwitt3r

Saddleback College held a discussion on potential new mascots, so a student sent me the zoom link.