Thread by @SexMattersOrg

This week’s update is long and legal!

#SexMatters in life & law and it shouldn’t take courage to say so.
But right now, a whole lot of courage, resilience & resources are going into unpicking the mess created by the law that allowed some men to become women for “all purposes”
🧵

Arguments are coming to a head in Scotland, where Nicola Sturgeon is pressing ahead with the Gender Recognition Reform Bill on an accelerated timetable, despite dissent and questions about how it will impact on the rights of Scottish girls and women.
2/15
thetimes.co.uk/article/jk-row…

Meanwhile, @ForWomenScot’s case against the Scottish Government’s current interpretation of the GRA is being heard.

3/15
telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/1…

We think the FWS position is robust and hope this legal challenge succeeds. If it does, the effects will ripple through the law more broadly.
But there also needs to be legislative clarity. It should not be this difficult to work out what the law means…
4/15

…and that is why we are pushing the question back to Parliament.

This approach is complementary to the FWS case, and is also a backstop against the damage that gender self-ID will cause if it is implemented in Scotland. 

5/15
sex-matters.org/take-action/ma…

After just a week, our petition has almost hit a third of the total of 100,000 signatures needed to get a parliamentary debate.

6/15
bit.ly/Equality_Petit…

On Monday Helen and I spoke with the brilliant and energetic women from the @WomensRightsNet, who are spreading the word.
7/15

We need as many people as possible to promote the petition.
Here’s how you can help:
8/15
sex-matters.org/petition-campa…

Sex Matters is a human-rights organisation.
We think that the human-rights framework is the way to answer the question of how society should accommodate people with gender issues, while also protecting sex-based rights.
9/15
sex-matters.org/posts/updates/…

A significant part of how we win the peace in the “TERF wars” will come through legal clarification. But a larger part will come through people talking, in ordinary everyday language, enabled by legal protection to do that.

10/15

“The gender mess and the freedom of speech mess are inextricably linked.” writes @HJoyceGender.

The way we resolve both is by refusing to be silenced, or to silence others. 

11/15
thehelenjoyce.com/joyce-activate…

I was excited to hear that a group of civil servants have launched an official staff network:
the Sex Equality and Equity Network.
They are “committed to the protected belief that biological sex is binary and immutable, that biological sex matters…
12/15

…for both women and men in our everyday lives, including for our rights and needs in the workplace, and that biological sex must not be conflated with, or replaced by, the concepts of gender or gender identity”.

That is worthy of respect!
13/15

seen-network-uk.github.io

Finally. World Toilet Day is coming up and we are holding a webinar with @rosegeorge3, author of The Big Necessity.
Toilets are one of those places where everyone needs to be included, with dignity, privacy, clarity, and with words and symbols that are understandable to everyone.

Rose has travelled the world looking at toilets.
I promise this is going to be fascinating!

Friday,
18th November 7pm

15/15
sex-matters.org/posts/updates/…