Thread by @joannaccherry

🧵 Watching this live. Noteworthy that @victor_madrigal has backed off the assertion that international human rights law mandates a system of self-identification of gender. What it mandates is a system of gender recognition.

https://twitter.com/sp_ehrcj/status/1604808832537894913

What he seems to be focusing on is the need not to discriminate against trans people about which I hope we can all agree. However the bill is not confined to trans people it allows anyone to identify as the opposite sex with next to no safeguards.

Also excellent to hear him say that he respects the difference between his mandate and that of @UNSRVAW & that her mandate on violence against women & girls must be respected.

I hope someone will pick him up on his assertions about the absence of evidence that self ID is used by men to abuse women in other countries & point out that may be because their crimes are being recorded as the crimes of women

Good to hear he’s concerned abt how lesbian & bisexual women receive healthcare. If this legislation goes thru many of us could find ourselves receiving intimate care & procedures from male bodied people self-identifying as women. Is that really acceptable?

Now he’s being asked about whether there’s any evidence of women self-excluding from trans inclusive services. There were sexual violence survivors who wanted to speak to the committee about this it’s a pity we don’t have the benefit of their testimony

His repeated insistence that trans women are women rather seems to deny the existence of sex, a protected characteristic under the law of Scotland, it’s such an extreme statement it necessitates a definition of what trans means which is absent from the Bill

It’s v depressing to hear it repeatedly implied that women & #LGB people concerned about the protection of their rights are engaging in a toxic & hostile debate. Human Rights are universal. Conflicts sometimes occur & need resolutions that respect all rights

Excellent to hear @UNSRVAW tell @MaggieChapman about how wrong it is that groups of women who are concerned about their sex based rights & single sex spaces have been accused of hate speech. I hope this will be taken on board

Now @UNSRVAW tells committee this is not about culture wars rather it’s about fundamental #HumanRights & the issue of how we all co-exist in society in a dignified way

And now @UNSRVAW tells committee that the failure to collect sex disaggregated data leads to conflation of results eg.male sex offenders who self ID as women while in prison & whose crimes are then recorded as those of women.

And @UNSRVAW emphasises the lack of data & impact assessments in other countries & absence of proper analysis. Many have contacted her regarding the problem of self exclusion. This is such important evidence

Now @UNSRVAW says guidance not enough on the draft legislation what is required is that we go back & address the issues she has raised. The draft legislation needs clarified & safeguards must be spelled out in law.

And @UNSRVAW says last week’s court judgment by Lady Haldane challenges the Scottish Government’s assertion that the draft legislation would not impact on the Equality Act so that too needs to be reconsidered

A potential gotcha moment falls flat when @UNSRVAW clarifies that while she might have signed a report supportive of Self ID in Bulgaria in 2021 her support was conditional on safeguards & she has learned during her mandate is how imperstinf safeguards are.

The @UNSRVAW also takes the opportunity to remind the committee that the Yogyakarta declaration is not established Human Rights law & it’s dangerous to look at it as such

Again @UNSRVAW emphasises this is not about a culture war it’s a #HumanRights issue & the right to have needs heard & addressed

And that’s a wrap for @UNSRVAW evidence. So clear & positively dripping with integrity. I’m sure many women will be immensely grateful to her for validating our concerns about this draft legislation & our right to articulate them.