MP response

Reminds me I still haven’t heard back from my MP, I need to follow up and write again.

Same allstar, particularly as my MP voted against gay marriage. He might superficially agree with me, but more because of fear of people who are gender non conforming than because of concern for women’s rights.

It looks like my main concern at the next election will be whether it is possible to spoil a ballot paper in a meaningful way.

Nonetheless Self ID is NOT the law, yet! The rush to accept it is fucking ridiculous and often leaves organisations in breach of the EA2010 as it is right now!

But it does, I suppose, show most people what Self ID will mean once it is a legal reality... many women thrown under so many buses to show that self id can and will completely nullify the meaning of sex and all sex based protections!

Under the Equality Act 2010, anyone who identifies as a particular gender - whether that is their legal status or not

This what the EA2010 says about it:

Gender reassignment
(1)A person has the protected characteristic of gender reassignment if the person is proposing to undergo, is undergoing or has undergone a process (or part of a process) for the purpose of reassigning the person's sex by changing physiological or other attributes of sex.
(2)A reference to a transsexual person is a reference to a person who has the protected characteristic of gender reassignment.

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/7

The 'proposing to undergo' bit has been interpreted to mean anyone who says 'I'm thinking about changing my gender'. Which is why so many organisations are using self-id.

What the act actually says is that they have the protected characteristic of gender reassignment (so can't be discriminated against for that reason). It doesn't say that they have to be treated as their preferred sex, although the statutory guidance is contradictory and confusing, so self-id is an easier option for most organisations.

Under the Equality Act 2010, anyone who identifies as a particular gender - whether that is their legal status or not

That needs to be corrected EVERY TIME! Gender identity is NOT covered by the EA2010

Sex is
Gender reassignment is

I find myself emailing organisations whenever I see that error... breaking the law, dear me!!

Mine is a conservative MP. I’m really not sure I can bring myself to vote conservative, I just can’t. I’m going to have to spoil my vote

@concretesieve def a cut and paste. He thanks me for sharing my views when I didn't express any.

amser I strongly suspect that's a cut and paste job - a lot of it sounds very familiar from other FWRers. I see that they've updated about revising the EA since Corbyn's announcement at the Pink News awards.

Yes I’d never considered voting conservative before but this issue has forced me give labour the push

I have asked my labour mp how women and girls are going to be safeguarded. Have also twice asked him for related policy’s but like a true politician he hasn’t actually answered the question. He has instead answered my question with his own question. I have told him this issue is a deal breaker for a life long labour supporter.

Labour have fucked themselves over many things to be fair!

Under the Equality Act 2010, anyone who identifies as a particular gender - whether that is their legal status or not

They need to be pushed on what they mean by this. What does "identify as a particular gender" actually mean? And how can we know whether a "person who identifies as a particular gender" is genuine, or a sexual predator? What is the objective measure that we can use to identify one from the other?

My MP wrote back directly to me on the two occasions I wrote, firstly about the whole stupid situation, and secondly to complain that the consultation was flawed and biased. He will not support the GRA, and firmly believes in biology.
You guessed it, conservative.

I am getting really worried about the fascism of the left.... echoes of Orwell. War is Peace... Men are Women

Am I really going to vote for conservatives for the first time in my life?

It’s frustrating that so many of them send such “pat on the head” “it’ll all be okay” replies. The women on this board are so much better educated on these issues than any of them.

Femaledisrespectful
I wrote to mine and got the usual bullsht response but it was a different story when i went to see him and he was actually very supportive. I think fairplay for women factsheets are good to leave wirh mps. Yes do practice! I took a list of bullet points of things I wanted to bring up and found that helped too.Good luck. Its great to know so many of us are doing this. Surely they cant ignore us.

I haven't heard back from mine yet but I quoted bits of the ehrc guidence on the ea which says that a GRC holder has to be included in services, activities etc for their legal sex, whereas it is possible to exclude even a post op tw if there was good reason if they don't have a GRC. If you are going to see him some extracts from the guidence with yellow highlighter might be good.

It's interesting yours in conservative. Mine too. Their replies in these threads have been more hopeful than labour ones imo.

Labour by any chance? Very similar to the response I got from my MP last week.

It was quite a weird response in my case. I asked if he was planning on attending the women's place event in parliament which he didn't answer, but he did answer a whole host of questions I didn't ask.

Thank you for contacting me recently about gender identity.

I am fully committed to equality for all and it is my firm belief that no-one should be discriminated against because of their gender identity.

The UK has made extraordinary progress in improving the rights of lesbian, gay and bisexual people in recent years. However, there are still gaps in trans people's legal rights and protections and I believe more needs to be done to ensure people feel that the UK is a country in which identity is respected and supported.

I believe that both the Gender Recognition Act 2004 and Equality Act 2010 should be reformed to ensure they protect trans people. In July this year, the Government published an LGBT action plan which includes a commitment to consider how best to make the gender recognition process less bureaucratic and intrusive. I welcome this plan and believe it will go a long way to creating a more just and equal society.

In July 2017, the Government committed to consulting on reforming the Gender Recognition Act and finally launched its consultation in July 2018. I understand the concerns you have raised about the proposed changes and the impact they could have on women-only spaces.

Under the Equality Act 2010, anyone who identifies as a particular gender - whether that is their legal status or not - can already use separate-sex facilities, such as changing rooms or toilets, unless service providers can demonstrate a justifiable reason for treating people differently.

The Government has stated that there will be no change to the provision of women-only spaces and services as a result of this consultation. For example, it has noted that a female only domestic violence refuge may provide a separate service to a trans woman if it can be shown there is a detriment to other service users from including the trans woman as part of the regular service.

The Government has also said that it recognises the wide range of views on reforming the Gender Recognition Act and has emphasised that it has encouraged women's refuges, women's rights charities and trans rights charities to respond to the consultation. This consultation recently closed and I hope that all views will be carefully considered.

Thank you once again for contacting me and for sharing your views. I can assure you that I will continue to bear in mind the points you raise.

As above, I’d be asking him whether he is aware that many organisations are being advised NOW that it is illegal to provide single sexual services.

Would point out that all the protected characteristics and exceptions in the equalities act are meaningless unless those characteristics can be objectively defined.

If people with a protected characteristic don't share any common traits, how can the law that protects them be justified?

I got a similar response to an email I sent to my MP. I replied, pointing out that although I was happy for transgender people to have protection in law I felt that this should not be at the expense of other vulnerable groups such, as women. Women are also still massively discriminated against. I used the case of Rachel McKinnon and asked how it could possibly be fair for a person with all the physical advantages of having grown and matured as a male to compete against women. I also used the Karan White case as an example of poor safeguarding.
I got this in response:
I appreciate you taking the time to write to me to pass on your continued concerns regarding the proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act.

I was sorry that I was unable to allay all your concerns.

I have now written to the Minister for Women and Equalities, The Rt Hon Penny Mordaunt MP, and have asked her to closely consider the points you raise. I will pass onto you the response I receive.

I hope this is helpful, and to be able to update you further in due course as to the reply I receive.

Thank you once more for taking the time to write. Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you feel that I can be of further assistance to you at the current time.

I don't think its a complete cop out, she has at least past it up the chain. I hope I get a reply from the Right Hon Penny Mordaunt.