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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Women Stand Up in Washington, D.C.

167 replies

GrinitchSpinach · 26/01/2019 21:38

The board is, ahem, moving fast today, and some marvelous stuff is getting buried in the monster threads. I thought this might be a good place to collect reports from on the ground in D.C.

Thanks to SpartacusAutisticus for posting Natasha Chart's wonderful, raw speech outside Human Rights Campaign:
www.facebook.com/100003299679086/posts/2366913433428623/

Here is the protest outside Twitter:
m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2366769483443018&id=100003299679086&refsrc=http%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FD8guU5XQ0R&_rdr

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BeUpStanding · 31/01/2019 19:58

Brilliant thread! Great to see the work Posie, Julia and Venice are doing in Washington this week. It's also really interesting to learn more about the political system in the US, and specifically the threat to women contained within the proposed Equality Act.

Oxytocindeficient · 31/01/2019 17:50

I am definitely trying to stay focused on the information and avoid the pie fights...

You have no idea how much I appreciate that! And this thread. Thank you

GrinitchSpinach · 31/01/2019 17:46

Aww, thanks, Lang! I am definitely trying to stay focused on the information and avoid the pie fights...

Here is a piece by Ryan T. Anderson, the Heritage Foundation fellow who moderated the panel there. He explains that it was an (anonymous) mother of a transitioning child who contacted Heritage first, asking them to host the panel after being turned down by countless leftist organizations. More:

Heritage’s founder, Ed Feulner, is famous for saying that it’s better to add and multiply than to divide and subtract. Undoubtedly, the people on this panel disagree about many things. I likely disagree with them about abortion, gay marriage, taxes, trade, foreign policy—just to name a few.

And that’s OK.

Just because we disagree about some things, even many things, that doesn’t mean we disagree about everything. And where we do agree, we can—and should—work together.

Because make no mistake: The current LGBT agenda is poised to affect everyone on both the left and right.

www.dailysignal.com/2019/01/28/the-left-is-shunning-liberals-with-concerns-about-transgender-agenda/

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LangCleg · 31/01/2019 16:25

GrinitchSpinach - thank you so much for going to all this effort to make a real resource of this thread.

GrinitchSpinach · 31/01/2019 16:17

The Advocate (major LGBT publication) covers the Heritage Panel as "anti-trans":

Some progressives criticized the alliance between TERFs and right-wingers as an unholy one. “They are capitalizing on a scarcity mind-set rhetoric … saying there aren’t enough rights to go around, and therefore we must prioritize cis women over everyone else,” Heron Greenesmith, a researcher at the liberal think tank Political Research Associates, told NBC. “That’s right out of the right’s playbook, when they say, ‘Let’s prioritize citizens over noncitizens, let’s prioritize white people over people of color.’”
www.advocate.com/transgender/2019/1/30/anti-trans-feminists-appear-panel-right-wing-heritage-foundation

So lesbians who don't want to do dick and women in general concerned about their rights are comparable to white people oppressing people of color... Hmm Don't they have any actual arguments to make, rather than calling women Nazis and fascists and white supremacists and whatever else?

At least the Advocate quotes WoLF's statement:
But WoLF, which has worked with other anti-LGBTQ groups such as Focus on the Family, defended its participation in the Heritage event. “Due to the increasing push from the lobbyists, government officials, and the medical establishment to institutionalize the medicating and surgical mutilation of gender non-conforming children and youth, of whom a majority may well be gay and lesbian children, WoLF's position is that we cannot afford to ignore those who are concerned about gender ideology, regardless of how vastly we disagree on other political issues,” the group said in a Facebook post.

“WoLF will not shy away from discussing the social contagion of gender ideology with people and organizations whose policies we otherwise do not support. Our foremost concern is the safety and bodily integrity of the women and children whose lives would be placed at risk or ruined if gender identity legally replaces sex under law.”

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GrinitchSpinach · 31/01/2019 16:08

Also, to correct an error above: people are saying that Posie's confrontation of Sarah McBride took place at the Senate, not at HRC offices, which I do think casts the video in a different light. Apology for the error.

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GrinitchSpinach · 31/01/2019 16:06

More coverage from the National Review today:

Anderson introduced the event by acknowledging that while he and the panel and audience likely disagreed on a range of issues from abortion to taxes, “If ‘gender identity’ becomes a protected class in federal civil-rights law, there will be serious negative consequences. That’s where we agree. And that’s where we can work together.”
...
Major health organizations, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, are moving in the direction of a surface-level, activist-driven “medical consensus” that is anything but — and many doctors who know better are afraid to speak out.

Though Americans enjoy free speech rights, speaking out can still have serious professional and parental consequences. The state of New Jersey, for instance, encourages children to report their parents to child services if they refused to use male pronouns and names.
...
Gender-identity ideology is not a debate between Left and Right, secular and religious. It is being deployed by transgender activists who aren’t prepared to have their arguments scrutinized or tested.
www.nationalreview.com/2019/01/gender-identity-ideology-honest-inquiry-demonized/

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GrinitchSpinach · 31/01/2019 11:39

had to just google HRC

Sorry, I should have clarified. Human Rights Campaign is one of the main LGBT organizations in the US. It is very influential and very involved in helping to write legislation and policies about trans "inclusiveness." Natasha Chart's speech in the OP took place outside HRC offices because many lesbians and bi women feel utterly betrayed by HRC's advocacy against their interests.

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GrinitchSpinach · 31/01/2019 11:35

National Review (a conservative source) covers the week of efforts:

www.nationalreview.com/2019/01/bipartisan-womens-rights-groups-protest-the-equality-act/

Comments somewhat encouraging, with several conservatives wishing to support the feminists on this issue. [Narrowly, on this issue, Monitors]

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ChattyLion · 30/01/2019 20:42

Grinitch I’m in the UK - had to just google HRC and McBride (i assumed Hillary Rodham Clinton when I first saw that Shock!)

As much as being doorstepped must have been a shock for McBride, I think just ignoring Posie and Julia while pretending to work was appalling and tone-deaf given what they were saying.

A communications professional should be able to handle protesters and at very least should always have a simple rebuttal or simple positive message about their cause ready to make on camera. #nodebate is for people who don’t have an argument.

SpartacusAutisticusAHF · 30/01/2019 20:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

GrinitchSpinach · 30/01/2019 19:28

Hot damn. Posie and Julia Long walked into HRC offices to ask Sarah McBride, press secretary, what McBride has against the safety of women and girls:

m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2372358492884117&id=100003299679086&refsrc=http%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FeCD61S3C68&_rdr

Not sure I would engage in this tactic myself.

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GrinitchSpinach · 30/01/2019 16:08

Daily Mail has something on the Heritage event:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6644801/amp/Prominent-attorney-slams-transgender-activism-mens-rights-movement.html?__twitter_impression=true

In case it wasn't clear, this is why these women decided to accept the platform at Heritage. I've posted four articles so far about the Heritage event, and left out a few from super wacky right wing sites. Searched and searched for anything on Posie's event at DC Library, or the protests at HRC, Facebook and Twitter: radio silence.

Not saying everyone would or should make the same choice as the panelists who appeared at Heritage, but I can really understand why they did.

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GrinitchSpinach · 30/01/2019 14:59

Videos uploaded to Posie's Youtube channel now from the Sunday event at the DC Public Library:

Meghan Murphy:

Lierre Keith:

(looking forward to watching this one as I missed it on the day!)

Kara Dansky:

I'm sure Brie Jontry's speech will be uploaded soon.

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GrinitchSpinach · 30/01/2019 14:37

American Spectator covers the Heritage Panel:

spectator.org/the-rocky-horror-ideology-show/

Comments are crappy, many somehow blaming homosexuals for transgender ideology (this is a v right wing publication) but I found it interesting that the only supportive comments came from (presumably right wing) women. I genuinely believe there is some room to work together with conservative women against self-ID. The men seem a lost cause.

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GrinitchSpinach · 30/01/2019 12:04

Christian Post article:

www.christianpost.com/news/to-resist-gender-transitioning-of-kids-be-willing-to-lose-friends-activists-say.html

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GrinitchSpinach · 30/01/2019 11:45

Well, NBC News covered the Heritage Panel, but frames the feminists as "anti-transgender" throughout, even using "TERF" as thought it is a legitimate descriptive term rather than a slur. I will complain.

www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/conservative-group-hosts-anti-transgender-panel-feminists-left-n964246

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andyoldlabour · 29/01/2019 22:40

Grinitch

"Oh God Andy you weren't here overnight then"

No, I was totally oblivious to that. I was searching other stuff when I came across those tweets.
The baseball bat "gal" was something else, I would definitely use pronouns addressing them and call them "maam" of course, just to save them beating my head in - as "nice gals" are prone to do of course.
They are just so off their heads on this "social contagion" they are off the scale.

SpartacusAutisticusAHF · 29/01/2019 20:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

GrinitchSpinach · 29/01/2019 20:49

What is the latest date in the session when the Court can decide to take up an appeal? I have hopes for Boyertown but don't know the ins and outs of the Supreme Court's process.

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AnneHutchinson · 29/01/2019 19:55

It will be interesting to see what the blue-hair anti-SWERF crowd make of Kamala Harris. As California Attorney General, she created a program encouraging lorry drivers to report prostitutes to the police, resulting in many arrests and jailings of women.

It's hard to envision her going in any way against Nancy Pelosi's wishes. On the other hand, as a former prosecutor she may better understand the issues regarding criminal opportunity.

My feeling is that the Democrats, even if they see the issue regarding a conflict of rights, will think that's something for the courts to sort out. That tends to be where rights issue are concretized in their practical application, in America, rather than via legislation, which is us usually more broad-brush.

American women need to be crowdfunding a massive legal fund for major court battles.

GrinitchSpinach · 29/01/2019 19:47

As an American, I just want to say THANK YOU to the women of the UK.
Hear, hear! You have led the way, UK women. Your insight, resourcefulness, and courage under fire have been an absolute inspiration. So much transatlantic admiration for you!

Now that Kamala Harris is running for President, I would be interested to know her stance on this.
I started a thread to collect candidates' stances the other day; will update when I have a moment. [As an aside I like Kamala Harris in so many ways; I really hope she can be persuaded to examine the Equality Act carefully and have the courage to protect women and girls.]

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SwirlyGlass · 29/01/2019 18:29

Now that Kamala Harris is running for President, I would be interested to know her stance on this.

ChattyLion · 29/01/2019 18:11

Flowers everyone who is amplifying women’s voices in the US at the moment. Flowers Posie.

As sorry as I am that the US is facing this legislative sleight of hand too - it will gather attention and shine a light on the issues- if we can share resources and intel this and experiences this will be really helpful

AnneHutchinson · 29/01/2019 17:00

As an American, I just want to say THANK YOU to the women of the UK.