Thread by @SVPhillimore

Here’s how we do it. We continue with a regime of criminal and civil law which protects people against abuse and harassment based on their physical characteristics or quasi religious belief - which is what a belief in gender identity is.

We continue with a regime of protection for people at work, who are allowed a peaceful working environment.

We continue to have open discussion about what to do when rights are in tension - what single sex spaces must be preserved? When are people compelled to use pronouns?

And most importantly of all, we encourage and support children who reject gender stereotypes without telling them that life long medication or surgery is the only option. We create a society where a boy doesn’t have to choose between his penis and a dress.

We teach our children that their self worth does not depend on compelling the thought or speech of others, but they are to be proud of whatever identity they wish to assume without requiring external validation.

We teach our children to speak honestly but to understand that to live in a society means that not every individual desire can be realised and sometimes other people take precedence.

We teach our children to stand up to injustice and unfair discrimination but to accept that rights are sometimes in tension and they need to develop the skills to identify which, not assume that disagreement is a personal attack.

We teach our children about evidence and critical thinking, about negotiation and mediation. About truth.

What we cannot do is continue as we are. Because this is not creating a Utopia of inclusion and diversity, but a nightmarish landscape of totalitarianism.