Shock-horror:

Young V&A removes trans poster and LGBTQ+ books

A poster supporting transgender rights and two books discussing LGBTQ+ identities have been removed from the Young V&A (YVA) ahead of the museum’s reopening on Saturday (1 July).

According to an email sent to Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union members at the V&A, shared anonymously with Arts Professional, the decision to remove the poster and books was made by V&A Director, Tristram Hunt, last week.

The poster was produced by charity Stonewall and read: ‘Some people are trans, get over it!’. The books removed from the YVA bookshop – Seeing Gender and Here and Queer – are illustrated books, the first on expressing and understanding the complexities of gender and the second a guide aimed at girls to educate on aspects of queer life, such as coming out and Pride.

Well, museums do change their exhibits regularly. I daresay they even alter exhibits sometimes. Why wouldn’t they? Curators aren’t there just to take up space.

I think a poster with that silly message merits removal, on grounds of silliness plus rudeness. It’s not actually true that “some people are trans” in the sense of “some people are the other sex.” Some people think of themselves as trans, yes, but that doesn’t mean we have to agree with them, much less that we have to “get over it.”

But then posters in museums aren’t necessarily there because they make truthful statements. (The Holocaust Museum is full of lies, because it’s there to document them.) The Stonewall poster is a piece of propaganda for the idea that people can and should change sex. Maybe the V&A, or at least its director, has decided it doesn’t want to display that particular brand of propaganda at this time. I think they’re allowed to do that.

The letter says PCS union has been working with the V&A Staff LGBTQ Working Group and fellow trade union Prospect to explore ways to have the objects returned to display before the museum reopens.

It adds the working group, Propsect representatives and several PCS representatives met with Hunt to discuss the issue on Monday afternoon. 

In the meeting, the request to return the poster and books was rejected.

…

Asked for comment, Steven Warwick, PCS Culture Group Secretary, said: “PCS is absolutely clear that we oppose the removal of these objects and urges the V&A to reverse this decision. The poster was simply a statement of fact that ‘Some people are trans’. That the director of the V&A considers this to be a controversial statement is disappointing.”

Ah but it’s not simply a statement of fact. Some people say they are trans; that’s a statement of fact; but the claim that they are trans is hotly contested. Some of us don’t believe there’s any such thing as being trans.

Happy birthday to WRN!

This headline looks like a rebuke of Steven Spielberg’s absurd “climate activism” in light of his purchase of a gigantic yacht, but the article offers no hint of rebuke or even surprise.

Outspoken climate activist Steven Spielberg has taken delivery of his $250 million superyacht – Even longer than a football field, the diesel-powered 4,444 ton vessel has two swimming pools and, in all possibility, a plush movie theater and a helipad.

Mind you, that’s also not a headline – it’s a lede where a headline should be.

Anyway. Spielberg sold one giant yacht and bought another. Conclusion: Spielberg is in no sense a “climate activist.” A climate vandal, yes, but activist, no.

The $250 million vessel built in 2022 can accommodate 14 guests in 7 suites serviced by a crew of 30. While details are scarce at this point, Superyachtfan has observed a large swimming pool on the main deck and a spa pool on the sundeck. As the predecessor flaunted cabins with wardrobes, desk space, a private bathroom, a ballroom size main saloon, 17 televisions, several spas, and stellar diving equipment, the new pleasure craft will undoubtedly bring more to the table.

Yes: an enormous climate burden for one guy.

So maybe we should actually do something? Or nah?

A remarkable spate of historic heat is hitting the planet, raising alarm over looming extreme weather dangers — and an increasing likelihood that this year will be Earth’s warmest on record.

New precedents have been set in recent weeks and months, surprising some scientists with their swift evolution: historically warm oceans, with North Atlantic temperatures already nearing their typical annual peak; unparalleledlow sea ice levels around Antarctica, where global warming impacts had, until now, been slower to appear; and the planet experiencing its warmest June ever charted, according to new data.

And then, on Monday, came Earth’s hottest day in at least 125,000 years. Tuesday was hotter.

“We have never seen anything like this before,” said Carlo Buontempo, director of Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. He said any number of charts and graphs on Earth’s climate are showing, quite literally, that “we are in uncharted territory.”

…

It’s not just that records are being broken — but the massive margins with which conditions are surpassing previous extremes, scientists note. In parts of the North Atlantic, temperatures are running as high as 9 degrees Fahrenheit above normal, the warmest observed there in more than 170 years.

Never mind – New Cruise Ships in 2023, 2024, and 2025:

There’s a lot to look forward to over the next few years, with new cruise ships on the horizon from so many of your favourite cruise lines. From luxury expedition vessels to family fun, there’s something for everyone in the long list of exciting new arrivals set for the seas.

There are 17 new ships due this year. 19 made their debut last year.

Uh oh.

Earth’s temperature was off the charts last month as an extreme heat wave scorched the Southern US and Mexico and ocean warmth soared to alarming levels, a new report shows.

The analysis from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service found that last month was the planet’s hottest June by a “substantial margin” above the previous record, which was set in 2019.

The nine hottest Junes have all occurred in the last nine years, according to the agency – evidence the human-caused climate crisis is driving temperatures to unprecedented levels.

In other words it’s speeding up. A lot.

“This is alarming,” Jennifer Marlon, a climate scientist at the Yale School of Environment who was not involved with the analysis, told CNN. “It’s hard to imagine what summers will be like for our children and grandchildren in the next 20 years. This is exactly what global warming looks like.”

Four days in a row.

Earth’s average temperature has set a new unofficial record high once again, the fourth day in a row it has broken or equalled such a milestone.

The planetary average temperature hit 17.23 degrees Celsius on Thursday, surpassing the 17.18C record set on Tuesday and equalled on Wednesday, according to data from the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer, a tool that uses satellite data and computer simulations to measure the world’s condition.

A previous record of 17.01C was set on Monday.

But the SUVs still go to and fro, the planes fly, the cargo ships and cruise ships circle the globe.

H/t Mike B

Belfast Pride wants to see more women injured by men in women’s sports.

Ulster Rugby will not be allowed to march in Belfast’s Pride parade because of the ban on transgender women playing in female contact rugby games. The organisers of the Pride parade said any group which was “engaging in trans exclusionary practices” would not be permitted to participate in the march.

But of course keeping men out of women’s rugby isn’t a “trans exclusionary” practice, it’s a male exclusionary practice in women’s sports. Women should be allowed to have their own sports, because otherwise they can’t have any sports at all.

In August 2022, the IRFU said only rugby players whose sex was recorded as female at birth would be allowed to compete in the female category. At the time, the IRFU said its ban was based on “medical and scientific evidence”. It said there were “physical differences between those people whose sex was assigned as male and those as female at birth”. The IRFU added that “advantages in strength, stamina and physique brought about by male puberty are significant and retained even after testosterone suppression”.

As everyone knows and always has known, but we’re supposed to pretend it’s all up in the air.

Ulster Rugby was one of many organisations which applied to take in the annual Pride parade through the city on 29 July. Following its exclusion, Belfast’s Pride organisers described their festival as “unapologetically trans inclusive”.

“Trans, non-binary and gender-diverse people have helped lead and shape not only the Pride movement, but the wider LGBTQIA+ civil rights movement, and are an integral part of our community and wider society,” they added. “We believe trans, non-binary and gender- diverse people should be supported, accepted and celebrated within families, communities and across wider society.”

But they can be all that without invading women’s sports.

Solidarity with that man who pretends to be a woman and a nursing mother:

The most important thing for any child is love and care. And the most important thing for a mother is to have the adequate support and resources to raise her child. 

Love and care are two things, so it should be “the most important things.” Support and resources are also two things, so again, “the most important things.” Also the statements are a tad obvious and banal, but whatever.

As feminists and mums, we give our wholehearted support to Mika Minio-Paluello who has faced a vile wave of personal attacks for speaking on TV while trans. 

Ok what? Why would feminism and mum-hood be a reason for anyone to give wholehearted support to a man playacting being a mother? And the criticism of him wasn’t for “speaking while trans,” it was for appropriating womanhood and doing godknowswhat to his baby by having it suck on his tit. Also, doing it on a bus.

Motherhood looks different for all of us – as does family. The title of ‘mother’ is often the only thing we have in common with other women.

No it isn’t. Being women is another thing women have in common with other women. I can think of others.

Whether we parent alone or with a partner, we are mothers. Whether we have birthed, adopted or fostered, we are mothers. Whether or not we had IVF, we are mothers. Whether we bottle-fed or breastfed, we are mothers. Whether queer, straight, cis or trans, we are mothers. 

Ahahahahaha no you don’t. You can’t rush it past us like that; we still see it. All those are true until the very last one – the “cis or trans.” Men are not mothers, not even if they’re trans.

No solidarity with the cuckoo in the nest.

Julie Bindel tells us the Lumos Foundation is a charity set up by JK Rowling to support vulnerable children in orphanages including in Ukraine. Suzanne Moore had the idea to hold a fundraiser for Lumos.

 Suzanne got a message from James Chiavarini, saying “I think we can do better” than a simple fundraiser, and suggesting hosting a dinner at his restaurant, Il Portico, in Kensington.

“I do charity stuff myself,” James told me at the time. “It is the least I can do to help those less fortunate than me. I’d read about how Lumos had been providing support to kids there since 2013, at which time there were well over 100,000 children in institutions across the country.”

A good thing all around, yeah? Raising money for a charity that helps orphans? Hard to see a flaw with the plan, right?

Suzanne sought auction prizes, and people stepped up.

Gary Lineker gave tickets for Match Of The Day, Brian Cox (the scientist) tickets to his show, and Dominic Cummings suggested a prize allowing the winner an opportunity to rant at him about Brexit.

Others contributed original artworks, and tickets to the cricket.

A number of celebrities were there, and former comedian Simon Fanshawe played auctioneer.

Rowling made time on her busy schedule to attend.

The evening was everything Suzanne and James had hoped for. The food was superb, and the auction raised almost £19,000. James and his staff were wonderful; there was fulsome praise for both food and service.

Drinks and conversation continued into the early hours of the morning. “On the evening, not a single person mentioned the gender war or trans. It was just about raising money for the charity and having a good time,” says James.

Well, we can’t have that.

Twitter, as James puts it “exploded”, followed by an avalanche of fake reviews for Il Portico. Many of those tweets and fake reviews make for chilling reading:

“Burn it down next time JK makes a visit.”

“If you’re trans you’re not welcome here.”

“A supporter of transphobia and the food is dry to boot, don’t waste your time.”

When James exposed this on Twitter, one activist responded with “Julie Bindel retweeted it!”, presumably to “expose” James as my friend and seal his fate.

Which would you rather be friends with, Julie Bindel or Jolyon Maugham?

James was called a homophobe, Nazi and bigot by trans activists — all for hosting a charity event for children in Ukraine.

But worse was to come. Later that week, James arrived at the restaurant to discover broken glass on the pavement. He said: “Someone, I’m guessing the trans activists, had smashed the windows, gone into the restaurant and rummaged around for a few minutes before leaving empty-handed.”

Suzanne says that when she heard about the smashed windows and the one-star reviews, it sent her “into a really dark place. We had made money for kids in Ukraine, and yet because trans activists hate us feminists, they want to destroy this man’s business.”

It’s because they hate us feminists and because “trans activism” is inherently narcissistic and demanding and blind to anyone else’s needs.

In general you want prosecutors to know some basic facts, like the difference between women and men.

It what?

So I follow the link and find the subhead Trans and non-binary victims and start at the beginning…and am dumbfounded. The CPS sounds like gender fanatics on social media.

Gender identity is not the same as anatomical sex. Gender identity is what you know your gender to be and can only be decided by the individual for themselves. Gender identity might be the same as assigned sex (cisgender) or different to assigned sex (trans). Gender identity is not the same as sexuality; trans and non-binary people identify as heterosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, asexual, and aromatic, amongst other identities.

What does any of that have to do with law and crime and prosecution?? People have fantasies, people play games, people act out their fantasies with like-minded others…but none of that means the state and law enforcement and the legal system have to join in. Prosecutors should be rooted in reality, not fantasy.

“Gender” in the sense the CPS is using it here is just a kind of toy of the mind. It’s a game of let’s pretend. It’s not a brute reality like rape statistics.

Trans people know their gender to be different to that which they were assigned at birth. 

No they don’t. That’s not a thing. It’s just the jargon that goes with the ideology. You can’t “know” that you have a “gender” that’s not the one you were “assigned at birth.” People’s sex is revealed at birth, and that’s the end of it.

There’s a lot more of this drivel; it’s shocking to read.

So it seems I can share tweets again, which is good. Quoting them is not the same.

This just in:

Marjorie Taylor Greene has been kicked out of the House Freedom Caucus. That’s kind of like kicking Trump out of the Bad Stupid Greedy Men’s Caucus.

Well, it’s official: the QAnon-loving, conspiracy theory-spouting, potentially sedition-encouraging congresswoman is out of the Freedom Caucus, Politico’s Olivia Beavers reported Thursday. Maryland Republican Andy Harris described the vote to Beavers as an “appropriate action.”

Wud she do? Chase fellow Freedom Caucusers down the halls shouting abuse at them?

Pretty much.

This is the first time the Freedom Caucus has kicked out one of its own. Harris said the reason for Greene’s ouster was primarily because “the way she referred to a fellow member was probably not the way we expect our members to refer to other fellow, especially female, members.”

He was likely referring to when Greene called her former work bestie Lauren Boebert a “little bitch” on the House floor. Greene accused her colleague of copying her articles of impeachment against Joe Biden—and then introducing them first.

Aw come on, she’s an insult comic, it’s what they do.

Greta Thunberg arrested for disobeying the police:

Ms Thunberg, 20, joined a group of young protesters blockading oil tankers at a port in Malmö in June. Police said she refused to leave when asked to. She could face a six-month prison sentence or a fine.

…

Climate activists around the world have targeted the fossil fuel industry, including the UK group Just Stop Oil which has been disrupting high-profile sports events this summer. Much of the oil and gas industry says that continued production is necessary in order to meet global energy demands.

Well, one, of course it does, because it’s the oil and gas industry. It’s not going to say “shut us down” now is it.

But two, yes, that’s true, but that’s the problem. Global energy demands are going to destroy most life on the planet. Saying “But we neeeeeeeeeeeeeed it” isn’t going to change that.

Peter Tatchell is revolting.

LGB Alliance has negligible support among LGBTs

It’s goal is to split the LGBT+ community, turn LGBs against trans people & oppose trans inclusion & equality

It does very little work to promote LGB rights. It’s promised LGB helpline has never happened

#Mermaids does great work

Mermaids ruins children’s lives.

Freelance journalist Jill Foster says:

Just off phone to one of the brilliant schoolgirls who wrote the ‘Can we have single-sex toilets back please?’ letter to Sunak. Wow.

Intelligent, articulate, focused, can spot gender BS from 100 miles. Oh lads, you thought you had problems with some pesky middle-aged women…

Possible testimony on the side of “they did write the letter themselves.”

The Good Law Project responds with name-calling:

Are you disappointed with the outcome?

The LGB Alliance has a free speech right to attack trans people. But its activities should never have been subsidised with public funds – or recognised as in the public interest – by the Charity Commission. This felt to the sector – and to Good Law Project – like a very important line in the sand to defend. 

But the LGB Alliance doesn’t “attack trans people.” It’s not attacking people to say they’re not the sex they’re not. It’s not attacking a man to tell him “You’re not a woman.” In some contexts, as we know all too well by now, it’s necessary, for the sake of women’s safety or privacy or fair sports or prizes or awards or a whole long list of situations, to say that men are not women and thus should not be violating women’s privacy or invading their sport or taking their prizes. Lesbians aren’t attacking men by not coupling up with them even when they try to look like women. The LGB Alliance isn’t attacking trans people by spelling all this out. The Good Law Project, in short, is telling a whopper here.

[The case] was supported by the LGBT Consortium, of 525 LGBT+ organisations,  who were deeply concerned that an organisation whose actions are about excluding trans people would be able to obtain charity status, with all the benefits this brings. 

Listen here – gay groups are allowed to “exclude” straight people. Feminist groups are allowed to “exclude” men. Reading groups are allowed to “exclude” people who hate to read. Labor unions are allowed to “exclude” people not in the relevant industry. Schools are allowed to “exclude” adults as students. The list is pretty much infinite. People are allowed to form groups based on an array of commonalities. I daresay The Good Law Project “excludes” various categories of people.

The Charity Mermaids was the Claimant because it had been repeatedly and explicitly targeted by LGBA.

The Charity Mermaids urges children to take puberty blockers. It merits “targeting” if by “targeting” we mean criticism and dissent. The Good Law Project also merits “targeting” in the form of criticism and dissent. Here’s mine.

JK Rowling shares a tweet from Jolyon Maugham that pretends Mermaids didn’t really lose, with the comment

The unsophisticated might think Jolyon has had his arse handed to him on a plate, but it’s important to remember that losing is on a spectrum, and Jolyon identifies as someone who would have won if only his side weren’t trying to exercise legal rights they didn’t have. #binary

One thing trans ideology has been good for is nurturing caustic wit in onlookers.

Jeremy Brier KC says:

The Good Law Project website explains Mermaids lost on the “technical ground” of standing. The GLP says they “signalled the case is not straightforward” when they began which is “reflected in the time taken by the Tribunal to make its decision”.

Let’s unpack three key errors:

(1) The word “technical” does not diminish anything as almost all legal arguments may be so described. Standing is a critical prerequisite to being heard, to being relevant. So Mermaids “technically” should never have brought the case. So Mermaids “technically” lost.

(2) On analysis, the case was straightforward. Mermaids didn’t have standing to bring it. There is literally no more straightforward point I think of on which to lose a case.

(3) There is no necessary connection at all between the complexity of a case and the time taken to produce judgment. There might just be a lot to say about how obviously wrong you are. Or the judge might have had a big caseload. Or went on holiday for a bit.

Let’s say a lot about how obviously wrong they are.

Ah what a fine parade of headlines:

The Guardian:

Trans charity Mermaids fails to have charitable status stripped from LGB Alliance

BBC News:

Trans charity Mermaids loses challenge against LGB Alliance

The Telegraph:

Trans group Mermaids loses bid to have gay rights charity shut down

The Guardian account is surprisingly free of snide insinuations:

The transgender children’s charity Mermaids has lost its attempt to have charitable status stripped from the new gay rights organisation LGB Alliance.

Golly! The Guardian calls it “the new gay rights organisation” instead of calling it “the anti-trans rights organisation.”

In the hearing last autumn, the two organisations set out their opposing views. The legal discussion pitched the LGB Alliance’s position that there are only two sexes and that gender is a social construct against Mermaids’ position that the gender identity of trans people should be affirmed. It focused attention on increasingly divisive debates over sex and gender identity, and the legal definitions of same-sex attraction and sexual orientation.

That too is a much more reasonable account of the gender critical view than we’re accustomed to seeing. It doesn’t quite get the opposition right though – the part that describes the LGBA is ontology while the part that describes Mermaids is ethics, aka what sex or gender is versus what we should do about people who are confused on the subject. To make the two positions match it should be something like “the LGB Alliance’s position that there are only two sexes and that gender is a social construct against Mermaids’ position that gender identity is as real as sex”…or real in the same way sex is, or something like that. Ontology v ontology, not ontology v what should we do now. Matchy matchy.

The LGB Alliance points out that it never wanted this very expensive fight.

“Two years ago, we were clear that Mermaids had no standing to challenge our registration, and today the tribunal has confirmed that we were correct. While this is a battle we did not seek, neither would we flee from it. But the cost to us and to our supporters has been huge.

“Our legal fees amount to more than £250K and that money has come from small supporter donations. So, while our win is great news for lesbians, gay men and bisexuals, we can’t help but reflect on the fact that a sum like that would have been better spent on projects such as our helpline for young people.”

Mermaids says it’s considering an appeal. Of course it does.

We must not stop using oil, says oil executive, and what possible reason could an oil executive have to tell us to keep using oil while the planet heats up like an oven that heats up to infinity?

Cutting oil and gas production would be “dangerous and irresponsible”, the boss of energy giant Shell has told the BBC. Wael Sawan insisted that the world still “desperately needs oil and gas” as moves to renewable energy were not happening fast enough to replace it.

But the world also desperately needs not to keep heating up.

Mr Sawan angered climate scientists who said Shell’s plan to continue current oil production until 2030 was wrong. Professor Emily Shuckburgh, a climate scientist at the University of Cambridge, said firms such as Shell should focus on accelerating the green transition “rather than trying to suggest the most vulnerable in society are in any way best served by prolonging our use of oil and gas”.

Mr Sawan told the BBC: “I respectfully disagree.” He added: “What would be dangerous and irresponsible is cutting oil and gas production so that the cost of living, as we saw last year, starts to shoot up again.”

In other words we’re screwed either way.