Article on Maria Maclachlan Court case

What was Maria's provocative behaviour before the assault?

so the judge is good, because he dismissed Tara's defence and stated she was guilty to assault, but the judge is bad, because he pointed out Maria's provocative behaviour preceding the assault and since and he is bald?

Or maybe he is right, and it was an accurate understanding of the behaviour of both sides? And maybe some people just see what they want to see....?

Saw this on Janice's Twitter feed.

I've commented on the WEP thread also.

Women's Equality Party Lambeth's tweet about Maria's case:

twitter.com/wildlx/status/985067808705916928

"We liked a tweet from sisters uncut, about showing solidarity. We’ve had nothing to do with the case. We fully support trans women"

Thank God for Janice.

The comments on that article are starting to flood in and the majority are sensible and balanced. When your usual comparison is Twitter it can feel like you are swimming against the tide, but whenever this gets a wider airing the majority view supports the need for more debate and reasonable safeguards.

Interesting point made in the comments, which I think would bear repeating at every opportunity.

the current crop of male leftwing transactivist supporters like Owen Jones and Matthew d'Ancona will be seen in the same light as those leftwingers who backed the Paedophile Information Exchange in the 1970s.

What a wanky comment from another guy... If one can confidently state that the translobby does not represent the vast majority of trans people (interesting avoidance of the word women there) could one confidently state the same for the feminist movement and women?

The women weren't the ones who were bashing anyone who didn't agree with them.

Feminists want a reasoned discussion on the law but face opponents who use social media and boycotts to silence them

That heading is brilliant. The problem in a nutshell.

Very good comments as well.

Great article by Janice Turner, who gets it.

While I am dismayed by the judge's comment, I am happy with the verdict. It is one more victory for women and one more defeat for TRAs.

When I was a witness in a court case the most infuriating thing was that the defence told blatant lies and misrepresented their thug of a client as someone who was really intimidated and lashed out in self defence despite what was later revealed as a history of assaults and property damage.

I have so much respect for Maria who managed to hold it together in the face of such a situation where even the basic facts have been lost.

The receding hairline tweet was taken into account. The slur of comparing women to a Dr Who badly, wasn't as far as reports go.

His receding hairline and balls gave him empathy for the fellow receding hairline and balls owner in the dock. He didn't like the woman who didn't do as the balls owners told her to do.

It's a fucking pathetic indictment on the courts that in an instance of male violence against women the victim is forced to refer to her vicious attacker as 'she' and refused compensation because she refused to pander to him by supporting this particular vanity even though he held no formal state recognition as being 'female'. How can that be? Is this 'law'?

It's just another example of the patriarchal legal system telling women to get on their knees, suck and swallow, but besides that how can the judge demand this?

Ah, I see.

So they're glossing over the guilty verdict and focusing on pushing the line that the trial "proved" in a court of law that TW is a woman?

Worrying. I can see how they could spin that. Utter disregard for the facts, of course, but then we'd expect no more.

The victory was the delight that a Judge told Maria to refer to Wolf as she, then refused her compensation because she didn't comply.

I suppose if you were expecting to go to jail it's a victory...otherwise, no.

Janice is such a good writer.

Another calm, factual, rational piece to add to her stable of them. Thanks, Janice!

Am also very confused as to how being found guilty of assault is a victory

I'll pm you brash

I’m a subscriber Igneococcus

Janice Turner's comment is excellent and mentions MN coming under pressure from activists.

Is another Times subscriber around that I can ask for a favour? I have an issue with how comments that I write there are displayed and I want to test that it has been fixed before I comment on Janice's article but I need someone to help with it. Won't take 5 minutes.

Thank you Igneococcus

Very happy to see this:
Transgender activists refer to women who disagree with them as “Terfs”

and Janice Tuner's comment:
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/trans-activists-think-debate-is-hate-speech-hsh7vpmzt?shareToken=d6d96df829c9726e8a635cc5082e1261

Times articel:
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/trans-attacker-tara-wolf-is-a-thug-says-feminist-maria-maclachlan-pq0bwvthv?shareToken=ac7d41820b09220e5bee522787ac79dc

I too am disturbed by the sentencing remarks and how some facts seem to have been discarded and replaced with a narrative that seems partially written by TRAs.

It wasn't a demonstration
Maria wasn't being unhelpful, she was being harassed
TERF is not descriptive, it's a term of abuse (to quote twitter, a TERF is a witch, a non-compliant woman)
It seems that the perp is legally male yet allegedly the judge tried to force the victim to state the opposite
Acutely relevant online threats of violence by the perp have been dismissed and yet a very inane, harmless, irrelevant joke about hair has been taken into account.
IMO this was clearly a hate crime - misogyny. Which is not recognised in law.
The perp has shown no remorse - quite the opposite.

Did I leave something out?

Does anyone know if any major news outlets have reported this accurately?

Reading the FB comments WTGLWGH comes to mind. I don't agree with the judges comments but the correct verdict was reached.

Others may very understandably disagree as it's so incredibly frustrating , but for the sake of curious lurkers or people less informed about the issues, the distinction between aggressive law breakers and peaceful women who want to discuss potential implications for women and girls must be clear.

To get on their level could put some people off drawing any conclusions.

When I first decided to read about the trans issues it was the misogyny from people such as Owen Jones which really hit home that this was a women's rights issue and not anti-trans.

WATWAG.

Im sure I read this was a second offence. That may not be true though.

Were they on bail or bound over to keep the piece in anyway between arrest and trial? This is the same person that stalked and harassed the trade union woman on a picket line a few weeks back. There's video footage of that too.

Its unfortunate that wasn't taken in to account too though perhaps it's outside the scope of this trial.