The Good News Supplement: Monday 5th August - Sunday 11th August

L-R Svetlana Staneva, Yuwei Lin & Esra Yidiz Kahraman - Olympic Sheroes

An edition absolutely bulging at the seams with good news from the gender beat this week. Enjoy!

Leaving Them Kids Alone

An Ohio bill banning the medicalisation of gender confused minors and protecting female sports has been ratified as legal in court.

In December 2023, Ohio legislators passed HB 68. Known as the ‘SAFE Act’, it prevents medical interventions for children under 18 struggling with their ‘gender identity’ and also bars trans-identified males from competing in women’s sporting categories. In March, however, the ACLU filed a lawsuit in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, seeking to block HB 68 from taking effect.

This week, following five days of litigation, that action has been overturned. Judge Michael Holbrook ruled that HB 68 does not violate Ohio’s single subject rule for legislation and does not violate the state’s ‘health care freedom’ constitutional amendment.

Cambridge Highs

Despite the government choosing to block legislation which would have defended freedom of expression at English universities, Cambridge has nevertheless implemented its planned freedom of speech code.

In the new code, Cambridge University pledges that its teaching will “Ensure freedom of speech and academic freedom within the law”.

Hospital Corner

There has been some excellent news from the medical sphere in the UK this week.

• Physician Heal Thyself

Writing in The New Statesman, Hannah Barnes reported on the hundreds of doctors who have written to the BMA over its stance on the Cass Review.

870 doctors have written to Philip Banfield, chair of the BMA’s UK Council, to express their ‘dismay and disappointment’ at the union’s decision to challenge the Cass Review and lobby for a delay to its implementation. Over two thirds of the signatories are BMA members, 57 are professors and 22 are former or current presidents of royal medical colleges and other clinical leaders.

“We write as doctors to say, ‘not in my name’”, the letter states. It strongly supports Dr Hilary Cass and accuses the BMA of failing to follow an evidence-based approach to medicine. Dozens of signatories added their own personal comments to the letter below the main text. They didn’t hold back and used words such as ‘appalled’, ‘horrified’, ‘shocked’, ‘reprehensible’, ‘irresponsible’ and ‘wrong’. One doctor described the BMA’s action as “An abysmal failure of leadership”.

The letter concludes, “We call on the BMA to abandon this pointless exercise and to welcome and follow the Cass Review as the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges have done.”

Dr Camilla Kingdon, a past president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, told The New Statesman, “The number of signatories to this letter speaks to the level of concern among doctors about the BMA Council motion against the Cass Review”.

• Cass In Action

This week, NHS England published its plans to ‘transform’ medical care for gender-distressed children and young people and will be implementing the recommendations of the Cass Review in full.

The emphasis will be on providing a more holistic approach, with a particular focus on supporting mental health and those with conditions such as autism. GPs will no longer be able to refer patients directly; referrals will have to be made via mental health services and child health specialists.

The NHS will continue with its plans to open eight specialist centres to care for children with dysphoria. The first two opened in April and another six are planned. It will also consider setting up an early adulthood service for patients aged 17-25 who had previously been referred directly to adult clinics.

Furthermore, the NHS is to launch a much needed service for detransitioners. It said it will start to “Define an NHS pathway for those individuals who choose to detransition” by October this year.

• Sunlight Creeping In

The NHS is also to conduct a review of its adult gender dysphoria services.

“One of the recommendations of the Cass Review was a review of the adult service specification. Dr Cass also highlighted broader issues that were reported to her during her review. To respond to this, NHS England has taken the decision to conduct a review of the operation and delivery of the adult Gender Dysphoria Clinics.”

Allies Assemble!

Following the travesty of the Olympic women’s boxing, male allies from the sporting world have been raising their voices in defence of female categories.

• Daley Dose Of Integrity

A long-time defender of women’s sport, decathlon giant, Daley Thompson, has been highly critical of the IOC’s decision to allow two male athletes to compete in women’s boxing.

In an interview with The Telegraph, gold medal winning Thompson was scathing of the IOC and its attitude towards women’s sport. “He leaves no doubt as to his views on the IOC’s spinelessness, presenting their failure to ensure a level playing field for women as an extension of their feeble stance on state-sponsored doping”.

• Mark My Words

Appearing on GB News, Olympic swimming giant, Mark Foster, also spoke in defence of women’s sports, advocating the return to mandatory sex testing.

He told the presenters, “I spoke a lot to Sharron Davies. She says that back in the ‘70s there was a simple sex test which was a swab in your mouth saying if you are XX or XY. If it’s as simple as that, I don’t know why they don’t do it.”

Referencing Lia (formerly William) Thomas’ sudden swimming success - leaping from 500th to first in the NC2A ranking - after he invaded female swimming categories, Foster commented, “That’s my proof that you have an advantage”. He went on to say, “Women have fought for rights for years just for votes, and now for sports on a level playing field. From that point of view, it’s completely not fair”.

• Coing Great

Lord Sebastian Coe, Olympic legend and president of World Athletics, was unequivocal in his defence of female sport this week.

In an 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?”

Later in the week, Lord Coe appeared on ITV News and spoke of his role at World Athletics. “I’m elected to do some pretty serious things and one of those is the preservation of the female category. If you don’t do that, no woman will ever win another sporting event and I take that quite seriously.” (Last year World Athletics implemented a policy which prevents trans-identified males from competing in women’s events.)

When asked about a return to mandatory sex testing, he replied, “You do need to make sure that you have policies in place that are going to preserve the female category”.

And Don’t Come Bach

Thomas Bach, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has announced that he will step down from the role next year.

Bach has been at the forefront of the IOC’s disgraceful boxing debacle, frequently defending the inclusion of the two now notorious males who stole gold medals in female categories.

It had been expected that Bach, who took up the IOC presidency in 2013, would try to change the Olympic Charter’s 12-year limit to extend his term in charge. However, he announced this week that he will be leaving the role next year.

Lord Sebastian Coe is widely tipped to replace Thomas Bach as president of the IOC and, if successful, has vowed to protect women’s sport. (For actual women.)

Let’s keep everything crossed…

BAFTA Keeps It Binary

BAFTA has decided not to introduce so called ‘gender neutral’ acting categories and will be sticking with its sex-specific awards.

As reported by The Daily Mail, “BAFTA has dealt a blow to non-binary performers, deciding – after spending two years debating the thorny question of 'gendered' acting categories – that awards nominees will have to pick a side and choose whether they want to compete as ‘actors’ or ‘actresses’”.

The decision was made after a two-year consultation period with ‘sector peers, industry stakeholders and experts’. Clearly common sense has prevailed and BAFTA will retain its sex specific male and female acting awards.

Glinner Of Hope

Don’t miss Our Graham’s interview with Aussie, Rebekah Barnett, which was published this week.

Graham also appeared on GB News this week, in conversation with Andrew Doyle on Free Speech Nation.

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…

And one written and directed by Graham!