GRA reform

Worth reading Bea Jasper's submission 26th January

There's another 7 pages of submissions been released.

I'm reading through the submissions and there's an awful lot of opinion and very little evidence from some. Does the committee still accept opinion as evidence? It's not a consultation after all.

Where do you draw the line? Does every statement within a submission have to be evidenced? Does personal experience or feelings count as evidence?

The problem is, of course, that if they are meant to read everything and then psychologically filter out everything that isn’t evidence based or backed up by evidence, they will read (and likely be influenced by) some of the non-evidential statements.

But I also think opinions matter. I hope they do anyway, because I submitted mine, then realised afterwards that I probably hadn’t backed everything up with evidence and was frustrated because I almost certainly could have done.

Ah! That explains a lot.

Dr Ruth is also BFF and former colleague of Sally Hines

ruthpearce.net/about/

And yes it pisses me off that the first thing I do is check.....

Iceberg! 🙈

The best one iceberg read is from the bus driver. Have you got to that one yet?

They seemed fairly biased in the oral evidence session and it seems that even intelligent people, once they have designated the opposing view as 'bad', everything related is then dismissed out of hand.

The Chair has not been convinced by any arguments thus far and made her bias very clear in the article she wrote before the evidence giving so I'm not sure what will change her mind. I'm not hopeful about this.

I'm reading through the submissions and there's an awful lot of opinion and very little evidence from some. Does the committee still accept opinion as evidence? It's not a consultation after all.

Let’s hope the committee aren’t stupid.

🧐 hmmm

Truss has announced the government position so even if this committee did listen to both sides it doesn't mean anything will change. At least not for the foreseeable.

The fact that we've been saying this forever and no-one is interested in listening - or even pretending to listen - tells you all you need to know about women's position in the hierarchy.

It really does.

I’m just reading Dr Ruth Pearce’s submission (GRA2024). I’d get your TRA bingo card out for it. They even mention JKR’s transphobia, citing a Forbes article about it but not actually citing the transphobia in JKR’s essay. They must think we’re stupid. Let’s hope the committee aren’t stupid.

Just reading the submission from 'Sex Matters' (set up by Maya F). The quotes from women about the vital importance of single-sex provision are really powerful.

The fact that we've been saying this forever and no-one is interested in listening - or even pretending to listen - tells you all you need to know about women's position in the hierarchy.

committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/18062/pdf/

Oh very helpful pixies indeed! Thanks Fleegle.

Women Uniting have helpfully put many of the important ones in a thread:
threadreaderapp.com/thread/1351921427839127552.html

We're on p6, and LGBAlliance Cymru. Transgender Trend, Women Uniting and LGBA are on p5.

Interestingly, Liz Truss appears to have had a word with GEO. They have a new-found enthusiasm for single-sex exemptions according to their submission:
"It is also important that we protect single-sex spaces in line with the Equality Act. The law is clear that service providers are able to restrict access to single-sex spaces on the basis of biological sex if there is a clear justification."

Also very interesting to discover that the panel had 'training' from trans advocates in advance of the formal meetings, and were given an 'academic' overview of the Act by Prof Steven Whittle. That would have been appropriately evidence-led and unbiased then.

More submissions published:

committees.parliament.uk/work/658/reform-of-the-gender-recognition-act/publications/written-evidence/

thank you for the update posts. I'll make sure I'm watching that thread.

2000 submissions. That will take some time to process. But interesting re Committee discretion. I am very much hoping we dont have a re-run of the City of London consultation where significant numbers of women's voices were ignored and rebutted.

There’s a longer thread about it here:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4089980-URGENT-Call-for-evidence-GRA

I posted this week:
Anyone know what's happening with the inquiry into reform of the GRA?
I've just written to [email protected] about the
evidence I submitted last November. It hasn't yet been published and I have received no further communication. I didn't ask for it to be anonymous or confidential.
Only 105 submissions have been published, most recently on 15 December, at committees.parliament.uk/work/658/reform-of-the-gender-recognition-act/publications/written-evidence/?page=1.
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And when I heard back from the committee, I posted:

thinkingaboutLangCleg Mon 11-Jan-21 13:39:25
I've just had a very prompt reply from the Women and Equalities Committee to my email this morning:

"Unfortunately, due to receiving over 2000 submissions, we cannot say exactly when evidence will be published. It will likely be over the next few months. It’s also important to note that, whilst most evidence is published, it is at the Committee’s discretion to publish evidence."

Big batch published yesterday spongedog

Someone on another thread mentioned they had emailed the committee and they had received c.2000 submissions so I think we are in for quite a wait.

My submission still hasnt been published. Anyone else missing their's?

Really strong submission from Manchester Women's Aid and quite right that they point out the lack of time available to consult with service users. I find it hard to believe that anyone could take issue with their very reasonable points borne out of experience in the sector. Totally support their call for funding in specialist facilities for transwomen.

More evidence published today, including from Stonewall
Powerful piece from Manchester Women's Aid.

Don't forget first oral evidence presented today from 2.30pm live on Parliament TV.

committees.parliament.uk/work/658/reform-of-the-gender-recognition-act/publications/written-evidence/?page=1