The Good News Supplement: Monday 6th May - Sunday 12th May

IMAGE CREDIT: @defiaye

Our cup runneth over with good news stories from the gender beat this week. Enjoy!

A (Small) Room of One’s Own

The government has announced that it will legislate for the provision of compulsory single-sex toilet facilities in new public buildings.

Building regulations are to be overhauled later this year, making the provision of separate toilet facilities for men and women a legal requirement in all new restaurants, bars, offices and shopping centres. Existing businesses may also have to comply with these regulations if they undergo major renovation.

Minister for Housing, Planning & Building Safety, Lee Rowley, said the Government wants to ensure that “Single-sex toilets, providing privacy, decency and space for both sexes, are not abolished for alternatives which might offer none of that”.

Stonewalled

Stonewall has failed in its latest attempt to have the The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) stripped of its A Status accreditation.

Together with other LGBTQ+ organisations, Stonewall made a formal complaint against EHRC last year. It asked the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions’ Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA) - the international body that accredits human rights organisations - to review the EHRC’s A Status. Stonewall claimed that the EHRC is ‘trans-hostile’ and ‘not fit for purpose’, citing the EHRC’s support for sex-based legal protections for women.

This week the SCA has confirmed to the EHRC that it remains fully compliant with the benchmark principles for high-performing, independent National Human Rights Institutions.

This is the third time Stonewall has tried to rob the EHRC of its A Status accreditation. And the third time it has failed to do so.

Sister In Law

The brilliant Naomi Cunningham, barrister, feminist campaigner and Chair of the Board at Sex Matters, has been named The Times Lawyer of the Week following her success in the Meade v Westminster City Council and Social Work England case.

Richly deserved. Huge congratulations, Naomi.

Cass In Scotland

This week Dr Hilary Cass addressed the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee in the Scottish Parliament.

Two days later, the Scottish Parliament debated the implementation of the Cass Review following a motion brought by Meghan Gallacher, Conservative MSP for Central Scotland.

There were some fine speeches from MSPs of various political hues, detailed in this excellent thread by For Women Scotland.

Opening the debate, Meghan Gallacher pointed out the appalling ‘lacklustre’ response of the SNP government to The Cass Review. “You would think that the publication of a damning report into the medical care of children would jump straight to the top of any government’s in-tray.”

Murdo Fraser, Conservative MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, spoke of detransitioner, Sinead Watson, and the damage being done to vulnerable children and young people at the Sandyford Clinic. “We should not be prepared to tolerate any young person going through what Sinead Watson had to suffer. And that is why the rapid implementation of the recommendations of the Cass Report is so important.”

He also criticised the Green Party for their dismissal of the Cass Review and spoke of one Green MSP in particular who described it it on social media as ‘transphobic’. “It is a rich irony that the party demands we follow the science when it comes to climate issues, then rejects the science when it doesn’t support their political agenda.”

Ash Regan, Alba MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, spoke of the need to investigate why so many girls and young women are exhibiting distress with their sexed bodies. She also talked of the urgent need to take action within the medical service and to withdraw ‘inappropriate’ guidance from schools. “The Scottish government can prevaricate to placate lobby groups or it can remove its ideological blinkers and focus on the urgent clinical need to improve how we provide care... There is no excuse for further delay.”

Pauline McNeill, Labour MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, praised the Cass Review and described its publication as a ‘watershed moment’. She also flagged up the sudden rise of girls and young women seeking help at gender clinics, criticised the Scottish Government for its indifference to the review and commented on the harm caused by the social transition of pupils being allowed in schools. “I don’t believe there is any excuse not to implement this report in full.”

Ruth Maguire, SNP MSP for Cunninghame South, spoke of detransitioners like Sinead Watson and Richie Heron and the need to prevent other distressed young people suffering the pain and distress they did. She also talked about so-called ‘conversion therapy’, the importance of allowing therapists to explore gender issues with their patients and of exploring co-morbidities in patients with gender dysphoria. “For me the key thing is that [The Cass Review] calls on services for children and young people with gender dysphoria to operate to the same standards as other service seeing children and young people.”

Brian Whittle, Conservative MSP for South Scotland, spoke of certain MSPs having views which uphold ‘dangerous ideology over patient safety’ and asked how adolescents can be expected to make decisions about life altering medical treatment when a young person’s neurological pathway is not fully developed until the age of 25. He described as ‘disgraceful’ that Patrick Harvie tried to denigrate The Cass Review on national television. “No, Mr Harvie, you don’t get to choose your experts and deny others just to fit your ideology, especially when it’s the health of our children that’s at stake.”

Jackie Baillie, Labour MSP for Dumbarton, also criticised the Scottish Government’s delay in taking action over The Cass Review and called the lack of leadership ‘woeful’. She said that failing to implement Dr Cass’s conclusions “Would let down both staff and a generation of young people and their families.”

Carol Mochan, Labour MSP for for South Scotland, stated very simply “The findings of the Cass Review should be implemented without delay”.

Following amendments made by Scottish Labour and the SNP, the motion to uphold the Cass Review was passed by 113 votes to seven. You can guess to which party the seven dissenting MSPs belong…

No Gender Please, We’re Scottish

More good news from Holyrood; it seems as though the Scottish Government has given up trying to implement gender self-id legislation.

Appearing on Sky News, First Minister, John Swinney, spoke of the Supreme Court’s ruling that Holyrood cannot proceed with the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. He said, “I accept the rule of the law… We cannot proceed with that legislation”. When pressed on the issue and asked if he will abandon the bill he replied, “We quite simply can’t proceed with it. It’s legislation that can’t implemented so we cannot take that forward”.

Leaving Them Kids Alone

There was important news from Germany this week. The 128th German Medical Assembly passed two significant resolutions regarding clinical interventions for dysphoric minors and the restriction of self-id laws to adults over 18.

The first resolution stated:

“The 128th German Medical Assembly 2024 calls on the Federal Government to only permit puberty blockers, sex-change hormone therapies or gender reassignment surgery in under 18-year-olds with gender incongruence (GI) or gender dysphoria (GD) in the context of controlled scientific studies and with the involvement of a multidisciplinary team and a clinical ethics committee and after medical and, in particular, psychiatric diagnosis and treatment of any mental disorders.”

The second resolution stated:

“The 128th German Medical Assembly 2024 calls on the Bundestag to amend the Self- Determination Act to the effect that under-18s may not be permitted to provide or have provided information on their gender and marital status in the personal register without prior specialist child and adolescent psychiatric diagnosis and consultation.”

A More Civil Service

Civil Service ‘diversity’ jobs are to be scrapped in a new crackdown on Whitehall’s ‘woke’ spending, Esther McVey has announced.

Cabinet Officer Minister, Esther McVey, is to crack down on Whitehall managers being distracted by ‘woke hobby horses’ rather than concentrating on their jobs. In a radical overhaul intended to stop any ‘back-door politicisation’, the Civil Service will be forbidden from hiring any new ‘diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI)’ staff.

Walls closing in

This week The Times reported that Dr Helen and Mr Michael Webberley, the disgraceful child-catchers who founded GenderGP, appear to be ‘financially embarrassed’.

You will remember that, when their Welsh gender factory went tits up following the discovery that it was unregistered, they hopped it to Spain and continued to operate their clinic (now registered in Singapore) offshore and online.

This week, The Times knocked on the door of the Webberley’s former home in South Wales. The current owner was unable to provide a forwarding address for the ghoulish pair. But she did complain of frequent visits from bailiffs and debt-collectors who seem very keen on speaking with the couple.

The Times also reported that it has seen dozens of complaints from disgruntled GenderGP customers, the clinic’s obligations unfulfilled and all attempts at contact ignored.

Looks like preying on vulnerable young people isn’t paying as well these days. The walls are closing in.

And Finally…