Mermaids endorsement of West Yorkshire Police

Mermaids Charity existed before Susie Green.
Susie Green grew it, wrote the policies & made herself and incredibly influential person (despite having no professional qualifications in child development, Safeguarding or medical background). Susie Green through her position as CEO of Mermaids Charity has influenced public policy which affects all children.
The trustees of the Charity will be held to account eventually, so too those who failed to do due dilligence & scrutiny.

Mermaids Charity has no understanding of Safeguarding/ Child Protection frameworks & has undermined those that exist.

2016 article by Julian Vigo:
'When lobby groups like Mermaids dictate policy and discourse around gender identity, kids lose'
(extract)
He goes on to detail the acts of a controlling mother towards her child, M’s personal diagnosis of J’s alleged gender dysphoria, and a system which failed this child. Together, these various failures demonstrate a pattern of abuse and a mother who, Hayden writes, “deprived [her son] of his fundamental right to exercise his autonomy in its most basic way.”

What the judgment shows is that reports made by the Local Authority’s Housing Department, J’s school, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), and Social Services gave M’s behaviour towards her child (including her approach to J’s “gender presentation”) a pass simply because she was receiving support from Mermaids, a UK-based charity that claims to support parents of children who identify as transgender. Observations like these show major conflicts of interest between Mermaids and the government agencies named in the judgement.

Susie Green, the CEO of Mermaids, began her trajectory into the transgender debate through personal investment. She took matters into her own hands regarding her son’s gender dysphoria, leaving the country for the USA, then Thailand, when the National Health Service (NHS) would not undertake the treatment she thought her child needed. Mermaids is entirely comprised of parents like Green, who have either a child who self-identifies as having gender dysphoria or have started seeking professional help for their child. Despite the fact that Mermaids is not a professional organization, it has managed to push its way into government policies such as the House of Commons Select Committee “Transgender Equality” report (within which Mermaids is referenced twenty times) and has successfully convinced local school systems and councils that its form of “support” is tantamount to professional ethos.

In short, we have governmental policies being decided via a support group that functions as a political lobby — a political lobby which justifies its authority because of government championing. (The NHS, for example, cites Mermaids as “a charity that helps children with gender identity issues and their families.”) More surreal is the fact that some of the Mermaids members regularly give lectures to nursing students and NHS staff. The fact that medical and legal documents are produced by basically taking the word of desperate, if not confused, parents equates to both a shocking oversight and the tail wagging the dog.

Make no mistake, Mermaids is not a body of psychologists or trained healthcare professionals — it is merely a group of parents who have a child they believe to be transgender. Unlike other professional organizations, Mermaids is just a support group and therefore not accountable to medical and psychological bodies or government institutions. Under the leadership of Green, Mermaids harbours vested interests in dictating political discourse around transgender identity." (continues)

www.feministcurrent.com/2016/10/26/lobby-groups-like-mermaids-dictate-policy-discourse-around-gender-identity-kids-lose/

I wrote that before spotting that Munroe and Susie formed a mutual admiration society on Twitter yesterday.

I repeat my advice. Susie be careful.

Susie's problems are broader than that.

1. There is the regular problem of small organisations who receive funding. Susie has done very well with what was initially a kitchen table set up. Not that I agree with her, but her motivation and approach mirrors parent led charities such as Susie Lamplugh or Anthony Nolan. Some get funded and grow, others remain niche operations that often do important work supporting families coping with obscure illnesses, bereavement etc. Indeed the sort of charity I like to support.

The growing is the problem. Lottery or other funding will allow you to hire staff and expand reach, but it also means you lose control, both to funders and to professional staff. I think this will happen to Susie.

1. Mermaids is in a odd position. Susie may have simply wanted to support families in a similar position to her own, in part to help herself. She made some difficult decisions which many people question. What better than then to have those decisions lauded.

But its not like that. Mermaids became the poster charity for a highly controversial movement. Lets face it. Plenty in the TRA movement have faces for radio. Susie in contrast presents as a caring mum, with her Butterfly daughter. The whole gender identity argument relies on the fact that people know from a young age that they were born in the "wrong body", so transitioning kids provide a crucial justification to every middle aged AGP who wants to wear a dress. Mermaids is also useful because a lot of the US and international links are around "treatment" approaches for children.

The movement needs Mermaids. If it starts wobbling, and Webberley, staff problems at the Tavi, and the Times articles are causing it to wobble, Stonewall and others strongly identified with the TRA agenda will be worried. Mermaids falling would lead to a domino effect. If the current widespread affirmation only approach is rejected, and medicating children only after stringent checks for motivations and co-morbidities, it would suggest a need for similar gatekeeping with adult transitioners. People will want Stonewall out of schools and others will question whether the reputational advantage of Stonewall sign off is worth the cost. My guess is that Susie will continue to be under fire from the loonier fringe, whilst the more tactical are scratching their heads and wondering who on earth might replace her. Munroe Bergdorf?!

My advice to Susie. Quit whilst you are ahead. (Honestly talk to people in different fields who started charities but struggled with growth.) Mermaids will come under increasing pressure and will eventually fail. And a lot of the pressure will fall on her as she is so closely identified with her charity. Go now whilst you still have a positive reputation (other than with the nasties at MN) and hand the poison chalice to your successor. There is nothing too wrong with the retirement home in Spain, with a sun and Sangria lifestyle and your friend Helen down the road who might offer you some counselling or consultancy work.

The left always eats itself and is why many of the right wing MRAs laugh their tits off about the clash between feminists and the transexuals. They just say well you deserve this shit for being a feminazi so you can deal with the transnazi.

I’m left but but not a social justice warrior and it can be amusing when people have to face the reality that being tolerant of everything doesn’t work. When there’s 100s of strict Muslims protesting about LGBT classes in Birmingham the woke folk don’t know what to do with themselves because they can’t just blame it on people being pale stale and male

Duh, *spot on

popchyk this is spit on

*You've got so many different factions (all with competing interests) under the trans umbrella that schism is inevitable.

There is:

• Hard left antifa, advocating violence against the establishment. And women
• Charlatans and grifters, taking advantage of the wild west of no regulation (Webberleys, self-identified lawyers)
• Corporate establishment trying to make a buck (Stonewall)
• Convicted sex offenders who spy an opportunity to move to a women's prison and then hide their past afterwards
• Common or garden AGPs
• MAPs (minor attracted people) looking to weaken child safeguarding
• Confused children and teens
• Deluded narcissists desperately seeking attention and validation
• People with obvious personality disorders
• Transsexuals for whom full surgical transition alleviates their body dysphoria

And of course many people under the trans umbrella tick a number of those boxes.

And it is a movement that has no real leaders. Those who are prominent in the movement have no skills in leadership. Or public discourse. Or consensus building*

One of those tweets was complaining about a trans person being arrested during a "slut walk" (god I hate liberal feminism) and being held in a wrong gender cell. Now, it didn't specify which gender, but I think we can be fairly safe in assuming that means a penis haver was walking around in public with their penis out and was therefore arrested and held with other penis havers. Hardly police violence.

Tip: Whatever political point you think you're making... no one wants to see you penis.

I assumed it meant internalised as in coming from within the movement not the individuals? That whole thread is a mess though. Massive conflation of US and UK police forces. Sounds like trans people have an absolutely terrible time of it with the police in America, but in the UK trans people are definitely not being routinely killed or beaten up by the police! I even saw some people calling on SG to resign! Not that I'd cry over that myself...

How exactly would the police tackle either internalised homophobia or transphobia? Is self-hatred going to be categorised as a hate incident? How is it to be punished?

that twitter thread is really quite funny
it will certainly be an eye opener to all the 'let's be nice and kind' people who haven't thought all this through
ACAB
yes, all police are the same the world over

This was off the Mermaids Twitter thread.

I might be off the mark here, but when the Greater Manchester Police LGBT+ network talk about internalised LGBTphobia in this tweet exchange, do you think they are referring to the T or the L?

Just out of interest theOtherPamAyre, are you a police officer? You know so much about everything police related. Sorry if you've answered that question a zillion times, I only really got active on this board a few months ago.

Mermaids goes into WYP to look over incidents? Data protection?

I think she is referring to the Safer Leeds Hate Crime Unit which purports to co-ordinate action against perpetrators and support victims.

Yes, I know that most people would think that this is the role of the police, courts and victim/witness support. You're right, so we'll just skip over this hyperbole

Safer Leeds (aka Leeds City Council) have 6 weekly meetings to discuss a selection of cases that need involvement from a range of agencies (council, housing, school, health, victim support, police) in Leeds only.

Having attended umpteen of these meetings (not in Leeds), where no-one has added any value to the range of actions that the police have already initiated, I can say that they are not a complete waste of police time in some race and disability 'hate' crime/incidents.

However, a small number of participants are just along for the ride and for networking opportunities. Sleeping partners who benefit but are inactive.

Hmm yes. I could have sworn their website used to describe them as a support group for parents and trans young people - in that order.

I suspect that's what it's been in practice but they say themselves their primary aim is to support children and young people.

Mermaids is passionate about supporting children, young people, and their families to achieve a happier life in the face of great adversity. We work to raise awareness about gender nonconformity in children and young people amongst professionals and the general public. We campaign for the recognition of gender dysphoria in young people and lobby for improvements in professional services.

www.mermaidsuk.org.uk/about-mermaids.html

The biter is well and truly bit. And I have not a shred of sympathy.

Popchyk - that list makes chilling reading

Interesting to see that a lot of the young TRAs are denouncing Mermaids as a c-led organisation for parents and saying they need trans-led organisations to represent their interests.
I think that's very interesting because, whatever I may think of Susie Green, I had always thought the purpose of Mermaids was to support parents who had trans children but who were not trans themselves.

I'm interest to see who Susie Green turns to for support now she's been chewed up and spat out as worthless to The Cause.

Who will take her in?

Isnt this what we have always said.

Once they have what they want they will turn their back on you

Put one foot even slightly out of line and they will turn on you too.

Hate to say we told you so.

Mermaids goes into WYP to look over incidents? Data protection?

Anyway, this isn't going down well at all on Twitter. Interesting to see that a lot of the young TRAs are denouncing Mermaids as a c**-led organisation for parents and saying they need trans-led organisations to represent their interests. SG herself criticised.

You've got so many different factions (all with competing interests) under the trans umbrella that schism is inevitable.

There is:

• Hard left antifa, advocating violence against the establishment. And women
• Charlatans and grifters, taking advantage of the wild west of no regulation (Webberleys, self-identified lawyers)
• Corporate establishment trying to make a buck (Stonewall)
• Convicted sex offenders who spy an opportunity to move to a women's prison and then hide their past afterwards
• Common or garden AGPs
• MAPs (minor attracted people) looking to weaken child safeguarding
• Confused children and teens
• Deluded narcissists desperately seeking attention and validation
• People with obvious personality disorders
• Transsexuals for whom full surgical transition alleviates their body dysphoria

And of course many people under the trans umbrella tick a number of those boxes.

And it is a movement that has no real leaders. Those who are prominent in the movement have no skills in leadership. Or public discourse. Or consensus building.

Look at Susie Green's risible well, the cops have been great to me statement. No analysis of the issues, no thought given to people who will have a different experience, not even a hint of self-reflection of her own part in all of this mess.

On one side of the TRA lobby you have the let's train, assimilate and direct the police to enforce the agenda and sod the fact they're publicly paid, supposed to do other things too and not be politically partisan, and the other side of the same lobby loathes the police and have held marches campaigning for their abolishment. All attempts to make this lobby look reasonable are so steadily sabotaged by them that no one else need do anything but watch.

The OP twitter thread demonstrates this perfectly.
Worth reading.

How did a tax payer funded, impartial part of the police force (old and non woke word used on purpose) end up being annexed by and refocused as the right hand of a political lobby group?

Next week: Momentum annexes the Humberside police and starts removing Conservative voters for holding public hate rallies, previously known as the local conservative party meetings, while the Cat and Rabbit Rescue weaponise the Wirral constabulary and remove dog owners from public places for drinking wine on chairs.

It's an interesting dilemma isn't it? On one side of the TRA lobby you have the let's train, assimilate and direct the police to enforce the agenda and sod the fact they're publicly paid, supposed to do other things too and not be politically partisan, and the other side of the same lobby loathes the police and have held marches campaigning for their abolishment. All attempts to make this lobby look reasonable are so steadily sabotaged by them that no one else need do anything but watch.

further from the article:

"Mermaids Legal Caseworker, Lui, a non-binary solicitor and member of the management team at Mermaids, often supports families and young people who are afraid to report hate crime because of that fact and, as an organisation, we have helped to challenge police forces which get it wrong." (continues)

from the linked article by Susie Green:
(extract)
"This is why we at Mermaids have developed deep working relationships with the Police to improve their knowledge and understanding of transgender children and young people.

We have attended LGBT crime meetings to look over incidents and to offer feedback on reporting by officers and the language they use, which can be clumsy and unintentionally offensive and alienating for the transgender community.
We have worked alongside Merseyside Police, providing training and building a partnership where officers attend our monthly Mersey Mermaids meetings.
We have trained Lancashire and West Yorkshire Police and worked hard to help develop internal processes to make transphobic hate crime more clearly identified and dealt with.

We have a network of LGBTQI+ officers and allies we can reach out to when we hear of inappropriate police actions upon hate crime reports made." (continues)

www.mermaidsuk.org.uk/why-we-must-continue-to-work-with-the-police-not-against-them.html

How did a mother & child and now a lobby group / Children's Charity come to have its own personal police force on speed dial?