Transgender women advised to call 999 if asked to leave women-only lavatories

The EHRC called for a reset in relations. They didn't call for groups to wilfully misrepresent the law or to (by implication) slate the organisation that the UN decided not to interfere in. Yet, the response was to say the EHRC is wrong.

That response has not been by way of seeking judicial review, however. And unless they knew that the revised Codes were in the post, it could be inferred that they know the EHRC is right and they're pushing it anyway.

Pushing it by stoking division. The opposite of what a civil society should do.

If they knew and they're waiting for the revised Codes to seek JR, then they've already shown their own hand and given the EHRC an indication of an avenue of likely challenge. On balance, my guess is they did not know the Codes were about to be revised.

All round stupid, and an uncivil way to behave.

All Mermaids are doing is giving boys who say they are girls and men who say they are women a false sense of entitlement. They are basically setting them up for conflict.

They are. And, in my opinion, that's the point. Telling males that if them not being allowed in the ladies makes them feel unsafe they're to call 999, but women being scared of men violating their boundaries is a nothing thing?

Talk about showing your hand.

Honestly. Watching this unravel so spectacularly is grimly satisfying.

TRAs have always assumed trans trumps everything. And the EHRC, quite politely I thought, saying er no, equality is about balance, is causing any pretence at rationality to fly out the window.

I'd like to be a fly on wall at EHRC as the realisation dawns. Then dawns again. And again...

Until, appropriately enough, the sun never sets and the realisation is blinding !

They are deliberately misrepresenting the law by not taking into account the legitimate and proportionate bit if the Equality. Surely it is ALWAYS legitimate and proportionate to exclude makes from single sex services for the privacy and dignity of females. This should be the starting point women and girls want there privacy and dignity so it is right to exclude males. This case by case stuff doesn't make sense. All Mermaids are doing is giving boys who say they are girls and men who say they are women a false sense of entitlement. They are basically setting them up for conflict.

^From the Mermaids sheet:

You cannot be excluded from a single sex space without a fair reason. Someone being ‘scared’ of trans people is not a good enough reason.

and

Each decision has to be dealt with on its ‘own facts’. A facility or school cannot have a blanket rule to not ever allow trans people to use single sex spaces.^

But even this seems open to interpretation. If I didn’t know better, I would read that to mean that we still have single sex spaces and you still use the sex based space even if you identify differently.

Otherwise you have a mixed sex single sex space.

Who the fuck do Mermaids think they are? Sooner they go under the better

This "blanket rule" stuff is just wrong. You can devise and implement a policy that does not give everyone advantages. You have to show you've given due regard to the duty, and that duty is not the only thing you have to take into account eg public sector services have financial responsibilities too:

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/149

The due regard part seems to have turned into an inconvenient truth of the legislation for some.

”Leading lawyers have said it shows how venues such as schools, gyms and hospitals are caught in a war of words between activists and regulators, with little clarity on how to act....”

This is bonkers! Obviously, schools, gyms and hospital should act according to the advice of the regulators and have nothing to do with activists. The idea that organisations should be looking to activists to see if they should ignore the law is crazy - what other domain would this happen in?! How has this become normalised?

Since it is permissible for changing rooms etc to be single sex, but not obligatory, how the hell are we supposed to know which place is which, particularly when out and about? It’s a complete lottery which would be legally in the right in this scenario.

From the Mermaids sheet:

You cannot be excluded from a single sex space without a fair reason. Someone being ‘scared’ of trans people is not a good enough reason.

and

Each decision has to be dealt with on its ‘own facts’. A facility or school cannot have a blanket rule to not ever allow trans people to use single sex spaces.

So being 'too scared' to use the correct facility for your sex is a valid reason to use opposite sex, but members of that sex are not allowed to feel scared? If it's not a good enough reason for women to object, how is it a good enough reason to use the women's facilities if you are a TW?

Is 'on its own facts' supposed to be a more inclusive way of saying 'case by case'? I am still a bit confused by 'case by case'. I took it to mean by individual incident, but then read on another thread it was more like scenario based - eg TW wanting to use women's changing room. And surely a facility or school CAN have a blanket rule to keep a single sex service as just that? Of course someone trans can use a single sex space - as long as it the correct sex! I imagine Mermaids would not object if a school produced a blanket rule that someone trans could ALWAYS use opp sex spaces if they wish?

They know full well this will be interpreted as “you can’t tell me to leave or I will call 999”… because hurting their feelings is a life threatening emergency right?

Utter joke. Calling anything like this a “fact” sheet, like “my truth”, just screams BS.

Round and round in circles we go...
Transitioning males can't use the mens because they'll be in danger but they can become terrified enough in the ladies to call the police...
Sounds like the police are a useful tool against women and ineffective against men.
So being in the women's is purely the path of least resistance not that of psychological safety as I've been demanded to believe.

Serious risk of harm?

Who's more likely to be in danger of harm?
A man who's confronted by a woman who won't play along with his 'identity', or the woman who dares to correctly sex him to his face?

I fucking hate all the be kind bullshit that makes girls question their natural fear response and puts them in danger.

@Live4weekend
Show him the thread on Dylan, the tampon vending machine. Dylans various social media pages can be found on it. Dylan is a mid 20s male born person who likes to dress like Shirley Temple and to be referred to as a girl. That might help illustrate your point.

This bit is hilarious at the end of their sheet.
This help sheet does not constitute legal advice
What the point then?
It is a very mixed advice sheet aimed at both school children and their young adult readers.

Fuck it. Just fucking fuck it.

Wine or not, that just about encapsulates the entire thing from start to finish.

😁

I have an 10 year old child.

I will pass this advice on to her. If she sees a dick, she will know what to do.

I don't think DH really grasped it until I told him that a male 'girl' could impose himself on the Safe spaces of your daughter. It's amazing then effect this can have on a daddy.

Funnily enough, I don't have the same worries over DS.

I was just writing a long reply, but as I have consumed copious amounts of 🍷
I've changed my mind.

Fuck it. Just fucking fuck it.
I'm going to start using the men's, as we know all the fucking creepy men are in the ladies.

And when the bloody men complain that women are in their toilets they will be listened to.

Hopefully then we can get single sex loos back.

And as it's Mermaids I presume we're talking about young males getting access to toilets being used by teenage girls or even younger here.

@Datun "They've just jumped a whole row of sharks."

We need to contact the Guinness Book of Records? 😉

If you're on a phone click the telegraph link then switch immediately to flight mode - article will load but the paywall block won't.

Datun - some kind of shark long jump record being attempted

It says IF YOU ARE AT RISK OF HARM call the emergency services

That isn't a bad rule to have, irregardless of transgender issues

Interestingly the last para of the 'fact sheet' is 'Please note this help sheet does not constitute legal advice.' Well, quite

Nice bit of ass covering by this 'charity' though

They've just jumped a whole row of sharks.

It's just so clear isn't it.

I think a relevant course of action here is for the EHRC to invite the CEO of the Mermaids charity to a meeting to discuss Mermaids' failure to understand the single sex exceptions in the Equality Act 2010.