🧵 on increasing clarity from @ScottishLabour politicians' on women's sex-based rights
@UKLabour govt- watch & learn?
@AnasSarwar "Capture of organisations in Scotland led to policies based on gender self-ID being adopted to detriment of women's rights"
1
Here's @ScottishLabour deputy leader @jackiebmsp calling on @Scotgov to outline how single-sex provision will be delivered in public buildings, such as schools and hospitals, and in line with legal obligations

2/

Thread in particular for @UKLabour MPs in advance of the 2nd reading on Fri 1st March of @lloyd_rm's Private Members Bill to #BanConversionPractices.
A good place to start is this legal analysis from Gay Men's Network:
gaymensnetwork.com/letters-and-re… We share Gay Men's Network's conclusion:
"Our position is a bill based on the self-reported phenomenon of “identity” & the wide term “suppress” might, despite best efforts, perversely fuel the very problem that it intends to solve".
A CP Ban is a solution in search of a problem.

Thread:
"LWD has won a significant policy shift & also has 2 fringe meetings listed in party's conference guide
..but has now learned it will not have a stall there this year. The politicians who applied [on their behalf] are baffled..
#LWDLiverpool23

1/6theguardian.com/commentisfree/… "..Lord Hunt calls it 'authoritarian & short-sighted' & points to 'a chilling effect of the years of 'no debate' in Labour'. Diana Johnson, due to speak at one of the fringes, says conference delegates will be 'denied opportunity' to discuss with LWD due to the rejection..
2/6

Planning to attend #Lab23?
Save the date for our main #LWDLiverpool23 fringe meeting
“How can Labour champion freedom for women & girls?”
Chair: Tonia Antoniazzi.
Speakers include Jess Phillips, Karen Ingala Smith, Diana Johnson, Rosie Duffield, Dianne Hayter.
7pm Mon 9th Oct
1/7 ..followed by reception from 8.30pm. Large capacity venue near the Conference Centre. Tickets on sale soon.

We are also hosting another smaller fringe at 6pm on Sun 8th Oct inside the Conference Centre.
Invitation only due to the small capacity of the venue.
The title is..
2/7

"The court says... a GRC changes whether someone is a woman or a man for the law governing single sex services and anti-discrimination measures." Thread for @AnasSarwar @jackiebmsp and all who care about @ScottishLabour manifesto commitments. #NoToSelfID
murrayblackburnmackenzie.org/2022/12/13/mbm… First up, single-sex grassroots sports. From women-only swimming sessions to clubs for teenage girls, providers are already scared to make separate provision on the basis of sex. Opening up GRCs to a larger, undefined group will make it impossible to address this. #NoToSelfID

Failures of leadership in @ScottishLabour have seen a refusal to openly discuss women's rights and gender recognition reform. The result is incoherent policy and ineffective challenges to @ScotGov's flawed and hurried process. A thread.
#NoToSelfID
dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/… In November 2021 @ScottishLabour's Women's Conference called for the party to "lead on finding a route forward that respects the rights of women and trans people through empathetic and respectful dialogue". @ScottishLabour should be well placed to do that.
labouroutlook.org/2021/12/22/sco…

Thread.
In the week of #GIDs closure & #AllisonBaileyWins..
@UKLabour doubles down on its refusal of our conference stand application.
With result that MPs Diana Johnson, Feryal Clark, Steve McCabe, Tonia Antoniazzi, Marsha De Cordova, Rosie Duffield & Mary Glindon go on record.. ..with backing of @UKLabour Peers @HayteratLords @LordPhilofBrum Estelle Morris, Tony Young, @DavidTriesman, in support of our application for a stand at #LabourConference22.
Scroll down to third letter "Labour must reconsider ban"
theguardian.com/theobserver/co…

We've read this statement and we're none the wiser as to why a @UKLabour council has cancelled a booking by women to discuss ending male violence with @bindelj, one of the world's most effective campaigners for women and eminently qualified to address that subject.

https://twitter.com/MyNottingham/status/1540610180920008704

The cancellation "is due to the speaker’s views on trans gender rights being at odds with aspects of the council’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy". Which aspects are they? We've read the strategy document (we think it's rather good).

mynottinghamnews.co.uk/statement-on-a…

There's nothing to beat waking on a Saturday to the sound of women cutting their @UKLabour membership cards into tiny pieces. This is crass, stupid, sexist and plain wrong on every count from @Keir_Starmer. A misjudgement of colossal proportions. #WomenWontWheesht #SexMatters We can't imagine how @Keir_Starmer thinks it's OK to say what he did. We think with his background he must know the law - but since he's always declined to meet us we can't say for sure. But we do know this appalling comment will cost the party dearly.
thetimes.co.uk/article/75ddf3…

Yesterday in #IWD debate @MariaMillerUK made the old claim that some funded VAWG groups say there's no problem with the application of #SexBasedRights!
C'mon Maria - we all now know that's not right.
Brave women like @K_IngalaSmith @ShonaghDillon & ..
1/5
thetimes.co.uk/article/df43f5… new Single-Sex Providers Network set up by @FrontlineFemin1 are telling it like it is:
"The spokeswoman said all 14 member groups and their boards “have serious concerns about speaking publicly for fear of losing funding for their services”..
2/5

Some thoughts on @Emmabarnett's landmark interview of @Nancy_M_K. Thread.

First, thanks Nancy. Your appearance marks a step-change in Stonewall's no-debate position. The insistence on no-debate has produced a harmful, toxic climate. Let's hope it's consigned to the bin now.

https://twitter.com/BBCWomansHour/status/1461717903384854532

When pressed, @Nancy_M_K admits humans can't change sex but also maintains that transwomen are literally women. The implication is that sex has been abandoned as the marker of the categories 'men' and 'women' and has no political relevance. How many people realise that?

HEADS UP
Govt has published a conversion therapy consultation
-Gives only 6 weeks for responses rather than usual 12 weeks
-Research evidence on which their proposals are based seriously flawed
-Cass Review of gender identity services for children/ young people is ongoing 1/ We (and other groups) are asking that everyone writes to their MP, of whatever political party NOW, asking them to insist the the government should #presspause, for those three reasons. @SexMattersOrg has written a guide for an e-mail: sex-matters.org/take-action/wr… 2/

Thread on Peers in action today in support of 3 gender critical amendments in Lords Committee Stage of Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts Bill.
Watch live soon after 4.30pm.
First up #Amendment214 #KeepPrisonsSingleSex - Lords Blencathra, Morrow & Farmer
bills.parliament.uk/bills/2839/sta… Next up #Amendment219A #SexNotGender which calls for delay to insertion "or gender" into legislation on Misogyny/Hate Crime until the Law Commission reports on its review
With Sheila Noakes @1SVN, @LordPhilofBrum, Baroness Ludford & Baroness Grey-Thompson
bills.parliament.uk/bills/2839/sta…

THREAD - Listen to Joan Smith @polblonde 14' into @BBCWomansHour demolishing the case for introducing Misogyny/Hate Crime legislation, explaining why adding "gender" to the definition of misogyny would be used against women & on why @SadiqKhan sacked her..
bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0… .as Chair of GLA VAWG Board, and how neither he nor @SophieKLinden have replied to her.
"I very, very rarely agree with Boris Johnson on anything, but on this I think he is right. I mean, what we’ve heard this morning are descriptions of a number of criminal offences....

This is a new low, even by @ucu standards. We call on @ucu to take action against the branch committee who clearly are unfit for office. In this message they've confirmed their opposition to academic freedom and to representing all members. #IStandWithKathleenStock

https://twitter.com/Docstockk/status/1447863827018702855

We further call on academics at @SussexUni and on @ucu members to condemn this statement. Even if you don't agree with @Docstockk's views, the next ideology that presents itself as unassailable on campus may be less to your taste. Academic freedom matters.

Managers @EdinburghUni need to make an unequivocal statement in support of Dr Shereen Benjamin, and put a stop to this attempt to stir up hatred against her. We've long been aware that managers at Edinburgh are enabling a culture of intolerance by their failure to act. The harassment of feminists at @EdinburghUni has been going on for years. They failed to protect their last Rector, @AnnDHenderson, from a campaign of intimidation. She did her best to help women staff and students, but managers wouldn't listen. womansplaceuk.org/2021/06/09/ann…

Delighted to publish thread of brilliant speeches at our public meeting #LWDBrighton at #Lab21. Tonia Antoniazzi MP: "There is no way that it is fair for a male-bodied person to be on a sports pitch with a woman in a contact sport".
Outside, steward Ali Ceesay said, "That noise is a perfect example of drowning out women's voices in this debate. I don't have any hate for anyone - we're just here to support women's rights, and every time we try to speak we get harassed". #LWDBrighton

Andrew Marr: "Is someone who thinks that only women have a cervix welcome in the Labor Party?"
Keir Starmer: "We need to have a mature, respectful debate about trans rights."
The question was about WOMEN. Starmer continues: "Bear in mind that the trans community are among the most marginalised and abused communities."
We will *never* have the respectful, mature debate about trans rights that Starmer claims to want while politicians are unable even to utter the word 'woman'.

@UKLabour MPs really need to get to grips with a thorough understanding of the Equality Act 2010 and single-sex exemptions @Keir_Starmer. We suggest a starting point would be @EHRC guidance issued July 2018 #SexNotGender #SexMatters

https://twitter.com/JeanHatchet/status/1441280357781762059

@UKLabour MPs' understanding of EA2010 would benefit from this excellent overview "The single sex and separate sex exceptions in the Equality Act 2010" It explains current misunderstandings re single-sex exemptions wrongly promoted by @stonewalluk as law. sex-matters.org/wp-content/upl…

@SadiqKhan says "One of the things about the Labour Party is it’s a chance to debate, discuss, have disagreement in a respectful way". That's not reality for those arguing for women's rights in @UKLabour today.
standard.co.uk/news/uk/rosie-… Respectful discussion must be based on credible, robust evidence. When @SadiqKhan irresponsibly uses discredited statistics on suicide as though they're established fact he's part of the problem - creating a climate where discussion is impossible.
transgendertrend.com/the-suicide-my…

Time to end the silence on women's rights. A thread. #DontBeADavey

This morning @AndrewMarr9 asked @EdwardJDavey repeatedly "What is wrong with the phrase woman - adult human female?". Davey couldn't even bring himself to say the word 'woman' in response.

https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1439512987220553730

Asked about a real woman in his party - @Nat_freespeech who's been banned from standing for any LibDem position - Davey made no response. Still he could only repeat the thought-terminating cliches and mantras taught to him by Stonewall.
crowdjustice.com/case/natalie-b…