Surely Mridul Wadhwa has to go now? Report into ERCC out.

...it's very difficult to remain radical and transgressive all the time because the system is continually adapting to accommodate you, so you have to continually step outside that moment of transgression to a further moment of transgression and keep pushing.

This competitive edginess is about money and about trying to stay relevant to keep getting funding and about being the "coolest" kid in the room. Stonewall adopted the trans cause for the same reasons. When same-sex marriage became law, that was an example of "the system adapting to accommodate you" and so Stonewall stepped outside of LGB rights into trans activism to "keep pushing". Same-sex marriage was the last legal hurdle to LGB people having the same rights as straight people and so the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 meant that Stonewall no longer had a purpose. This would have been a great time for the trustees to set up some mechanism to protect Stonewall's legacy (perhaps by endowing a museum or library to document the gay liberation struggle) and shut up shop. But, that would mean the CEO and other staff having to find other jobs. So they adopted trans activism to extend the life of the organisation, maintain the funding, and keep those people paid.

This "queering", this perennial escalation of demands via endless "transgression", is to politics what capitalism is to economics. Capitalism relies on creating a demand for a product that didn't exist five minutes ago. Queering relies on creating a demand for alleged "rights" that no one even thought of five minutes ago. At the root of both is money and perceived status.

Why is "transgression" a worthy goal in and of itself? Pure queer theory. Sheila Jeffreys explores this mentality in detail in her book "Unpacking Queer Politics: A Lesbian Feminist Perspective."

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/664261.UnpackingQueerr_Politics

https://wingsoverscotland.com/a-danger-to-women/

'It’s very difficult not to join the dots and draw a direct line between Sharon Cowan, Sandy Brindley and the subversion and subsuming of rape crisis services in Scotland into a tool for the promotion of “the politics of queerness”, at the expense of some of the most vulnerable people in the country who have nowhere else to turn.'

Apologies if this article has been posted already, I couldn't see it, but it's a good one and really sticks the knife into our politicians in Scotland. They are complicit in all of this too.

https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/scots-politicians-would-like-edinburgh-rape-crisis-centre-scandal-to-simply-vanish-4791974

All those centres available for men should they need them, and yet they still had tantrums and threatened to sue because one new centre was created that was female-only.

They see 'female-only' and just can't resist cocking their leg and pissing over it to mark it as their territory.

So grim.

Jesus, that is really chilling. It's quite clear that these centres have been deliberately targeted.

The very concept of women only anything is like catnip to these people. The people who make the bloody spaces necessary in the first place.

Yes, as a PP said, it's absolutely beyond repellent.

As are they. Fucking hell.

And you've got this woman in complete thrall to them.

Will the scales ever fall, I wonder? Will she ever catch sight of herself in the mirror and think hold on...

I keep thinking that Brindley will just go on leave like Wadhwa did. And that it will all happen in the future.

But it really needs to be dealt with now for the sake of restoring confidence to the sector. I doubt an apology will ever be enough. It needs to be an acknowledgment of loss of confidence.

I've read this thread twice now all the way through. It's very depressing. I'm also enraged that Sandy still hasn't stepped down. The board and trustees too; all of them have failed women in such a spectacular way. It's awful.

Well done Glasgow and Clyde for being very clear!

That thread though makes for a distressing read.

Receipts

https://x.com/hightreebud/status/1837820599697072343

Trina AT hightreebud
Here's what Sandy Brindley says. GUARANTEED women-only spaces in EVERY rape crisis centre in Scotland. Reiterated in the Times today: "one thing that has remained core is protecting spaces for women. It has never changed and it never should". So let's have a look see... 1/n

Argyll & Bute Rape Crisis Centre. “We offer support to survivors who are over the age of 12, regardless of their gender.” Nothing about women-only spaces but they have a dedicated LGBTI page and a charter award from LGBT Youth Scotland "making sure we are inclusive". 2/n

As part of the charter award LGBTYS use their "Stronger Together: Guidance for women's services on the inclusion of trans women". 3/n

This guidance misrepresents the law and advises rape crisis centres that it is not acceptable to exclude TW from a women's service. If any woman objects it is her who should be removed and educated in the same way as a racist or homophobe.
More here: https://murrayblackburnmackenzie.org/2019/02/22/the-case-for-due-diligence-assessing-and-owning-policy-and-practice/ 4/n

Rape Crisis Scotland removed the guidance from their website in 2019 after the section on re-educating women was highlighted on Twitter. They claimed to be "not aware" of it despite Wadhwa, then employed at Forth Valley RC, busy promoting its message. 5/n

So the guidance is now back in rape crisis centres via the back door, with centres paying LGBTYS £2,000 a pop for the charter privilege. And just to rub salt in it, LGBTYS also took £100k from the Scottish Gov Equally Safe fund for women to sell it back to the VAWG sector. 6/n

It beggars believe Sandy Brindley is still claiming to be shocked that Edinburgh RCC failed to provide a protected women-only service and should not have hired Wadhwa without a GRC, esp when RCS itself signed up for doing just that since 2016! 7/n

Dumfries & Galloway RASAC doesn't seem to have a website. Edinburgh RCC has learnt little from its tribunal loss and the Ling report, offering a paltry few hours for women, which may include men according to the word salad explanation. And a gold charter award, of course. 8/n

Fife RASAC "support services to anyone 12+, of any gender". Nothing about women-only, not even on the group support page. Does have a dedicated "LGBTQIA+ survivors" page. Forth Valley RCC, "survivors of all genders over 13". Nothing about women-only spaces. 9/n

Glasgow & Clyde RCC Women and girls only. Wonderfully robust statement: "We are an organisation that is rooted in feminist values...This prioritises the provision and safeguarding of single-sex service spaces..." 10/n

Lanarkshire RCC "support to women and girls (12ys+)". Nothing about women-only spaces but does have a dedicated inclusive services web page for LGBTI+ Moray RC "support for anyone (age 11 and over)". Groups are for all adults, so are mixed-sex. LGBT charter award holder. 11/n

Orkney RSAS "support for anyone (age 13 and over)". LGBT inclusion matters so much it is all they can display at their premises. Not sure this is welcoming to any woman looking for a women-only service. 12/n

RASAC Perth & Kinross "support anyone who identifies as a woman and young people (aged 12-18)". No actual women-only spaces here then. Another holder of a charter award from LGBTYS. 13/n

RASAS Highland "support all genders – women, men, non-binary, trans & gender non-conforming." Nothing about women-only services, but helping uphold their LGBT charter is a transwoman on the Board. Despite the job advert seeking a woman. 14/n

RC Grampian "support & information to anyone over 11 years old". Any assurances given to Sandy Brindley of protected women-only spaces in reality include men. Quelle surprise for the centre that was flying the trans flag in response to the tribunal result. 15/n

Scottish Borders RCC are "inclusive to self-identifying females". The only "reassurance" here is that they will work with LGBT people to reduce any barriers (women's voices?) to their inclusion. 16/n

Compass Centre, Shetland "Whatever your gender, you are welcome here." Nothing about women-only spaces and the only reassurance here is reserved for transwomen and their inclusion. LGBTYS charter award holder. 17/n

STAR Centre, Ayrshire "anyone aged 13+ (women, girls, men, boys and those who identify as transgender or non-binary)". Men are welcome to self-identify into the few hours of women-only spaces. Has two LGBT charter marks with a warning on pronoun use. 18/n

Western Isles RCC, "anyone, of any gender, over the age of 13". But no LGBTYS charter award and no mention of LGBT on the website, so group work may actually be women-only. 19/n

Women's RASAC, Dundee & Angus. Despite having "women" in the centre's name, don't get too hopeful as it's for "self-identifying women". TW specifically included and they're working towards a silver charter from LGBTYS. 20/n

17 rape crisis centres. One explicitly for women-only (Glasgow & Clyde) and one possibly offering women-only spaces within a mixed-sex service (Western Isles). The majority explicitly state they work on the basis of self-ID, which is not law in Scotland. 21/n

This is the law, as ruled by recent judicial reviews. The section in red is under appeal to the UK Supreme Court. By definition, in the Equality Act, women's spaces exclude biological males. Those without a GRC are the sex they were born as. 22/n

Yet when the CEO of Rape Crisis Scotland talks of "woman" she displays her ignorance of the law & gives an offensive penis-including definition of who she welcomes into female rape survivors' spaces. It has taken her 11 months to come up with this! 23/n

This is the fundamental problem we are facing with women's services. Most have long been co-opted to include all men, not just TW. 24/n

The whole sector needs a reset starting with sacking Brindley and addressing what women, who are 94% of rape victims, actually want. Which is separate-sex services, as recommended by the Scottish Gov review, & which Brindley has ignored since June 2023. 25/n

The Scottish Gov should also consider implementing the SNP 2021 manifesto commitment to fund a separate complementary service for men. 26/26

Twitter thread is fully evidenced throughout with those all important screenshots (we know how much screenshots are valued to hold power to account within ethical principles and all that).

Sandy 'I didn't know' Brindley is a liar.

https://www.threads.net/@thurstyreads/post/DANMJMpg7R6/

Your comment has reminded me of this thread I read this morning.

This woman, living in Canada, clearly has a lot of LGBT+ friends, posting a depressingly believable account of how a predatory straight man ruined her night out with her friends at an LGBT+ venue.

She would no doubt consider women like us to be awful bigoted TERFs and yet I can't help but feel that the difference between what she is saying and what we are saying is absolutely minimal. Women and minority groups should be able to have and enjoy their own things without entitled males demanding access and ruining these spaces for the people they are actually for (and worse).

I get that she considers herself an LGBT+ ally (and for what it's worth, I would not expect single sex spaces in the kind of venue that she was in, and if I ever went to a venue like that myself I would naturally expect it to be full self ID), but it must take an enormous amount of cognitive disonnance to complain - entirely validly - about this, and yet not accept that women should be entitled to have their own sporting categories and rape crisis groups without being forced to include male people.

It's a hell of a blind spot.

Jesus, that is really chilling. It's quite clear that these centres have been deliberately targeted.

The very concept of women only anything is like catnip to these people. The people who make the bloody spaces necessary in the first place.

Yes, as a PP said, it's absolutely beyond repellent.

As are they. Fucking hell.

And you've got this woman in complete thrall to them.

Will the scales ever fall, I wonder? Will she ever catch sight of herself in the mirror and think hold on...