Tory MP Caroline Nokes just wants to make the Gender Recognition Act kinder.

In order for an individual to have their acquired gender recognised, a person has to prove to a panel of strangers that they will never meet – the gender recognition panel – that they are either feminine or masculine. It has caused a great deal of concern in the transgender community that the panel, in effect, sits in judgment upon them and their transition. Who is anyone to decide whether someone is feminine or masculine enough?

Well, since you ask, why should whether someone is “feminine” or “masculine” be a matter for government at all? Why should it be officially “recognised”? Why should it even be … Read the rest

Meanwhile in Crouch End –

Because men who say they are women are infinitely more deserving and important and worthy of deference and “be kind” than mere women.… Read the rest

This is a novel way for shops to go about things.

If you're going to give vouchers for Christmas, obviously don't give them for a shop whose staff may try and lecture your friend on their reading choices. Still no reply from Waterstones to this tweet yesterday. They must have noticed it by now https://t.co/exJMRCTwWD pic.twitter.com/SdTXgljWfD

— Anya Palmer (@anyabike) December 23, 2021

Bookstores deciding which books are well written and thus to be sold and which are not and thus to be unavailable to customers. What a fantastic customer service! Apparently they read all the books themselves to save the buying public time.… Read the rest

Pedophile who Identifies as a 5-Year-Old Girl

A 60-year-old pedophile who claims to identify as a 5-year-old girl was found to have been in breach of his child sexual harm prevention order after he approached two little girls and kissed them.

Janiel Verainer, of Chatham, UK, was found by the court to have breached a sexual harm order imposed in 2016 after he was found kissing a small girl outside of a cafe in Thanet, UK. At the time, child sexual exploitation images were also found on Verainer’s devices. Verainer was sentenced to 15 months in prison, and the sexual harm prevention order – one requiring he stay away from all children – was implemented.

But he did it again: … Read the rest

We always have to be kinder. Kinder and kinder and kinder and kinder. There’s never enough. No one bother about being kinder to us though. We’re just old boots.

Trans rights are a major part of the remit of [Tory MP Caroline] Nokes and her committee, which is currently undertaking the inquiry into the government’s response to Gender Recognition Act reform. (May’s government held a long consultation on updating the GRA and committed to introducing those reforms, which were later shelved by Johnson’s administration.) The committee hearings are extraordinarily sensitive, empathetic and detailed sessions with some of the leading figures on both sides of this debate, one of the most bitter in the current political landscape. 

Nokes, in

No, that’s not true.

Woman jailed for having cocaine-fuelled sex with an Alsatianhttps://t.co/fRWqa9eBbg pic.twitter.com/nMlr468VXJ

— The Scottish Sun (@ScottishSun) December 22, 2021

That’s a man.

And humans can’t “have sex” with dogs. The man didn’t “have sex with an Alsation”; he abused a dog.

This is not our crime.… Read the rest

I don’t think so.

Depressing that a handful of people responded to this with WHY WOULD YOU USE THE PRONOUN 'HE.' I can't imagine a better way to derail conversations that are already fraught than to insist, as a matter of principle, on *not* using the pronouns people request. Dumb hill for dying https://t.co/RWXzAzvx3d

— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) December 22, 2021

I don’t think it’s daft or purist or obstinate or stupid to dislike customized pronouns. It’s maybe somewhat stupid or wrong to tell off other people for using them, but I think we have good reasons for objecting to them in general.

For one thing they condition us, as is the plan. If we say it we start to … Read the rest

Jolyon Maugham, aka The Good Law Project, continues his bullying of the LGB Alliance.

The Tribunal has agreed to hear our arguments as to why the LGB so-called Alliance (LGBA) should not have been given charitable status and why their activities are not those of a charity. This means Mermaids, the claimant in the case, will have the opportunity to present the facts in full. The hearing will take place in May 2022.

…

To be registered as a charity, an organisation must be established exclusively for purposes which the law recognises as charitable, and it must pursue them in a way which gives rise to tangible benefits that outweigh any associated harms. We don’t believe that legal

On Today this morning:

And here it is for those who missed it. #R4Today pic.twitter.com/NBlmAM2qoi

— John Rogan (@JRogan3000) December 22, 2021

… Read the rest

James Kirkup thanks Harry Miller and Fair Cop.

He talked to Harry almost three years ago about what the cops had done.

After all, he’d broken no law, and even the police force involved confirmed that. Instead, he was contacted and a record was made of his conduct under rules around ‘non-crime hate incidents’ (NCHIs). These were introduced after the 1993 murder of Stephen Lawrence, with the intention of giving the police a means of tracking behaviour that, while not crossing the threshold of a crime, gave a fair indication that a person’s actions were likely to escalate to full-blown crime.

Aaaaand does that apply to gender critical tweets? Are gender critical opinion-havers likely to commit full-blown crimes?

Of … Read the rest

Genius.

Patreon… Read the rest

Gregor Murray three days ago:

Is this true, @ScoutsScotland ?

If so, please consider this my resignation, @freeby67 – clearly scouting is not a safe space for trans people. https://t.co/aSTl9e45nE

— Non Binary and all that. (@grogipher) December 19, 2021

Gregor Murray two days ago:

Also, my Office 365 account has been deleted, alongwith a whole load of data that was pretty crucial for Scotland's largest Scout event next year. That's going to be very awkward for the volunteers, and I really hope it doesn't negatively impact on the young people.

— Non Binary and all that. (@grogipher) December 20, 2021

He means (he clarifies in a later tweet) that the Scouts deleted his Office account, not that he did … Read the rest

A fossil of a dinosaur about to hatch.

Scientists have announced the discovery of a perfectly preserved dinosaur embryo that was preparing to hatch from its egg, just like a chicken.

Perfectly preserved skeleton, that is.

The researchers say it’s 66 million years old or more.

The discovery has also given researchers a greater understanding of the link between dinosaurs and modern birds. The fossil shows the embryo was in a curled position known as “tucking”, which is a behaviour seen in birds shortly before they hatch.

It's one of the most stunning dinosaur fossils I've ever seen. But it's also important: it tells us that the 'tucking postures' of today's birds–in which they curl their head under their

The “you can’t tell me what to do!!” party continues to embrace death by suffocation.

Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate, used the same week that the US passed 800,000 Covid-19 deaths to tell a rightwing gathering she would add to that toll herself before she would agree to be given a vaccine.

“It’ll be over my dead body that I’ll have to get a shot,” Palin told a cheering crowd. “I will not do that. I won’t do it, and they better not touch my kids either.”

Awesome! So brave, so defiant, so protective of her kids’ right to die instead of getting vaccinated.

Palin, who tested positive for Covid in March, was speaking at AmericaFest

Let’s have a round of applause for You Cee ELLLL.

University College London has become the first university to formally cut ties to the LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall, saying its membership of Stonewall’s programmes could inhibit academic freedom and discussion around sex and gender.

UCL announced that it would end its involvement with Stonewall’s workplace equality index, which rates employers on their policies, and its diversity schemes, following a recommendation from the university’s most senior academics.

“Following a period of debate within our community and careful consideration of the issues, UCL has now taken the decision that we will not re-join Stonewall’s diversity champions programme or make a submission to the workplace equality index,” UCL said in a statement.

From the Telegraph:

Trans people should be able to self-declare their legal gender, MPs have recommended despite warnings of impact it will have on single sex spaces.

That is, on spaces women need for safety and privacy.

A new report from the Women and Equalities Committee has found that the process by which people can legally transition is “unfair and overly medicalised”.

Women and Equalities Committee shafts women.

Drop many of the requirements, the MPs say. No need to live in the bespoke gender for two years first – just go for it.

The Government has also been urged to also remove the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria before a person can acquire a Gender Recognition

Professor Alice Sullivan tells us why we would want to know.

3/ONS lost to @fairplaywomen at Judicial Review when they attempted to change the meaning of the word sex in order to undermine the collection of clear data on sex. https://t.co/UGV0vna96w

— Professor Alice Sullivan (@ProfAliceS) December 21, 2021

5/Those who use the claim that gender identity trumps sex as a justification for not collecting data on sex seek to make it impossible to test their assumptions. This demonstrates a radically anti-scientific approach to evidence.

— Professor Alice Sullivan (@ProfAliceS) December 21, 2021

7/The fact that the Women and Equalities Select Committee don't understand that sex matters is troubling. Even more troubling is their acceptance of the view that

The Guardian tells us:

Women around the world will take turns to fast for 24 hours in an attempt to put pressure on the UK government to secure the freedom of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe from detention in Iran.

The campaign by FiLiA, a female-led volunteer organisation working for the liberation of women, follows the 21-day hunger strike Nazanin’s husband, Richard Ratcliffe, mounted outside the Foreign Office in London until mid-November.

Photographs of all the participants in the fasting relay, which begins on Monday, will be published on the group’s website day by day in a display of solidarity.

It’s important we lobby @BorisJohnson @trussliz to #FreeNazaninNow I will be fasting & supporting @FiLiA_charity with this global campaign #Women4Nazanin
Ive

Joan Smith suggests that maybe just maybe on rare occasions we do need to know when someone is female or male.

Why is it important to know someone’s birth sex? The Conservative MP Caroline Nokes, who chairs the Women and Equalities Select Committee, evidently has no idea. ‘Why on earth would we want to?’ she asked during an interview on this morning’s Today programme.

Why would we want to know someone’s species? Why would we want to know whether someone is animal vegetable or mineral? I don’t know, it’s just part of the whole social thing, isn’t it? I mean if the someone is on the other side of the planet and you’re not interacting then meh, fair enough, … Read the rest

Originally a comment by cluecat on Pretty wild indeed.

This kind of thing was raised against the Suffragettes right from the beginning: a “class problem” of wealthy white women doing things – any things, it doesn’t matter what – and being a “problem” somehow because of Who They Were. Not sticking to approved “Charidee!” work, my dears? Oh no! Women running wild!

This ignores the very reason that wealthy white women were doing most of that work; because working class women were busy working. A 12-hour shift at the factory, plus all the work when they got home, does not leave much time for organising. Nor does the life of a maid-of-all-work. Some of those women did it … Read the rest