A thread on Derek Mackay's resignation and the vulnerability of 16 year olds. It's easy to dismiss this story as just another one about a politician blowing up his career with dodgy behaviour. But if the Scottish government isn't careful it could become emblematic.
2./ For too long any criticism of its deepening obsession with LGBT issues has been denounced as homophobic and any concern that's expressed about a failure to take seriously the safeguarding of children is dismissed as bigotry.
3./ But maybe Derek Mackay has inadvertently opened a little window into the shared culture of some top level Scottish politicians. Maybe we should ask how seriously do they really take the risks to 16 year olds and other children from some of their key policies?
4./ The Scottish govt is currently consulting on the Gender Recognition Bill, perhaps the most carelessly researched piece of legislation proposed anywhere in the UK in decades. It aims to sweep away clear definitions of biological sex (male and female, remember them?).
5./ These have served humanity for millenia but will be replaced with some meaningless spectrum of 'gender identities'. This will undermine women rights. It will also endanger children's mental health by promoting the notion they can be born in the wrong body.
6./ And here's where things get sticky for the Scottish govt. The most important Yes or No question it asks in its consultation is about whether the age at which someone can gain a Gender Certificate should be reduced from 18 to 16. Yep, the age of that schoolboy.
7./ We've now been reminded by Mackay just how vulnerable 16 year olds can be and how dodgy it is for adults to mess with their 16 year old brains. But now the Scottish state is proposing to offer troubled 16 year olds not a ticket to a rugby game but a whole new identity.
8./ The govt says its GR Bill is informed by the idea "people know their own minds best". But do 16 year old school kids really know their minds well enough to change their legal sex? Surely one of the things that made Mackay's behaviour inexcusable is he was using status..
9./ ..and authority to try to befuddle a child. But that's exactly what the Scottish govt now proposes to do on a national scale. First, later this year it will introduce new lessons in schools, promoting the idea all kids have a 'gender identity'.
10./ This either does or does not fit the biological sex of their body, or so teachers will tell them. It's unscientific nonsense and if you don't think this will lead to soaring numbers of kids thinking they're born in the wrong body you haven't been paying attention.
11./ There's been a 3000% + explosion in school age kids being referred to gender identity clinics in less than a decade in what some experts think is a social contagion spiralling out of control. theguardian.com/society/2019/f…
12./ In Scotland alone child referrals are up 80% in a year and it's become common to put these kids on puberty blockers despite the fact most will happily grow out of any gender dysphoria if allowed to go through puberty. thetimes.co.uk/article/sharp-…
13./ Here's James Morton from Scottish Trans Alliance advocating the use of blockers as harmless in a top level NHS meeting in Edinburgh. He's one of the key advocates of the Gender Bill Reform and his organisation worked with the govt to shape its proposed law. 
14./ So lowering the age a kid can change their legal sex won't be in a vacuum. 16 year olds will have already been primed by unscientific teaching and prescribing of puberty blockers. All psychiatric oversight is to be swept away too, making it fast and effectively automatic.
15./ When critics warn Scottish Ministers all this is a child safeguarding nightmare they roll their collective eyes. They've taken advice, they say. But who are their "experts"? The govt has taken advice almost exclusively from a tiny clique of LGBTQ lobby organisations.
16./ Stonewall, Equality Network, LGBT Youth & Scottish Trans Alliance form a magic circle of influence. Personnel are best buddies with leading polticians and by an amazing coincidence these organisations then obtain huge funding from the same administration their mates run.
17./ Here's the Scottish govt's own figures. In the coming year Scottish Trans Alliance will get £200K, LGBT Youth £260K, and LGBT organisation Equality Network a huge £275K. Even Stonewall Scotland gets £100K despite being awash with cash from Goldman Sachs.
18./ Over 3 years these groups will get over £2M but they don't provide services. They get this money so they can lobby the govt they got money from. By contrast Age Scotland's Helpline gets £140K & Gypsy/Traveller Youth just £44K. Maybe old people and travellers have less needs?
19/. They've certainly not got civil servants as well trained. Here's Scotland's top civil servant apologising profusely for not being on Stonewall's list of top 100 employers. Maybe they'll get more than 100K next year? That might swing it.
20./ So what's all this got to do with Derek Mackay? Only someone who'd isolated themselves from everyday commonsense could convince themselves it was acceptable to come on to a schoolboy. But the fantasy world this govt has drifted into is just as out of touch with the public.
21./ It was creepy when Derek Mackay imagined he knew what a 16 year old wanted deep down. It's no less so when an entire govt makes the same assumption. Mackay tried to ensure the kid's parents were kept out of the loop. Isn't that what this govt is doing too?
22./ It's actually the hallmark of all its LGBT work with schoolkids and it creates a classic child safeguarding danger. Mackay was brought down by a furious Scottish mum. If this govt stays on its present path it will face the outrage of more than one mother. And so it should.
