THREAD: 1/THE LANGUAGE OF LAW
Trans activists in the UK might get confused by the phrasing in the 2004 Gender Recognition Act, section 9 (1), particularly by the phrase ‘for all purposes’. This has a specific legal meaning and history...
Trans activists in the UK might get confused by the phrasing in the 2004 Gender Recognition Act, section 9 (1), particularly by the phrase ‘for all purposes’. This has a specific legal meaning and history...
2/It is short for ‘to/for all intents and purposes’, going back to English law in the 16th century. It means: ‘in every practical sense’ or ‘virtually’. It does not mean that a transwoman is a woman; it only means that the law will treat a transwoman...
3/...as if she were a (biological) woman, by issuing a new birth certificate. What we have here is a legal fiction, a helpful construct going back to ancient times. Roman law treated soldiers who were captured by the enemy (i.e. enslaved) as if they were free men.
4/This legal fiction ensured that the captive’s will was valid.
If a transwoman were no different from a woman, then the exceptions in the GRA wouldn’t make any sense. Section 19 Sport (1) states that in gender-affected sports the governing bodies can ‘prohibit or restrict...
If a transwoman were no different from a woman, then the exceptions in the GRA wouldn’t make any sense. Section 19 Sport (1) states that in gender-affected sports the governing bodies can ‘prohibit or restrict...
5/the participation as competitors’ of persons who have legally changed their gender. The reason for this prohibition or restriction is to ‘secure (a) fair competition, or (b) the safety of competitors’.
6/The lawmakers implicitly acknowledge the underlying legal fiction by restricting the legal scope of changing your gender. The same goes for sections 15 Succession etc, 16 Peerages and 20 Gender-specific offences etc.
7/In English law the crime of rape is defined as penile penetration. This means a transwoman, with intact male sexual organs, cannot avail herself of the defense, that she is a ‘woman’ and therefore could not have committed the crime of rape.
8/It was wise of the UK lawmakers to include these exemptions, because they remind us that a transwoman is not the same as a woman and a transman is not the same as a man. However, for trans activists these exemptions contradict their mantra:
9/‘A transwoman is a woman’. For this reason they clamour for changes to the legislation.
The Canadian cyclist Rachel McKinnon seems to believe that she is ‘female’ in all respects, and for this reason she would be entitled to compete in the female category.
The Canadian cyclist Rachel McKinnon seems to believe that she is ‘female’ in all respects, and for this reason she would be entitled to compete in the female category.
10/Such a claim can only be made if you ignore, or are oblivious to, the legal fiction underlying gender legislation. I suspect that the Canadian lawmakers were not as wise as those in the UK.
