39 Days Left

There's a lot of questions in there along the lines of 'Do you think that ... will be affected by changing the Gender Recognition Act?'

For example, will sports be affected by changes to the GRA.

It requires close reading.

Finally getting round to this...

Bloody hell they don't half nail their colours to the mast at the get go.

"This consultation does not consider the question of whether trans people exist, whether they have the right to legally change their gender, or whether it is right for a person of any age to identify with another gender, or with no gender. Trans and non-binary people are members of our society and should be treated with respect. Trans people already have the right to legally change their gender, and there is no suggestion of this right being removed. This consultation simply asks how best Government might make the existing process under the Gender Recognition Act a better service for those trans and non-binary people who wish to use it."

I'm glossing this as "this is a rubber-stamping exercise. We've already decided what we're doing, and all we want are people to act as cheer leaders."

Mine wasn't as evidence-based and rich with links as I would have liked, but I've been putting it off to find time to do the perfect job. I decided I needed to bite the bullet and do a good enough job. There will be other people who have crafted model responses. I got all my key points across with examples of organisations that are in breach of their obligations and trans sportswomen etc.

Bump

There are a couple of places where I wrote something along the lines "This makes me so cross I want to swear at this point, but won't because I want you to take my points seriously."

It took me nearly 2 hours and I was furious by the end, but it was cathartic.

Yes, I have found the same. I have had to hold back in places in order to remain polite!

I'm nearly done, I wanted to make a good job of it and do it properly so it's taken a while, so will be sending off the in next few days.

Can I just ask, has it been confirmed that template submissions won't just be filtered out?

I should add that DH submitted using the FPFW email template in

I've just submitted mine. It took me nearly 2 hours and I was furious by the end, but it was cathartic. I will spend some time writing to the Cabinet Office tomorrow about how partisan and poorly publicised this consultation is. I can lift my final question response from my PDF of the survey responses, as I really warmed to my theme. It's absolutely enraging. When you consider that you could only complete the EA2010 protected characteristics if you were trans, the survey is flawed from the outset. They have no solid information about who has completed the survey. It's a complete shit show.

Copied over from the other thread.
The quick & easy email version - takes 1 minute to send.
fairplayforwomen.com/email/

@PersistenceIsNotFutile - do you think it might be worth asking MNHQ to edit the title to reflect how few days are left now? Maybe when it's 'less than a week'?

9 days left, by the way

A non binary colleague has completed the survey.
They are vehemently against gender stereotypes and the “lived in your chosen gender” part of obtaining a GRC is particularly offensive to them.
It sounds like it was much easier to complete if you considered yourself to be Trans.

They also noted that the GRA impacts negatively on their protected characteristics of beliefs, sexual orientation and sex.

I have completed the consultation - like your friend @Fearandsurprise, I wanted to really emphasis the mess that has been, is being, and will be created by this interchanging of 'sex' and 'gender'. Many of my responses are based on that. It's the most irritating and unhelpful part of it, people who should know better, talking at cross-purposes all the time but resulting in very real consequences for women and girls.

I found the WPUK and Fair Play for Women guidance really helpful
WPUK
Fair Play for Women

I found that I was having to write out 'biological female', 'biological male', 'male-born with a penis' just to make absolutely sure my answers would not be misinterpreted. By my own Government. What a ridiculous state of affairs! I did actually write that in one of the boxes, that I couldn't believe I was having to specify what kind of female I was talking about!

Managed to get someone else to fill in the consultation today.
They wanted to highlight the confusion in the use of the words “sex” and “gender” in many local government services and other organisations.

Also, good to note that you don’t need to answer every question if you don’t want to. E.g. the ones on insurance.

Fearandsurprise very good comment.
I get so bloody sick of hearing about the journey of poor TW
No one gives a shiny shit about girls going through puberty, the fear and embarrassment.
The unwanted attention
Yet all these middle age men who are transitioning are not transitioning into middle aged women, but teenage girls.

need thank you for doing this. I've long thought that one of the disadvantages of ordinary women, particularly those with small kids, is that we're very time poor so anything too difficult is hard to fit in. It's interesting how doing the 'wifework' seems to be something the TRAs don't want to appropriate.

The number of times I've tried to do something to contribute and been interrupted by a crying child......I know that's not inaccessibility as it's probably understood but I do feel defeated by all this. I'm desperate to protect safeguarding for Dds future but I have so much that needs doing for them and elderly relatives in the here and now. I just can't keep up. I keep trying though - and I will fill the consultation in but it probably won't completely articulate all i want to.

Had to search hard for this in order to bump it! Less than 3 weeks left now, ladies.

I've started filling mine in this evening and will do it little by little to ensure I don't end up doing a rush job and miss things I needed to say.

Does anyone know what will happen after the consultation? What is the timeline we are looking at for any changes in the legislation? I guess we will need to be prepared for the next stages of fighting this.

I am planning to write to the Cabinet Office complaining about the inaccessibility and poor visibility of the consultation, which I believe breaches their consultation rules (link in my earlier post). If anyone has points they think I should make, please PM. And if anyone knows of an organisation that might be interested in using my draft and sending it, let me know who I should get in touch with. Any letter will be far stronger coming from an organisation.

I did about half last week. Will finish today.

I’ve just completed it. I may have waffled on about it taking 18 years for a girl to become a woman, with many physical, emotional and social challenges en route, and any male-born people aspiring to being a woman should be expected to undertake a similarly long and difficult journey.

I've just completed my response. It took upwards for an hour. I've worked around issues of human rights and/ or public health for 15 years and it was still quite demanding, so huge thanks to everyone on these boards for all the info and discussion. I found the Fair Play for Women guidance a very good springboard, and referred to Debbie Hayton's writing as well. Good strength to everyone completing theirs over the next few weeks!

There are claims that the Green Party and others are providing members with links to pre-filled forms.

No one, I assume, is doing that for female prisioners who may not want to have to live with male boded convicted sex offenders.

I've seen mention that on some websites you can fill in the form. Does anyone know if they automatically fill in the form for you?

I posted this on another thread. Someone had mentioned this consultation in their comments on a Mail article, only to find her comments removed following complaints.

"The consultation does not seem to have been carried out well. I am sure that there are guidelines for Government consultation. I am equally sure that someone on MN will know what these are. I assume that the consultation was set up quickly in response to the petition. I would not be surprised that to find that some woke people have found their way into this bit of Government policy making. (Only look at who the Government chooses to take advice from on the issue.)

If the consultation is not open and transparent and breaches guidelines, it would be worth concerned organisations complaining now. Easier that complaining about results that have been heavily skewed by organised responses."

I have since looked at the government guidance:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/consultation-principles-guidance

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/691383/Consultation_Principles__1_.pdf

There have already been complaints on this board that this consultation is: poorly publicised, other than by specific interest groups such as the NUS, Greens and Stonewall who have been sending out guides; that completing it requires high levels of literacy; that there has been little effort to reach those most likely to be affected (women prisoners, teenage girls, conservative religious groups, sports people or indeed the 51% of the population who are female).

The consultation itself does not meet guidelines. The proposed legislation that is being consulted on is simply too important to influenced by something not done properly.

I am hoping that there are people on MN who know more than I do about the process, but I would have thought
a) a letter from key women's groups to the Cabinet Office expressing their concerns
b) emails alerting key journalists

might be in order, and might prevent damage before it happens.