The Good News Supplement: Monday 16th September - Sunday 22nd September

Sep 24, 2024

Lots of good news from the gender beat this week. Enjoy!

First, Do No Harm

An article in The Lancet this week suggests that BMA members are enraged by their union’s rejection of the Cass Review findings.

The article, by medical journalist, Jacqui Thornton, makes clear that most BMA members oppose the ideologically driven BMA Council’s attempt to discredit the Cass Review and many clinicians are speaking up in defence of evidence-based healthcare.

Seeing Off Self-ID

As reported by the Wales Women’s Rights Network (WRN Wales), the Welsh government’s attempts to sneak in self-ID via a ‘gender quotas bill’ have been dropped.

In 2023, when Mark Drakeford was First Minister, the Welsh government proposed legislation which was supposedly intended to ensure a ‘gender balance’ in the Senedd, forcing parties to ensure at least 50% of candidates are women. However, a draft version leaked by WRN Wales made clear that the definition of ‘woman’ for the purposes of the bill would include trans-identified males. It would have allowed anyone to identify as a female and could in theory have lead to a situation where 100% of Senedd Members were biologically male.

It would also have allowed for the definition of ‘woman’ to be altered at any time and prevented any challenge to a self-ID declaration.

Feminist groups WRN Wales and Merched Cymru fought against the implementation of this legislation. It’s been a long battle but their efforts have been successful and the bill has been withdrawn. In its place, the Welsh government will issue voluntary guidance to political parties in advance of candidate selection for the next Senedd election in 2026.

Huge congratulations to all those dissenting voices who challenged this bill.

Have Your FiLiA

And staying in Wales, Plaid Cymru has accepted that its actions constituted discrimination when it cancelled FiLiA’s booking at its March conference.

FiLiA is a female-led volunteer organisation which works to promote and defend women’s rights and well-being. Of course, FiLiA’s events have often been targeted by trans activists because of its pro-female ethos.

Earlier this year, FiLiA, was banned from the Plaid Cymru conference with less than two days notice.

FiLiA had booked a stand at the Plaid Cymru Conference in March, hoping to speak to delegates and politicians about a range of campaigns they support. But with less than 48 hours to go, the charity was told that they would not be welcome, and their stall booking was revoked. FiLiA took legal action.

Plaid Cymru has already accepted that the cancellation of the booking amounted to a breach of the contract with FiLiA and offered partial compensation for costs. This week, Plaid Cymru accepted that the decision to cancel the booking on the basis of FiLiA’s protected beliefs amounted to an act of discrimination under the Equality Act 2010 and was forced to offer an apology.

Many congratulations to FiLiA and their legal team.

It’s Official

Lord Sebastian Coe, Olympic legend and president of World Athletics, is running for the presidency of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Lord Coe has been unequivocal in his defence of female sport.

In a recent interview with The Telegraph, Coe stated that all sporting governing bodies must tackle the issue of males in women’s sport head-on with a clearly defined stance. “Have a policy”, he said. “Be clear and have a policy. You’re never going to make everybody happy but you have to plant the flagpole down somewhere.”

When asked about the Olympic boxing catastrophe, he replied, “I did five years on the British Boxing Board of Control as an administrative steward, and I have daughters. How do you think I feel about this?”

We wish him the very best of luck in his campaign to be IOC president.

Free Speech On Campus

The Free Speech Union has launched formal legal proceedings against the government following its shelving of legislation intended to promote freedom of expression in English universities.

The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act was designed to address the issues of de-platforming and cancellation - particularly of gender critical voices - on university campuses. It would have strengthened the legal duty on English universities to uphold and promote freedom of speech and created two new enforcement mechanisms to ensure university authorities could not ignore that duty.

In July, the Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson, issued a statement to the House of Commons saying she intended to stop commencement of the Act.

The FSU has now mounted a legal challenge to this decision via a judicial review.

“We believe the Secretary of State acted illegally in revoking the commencement regulations. As a general principle, if a minister is granted the power to make regulations, they also have the power to amend or revoke them. However, our case is that a minister cannot simply revoke commencement regulations. The sole purpose of this type of regulation is to give effect to the will of Parliament by bringing legislation into force on a particular date. It is not, we believe, within a minister’s discretion to defy Parliament by refusing to bring the legislation into force at all. This strikes us as an abuse of ministerial power.”

You can read more about the case and contribute to the FSU’s legal costs by visiting the Crowdjustice page here.

See You In Court

A Belfast court has ruled that a group of women’s rights campaigners, including Our Graham, can progress with their claim of discrimination in a city centre pub.

As we reported at the time, in April 2023 Standing for Women held an event in Belfast. After the event, Robinson’s, a bar on Great Victoria Street, was the subject of much discussion on social media amid allegations that attendees were discriminated against and refused service by the staff there.

Video footage circulating on X/Twitter appeared to show a member of Robinson’s staff refusing to serve a young woman because she was wearing a pro-women t-shirt.

A total of 23 civil actions were subsequently lodged in the first case of its kind in Northern Ireland. The plaintiffs are suing Wine Inns Ltd, the owner of Robinson’s.

The case came before Belfast County Court for the first time this week. The Judge, Her Honour Orla Murray, agreed to list the cases for a further review next month.

Speaking outside court, Simon Chambers, solicitor to the 23 plaintiffs, commented, “My clients are delighted the matter is being progressed in a productive and orderly fashion towards the eventual hearing date, which I anticipate will be in early 2025”.

For more information about the case and the contribute towards legal costs, please see the Crowdjustice page here.

Big Brother Climbs Down

In huge news from Ireland this week, the government has abandoned proposed ‘hate speech’ legislation which would have criminalised gender critical voices.

The Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022 would have criminalised those who challenge gender identity ideology. Containing provisions which are nothing short of draconian, it would have stifled freedom of expression and effectively silenced the Irish women who are fighting to uphold their sex-based rights and safety.

The bill intended to criminalise speech or the ‘communication’ of material that is deemed ‘inciting hatred’ against groups or individuals of ‘protected characteristics’. One of these ‘protected characteristics’ was ‘gender’, defined as “The gender which a person expresses as the person’s preferred gender, or with which the person identifies, and includes transgender, and a gender other than those of male and female”.

Any criticism of gender identity ideology or refusal to accept its tenets could have resulted in a prison sentence.

There was huge opposition to the bill which was largely ignored by former Taoiseach (Irish premier), Leo Varadkar, and Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee.

This week, however, McEntee has dropped the controversial provisions of the bill which is currently at its third stage before the Seanad Éireann, (upper house of the Irish parliament).

The bill will now proceed with only the elements that mandate tougher sentences for existing crimes where the perpetrator of an offence is motivated by ‘hatred’.

It is a victory for free speech and common sense.

Read All About It

Sharron Davies’ ‘thrillingly fearless’ book, Unfair Play: The Battle for Women’s Sport, is now out in paperback.

“A strong fightback is required to root out the lingering misogyny that plagues sporting governance, media coverage and popular perceptions. This book provides the facts, science and arguments that will help women in sport get the justice they deserve.”

Unfair Play is available from Amazon, Waterstones, WH Smiths and all good retailers.