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Original poster

Sadiq Khan has sacked Joan Smith from the London VAWG board

133 replies

countrypunk · 19/08/2021 10:07

Activist 'sacked after raising concerns about transwomen in refuges'
mol.im/a/9906833

Also in the Times. I'm disgusted. It's such cynical game-playing from Khan, all to appease a tiny minority of TRAs. There's no way he actually believes this stuff.

I'm going to write to him. Joan Smith is a feminist rock star.

OP posts:
ArabellaScott · 20/08/2021 15:47

thecritic.co.uk/erasing-women/?fbclid=IwAR1aOw7kuQGfn6SilHzD6lrUZRQcQiSsRCvyYHxSuocr3fx5Db6ZPIeYnjI

Article by Joan Smith in the critic, on 'erasing women' .

Original poster
countrypunk · 20/08/2021 14:57

I used to work for Women's Aid. Your jaw would drop at the number of staff who are TWAW. There's an enormous divide, mostly across age lines.

OP posts:
WeAreTheWomen · 20/08/2021 14:09

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Jorrris · 20/08/2021 13:56

I wonder if he is true to himself

Extremely unlikely

SheldonesqueTheBstard · 20/08/2021 13:44

There is no doubt he is true to his agenda.

I wonder if he is true to himself…

MishyJDI · 20/08/2021 13:43

Good on Sadiq. You can't have someone who is not inclusive of all women in that role and there are safeguards in place and exclusions available already if a trans individual needs exclusion. Decisions taken on facts on the ground, rather than "concerns".

He is true to his agenda of inclusiveness and tolerance and should be applauded. I'm glad he is our Mayor.

Original poster
countrypunk · 20/08/2021 12:38

Thanks @CrossPurposes. Bunch of snivelling weasels. Contempt all round.

I know women are punished more for sticking their heads above the parapet on trans issues, but I am angrier with them than Khan. He's just a cynical little twat. I feel like these women in positions of power are betraying us, and for what? A slightly bigger slice of pie?

We would have so much more power and influence if we all banded together on this.

OP posts:
CrossPurposes · 20/08/2021 12:20

That's a good rule on Unherd - don't read the comments on anything to do with women!

BadgertheBodger · 20/08/2021 12:11

Don’t read the comments if you want to keep a lid on your blood pressure Angry

CrossPurposes · 20/08/2021 12:01

Here's Joan's side in detail: unherd.com/2021/08/why-did-sadiq-khans-office-fire-me/

Rhannion · 20/08/2021 11:53

@Jorrris

Honestly we need a few high profile cases before people start to understand that this is discriminatory and unacceptable.

Absolutely we need this. He's breaking the law. She is allowed to raise very valid concerns about safeguarding and she is allowed to hold GC views. He does not get to remove her from post because he doesn't like that. I'm happy to do some gardening for her legal costs, as I'm sure many of us are. She only needs to ask.

Totally agree. Who the hell does he think he is? I know, he is a baw bag
KittenKong · 20/08/2021 11:34

I often wonder about the discussions such men have at home with their wife, daughters, mum and granny. To be a fly on the wall, eh?

RoyalCorgi · 20/08/2021 10:51

At some point the bandwagon jumping needs to stop. Parroting TWAW, pretending that gender identity is the same as biological sex, and ignoring the issue of sex-based rights is not fulfilling his role as Mayor.

Khan seems to me to be immensely cynical. He must know, as a Muslim, that attacking sex-based rights disproportionately disadvantages Muslim women because single-sex spaces are so vital for them. Imagine no longer being able to use changing rooms or sports facilities because there might be male-bodied people in there.

But Khan assumes, I would guess, that Muslims will vote for him regardless, so he will do what he can to get the young Metropolitan vote.

ArabellaScott · 20/08/2021 10:45

An excellent open letter here from Shonagh Dillon

shonaghdillon.co.uk/an-open-letter-to-sadiq-khan/?fbclid=IwAR1lhhPdcV4vt_YvyXrAf_ATrNAEjrj0gb9ljpZ8Rw-vdz34vjdcyrFqpPk

'99% of participants who worked on the frontline in domestic abuse organisations felt they had been silenced in the past, or are still being silenced'

GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman · 20/08/2021 10:10

Here's the poster.
London against hate... But let's not mention misogyny.

Sadiq Khan has sacked Joan Smith from the London VAWG board
Datun · 20/08/2021 10:03

Placemarking, hopefully for the crowdfunder. I note up thread that anti-discrimination laws don't apply to volunteers.

But if there is any legal recourse, whatsoever, I will contribute.

The misogyny is sickening, and these moves are looking completely deliberate.

KittenKong · 20/08/2021 09:56

I remember seeing a video of him being heckled at some meeting. I forget the details but it was on the basis of what he was doing, or lack of (was it knife crime?). He was bitterly complaining that it was racist mob... no, it was ‘rubbish mayor’ and the comments weren’t racist. He didn’t address the complaints.

EdgeOfACoin · 20/08/2021 09:34

In the beginning I had a degree of sympathy for Khan. He was being painted by some media outlets and politicians as a fascist Islamist. I voted for him in 2016, primarily because of the horribly racist campaign that Zac Goldsmith led against him.

For that reason, I could understand why he needed, perhaps, to go further than other politicians did to underscore his left-wing, progressive credentials. I did and do get it, and can give him a little bit of leeway with the bandwagon-jumping.

But he is also Mayor of London. He needs to engage with these issues properly. At some point the bandwagon jumping needs to stop. Parroting TWAW, pretending that gender identity is the same as biological sex, and ignoring the issue of sex-based rights is not fulfilling his role as Mayor. He needs to take his job seriously, not just stick up rainbow flags everywhere, change the traffic lights in central London to the trans symbol and automatically assume he is on the right side of history.

Needless to say, I did not vote for him this year.

KittenKong · 20/08/2021 09:29

I really thought he’d get voted out.

NellWilsonsWhiteHair · 20/08/2021 09:26

Sadiq Khan has form for shoving women under a bus to appease others - he did the same thing to Dany Cotton. Gutless.

I did vote him back in though, whilst holding my nose - the other serious candidates were worse.

knittingaddict · 20/08/2021 09:20

I'm on an audible free trial at the moment, so I might well listen to her book. Just need to decide if my mental health can take something like that now.

DelphiniumBlue · 20/08/2021 00:42

I've signed that petition.
And would like to add that Khan is a hypocritical twat. Twice now I've actually seen him driving/being driven through LTN areas, one of those times actually going through the no access areas, the other parking a 4x4 sneakily down the road to go to a pro-LTN meeting and making it look like he's turned up on a bike, whilst refusing to speak to local residents.

WeAreTheWomen · 20/08/2021 00:27

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Enough4me · 19/08/2021 22:44

I have ordered her books, anyone know if there a crowd fundraiser in place for court action?