Thanks, yes, that's helpful. They are people I know, there's about 6 of them and the chat is polite and I keep thinking that I can peak them. Baby steps. They are all senior in their roles in organisations which have been stonewalled. They all understand what the EHRC is for, so I assume that their statement is food for thought. I like it when they engage, they ask good questions - and I have good answers.
I said it was because the government have listened to the pro-gender case for 2 years, and we have a time pressure to force them to hear that women's rights matter. That SM is not funded, and that none of the organisations who are trying to engage with the government to defend womens rights have funding - that women crowdfunded for JR and that shows how many women there are donating a tenner here and there to protect our legal rights. There are pockets of people with expertise who are organised and have a clear aim, and a massive, under recognised and growing swell of "WTF?" from women which has quietly grown a grass roots movement. That it's fascinating that politicians have learned nothing from the Scottish referendum and Brexit - silence does not always mean agreement.
I used to be a lib fem. Around about the time it was all fields round here. That was a while ago.
Am so grateful to SM, MBM, FPFW, FWS, TT, SS, bloggers and you tubers, and the ones I missed, who take the time to post links and information. It's really helpful to people like me.