Hi all, I've seen your thread off and on and I have been grateful for the support and wisdom here and on iCSP.
I am concerned about today's announcement (thanks, @RadFiz ) and want to explore whether the CSP would benefit from having it's own SEEN.
If you're not familiar with them, they are a balance to the LGBTQIA+ groups and can be formally recognised and eligible for funding and an equal footing as other network groups. Here's the civil service SEEN. Yesterday saw the launch of SEEN in education, there's one for journalism, police, HR, city, it seems like they are popping up like mushrooms.
I have been contacted by a number of people in the CSP, both staff and members, who share my concerns that this announcement misrepresents the law, defames members and manages to be both unnecessary and unclear.
I do not agree with Rob Yeldham, and previously, Karen Middleton, when they say that physiotherapy has a transphobia issue. If there is evidence of this I have not seen it.
I suspect that this work has been produced without consulting a lawyer as when it was announced it referred to the protected characteristics of sex and gender under the Human Rights Act. The HRA does not mention gender, gender reassignment is part of the exceptions to the 2010 Equality Act. I'm happy to see that this has since been corrected online.
The three definitions of transphobia come from our own online EDB glossary which appears to be C+P from Stonewall, one from TransActual and one from The National Education Union - all of whom are trans activists.
I have been through the disciplinary system, some of the accusations levied against me were that I was transphobic. The HCPC concluded that I was robust in my communications but not transphobic, everything was dropped with no case to answer. The CSP dropped all complaints with no case to answer and the complaints submitted to other bodies were not even considered worthy of examination.
It seems that people who are diametrically opposed to the view that sex is real and immutable are employed by and in positions of power and influence at our trade union. This is absolutely fine, it is important for a trade union to reflect its membership. I am uncomfortable with the views of activists forming policy without due process and debate. I hope to be wrong, but I suspect that might have happened in the formation of this CSP position statement.
It is difficult to speak up about these issues, people are scared of being accused of transphobia, and rightly so, the personal penalties can be high.
If you would be willing to share your views or insights with me then I'd be grateful. I'll make a dedicated thread and link it here. You can email me ([email protected]), message me on substack (@venusenvyxx) or on twitter (@gussiegrips). I can absolutely assure you of anonymity, I've got the hang of that by now.
I am proud to have had a long career in physio even if I have made a habit of upsetting some professional peers every few years. I'm confident we can fix this - it seems to me that this is little more than a training and communication issue, which, like sex, is not that complicated.
Thanks for reading all that and for standing up for professional standards. I'm glad you found each other and that Justine allows this corner of the site to plod along. Without it we'd be in dire straits.
bests
Elaine Miller