When we were campaigning to reform discriminatory and cruel anti-gay laws – gross indecency, age of consent, no marriage or partnership rights, the ban on gays in the military and yes, Section 28 – our spokespeople went on radio and television to put the case...
2/ It was often people from Stonewall making that case: Angela Mason, @BenSummerskill, @SimonFanshawe, Ian McKellen. Many other lesbians and gay men joined in too: patiently explaining that we just wanted equal treatment and no one else would suffer if we were treated fairly.
3/ It took about 10 years to get full equality in law, but we did it, largely because we had good, reasonable arguments, presented by brave and talented people. There was a debate, in which our side were willing to take part, and the public could see we had the best arguments.
4/ Our opponents were shrill and illiberal: Ann Widdecombe, reactionary and out-of-touch bishops, rightwing columnists. The public – and eventually politicians – could see we had the better arguments. Reason prevailed, some critics recanted and our lives improved immeasurably.
5/ Fast-forward to today, and a cadre of professional gay men think it's incumbent on them to defend every demand of gender ideology, no matter how extreme. Here's Benjamin Butterworth defending the transing of 4-year-olds without their parents' knowledge
7/ In case you missed the story, here's what he's defending. He's a childless gay man, telling parents they're narrow-minded if they don't comply with every whim of their impressionable four-year-olds. It's a terrible look, as well as being very, very wrong.
8/ The comments below the video are full of people saying 'I usually support what you say but now you've gone too far'. One of the few friendly ones comes from the presenter, another professional gay man
9/ I don't think people like Benjamin have any idea how bad their ignorance and stridency looks to people in the wider world who are more affected by these issues than they are. It makes a mockery of all we did in the campaign for law reform. It reflects appallingly on all of us.
10/ This week the @ALLIANCELGB sounded the alarm on attempt to add Z for zoophilia (ie bestiality) to the LGBT alphabet soup. They were promptly CONDEMNED by a slew of queer celebrities, including the Plaid Cymru Mayor of Bangor. This insanity must stop. Not in our bloody name.
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There's a Q&A in today's Observer with Eddie Izzard. The standfirst reads: 'The comedian, 59, talks about her love of running, gender fluidity and her plans to go into politics'. 1/16 theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2…
That's not what it originally said, as you can see from the thumbnail. 2/16
The piece now comes with an apology at the end: 'This article was amended on 31 July 2021. The original incorrectly used the possessive determiner “his”. Izzard uses the pronouns “she” and “her”.' 3/16
People often say that the biology-denying extremes of gender ideology are as crazy as flat-earthery. In my new novel, out on Kindle today, I explore how you might foist flat-earth beliefs on the world in the way that gender ideologues have performed their own spectacular capture.
In my imaginary world, a benign map-making charity called the Orange Peel Foundation, which has been campaigning to wean the world away from inaccurate Mercator projection maps, has completed all its work and is about to wind itself up.
But then it's offered a vast sum of money by a Californian tech billionaire called Joey Talavera to convince the world that the earth is flat. When founder Mel Winterbourne objects, she is sacked and replaced by her ambitious young deputy, Shane Foxley.
Can we talk about the use of the phrase 'LGBT' or 'LGBT+' when we're talking about the historical persecution of gay men and/or lesbians?
The other day, the director-general of MI5 issued an apology for his organisation's historical treatment of 'the LGBT community' mi5.gov.uk/news/mi5-issue…
The full statement explained that 'being gay was a barrier to employment at MI5 until the 1990s, despite homosexuality being decriminalised in 1967'. (I think in this case 'gay' means 'homosexual' – I may be wrong, but I believe lesbians were barred too.)
Allison Bailey is a black lesbian feminist barrister. The daughter of Jamaican immigrants, she was raised by a single mother and was the victim of child sexual abuse when she was nine. She marched on Pride in San Francisco in the early 90s and is a lifelong LGB activist... 1/7
Last year, an organisation tried to destroy @BluskyeAllison's career. It complained to her chambers because it didn't like her views. It elicited complaints against her from other organisations and directed them to her head of chambers. She was being openly victimised. 2/7
Which organisation persecuted a working-class, black, lesbian feminist barrister like this? Some lunatic racist outfit from the far right, maybe? The kind of body that can't cope with uppity black women like @BluskyeAllison and needs to destroy her? 3/7
I don't usually do threads but hey, here's a thread about Madeleine McCann, Princess Diana, the Daily Express, JK Rowling and Pink News. And even a bit of Winston Churchill.
For many years I worked for the Daily Express. I was a feature writer and also, on and off, theatre critic, TV critic and obits editor. Like my colleagues, many of whom remain friends, I tried to uphold my own standards even as the paper's owner turned it into a laughing stock.
The laughing-stock status was deserved. Most people didn't buy or read the paper but they did see the front page on news stands. As @haveigotnews never tired of pointing out, there really was a rotation of stories about Princess Diana, Madeleine McCann and the weather.
Yesterday I tweeted polite and, I think, pertinent questions to @SarahChampionMP & @SleafordLabour about the persecution of @GoonerProf by trans activists. Neither replied, despite lots of RTs from others also wanting an answer. Here's a thread on that silence & its implications.
I tweeted @SleafordLabour because Sleaford Labour councillor Stephanie Dale, a transwoman, said in public that @GoonerProf had "poked a hornet's nest and got stung". She was effectively saying that @GoonerProf was asking for the death and rape threats.
I hoped @SleafordLabour would say of course they didn't back such a sentiment. I get that the situation is tricky, though, and they needed to discuss it before rebuking Councillor Dale in public