Feeling really low after being honest

And even if no one was brave enough to agree with you, maybe you did make some people think. Quietly. It wasn't a wasted effort. Solidarity to you ✊🏽

Yes that’s a very good one

Anything that shifts the onus on language mangling to the other side without setting yourself up as a punch bag

I don't see why we have to defend our position, when our position is the law.

It's not a belief (I know that's how it's being won legally speaking when people are dismissed) it's material reality, evidenced by convictions and history.

So we need to be pitching the questions back at them.

Y y to single sex sports.

I personally think in situations like this, at the moment, I'd avoid the whole PB conversation as they truly believe the science is tested and evidenced. This will change eventually.

They can't provide evidence for the other questions.

Also, hasn't there recently been statutory guidance issued to public institutions that gender identity is not a protected characteristic?

Agree with Boiledbeetle to write everything you remember down asap.

And sending the virtual hugs too. It's a horrible position to be in.,

You are in the right OP.
Thank you for being honest.
People are twats.

Why is it okay to ignore the needs of religious minorities, sexually assaulted women, disabled people who need personal care, and neurodiverse people might be another question but also better to speak of those groups individually.

@dwanma my recent workplace training on human rights said exactly that gender reassignment was commonly accepted to mean gender identity now so the latter was a protected characteristic and a legally recognised term.

Thing is that training was an online video that thousands of staff have watched. There’s no name attached to the training video and I wouldn’t even know which department commissioned it. And of course, like the OP if I were to raise a concern, I’d be labelled.

What gets me is this idea of ‘privilege’ of simply being the other 50% of the human race.

Well said. You’ve done something good, OP, and although you may feel low for a little while (your colleagues are bullies, btw) you can feel lighter in your heart for speaking out and there will certainly be others in your workplace who are keeping quiet for various reasons but who are silently grateful to you.

These one-sided workplace training events on “gender identity” sound like torture.

They are good. It's very hard to respond to this level of bullshit gaslighting so having a list of questions is a constructive way of raising issues without being accused of anything.

Can you define gender identity ? ties everyone in knots as there is no coherent answer and exposes all the sexist stereotyping involved.

I am never, on any pretext, attending any 'training' course whose purpose it is to inform me what I think. On any issue. It's insulting people's intelligence and it's patronising and dictatorial, no matter which belief system it happens to be today that allows no room for debate or questioning.

I'm not about to sit in a lecture on monotheistic faiths and be told that I'm going to hell because I'm a non-believer, or even because I've dared raise tentative doubts as to whether a virgin birth is biologically possible.

Exactly the same applies to this recent preoccupation with gender. I will not pretend silent conformity, or waste my breath arguing with fanatics who will put their fingers in their ears and shout 'La, la, la' and then make my workplace a hostile environment for me. I'm simply not engaging. If I had to feign alternative commitments I'd do so without a conscience, but I've now reached the point that I'm quite happy to tell my employers why I'm not engaging.

No, thank you.

No.

I agree with all those who have said you were brave to speak up so well done. It all helps.

These are really helpful. It’s so easy to be cornered and emotionally kicked at but those are top

Must remember them

I attended a training session last week on equalities where the trainer incorrectly lumped identity and trans under sexual orientation, although she did say sex was biological and distinct from gender identity. I queried her additions to sexual orientation and sent feedback about that afterwards just stating what the Equality Act really says. It's important to keep saying that gender identity is not a legally recognised term, unlike gender reassignment which is covered.
Simply repeating what the law does and doesn't say might help in some circs as it's not about opinion. Any worthwhile training should refer to actual law or else what is it good for? Could easily lead to discriminatory practice rather than prevent it. And referring to the law makes it easier to talk about exemptions where it's biological sex that counts and legally that is expressly allowed.

Yes very good suggestions

If I ever need it I’m going with this type of thing

Ah another good question… why do you support the sterilisation of children?

Any others?

Those are very good questions and I am going to remember them.

Ditto why were single sex categories for sport created.

The knack of turning it back on the speaker with questions that reveal the shortcomings of their logic is a skill I need to work on. Far more effective than asserting a personal counter belief.

'Start thinking now of excuses why you supported the sterilisation of children' - isn't that the quote?

They might think they are liberal, but they're not. They're happy to throw religious minorities, sexually assaulted women, disabled people who need personal care, neurodiverse people, all under the bus to placate males with special feelings.

Solidarity, I'm GC in a super captured NHS hospital and I know how hard it is to put your head above the parapet. But you did what was right, even if no one listened, or they actively opposed you, you still did what was right.

OP, when faced with this shit, I bring up the children and young people aspect. I'm fortunate to have worked with Dr Hilary Cass whom I now consider a mentor and a friend.

We discussed the issue of lying to children that you can actually change sex was leading to irreparable harm and damage. Cite the immensely brave Keira Bell.

So I tell people that this bullshit is going to be as big a scandal as Saville - and they are facilitating it. And to honestly wise up as they are going to feel like such a bunch if dicks having pedalled this shit.

I'm sorry you were treated like that OP.

The trainer was wrong. A cursory google shows many statistical analyses of hospital sex attacks and breaches of single-sex wards in the UK
https://www.hughjames.com/blog/new-findings-reveal-epidemic-of-sexual-abuse-in-hospital-settings/
https://www.reading.ac.uk/news/2023/Research-News/6500-hospital-sexual-assaults-in-four-years-according-to-new-report
https://www.nsun.org.uk/can-single-sex-wards-prevent-sexual-violence-in-mental-health-hospitals/

So not only did the trainer deliberatly create a very hostile environment, they also gave false information that it is literally their job to know, there is no excuse fir them not having seen these studies and many more, and that false information is extremely detrimental to future staff prospects. It's no different from getting in an IT consultant who tells staff the only way to switch on a computer is to bash the screen really hard with a hammer and who then punishes anyone who disagrees.

if people are not accepting of peoples gender identity then they should not be working with service users from minority group

That stance is an HR disaster waiting to happen, and not just because of Forstater.

Lots of religious groups don't believe in gay marriage or, in some cases, in gay relationships. Does your organisation believe that someone who is, say, an observant Roman Catholic, shouldn't be allowed to work with gay service users, even if they treat them entirely fairly at work?

Same with ethnicity. What about a Palestinian employee and a Jewish service user, or vice versa?

Conservative Christian man who belongs to a church that doesn't believe women should be leaders, but always treats his female managers with respect.

Once we get into wrong-think and policing people's private ideas, we run headlong into the Equality Act, as well has human rights legislation.

Maybe they ought to be referred to the judgement in Rachel Meades’ employment tribunal.

Minority groups… Like,

• Individuals with religious beliefs that preclude a belief in gender identity having primacy over sex?
• Individuals with disabilities which mean that accommodating that same belief in the primacy of gender identity may be difficult, whether in using pronouns or concerns re. privacy & dignity in toilets?
• Individuals without the money, education or confidence to buffer them from, or counter, group-think that disadvantages and intimidates them?
• Individuals speaking a second language potentially facing an additional barrier to understanding their rights & accessing services because of this movement’s mangling of plain English?

The one person in that room best equipped to work with minority groups was the one who was open-minded, professional and prepared to speak up in the face of inaccuracy and injustice.

In my opinion.

That is a disgusting comment OP, I would feel hurt too. As others have said, record it all accurately somewhere and know that some people in that room agreed with you and are afraid to say so. I
am so fucking angry that this shit is happening.

Also - for standing up for abused women and vulnerable children when nobody else will - fucking right you deserve a round of applause!