Discussion of the proposed new duty to promote EDI - to deal with failings at the Bar re recruitment, harassment and lack of inclusion. Do these proposals mandate agreement with contested principles?

Purpose of tonight is to set out a range of discussions.

Deadline to respond to consultation is 29 Nov. BSB rep begins by giving account of proposals and why we should support them. Consultation published at start of Sep, we are still consulting. We propose outcome focus - very different to current equality rules. Has been some improvements at the Bar re EDI but barriers persist re recruitment, retention, bullying and harassment.

About to deliver my talk at #GenspectLisbon on the Battle for Children’s Capacity - the intersection between paternalism and autonomy and the response of the courts. After hearing @BevJacksonAuth’s rage yesterday I am inspired to go a little off piste.

It’s not good enough to talk about some green shoots of optimism. The courts should never have allowed themselves to be captured in the way they were. Now Jesper Rasmussen ‘Raising Political Swords: how Denmark is Fighting Child Sex Change’

I can at least give Mr Fowles credit for his continued enthusiasm to beclown himself publicly. Will this article last longer than his other one I wonder?

First - it wasn’t a ‘gender test’. It was a test that showed Khelif had XY chromosones and was most likely a male with the DSD 5 ARD, where the male genitals don’t develop until puberty.

Our concerns were therefore not that he wasn’t ‘pretty’ enough to be a girl, but rather that as a man he was punching women in a combat sport. This wasn’t a case about discriminating against a ‘trans’ woman- it declared that this man was in fact a woman. In Australia, women no longer exist, we are entitled to be very concerned about this.

The child was five years old when she said she wanted to be 'non binary'.
11 years old when she wanted her puberty suppressed. For every.
the doctors say this could be ethical because its congruent with patient well being.

"When Phoenix was 11, they began puberty and became extremely distressed by development of their breast buds and anxious about menstruation commencing soon...." Happily Phoenix does not - yet - exist outside the minds of the doctors. But this train is most definitely coming down the track

"In this paper, we identify and analyse the key ethical issues relevant to Phoenix’s case, a hypothetical yet realistic case based on clinical experience. Phoenix’s request raises novel ethical questions which have not previously been analysed. The ethical issues associated with puberty suppression for transgender or gender diverse individuals have only been explored in the context of a time-limited first step in a two-stage hormonal treatment pathway for gender binary (predominantly male or female) adolescents whose aim is ultimately to commence testosterone or oestrogen,1 or for non-binary adolescents.2 Here we examine whether puberty suppression should be offered as a stand-alone intervention for non-binary adults (18 or over) who started puberty suppression as adolescents, to affirm their gender identity (defined below)."

Made it! Fought our way through the massive protests. #swansea - to the event that is causing ‘on-going’ distress to the LGBT AQIA ++++ 2 spirit community.





We missed the protester getting decked by security and had the swiftest G and T ever to greet the panel with rapturous applause

In a truly shocking judgment in the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre para 57 stands out for me - the response to a warm, empathetic email looking for a way forward

“Your email was humiliating, so I feel humiliated. I don’t want to have
any conversations about this with you.”

We have given power to the thin skinned, the narcissistic and the actively dangerous. How many judgements like this will it take to restore sanity? It should not have required ANY.

4102236 - Judgment - 14.05.2024 (redacted).pdf - Google Drive Para 75 - the point about giving primacy to one minority group inevitably means that others will suffer. Rights ARE a pie.

"There was a staff meeting on 7th July which the claimant attended which was about trans inclusion. There was no space for discussion about getting to the
heart of any of the issues but instead the meeting was essentially based on two questions around “how can we be better at being trans inclusive.” The meeting was very tightly controlled."

Gender identity ideology is a virus that eats the brain.

Nothing proves that assertion more neatly than this complaint and subsequent suspension from the @TheGreenParty of yet another member of @GreenPartyWomen. Remember ladies - the Green Party denies that your sex exists. Any plea for protection of same sex female spaces is a ‘transphobic dog whistle’.

This for me is the key quote from the GMN response to the proposed 'Conversion Practices' Bill, and why I think it such enormous folly to direct attention and vitriol to individual trans identifying men. This is an attempt to capture the entire criminal justice system.

I really hope people will use their finite energies and resources to tackle this, rather than just trade insults on line. This is most definitely not a drill.

"In requiring a court to embrace a politically contested concept where one side of the debate believes in the existence of that concept and one does not, the court becomes, in effect a religious court siding with those who have such a belief." While some are frothing about 'perverts' THIS is what actual politicians want to see made LAW.

"By way of example, a private counsellor who told a young patient to their professional view was that they were suffering internalised homophobia and manifesting a transgender identity as a result could in theory be prosecuted for a single activity intended and having the purpose of supressing a transgender identity. Given the interim Cass report[15] emphasises the importance of multi-disciplinary intervention, counselling and therapy, it is surprising that such services are placed in jeopardy of criminal prosecution."

As I go further down the rabbit hole with regard to how children are treated by those who insist that gender identity is the preferred organising category, I come across this interesting book from 2017. It’s basic premise is that trans children have always existed and denial of this is - of course - genocide. I had not realised this word had begun to misused as early as 2017, or that we could have such a thing as ‘procedural genocide’.

A ratio for the ages. And a further interesting evolution of the word ‘transphobia’. It seems to be evolving from a word that could have ended a career even a year ago, to a word that now provokes mockery or proud declaration.

Can you think of any other self-identifying civil rights movement that followed this trajectory? I can’t.

https://twitter.com/bbcmtd/status/1733774669432410445

But behind the justified anger something darker lurks. This man is not ‘trans’. He is part of a minority fetish called ‘sissy’.

Shout out to the Telecom Tower who saved my life in 1990 - guiding me back to Charlotte Street from Camden. Under His/Her/Their Eye

I remember once having a chat and a drink with what seemed like a very nice man, intelligent and educated with a lovely girlfriend. He seemed genuinely shocked when I said that if he got on a tube carriage and the only other person was a woman, she would be carrying out an… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… He was 6ft and sporty - he would be physically stronger than any woman on the tube, and a match for the majority of men. He had never had to see the world through this lens and hence never considered it, despite being a lovely bloke etc

Interestingly for @HantsPolice - who do not appear to have arrested @HarryTheOwl101 yet - are the number of views and likes on this. 23.7k people approved. That doesn’t make it ‘right’ - but it does pose an interesting question about the practicalities of criminalisation. Do you arrest everyone who likes and shares it? Or just a handful? Which ones? Why? What makes them criminally culpable and others not? Is it rather high time the police backed off from attempting to manage hurt feelings and offence?

If you will not define something, you cannot protect it. To say that everything is fine, sex has never meant anything other than birth sex, is to ignore the deliberately distorted drafting of the GRA and the use to which that has been put.

https://twitter.com/MelBr86336833/status/1662161603389685761

The GRA says that gender is sex and if a man choose a female gender he is of the female sex for ‘all’ purposes, save where exceptions apply, most notably in sports, inheritance of titles, and the title of mother.

This is unimpressive from @CollegeofPolice - gives reason for its new guidance on NCHIs as

"This followed a legal ruling that sought to strike a balance between freedom of speech and protecting vulnerable members of the public."

college.police.uk/article/record… When what you meant to type was 'this followed a decision in the Court of Appeal that declared our existing approach was unlawful'

It wasn't that you were 'unbalanced' - its rather that you didn't give any consideration to Article 10 at all - the 'victim's' perception was King.

Interesting how so many wish to defend King that they cannot see how this defence hastens the collapse of this house of cards. He meant Cis men! So you accept Cis men can’t get pregnant? So you must also accept transwomen can’t either. So you accept there are two types of person.

https://twitter.com/kwonpills/status/1647126345997250560

Those whose bodies developed to produce large gametes - have the potential to be pregnant if everything is working - and those who produce small gametes - will never, ever be pregnant. And we call these different types ‘female’ and ‘male’.

Open letter from @ebswa to @MyCafcass. Either publish your guidance on children and gender identity - and it’s evidence base - or withdraw it. It’s harmful to children and puts your practitioners at risk ebswa.org/post/open-lett… My comments here - now with link to actual guidance.

https://twitter.com/svphillimore/status/1643687793548304398

Interesting. A dancer elevates ‘inclusivity’ above ‘being able to dance’. I have asked her if I, with my artificial leg, can be ‘included’ also, even though it is impossible for me to dance as a ballerina. There are some pretty hard limits to ‘inclusion’ after all.

https://twitter.com/sustrains/status/1646331082898563072

Seriously. Why cannot I, with only one leg, identify as a prima ballerina and be included with professional dancers and be celebrated for my stunning bravery? Why I am excluded? Isn’t this ‘hateful’ to deny me what I know to be my identify!

Procedures on Bruises in Pre-Mobile Children - why we need improved standards for policy making. Andy Bilson, Emeritus Professor of Social Work, University of Central Lancashire. AB requests that all local authorities review their policies and don't make automatic section 47 referrals. Looking at bruising to a 4 week old baby. 2, 2cm bruises. What can have caused them?

I hope to be talking about the GRR Bill with @andrewdoyle_com on Sunday. So taking some time to gather my thoughts. Let’s start with ‘fraud’ which Tatchell claims is a ‘very strict’ protection. Has he read the McConnell judgment I wonder?

https://twitter.com/markthehibby/status/1616481727706169347

The judgment I am discussing is here from 2019 judiciary.uk/wp-content/upl…

So far my experiment is yielding exactly the results I had anticipated. I am asking a variety of people 2 simple questions - do women have a right to single sex female spaces? If not, why not? Mostly I am ignored. If I am answered it is with insults The way in which people refuse to answer a question often yields as much useful information as an actual answer. I like these questions because they cut to the chase. To answer requires acknowledgment of the class ‘woman’ or explanation of why you reject it.