CN: transphobia

I am reading through the written submissions for the W&E Committee inquiry and hooooo boy it's going to be a long and difficult day

Literally the first one.

to redress the balance, this marvellous woman

insert endless internal screaming here

CN: Transphobia dressed up as 'safeguarding

ABSOLUTE YIKES
"It is a fundamental human right that a private female citizen, when confronted by a demand to share intimate services or spaces made by an individual whom she perceives as a male, is able to assert her right to withhold consent and not be victimised for doing so."

this woman doesn't just want trans women our of women's spaces, but literally anyone that "might be percieved to be male".

Where do you even start with people who think like this?

If you want to read a really REALLY good one, check out 0041 O'Sullivan. Beautifully written, evidenced and cited.

One argues that the GRA was "pushed through parliament under the guise that couples who wanted same sex marriage despite one of the individuals identifying as the opposite sex, could not marry at the time. Same sex marriage is now legal; therefore, the GRA is obsolete"

This Galaxy Brain (who is very invested in large & small gametes) wants the entire GRA to be torn up b/c "Nobody can change sex and criminal patterns in males do not change even after medical interventions, so again, why are we changing legislation and policies to enable abuse?"

interesting that most of the well written and cited ones supporting positive reform are named. Most of the ones that read like they were written with a blue crayon, but one of the good ones Dennis, from Liberty's, are from "a member of the public"

I am about half way through and so far, most of them have been supportive of sensible and proportionate change that matches the lived reality and needs of trans and non binary people - I am picking out only the very worst of the worst takes.

Like the one I am reading now, from a former "Equalities Manager" who is very worried about detransitioners and says of the Scottish Government's proposed GRA amendments "Thankfully this has currently been
put on hold thanks to women like me campaigning against it."

This former Equalities Manager is very worried that "we have bearded men in skirts calling themselves women and we’re not allowed to challenging them coming into our toilets or we’re bigots and transphobes". She's so close to getting it through on the low number of GRCs...

"Why is the number of people applying for GRCs so low compared to the number of people identifying as transgender?"

Her reply: "Because they can’t be bothered? Also, they can change bank details, driving licence etc without a GRC so why bother?"

One of the questions asked is "Are legal reforms needed to better support the rights of gender-fluid and non-binary people? If so, how?"

Would you like to see the response of our Former Equalities Manager in her formal written submission?

Word for word, this is her answer:

"Oh FFS. Gender is NOT a protected characteristic. We do not make laws for the feelings that people have in their heads. They can dress how they like but I’m not playing the pronoun game."

Number of references cited in her submission: zero.

Although to be fair, she did read about this person once where something bad happened to them so

Next one: she's afraid of being "cancelled silenced and doxxed" so has remained anonymous. I have some empathy beacuse she's a sexual assault survivor, but her answer to this Q...
"Should the governments proposed changes make the process kinder and more straight forward?"...

is pretty epic YIKES.

She replies: "Why should the process be kind and straight forward? Are we deliberately kind and straight forward to people applying for unemployment or disability benefits?"

me every time I open a file submission from "a member of the public"

one thing that's interesting, almost none of those submitting evidence are happy with the proposals. The majority support reform but think this doesn't go anywhere near far enough. A small minority don't want any reform. A tiny minority want total repeal without replacement.

It will be interesting to see what the W&E committee do with this feedback that these reform proposals satisfy absolutely no one. My concern is that it will pass as-is under the misguided idea that "no one likes it" is the same thing as "consensus".

Ok wish me luck I am about to read this one

welp

"Should the age limit at which people can apply for a GRC be lowered?"

"No. If any change: age should be raised. People should have to wait until they are at least 25 to apply for a GRC because it is a life-changing decision with huge consequences."

"Younger people are, by reason of their immaturity, likely to change their mind about such
matters, which are completely subjective and influenced by culture and fashion. Teenagers and young adults grow up and mature at about 25 years of age, or increasingly at a later age"

folks, this one is 20 pages long.

in which trans people existing is exactly like the satanic panic of the eighties

despite believing that psychiatry is no good, she also thinks her ex wife (misgendered throughout, of course) would have been 'saved' with...psychiatry

(I hope this lady's ex wife is out there living her best life as her true self and has people who value her for who she is )

page 7: "stunning and brave". Also, married trans womed should be prosecuted for...being trans?

seriously this whole paragraph is horrible, be good to yourself and don't read it.

this one is rare amongst the trans-hostile submissions in that it has actually provided citations. They're from such august institutions as fair play for women, hands across the aisle, a woman's place, 4th wave now, you tube, transgender trend and the daily mail.

the final pages of this submission are essays supposedly from "AGP widows" (there aren't enough characters in a tweet to say how entirely that phrase makes my entire body want to shrivel up in on itself and cease to exist. They're a...strange read.

The second one is written in *exactly* the same tone as the way one of my D&D characters writes her diary (aka session updates) and she's an insufferably pious and deluded paladin who over-estimates her own intelligence (+0)

hashtag just saying

this second one reads too much like really shit reader's wives porn it's incredibly hard to take seriously.

Even if there is truth* to it, it's about a dude into kink who cheats on his wife, nothing to do with trans people.

*FWIW I think it's utter bullshit

Ah, I see - this whole story isn't to say trans people shouldn't get a GRC, it's to say that men like this exist and they would abuse self id to get their rocks off.

It's meant to be a "cautionery tale".

Is TERF-fic a genre?

worth noting: two of these three "AGP widows" story mention mumsnet

this last one lists a "who's who" of the trans-hostile scene.

It's almost as if the entire gender critical movement is a very small number of interconnected individuals with a wide social media reach and a foot in the door of the conservative broadsheets

weird right

this one has citations! It cites wikipedia and the daily mail

on to the next one: a submission from a trans person who got a GRC, compiled all the evidence, paid the money then when they got it easily, they were really surprised that it changed their legal gender as they didn't realise that was what it was for, therefore self ID is bad.

the next one is very worried about the erosion of women's rights by 'male cross dressers'. also, the word cisgender is a "shibboleth test".

the usual appears here. Toilets, prisons, "real transexuals". She cites a twitter user as evidence that a trans person agrees with her. People's brains don't develop intil their mid-twenties. Yes, she mentions Kiera Bell. Note: deadline for these submissions was 27th November.

the next one is from a trans woman who has a GRC who doesn't see why the process needs to change as she went through it. "The GRC is too much of an important document to hand out to all in sundry" (sic)

Says there's a difference beteen transexuals and "the transgendered" (sic)

this is the "damn kids on my lawn" argument of the tru-trans

lots of submissions from cis allies, who make well reasoned cases for better reform and request that trans and non binary people's voices and those of professionals in the field are heeded.

Thank you, allies for taking the time to submit!

almost all of the trans-supportive submissions point out the barriers that huge long waiting lists, shared care issues and private costs put up; and how these contradict the "two year" waiting period and the disphoria diagnosis criteria.

almost all of the trans-supportive submissions also think that the age limite should be lowered to 16 (in some cases, lower if gillick applies)

a fair few of the trans-hostile ones think it should be raised to 25.

anyone else reminded of the age of consent debates?

all of the ones that start "I am for women's rights" go on to accuse "TRAs" or the "Transgender lobby" of being vicious and abusive where as the ones from trans people mostly go "we just want to be able to live please"

we have a "women's sex based rights"! what do I win?

seriously though, can someone translate this because I have been reading these all day and my brain is starting to spill out through my eyes

what is she even trying to say

Submission 0107 (which is superb) calls out both the groups listed by the gender criticals, the original consultation, the delays and the current inquiry questions in one go. Thank you for this - it desparately needed saying.

This one is absolutely worth a read by the way. Page 1, bottom submission, GRA0107: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/658/reform-of-the-gender-recognition-act/publications/written-evidence/?page=1

One of the submissions is from a 72 year old transgender woman who spent her whole life trying to be a man and only recently started her transition. God speed, brave lady! I wish you luck.

Miss Dibble (Retired) however, would prefer that the GRA is not only kept "sacrosanct", but that it's made harder to get a GRC by making surgery compulsory. She wants everyone who wants to be another gender is issued with an ID card that confirms their gender...

...but that doesn't mean they're allowed to use toilets, oh no. They'll need to go somewhere else, away from women's single sex spaces. She also copy and pastes the exact same quotes as at least two other submissions.

what's interesting is where there are, across all of these, fleeting moments of common ground. Sex and gender, for example, mean different things. The Equality Act is a pretty decent legislation. Not all trans folk want or need a GRC. These are broadly agreed apon by all.

However, it's the *intepretation* of each of those apparently sympathetic beliefs which creates some of the biggest idealogical chasms.

You could probably write an entire essay on this alone.

really quite heartening to see so many non binary people putting in submissions, and how many cis and binary trans folk were so supportive of non binary people being recognised in the reforms.

welp the next submission is from a woman who was punched in the face by a man and the police didn't do anything, which somehow proves that trans people have more rights than women? Also testosterone and penis make people strong, therefore...something about toilets.

the number of people willing to lay the blame for systemic patriarchal violence (in which I include violence against women by a hostile state) at the feet of imaginary trans women is really baffling

i could mock, but I actually feel quite sorry for women who have been taken in by this conspiracy. They must genuinely be really frightened, and that fear is used maliciously by trans-hostile groups. It only increased the fear. it's sad.

in case you're not familiar with this conspiracy theory - it's that rich men are using 'trans rights' as a smokescreen to remove the legal category of 'woman' so that men can more easily abuse and traffic women. It's convoluted & bizarre, as are most conspiracy theories.

another one of those fleeting moments of common ground - the idea that "living as a man/woman" is sexist and old fashioned, a sentiment expressed by both trans positive and trans hostile submissions.

A submission from someone with the surname "Hayton" talking about their transgender spouse is arguing to keep the spousal veto.

There are more points of common ground here than maybe we think. This is the final paragraph from submission for a trans woman. Both the trans-positive and the 'gender critical' perspective seem to agree - gender roles? no thanks.

interesting point made in a submission from a trans women - if its true that predatory men might use self ID to abuse women, the problem is not with trans women or with trans-supportive laws, but with male privilege and how it's expressed.

GRA0142 is another one worth reading (page 1) as it's well written, laid out, well researched and has hyperlinks to all the citations.

one of the submissions is of the "if I was a teen now, I would be being transed but I am a woman it's ok" variety, but honestly the way she writes "I have learned to tolerate my own body" makes me so sad for her.

i've tolerated my body for 42, at 14 I was relatively gender-conforming (it was the 90s, we were all 'lads') but felt distressed from my very first period.

Accepting that I was non binary in my late thirties felt like a healing potion.

and how come people think you can 'trans' a child that easily when my friend can barely get their trans teen to clean their room

anyway, on the home straight, only three more to look at!

well that was easy, one is a RTF format which won't open. The other two are supportive! One very short one which is supportive and appeals not only for better reform but for a systemic overhaul of trans healthcare

The other is long, well argued, and is from a trans woman in her late 50s with practical knowldge of hate crime legislation.

So that's all of them.

Overall:
* significantly more trans-positive than trans-hostile.
* overwhemlingly in support of more reform which includes non binary people and is less buearocratic.
* surprising number of areas of agreement from the two sides, but used for totally oppostite arguments

on that latter point, i noted this in my dissertation; that the exact same arguments are deployed both for and against trans inclusion. (my disseration is available to read on request, now that I have graduated)

the trans-hostile ones all reference the same sources, use the same arguments, and rely on hypotheticals or anecdotes of dubious or unverifiable origin

most of the trans-supportive ones reference legit sources or are grounded in verifiable lived experience

will the W&EC have the same take on the written submissions as I do? Probably not. I am a very left wing non binary person with a MA in History (Gender & Sexuality).

But I hope my epic hours I have put into this was useful to trans & trans ally twitter.