Contact your MP about the Gender Recongnition Act

[Babieseverywhere]

If you are concerned with the proposed changes to the law, which allow boys/men into every area, space and club currently allocated as girl/women only read on.

Otherwise close the thread.

"What can we do ?"

Write to your MP

Follow up with a visit to the same MP

Tell them that woman's rights are being elimitated in order to virtual signal to the trans population. That these new rules will make things difficult for the original transsexuals and woman. Whilst literally opening the door to female only spaces to sexual offenders.

Take copies of leaflets that they need to read.

Including the Sage leaflet mentioned below, full of all the basic facts.

The Transgendertrend web address with its alternative school based reports on supporting gender non confirming children without throwing girls under the bus.

Tell your MP that many of the original transsexuals are concerned too. Miranda Yardley being a highly recognized example in this category, who is supportive of women's rights and a Mumsnetter.

Search the Mumsnet Feminist section for other links. The damage to girls's safety in schools, woman's rape centres, woman's prisions, women's sports, women's grants, etc.

It is a never ending list of problems but they all start with the potential amendments to the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) that are being debated by government over the next few months.

Tell your MP to OPPOSE the changes to the Gender Recognition Act

I notice no one complained about non gender specific changing rooms in swimming pools which have been there for the past 20 years.

SloeSloe really? Are you talking about individual cubicles, or just one big room where some big hairy bloke can happily get his cock out next to someone else's 8-year-old daughter? Because they are quite different things.

It's very interesting that those posters on this thread purporting to support trans rights are so in favour of a bill that will actually make it harder for the truly gender dysphoric to access help.

This potential law terrifies me, because of the volume and amplification of the voice given to a group of activists who have hijacked and replaced the goals of actual transmen and women, with their own misinformational agenda which basically boils down to letting dangerous men into women's spaces.

Nobody is safe then - not women, not transwomen, not lesbians, not straight women, not girls, not old ladies. Anyone wanting to harm any of us will have the legal right to march in to places where previously we knew we were safe and protected; and to question that will be a hate crime. How can that possibly be permitted?

How?

It’s a philosophical disagreement with real world implications. I don’t think that the approach suggested here, and the general transphobia expressed on mn, is the way forward however.

What do you think the way forward should be then? All ears.

And for another thing, I initially came to the trans debate thinking the same as some others on this thread - "live and let live - of course trans should be allowed to wee in the ladies if they want, no skin off my nose" etc.

But I am not ashamed or afraid to say I was badly ill-informed and flat out ignorant of the wider issues then. I have taken the opportunity to learn and educate myself.

The toilet issue is one tiny fraction of the tip of the iceberg; used as a easy way to label people "bigots" and divert from the real issues which DO present a clear and real danger to all women. It's an example of the tactics used to shut down the debate by the activists who want to, at best, keep us in our place; at worst, injure, rape or kill us.

It was basically 'yes, I am happy with how quickly trans rights are progressing and you are a nasty bigot'.

It will have been written on their behalf by some virtue signalling twentysomething assistant. MPs generally try not to go out of their way to insult people who vote for them.

Just because you identify as something does not mean you ARE it. Transgender people are pretending to be a biological sex that they are not. Until they physically have the sex organs of that particular sex, they should not be allowed to access that single sex area.

Its only a matter of time before we are dealing with this craziness in Ireland.

And there's no way a serving MP would have rudely dismissed the concerns of a lesbian constituent with PTSD. I've heard anecdotally that many MPs privately think this proposal is terrible but don't feel they can speak against it.

It's progress. Progress doesn't necessarily mean things getting better, it just means things moving from one state to another.

Years ago people segregated toilet facilities on race - white people had the nice facilities, the rest had to go somewhere else. Why? They were considered different, strange, dangerous.

Most people these days think such segregation is wrong. But the arguments against treating trans-people the same as people of their actual birth gender are the same reasons - these people are different, we will be in danger.

You can't stop change, but maybe you can alter it. In a couple of hundred years perhaps this thread will be used as an example of how bigoted people were in the early 21st century, just as we view 1850s pro-slavery literature as offensive and moronic today.

Most people these days think such segregation is wrong. But the arguments against treating trans-people the same as people of their actual birth gender are the same reasons - these people are different, we will be in danger.

It's not the same. They are male. They don't belong in female spaces. People don't really buy into gender theory on the whole. They think they are being nice to transsexuals, who have had gender reassignment surgery.

You can't stop change, but maybe you can alter it. In a couple of hundred years perhaps this thread will be used as an example of how bigoted people were in the early 21st century, just as we view 1850s pro-slavery literature as offensive and moronic today.

If things proceed as they are at the moment, it's entirely more likely that in 200 years our great great granddaughters will be living in some dystopian Handmaid's Tale style land where men rule and women serve. And this thread will be used as evidence of a time when those uppity women got firmly back in their boxes.

But, hey, as long as people get to have their feelings validated it's all harmless, eh?

Got firmly put back in their boxes.

But, hey, as long as people get to have their feelings validated it's all harmless, eh?

Slight correction as long as born males get their feelings validated

It will have been written on their behalf by some virtue signalling twentysomething assistant. MPs generally try not to go out of their way to insult people who vote for them.

Paraphrasing. They did not exactly say that but that was the summary. Will have a look for the full response a bit later on.

@Ereshkigal

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Dear Amanda,

Thank you for getting into contact with me with regard to gender identification.

As you may be aware, the Labour Party is committed to supporting transgender equality. It is clear that our current legislation needs to be updated and it is important that we hear from the transgender community about how this can be achieved.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), their survey found that within the LGBTQ community, transgender people face the most alarming rates of sexual violence.

The Women and Equalities Committee created a very well received and in-depth report on the issues facing trans individuals, entitled: House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee Transgender Equality First Report of Session 2015–16. In regard to segregated spaces, the report found: “We heard from Ashley Reed that: In gendered refuge centres, it is worth noting that trans people will often be turned away from ones that are protected for either gender, so a trans woman could be rejected from a women’s shelter but would also be rejected from a men’s shelter. Were they to go to a men’s shelter, they would be at serious risk of harassment or physical or verbal abuse, and that would be a major onset of dysphoria.”

Moreover, the report also found that: “The NUS stated that students who had experienced transphobic harassment in higher education were two to three times more likely to consider leaving their course.” If you would like to read the report further, I have included a link for your reference.
www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmselect/cmwomeq/390/390.pdf

In regard to your concern of predators taking advantage of the proposed changes, UCLA School of Law's Williams Institute, a research group that focuses on sexual orientation and gender identity law and policy, is working on a study to learn if the proposed changes would lead to more crimes by predators. Jody Hermann, a scholar stated: "As far as we know there hasn't been some sort of, you know, devolving into chaos in restrooms. The only solid evidence of any such attacks in public restrooms are those directed at trans individuals, a significant percentage of whom report verbal and physical assault in such spaces.”

According to the Law Society, a transgender employee must be able to use the toilet or changing room of their expressed gender identity without fear of harassment. People should not be made to use unisex disabled toilets. To expect them to do so is bigoted and wrong.
LGBT have a blog where Tran’s members can share their views if you want to read about the experiences of others I have linked both websites below:
www.lgbtlabour.org.uk/
www.lgbtlabour.org.uk/trans

Thank you for taking the time to write to me about this important issue. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any further questions you may have.

Yours sincerely,

Roberta

---

Was the reply I got.

The only solid evidence of any such attacks in public restrooms are those directed at trans individuals, a significant percentage of whom report verbal and physical assault in such spaces.” was especially annoying as it is so blatantly false that there have been no attacks by 'trans' people but many ON 'trans' people.

The bit about trans people being on the receiving end of sexual violence I felt was a pisstake given I had pointed out in my letter that women suffer a lot of sexual violence, and mainly at the hands of males.

My paraphrasing might have ignored many of the key points, on reading that back. But the whole letter is basically just saying, your fears are totally unfounded, no men are a danger to women, and you are transphobic.

The race segregation analogy is fallacious.

Race and gender are both socially constructed hierarchies, but based around objective criteria - skin colour, genital configuration etc. All are used as subjugation mechanisms (often violent, always disadvantaging) in order to keep perceived inferior classes of people in their place. They are all based on objective externally verifiable criteria.

In order for your analogy to apply to the trans community, you would have to have a sub set of white people identifying as black and being discriminated against by the "cis"-black community. Well, Rachel Dolezal tried that and she was rightly laughed out of town. Trans people rightly deserve their own advocacy groups, services and spaces. But you can't have one group of people identifying as another group... the already privileged groups - biological males/white people are bolstered, the disadvantaged groups - women/black people lose out further as opportunities once open to them are eroded to people in the other group claiming them as their own.

Women have recently lost the right to abortion in all circumstances in Brazil. Under threat in the US. This is substantive threat to women's well being based on biology. Imagine if the patriarchal law makers in these countries banned things associated with the feminine gender - lipstick, lacy knickers etc, unfortunate maybe but no great shakes for women's wellbeing. Instead it a full frontal attack on our bodily autonomy at a biological level.

Biology is integral to understanding feminism... how and why women are oppressed.

Most people these days think such segregation is wrong. But the arguments against treating trans-people the same as people of their actual birth gender are the same reasons - these people are different, we will be in danger.

Are you saying most people disagree with sex segregation here? I would respectfully disagree. I can count on one hand the amount of people I know who do not think sex segregation is necessary, both for safety and privacy reasons.

Even the pro transagenda people I know believe in sex segregation. This is a red herring given that most "binary" trans people want to access the facilities of the opposite sex. I think you are saying that I should unquestioningly and unconditionally accept their claims to be women. But I don't. Nothing I've seen from online transactivists would induce me to allow any more of them into female space. They are frequently misogynistic, mentally unstable males in my experience.

I did ask this on another thread but this one is getting a lot more traffic and I've not yet had a reply...

It may be me being paranoid, but if any of our MPs DID feel moved to oppose or debate the law in Parliament, could they quote any emails or letters we send? As in "my constituent X has written blah blah blah". In the current climate with the hounding of anyone gender critical in the media etc, I wouldn't feel happy at all having my name attached to this, even though I fully believe it's right!

When I wrote, I deliberately said I want them to redact my name and address if they share my letters. Because I didn’t want to be targeted by transactivists.

Thanks for your reply Batshite. It's the first one I've seen from anyone where they have actually used any evidence to dismiss women's concerns besides the deeply flawed Women and Equalities inquiry. The quality of that evidence notwithstanding. They will be hard to convince.

I never thought of that. My names fairly common though so fairly sure they could not hunt me down by it. They have never managed to find me thus far, and I have been threatened with rape almost daily and told they will find me and kill me. Apparently they trawl through old twitter posts and such to try and put things together to find you. I actually use my real twitter account for gender critical stuff (I didn't realise quite how much abuse you get for saying you don't believe bepenised people are women to start with, and by the time I clicked on I was already on a terf list and they were already trying to find me, so changing at that stage would have been pointless), so either I have been good over the years in hiding myself, or they aren't as clever as they think they are.

Yes I think that's probably a wise precaution under the circumstances.

I haven't contacted mine yet. I'm waiting for a critical mass of publicity to build up so I can hit him at the right time. Awaiting the wording of the consultation for England and Wales as some MPs appear to have used the fact it hasn't been published as an excuse to fob people off. However if it's like the Scottish one, it's worrying.

My mum has also asked me to draft a response to hers, so I will do that too.