Thread by @jammach

Short thread.
I got involved in the Trans People & Women’s’ Rights debate after a casual Q to my sister one weekend.

It was a family gathering and I asked how they felt about GRA reforms.

It turned into an eye opener on Women’s concerns, how common abuse is & living fearful.

It was epiphany. I thought I knew bits of it, I thought I was well informed, I’ve experienced sexual abuse myself, but don’t live in daily fear.

I don’t have to suspect every male stranger as a potential abuser. I don’t plan routes to avoid danger. Go read my pinned tweet ...

So I started asking Q of the Trans Rights Activists too.
Why was this needed? What was the aim? What was it rebalancing? What were the potential knock on effects?

The responses I received were deeply concerning. I was told I was a man and it wasn’t my concern;

I was told Women’s Groups were consulted (a lie); that it wouldn’t impact the equalities act (a lie) that it wouldn’t impact safe spaces (a lie) that Women’s Groups were happy with it (a lie) and then Joan McAlpine joined in and the abuse ramped up.

I’ve never seen a tight core of campaigners be so two faced, so disingenuous, so dismissive of concerns, so defensive and righteous when questioned and be so arrogant in how they engaged.

As I learned more, challenged with facts, links and sources directly to key ...

Individuals, they had no factual response. They would simply stop talking and ignore me and then repeat the same lies 5 minutes later in a different thread to someone else.
There was never any acknowledgement they were wrong, no willingness to think again, or change legislation

And more and more people saw this too and they started banding together. In the past month 7000+ emails of concern were sent to MSP through writetothem.com and who knows how many more directly.

@iainmacwhirter got involved and received the same abuse

So it blew up in the faces of the TRA, big time.

We now have a very gratefully received pause to go back out and correct some fundemental flaws in the consultation and what is the response from the TRA?

More abuse.

Videos posted of them crying and upset.

Accusations that we’re responsible for the trans people who will commit suicide, more lies about who did what and accusations that the SNP are throwing the LGBTQ community under a bus.

Seriously, I’m absolute disgusted with them.

We need a purge. We need a reset.

These people are not honest. They don’t listen to logic or reason and *crucially* they are not listening to the electorate.

We need them out of the party as Independence is not their priority.

They themselves are their priority and that is hideous and dangerous.

Lastly, I have an enormous number of people, too many, to thank for educating and enlightening me but may I thank @DrMoragKerr who first made me curious and concerned, @rattlecans for speaking up and @SophiaPangloss for listening.
There’s many more.

Final thought.

You don’t get one group equality and lift them up by either harming or facilitating harm against another group.

That is how you do politics, colllaboration and consent.

‘Purge’ is a very strong word. I don’t use it lightly, but these people are in positions

Of influence and authority and they have behaved in an atrocious manner and misused that influence and authority.

Why would you accept that?