The Good News Supplement: Monday 29th April - Sunday 5th May

IMAGE CREDIT: Patrick Blower / The Telegraph

Yet another jam-packed edition absolutely over-flowing with good news from the gender beat this week. Enjoy!

Show Me The Money

Gender critical social worker, Rachel Meade, has won ‘unprecedented’ damages following her legal victory over Social Work England and Westminster Council.

Rachel Meade worked in the health and social care sector for over 20 years. She was investigated and given a one-year warning by Social Work England (SWE), following a complaint about gender critical posts that she had shared or ‘liked’ on social media.

She was then suspended from her job by Westminster Council, her employer, which launched a disciplinary investigation and threatened her with the sack for misconduct. Meade consequently brought legal action against SWE and Westminster Council, taking her case to an employment tribunal.

In January, Rachel Meade won her case in a ‘landmark victory’ and this week she has been awarded almost £58,000 in damages.

Her lawyer, Shazia Khan, said, “An award of exemplary damages against a regulator for the manner in which it has carried out its function is unprecedented. This should serve as a resounding warning to all regulators that they must not let their processes be weaponised by activists who seek to punish and silence legitimate debate.”

Terf Is The New Punk

Singer and punk musician, Louise Distras, has won the legal case she brought in the fight for free speech and sex realism.

Last year, Louise was labelled ‘transphobic’ for sharing her views about gender, cancel culture and free speech online. Radio stations refused to play her songs, she has been excluded from magazines, her booking agent withdrew their services and the site through which she was selling her music closed her artist page. She was even arrested over comments she made on GB News.

To fight against this harassment and cancellation, she began a legal action, the details of which she has not been able to share. However, the details are unimportant; all that matters is that this week Louise won her case.

Posting on social media, she said, “I'm buzzing to say this legal case has now been concluded with no allegations being upheld by the police or the courts, and no findings of wrongdoing have been made against me. I won!”

They/Them Fought The Law

There was also some excellent legal news from the Spanish courts this week. A trans-identified man has lost his case against the feminist writer who called him a man.

Lucía Etxebarria is an award-winning novelist, psychologist and women’s rights campaigner. She was the subject of a legal action over correctly referencing the sex of a male political activist, Marcos Ventura Armas, who ‘identifies’ as a ‘non-binary trans person who uses feminine pronouns’.

Marcos Ventura Armas

Armas took legal action against Etxebarria, claiming that she had repeatedly ‘misgendered’ him and damaged his ‘professional prestige as an activist’. Had his case been successful, Etxebarria could have faced financial ruin.

But this week a Spanish court ruled in her favour, the judge deciding that her statements - that Armas is a man - complied with “The necessary finding of a sufficient factual basis on which to express public opinion.” The judge dismissed the lawsuit and ordered Ventura to pay the costs of the proceedings.

First, Do No Harm

There have been a couple of good news stories from the medical profession this week. Firstly, the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) issued an updated position statement on ‘The Role of the GP in Transgender Care’.

This statement upholds the findings of the Cass Review and instructs RCGP members that they must not allow he Cass approach to be subverted. It calls for a number of policy changes to be implemented at national level. One of these is “To fully implement the provisions of the Cass review in England and adoption of the principles it identifies across the nations of the UK, including the change in structure of services for children and young people and the need for further research, with full co-operation from adult gender clinics.”

(It would be remiss of us not to add that Rebecca Says No has concerns!)

Doctor In The House

On the subject of the Cass Review, Dr Hilary Cass herself is to give evidence to a Scottish Parliament committee.

A couple of weeks ago, The Sandyford, Scotland’s gender clinic, announced that it had ‘paused’ the prescribing of puberty blockers for young patients newly referred.

Now a health committee, chaired by the SNP’s Clare Haughey, intends “To put questions' to Dr Cass regarding the findings and recommendations of the Cass Review, and potential implications for the provision of gender identity services in Scotland.”

Sounds hopeful.

Physician Heal Thyself

The Chairman of the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) is standing up to the trans activist bullies within the profession.

Last month we reported on the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) withdrawing from the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Conversion Therapy.

The MoU is an inter-professional agreement upholding gender ideology and requiring therapists to affirm gender identities over exploratory treatment options. It was signed by leading UK therapy organisations, employers of therapists and activist organisations including Stonewall. Consequently, the UKCP’s decision to withdraw from the MoU was hugely significant.

The board of UKCP is now dealing with a backlash from the gender zealots in the profession and is facing with an attempted coup led by a body called Therapists Against Conversion Therapy & Transphobia.

The chairman of the UKCP, Dr Christian Buckland, has insisted he will stand his ground to keep children safe. He told The Telegraph, “As chair, I will not allow the UKCP to be bullied into turning a blind eye to the safety of children.”

A Room Of One’s Own

Single-sex wards and spaces could be protected under the terms of a proposed new NHS constitution.

The government has drafted a new version of the NHS Constitution which will protect single-sex spaces, mean that women’s wards remain strictly female only, and give patients the right to request a clinician of the same sex.

A Government source commented, “The Government has been clear that biological sex matters, and women and girls are entitled to receive the protection and privacy they need in all healthcare settings”.

Stonewalls Come Tumbling Down

This week The Telegraph published an article suggesting that, in the wake of The Cass Review, Stonewall is going to come under scrutiny from the corporations which have previously paid for membership.

“After a major review into gender identity was published by paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass earlier this month, Stonewall faces a corporate reckoning. HR teams which had already lost confidence in the group are starting to panic about some of the advice they’ve chosen to follow without question.”

Later in the week, The Daily Mail revealed that Sport England has severed its ties with Stonewall and will not be renewing its membership.

A Sport England spokesperson said, “We have reviewed the partnership, and Sport England will not be renewing membership. As a public body which scrutinises how we spend every penny of public money, this decision has been taken with value for money as our primary consideration”.

Stonewall declined to comment.

Alabama Ding Dong

Alabama’s Attorney General is taking legal action against the Biden administration’s new Title IX rule which alters the meaning of ‘sex’ to include ‘gender identity’.

Last week we reported that schools in the US state of Oklahoma have been told to ignore the new Title IX guidelines which shoe-horn trans-identified males into a law originally passed to tackle discrimination against women and girls.

Stepping up to the plate this week is Alabama Attorney General, Steve Marshall, who has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s new Title IX rule. Alabama is joined in this action by Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, along with non-profit partners including the Independent Women’s Forum, Parent’s Defending Education, and Speech First.  

Marshall commented, “I am pleased to be among the first to challenge this ill-conceived rule that would infringe on the constitutional rights of students, parents, faculty, and the State of Alabama itself… I expect the rule to be struck down swiftly.”

Deta Steps Up To The Oche

Darts icon, Deta Hedman, has taken a stand over the inclusion of trans-identified males in female competitions.

Deta Hedman is one of the best known players in women’s darts, having been at the forefront of the ladies’ game for decades. During the 1980s and 1990s, Hedman was one of the players who fought extremely hard for recognition and opportunities in women’s darts and it is in only in recent years that women’s competitions have been established. Hedman has often voiced her opposition to trans-identified males competing in women’s darts.

This week, she refused to play against trans-identified male Dutch player, Noa-Lynn van Leuven. The two were to play each other in the quarterfinals of the WDF Denmark Open in Esbjerg. However, Hedman forfeited the game in protest.

Posting on her X (formerly Twitter) account, Riley Gaines offered to compensate Deta Hedman for the prize money she missed out on for taking her principled stand. “Bravery deserves to be rewarded”, she wrote.

Glinner Down Under

Our Graham’s tour of the Antipodes has finally come to an end, finishing with a comedy masterclass in a splendid Perth venue.

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…