In the absence of a Xmas miracle the Gender Recognition Reform Bill will pass on 21st Dec. However, if MSPs of ALL parties felt insufficient protections are in place for women & children voted against the Bill, we could get that miracle. Our main hopes lay with @ScottishLabour 1/
The single @ScottishLabour MSP on the committee dealing with the #GRRBill (@GlasgowPam) voted for the Bill at Stage 1. Labour then whipped their MSPs to vote for the Bill at Stage 2. With most of their amendments rejected at Stage 2, we're hoping @AnasSarwar will 2/ #NoToSelfID
Women across the UK currently feel abandoned by Labour's stance on allowing males to self identify as women. Scottish women protested outside the @ScottishLabour HQ last night to make our views clear, that #LabourLostWomen 4/ #NoToSelfID
For Women Scotland attended a day of debating & discussion recently, specifically about education & schools, the single issue on which a range of varied individuals & groups agreed. Today, the latest in a series of attacks, a @ScottishGreens MSP & the @Humanists_UK claim that 1/
just by being in a room with people many of us may disagree with, the now age-old claim that feminists are not actually feminists but in fact right-wing anti-abortion anti-abortion evangelicals. This is getting very tired & desperate. What is more alarming is that a rainbow 2/
bedecked MSP, that sits on the @SP_EHRCJ committee that is handling the Gender Recognition Reform Bill, is claiming that such a gathering of diverse attendees was actually a 'festival of hate'. Hate! Let that sink in. 3/
@NicolaSturgeon "doesn’t want pesky feminists scrutinising reform of the Gender Recognition Act. She wants it to pass committee stage on Tues, unrevised by 150 tabled amendments, the whole bill rammed through before Christmas"
A perfect summary! #Scarfgate thetimes.co.uk/article/nicola…
A middle-aged scientist sitting quietly in a Scot parliament committee hearing was approached by a security guard. Either she must remove her purple, white and green scarf or leave the proceedings. (She left.) 2 other women were forced to take off similar coloured tartan scarves.
A fourth, in a plain purple scarf, was told to open her coat to check for signs of white and green.
The scientist questioned a security official and, squirming, he said he’d been told these colours were “political” and “associated with the women’s movement”.
Today we watched the 1st day's proceedings today of @ForWomenScot taking @scotgov to court. The topic is really very niche but will impact us all if the Judge rules for @scotgov (we won't know the outcome for at least a month or 2) so let's share what we learned 1/
Let's say you are male, called John, & you feel uncomfortable in your body for some reason. You acquire a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) that allows you to change the sex on your birth certificate to female. We'll call this John's "certificated sex" 2/
Scottish Gov says that this GRC makes John female in ALL respects. So you ask for a female Doctor to do your smear & John turns up to do it because his certificated sex is now female. You attend a rape counselling session (job description was for females only) & John runs it 3/
@ForWomenScot won last time & the ruling said that no-one can redefine "woman" in law away from that defined in the Equality Act. This time they are challenging whether a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) can change a person's sex in ALL respects (@scotgov says yes!) 2/
This case is directly relevant to legislation currently making its way through the Scottish Parliament, the Gender Recognition Reform Bill. The GRR Bill would allow a male to acquire a GRC on their say so & expect to be treated as female in law in ALL respects 3/
Another scotgov-funded charity dictating that we must believe in order to benefit from their benevolence. And we must believe that there are more than 2 sexes, that anyone can change sex and you must use the language of the compelled, or else!
The trust declined to say who is on its equality, diversity and inclusion advisory group, which ensures “that our principles are more proactively embedded in all aspects of our work”. It states it is opposed to “all forms of bigotry”.
As we may have mentioned just a few times there's a Bill going through Scottish Parliament that will allow anyone from age of 16 to change the sex on their birth certificate. It will require no medical diagnosis (unlike rest of UK) so it's referred to as "Self ID" 1/ #NoToSelfID
This Gender Recognition Bill (#GRRBill) will require an applicant to "live in their acquired gender" for 3 months prior to application (2 years in RUK & no-one knows what this actually entails, but it's okay because no-one will check in Scotland) 2/ #NoToSelfID
Every Bill is given to a Parliamentary committee to handle & @SP_EHRCJ deals with the #GRRBill and @JoeFitzSNP chairs it. Women have attended every hearing, watched on Parliament TV. No-one is convinced sufficient scrutiny was given to the Bill, so many questions unanswered 3/