The Good News Supplement: Monday 10th June - Sunday 16th June

(Graham: Very late with this because of my Irish trip, so apologies to JL!)

Iconic feminist graffiti (UK) 1979 - IMAGE CREDIT: Jill Posener

A handful of the good news stories from the gender beat this week. Enjoy!

Going To Bat For Women’s Sport

David Walsh, chief sports writer at The Sunday Times, has written a scathing article demolishing the IOC’s gender-pandering media guidelines and defending women’s sport.

Last week The International Olympic Committee (IOC) published a new 33-page document, dictating to journalists the language they can and cannot use when reporting on trans-identified athletes at the forthcoming Olympic Games in Paris. It warns against using so-called ‘harmful’ terms ie those which adhere to biological reality and allow the honest reporting of trans-identifying male athletes competing in women’s categories.

In response, veteran sports journalist, David Walsh, wrote a blistering article which pours scorn on the IOC’s gender-woo laden guidelines and staunchly defends women’s sport.

“Someone at the IOC has lost their senses”, writes Walsh. “Failing to acknowledge biological realities, which is what the IOC is doing with its guidelines, is dishonest and dangerous… Instead of guidelines, it should just try to keep women’s sport strictly for women.”

He WILL Be Staying In His Lane

Trans-identified male swimmer, Lia Thomas, has lost his legal battle to compete in the women’s category at the Olympic Games.

US swimmer, Lia (formerly Will) Thomas, stole a gold medal from a female competitor in the NCAA women’s 500-yard freestyle in March 2022. In the summer of 2022, World Aquatics (WA), swimming’s governing body, changed its rules in order to prevent anyone who has undergone ‘any part of male puberty’ from competing in female categories. This put paid to Thomas’ self-declared ambitions of competing in the women’s category at the forthcoming Olympic Games in Paris.

Thomas mounted a legal challenge, claiming that the regulations are contrary to the Olympic charter and the World Aquatics constitution and should be declared ‘invalid and unlawful’. He lost.

The matter was adjudicated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). In its 24-page decision, the CAS ruled that Thomas is “Simply not entitled to engage with eligibility to compete in WA competitions.”

No stealing a woman’s place at the Olympics for Thomas.

We’re Not Buying It

Public support for the ability of trans-identified people to alter the sex on their birth certificates has fallen drastically in recent years.

The National Centre for Social Research published its annual British Social Attitudes report this week. It shows that only 24% of people believe that trans-identified individuals should be able to change their sex ‘if they want’. This is a dramatic fall compared to 58% of respondents expressing the same opinion in 2016. Researchers also asked for public opinion on trans rights and found that a substantial 47% of those questioned believe ‘trans rights’ have ‘gone too far’.

Fiona McAnena of Sex Matters commented, “This huge swing in opinion is down to the fact that the more the public understand the real-world impact of pretending that people can change sex, the less they like it. People now realise that this is not just a case of being kind to a tiny minority”.

There was a similar report from the US this week. The LA Times/NORC survey showed that American support for gay and lesbian rights is extremely strong whereas there is reduced support for gender ideology.

About 1 in 4 Americans reported they would be very upset if their child identified as trans or ‘non-binary’, double the number of people who’d feel the same way about a gay or lesbian child.

Leaving Them Kids Alone

In the wake of the Cass Review, Bernard Lane has reported on the Australian states now concerned about the medicalisation of gender confused children.

The Tasmanian government is recommending a national review of public gender services for minors. Health Minister, Guy Barnett, has written to his federal counterpart, Australia’s Health Minister, Mark Butler, asking him to consider the idea.

In Western Australia, the leader of the opposition, Libby Mettam, has announced a policy to ban puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and so-called ‘gender affirming’ surgery for children under the age of 16, should her party be elected to government.

In New South Wales, the state council of the opposition Liberal Party has passed a motion calling on state and federal governments to ban medicalised ‘gender change’ for minors.

Meanwhile, in the UK, the number of referrals of children to gender services has fallen sharply for the first time in nine years.

Figures just released by NHS England seem to demonstrate a considerable decline in demand for gender services among under minors under 18 years of age. Referrals for 2022-23 were in excess of 3390 but in 2023-24 they had fallen to about 2550.

GAG Beats The Drag

There was some sterling work and great news from Gays Against Groomers this week.

The Gays Against Groomers (GAG) team in Arizona learned that, at the end of June, Tucson Zoo is set to host a family ‘Pride night’ which involved so-called ‘family-friendly’ drag performances. They contacted the zoo bosses, urging them not to include the drag portion of the event. And they took heed! There will be no drag queens at this event.

Bravo to all at GAG Arizona.

Glinner Of Hope

Don’t miss Our Graham in conversation with Joey Barton on the Common Sense podcast this week.

And don’t forget that Graham’s memoir, Tough Crowd, is still available from Amazon, The Express shop, Lightning Eye, Waterstones, Blackwells and all other discerning outlets. (There are also audio versions available on Audible and Spotify too.)

And Finally…