Thread by @zeno001

So, @EHRC have published this report using data from the British Social Attitudes survey of a representative sample of adults:

New research reveals positive attitudes towards transgender people

equalityhumanrights.com/en/our-work/ne…

Full report: equalityhumanrights.com/en/publication…

cc @EHRCChair

1/19

The survey respondents needed to know what they meant by a 'transgender person', so this definition is provided:

"People who are transgender have gone through all or part of a process (including thoughts or actions) to change the sex they were described as at birth...

2/19

...to the gender they identify with, or intend to. This might include by changing their name, wearing different clothes, taking hormones or having gender reassignment surgery."

3/19

They then ask a number of questions about their attitudes to transgender people, given this derfinition.

4/19

This definition is similar to, but not identical to, the definition of the protected characteristic of 'Gender reassignment' under the Equality Act 2010:

legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/…

"A person has the protected characteristic of gender reassignment if the person...

5/19

...is proposing to undergo, is undergoing or has undergone a process (or part of a process) for the purpose of reassigning the person's sex by changing physiological or other attributes of sex."

6/19

Both these definitions are problematic and it is not clear what the general public would understand by either. There appears to be no details of whether this understanding has been tested.

7/19

(Note that the Gender Recognition Act is not helpful here: it does not give a definition of a transgender person per se, but simply prescribes a few actions an individual has to take in order to get their birth certificate changed to indicate the sex they are not.)

8/18

We know that surveys can provide different answers - including the answers you wanted to get, if you weren't worried about bias and integrity - depending on how the questions are asked.

9/19

In this case, respondents need to have a clear understanding of what is meant by a transgender person, particularly when answering questions about access to domestic violence refuges, public toilets and other single-sex spaces designated for women.

10/19

Previous research highlights the different answers obtained when a questioner provides a clear & unambiguous definition of what a transgernder person could be.

This survey asked questions differently - more grounded in reality with language everyone can understand:

11/19

"The results of the Populus on-line survey following the UK Gender Recognition Act consultation 2018"

fairplayforwomen.com/poll/

h/t @fairplaywomen

12/19

This gave the following definition::

"Still thinking about a person who was born male and has male genitalia but who identifies as woman."

13/19

You can easily see how this would elicit different responses - particularly from women - to questions about safe single-sex spaces compared to the definition used by the @ehrc.

14/19

We already know that many lawyers and others do not fully comprehend the definition of the protected characteristic of 'gender reasssignment' under the Equality Act.

15/19

The similar definition used by @ehrc will be -at best - equally difficult for the general public to understand.

I suspect many will not really comprehend its full meaning & implications. Talk of 'changing name', 'wearing different clothes' all sound benign.

16/19

So, I think this casts considerable doubt on the validity and applicability of @EHRC's survey.

It smacks of a survey designed to elicit a particular response; one that could have been written by a trans lobby group out to further their own narrow agenda.

17/19

Just imagine what answers would have been obtained if they had asked the Staniland Question:

h/t @helenstaniland for the question and @jebrux for the graphic

18/19

But that wouldn't have got the 'right' answer, now would it?

19/19

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