The NICS has fallen

A letter from a subscriber suggests a dark new normal in Northern Ireland

Dear Graham,

I was born in Derry and have lived in Belfast for 23 years. I joined the Northern Ireland Civil Service in 1999 and have worked my way up to a senior management position. I have always considered myself a left-leaning liberal. I have always supported gay rights and women's rights. I have actively supported abortion rights in this country and like many, lauded Westminster's decision to introduce both to this country.

The issue of so-called trans rights had never really featured on my radar. I worked with a transsexual woman, who never made crazy demands and was just happy to be accepted. I followed you on Twitter and when you raised the issue you introduced me to a world of wonderful GC women and I consider myself in great company. However, I didn't think it would be something that would really affect Northern Ireland - as you well know we're behind the times on most things and the main political parties have never really showed much interest in the issue.  

Sadly, there have been two major issues that have made me think again. I mentioned earlier I have been active in the fight for abortion rights in NI. Whilst not a registered member, I have supported the abortion lobby group Alliance for Choice. I supported their fundraising and advertising campaigns and bought their merchandise. Their tagline was #trustwomen and I wore that with pride.

However after the JK Rowling incident, I was utterly dismayed at their condemnation of her comments on social media and since then they have posted many gender woowoo comments and support for Mermaids. They changed their literature from "women" to "women and pregnant people". Capitulation for sure, but at least they still include the word woman. As you probably know, despite it being legal, women still have difficulties accessing abortion services in NI so I supported, and contributed to a billboard campaign to highlight this in many prominent spots in Belfast. To my pure disgust, they unveiled their billboards which feature a trans man in a wheelchair with the slogan "all sorts of people need abortions". I have withdrawn my support at this blatant women erasure. 

The second issue, and one you're probably most interested in is that sadly, the biggest employer in NI - the NICS have signed up to the Stonewall Diversity scheme and in doing so been utterly captured by gender ideology. I attended a virtual online "awareness" session last week and had to leave the meeting in disgust. Due to the number of people attending they had to mute everyone on Zoom and the only option for asking questions was in the Q&A chat. During this session, the woman taking the meeting (can't recall her name) made several points that I found alarming:

• there is no need to use the word "lesbian" as "gay" covers women as well. Makes you wonder what the L in the LGBT policy team is.

• So-called natal women and men should call themselves cis women and cis men - that is the correct expression and we were all "encouraged" to use it

• We were "encouraged" to use pronouns in our email signatures. it's not mandatory.....yet.

My colleagues and I discussed this and were 100% in agreement that we would not be referring to ourselves as "cis" or including our pronouns in emails. But this is a massively worrying development.

A year ago I would have found the idea of you being contacted by Northern Irish police laughable. Sadly right now I find it all too believable. I wanted to offer you my support and tell you that your views reflect those of most of the Northern Ireland population. If you want to use any of the info I have given you for anything please do, but I would appreciate anonymity. Like most people, I have a mortgage and bills to pay, and if I was found on the wrong side of the pronoun police my job could be under threat.

Wishing you well.