Victoria Atkins on the GRA consultation

Apologies BiologyIsReal cross-posted with you

Victoria Atkins was the Women's Minister previously under Theresa May. She has been in Women & Equalities Dept for some time.

In Nov 2018 when Layla Moran talked about seeing souls as alternative to sex-based Safeguarding policies, Atkins made some balanced contributions to the debate in Westminster Hall.

James Kirkup reported them in the Spectator article, 'This MP has summed up everything wrong with the transgender debate'

(extract)
Here are two eminently reasonable Atkins quotes that should be utterly uncontroversial but which are, in this context, refreshingly bold:

‘People are sometimes almost too scared to talk about things, which is not right. We do not want a climate of fear in the debate. We want people to be able to express their views respectfully and in a caring and careful manner, so that we ensure that questions are flushed out and answered.’

And:

‘I get asked about this issue regularly, and we all share a sense of sadness about the fact that this important debate sometimes gets taken over by loud and sometimes aggressive campaigning by activists. I am sure they hold their beliefs very strongly, but they perhaps lose sight of the fact that we have to be able to talk about this issue in a reasoned, respectful and caring fashion. The vast majority of the public—and, I am sure, parliamentarians—are in the middle. We want to talk about this issue in a caring and careful way so society gets to a position in which we are all comfortable with the consequences of the changes to legislation and so on.’ (continues)

blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/11/this-mp-has-summed-up-everything-wrong-with-the-transgender-debate/

August 2018 Victoria Atkins also expressed concern about the drastic increase of children & young people referred to Tavistock GIDS
Telegraph interview:

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/08/26/womens-minister-cautious-number-teenagers-undergoing-gender/

I think Victoria Atkins is our best bet among the ministers.
Below are a few extracts from Telegraph articles quoting her.

Aug 2018
Transgender activists have been accused of attempting to shut down debate, as a former children’s minister said that young people’s welfare is being “sacrificed on the altar of political correctness”.
The women’s minister is facing a backlash after saying that she is “a little cautious” about the number of teenagers undergoing gender reassignment treatment.Victoria Atkins warned the country needs to be “particularly alert” to the issue, and expressed concern that a rising number of teenagers were seeking “life-changing” medical interventions. LGBT+ campaigners accused her making "damaging" comments and warned that people's "lives are at stake".

Also August 1918
Victoria Atkins, the Women’s minister, said the Government was "committed to hearing from everyone" and that "no decisions have been made yet as to what if any changes are to be made to the Act".
She said: "We want to talk about this debate in a caring but also in a careful way so that we as a society get to a position where we are all comfortable with the consequences of changes to legislation."
Ms Atkins said the Government was committed to maintaining protections for single sex services, adding it had no intention of lowering the age at which people could legally change their gender, currently at 18. She added: "This Government is absolutely committed to ensuring that everyone in our society can thrive, and to upholding the rights and protections that all our citizens enjoy.
"We want to support and protect women, we want to support and protect and improve the lives of transgender people. I hope these are two ambitions that have the support of the House."

Nov 1918
In an artice James Kirkup said: “In the debate, Victoria Atkins, the impressive Home Office minister navigating this minefield, reported that a Government consultation on reforming gender-change laws has had more than 100,000 responses. This issue matters to a lot of people.

(So Kirkup clearly rates her - maybe a hint that she is tending towards being GC)

She has been (junior) minister for women since 2018.

Just looked her up. She is a Cambridge law graduate and a barrister.

She ought to know that language matters.

A cautious hope that she was given the job as Boris recognised that it was likely to be messy.

I too am quietly optimistic about Victoria Atkins.

I trust that she knows the issues involved here. She didn't say anything at all there to placate the TRAs.

Are you suggesting someone or some group is holding her cat to ransom?

Those people don't matter. They're just a few pretty letters that trip off the tongue.

Dawn Butler’s tweet about let’s just get the GRA done, says ‘Let’s end this misery for the LGBT+ community’. Eh?

Why does she think a GRA reform bringing in self-ID would be any benefit to lesbians whatsoever? It’s the legal end for any kind of woman-only space. What would be the benefit of self-ID for gay men or for bisexual people?

Is she a bit confused- does she think sexual orientation and gender identity are the same thing? Why doesn’t she want to see the very glaringly obvious problems for a lot of people with what she’s arguing for?

Who does she think the LGB Alliance has been founded to advocate for?

mobile.twitter.com/DawnButlerBrent/status/1220328589482176512

I have cautious faith in VA. When I saw my MP he mentioned her and commented on the flack being received from TRAs. I suspect she's keeping things close to her chest to deliver something bullet proof.

Yes, Ive thought the same

Let's be honest, because it's obviously impossible to gatekeep, it isn't even a requirement for a male to state he is transitioning. Any male by being in a female single sex space has invoked the protections by walking through the door. Single sex spaces simply become 'females and any males who wish to be there'.

There have to be spaces for those females for whom this is just not possible. However allowing those females' needs to be met is wholly unacceptable to the TRA political lobby, because it retains female as a distinct biological group that cannot be entered by someone born male.

I have cautious faith in VA. When I saw my MP he mentioned her and commented on the flack being received from TRAs. I suspect she's keeping things close to her chest to deliver something bullet proof.
But hey maybe clinging to straws.
I take heart that she clearly says 'adult'

Language has been so messed up by the trans lobby that shared meaning has become almost impossible.

The sooner politicians start addressing this^ issue the better. Like VA in that clip, Maria Miller has said single-sex spaces must be protected. She has also said that transwomen are women and must have access to women's services including refuges.
I don't even know what any of them mean when they say 'transwomen'. I doubt they know either, except those who support self id (transwoman = any male who says he is a woman).

I think VA’s statement clearly differentiates between trans rights and single sex spaces, and between children and trans adults. This is promising.

However I fully agree with @Michelleoftheresistance @Mayomaynot and @Stealth that the current Orwellian distortion of language - looking at you SNP and ‘proud feminist’ Nicola Sturgeon, Dawn Butler, Greens etc - means that we can’t take this at face value.

This is what the Scots Gov have done:

fairplayforwomen.com/scottish_stole_woman/

Great research by Nic Williams!

We all need to look out for the small print to check women means ‘adult human female’ and not ‘anyone who feels like a woman’

We all need to write to VA to ensure woman means woman.

Linking to the idea of writing to our MPs - confirming what they actually mean by single sex might be an excellent place to start.

And capture in sense of policy, not feline

Thsnk you

Stealth Dawn Butler tweeted a short video of her asking about GRA in the House and VA saying the above... can’t link the video outside of twitter tho and can’t see it on Hansard yet.

Also the specific allusion to adults interests me...
Yes. The aim to protect trans adults rights and single sex provision for women. I 100% agree with this.

Dawn Butler does not come over well - let’s ‘get it done’ - get what done, you don’t know what the consultation says yet!

Michelle - I agree. It's so important to use words accurately, otherwise they become meaningless and women's rights are lost.

Yes single sex does tend to mean:
Women and transwomen in one place
Men in another
Transmen who the hell cares

Sorry what does the tweet say? Twitter doesn't work for me as it just keeps hounding me to login but I can't. But I'm really interested in this issue.

I'm highly cynical tea I've heard too many politicians talk about protecting single sex spaces and then it emerging that they do in fact mean anyone can be any sex they like. Rendering them mixed sex spaces. Language has been so messed up by the trans lobby that shared meaning has become almost impossible.

It is going to be a very long time before I vote Labour again.

Are you suggesting someone or some group is holding her cat to ransom?

Or captured. Or all three.