To call to all: You have less than a month. Please act now to protect women's rights (Closes 1 March 2018)

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The Scottish Government's consultation on changes to the GRA closes on 1st March 2018.

The rest of the UK will likely follow Scotland's decision, so this is your chance to make your views known.

For those who don't yet understand the risks to women from changes to the Gender Recognition Act, please read this document. It is pretty straightforward

leyaterra.wordpress.com/2018/02/06/gender-the-gra-and-womens-rights/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Then please complete the Scottish Government's consultation.

You do NOT have to be Scottish or live in Scotland to complete it.

consult.gov.scot/family-law/review-of-the-gender-recognition-act-2004/

The brilliant Dr Nic Williams wrote a guide to the consultation

fairplayforwomen.com/scottish-consultation/

PLEASE complete it and pass to friends/family

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Finally got it done! I've been meaning to do it for ages!

done...these proposals are batshit crazy

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I filled it in, but didnt really know how to put my fears across.
What i dont understand, is if you really wanted to be legally recognised as the opposite gender you would jump through all the hoops requires surley? The hoops that protect the trans and others from the perverts.

I've only read the first part of this thread but I wanted to post and I can hear the kids stirring so I've scrolled to the end.

I've filled in the survey. I've never cast my opinion on this before although I've read a lot.

The thing that worries me most and I could be wrong here, is that I get the sense that our opinion put into the general public is the minority. Mainly because people are so misinformed. I'm actually hoping that someone will tell me I'm wrong here.

I was considering linking the survey on social media and saying something about it, but I wimped out. Mainly because I know that the people in my network are all very pro transgender etc. I'm pro transgender but not at the expense of women's rights. I believe there must be a way to protect those who want to change their sex, as well as women's rights. The trouble is I'm not very eloquent at explaining my thoughts and when challenged with this type of stuff I crack and can't put up the fight. So I didn't post it on social media because I didn't want people to misunderstand my thoughts and think that I am against transgender.

I feel that so many people are misinformed on the proposed legislation. I have a close family member who is very left and very pro everything. She is passionate but she also gets extremely cross if you offer an opposite opinion. She thinks everything in support of transgender is brilliant and to be backed. I showed her the proposed legislation and she completely hit me down. She's an incredibly bright person with real conviction but she just didn't get it. Perhaps my lack of eloquence in explaining it did me no favours but I was left feeling anxious that someone like her who has spent much influence, just didn't get it.

So why don't more people understand? Why is this not "out there"? Or is it and I'm just late to the party? I'm worried. I think we should be doing more to protect women but I don't know how.

Hi Maverick,
public opinion will be gender critical once fully informed. In the traditional working class community where I live, you'd be seen as a loon for suggesting TW are women.
If only due to the thought of any man being allowed access into their teenage girls loos.
I think why the trans activists have had so much success, is because they've hitched their wagon to the LGB, and that they've framed it in the language of the civil rights movement, so it looks progressive.
But not everyone is to the left, and has an automatic 'oppressed victim! Must be on their side!' reaction.
I, myself have been totally guilty of this in the past, and this issue has been a learning curve, to actually engage my brain and think about issues instead of having a knee jerk reaction.
Usually a discussion around puberty blockers for kids, and the 'cotton ceiling' peaks people pretty quickly.
I think the government will see how the Scottish consultation will go.
Sorry to derail thread!

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Another gem from the scientifically challenged brigade. I have just followed Science Vixen. It's encouraging to see some of the responses to the tweet.

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I’m pro transgender but not at the expense of women’s rights - exactly.

I've done it.

Just a couple comments: Panelbase carried out a poll in late December in Scotland that showed that women are 3:1 against these changes, so we are very much in the majority (I mentioned this in my post linked by the OP as it's something the government should not ignore either).

Most people don't realise what is actually happening and/or are just too afraid to speak out because of the climate of hostility, and then there are those who think that asserting trans women aren't women is to say that males cannot perform femininity, and must stay in their gender box.

Once people realise what is actually happening, and that what we are actually saying is that to define 'woman' as other than simply a bio female is to define women via gender stereotypes - and that this is what we are taking issue with - and indeed that we encourage gender non conformity, so it's not about viewing any group as less than, but rather about asserting these are different groups, women and trans women are not the same.

Once people are clear on this then they usually start to come round at least to the idea that debate is necessary, apart from activists and journalists and some politicians who don't care about women and girls.

We do have the silent majority behind us, and remember, every single response to the consultation counts, they often describe support in terms of % for different positions. Also, I have campaigned on student funding 10 years ago where I managed, with the help of my then local MSP, to get the govt to do something different to what they had proposed, so it does happen - the key is arguing that this affects our equality. For eg, as we saw up in the thread, there are young girls having their chances in competitive athletics thwarted by the inclusion of males. This is not happening to males, so there is an equality issue, females no longer have the same equality of opportunity in sports as males do, as a result of 'trans inclusive' policies that only affect the chances of women. I give many examples in my blog post re equality/participation etc. It is not acceptable, and even if the govt ignores this just now, we need to keep fighting it. We deserve equality, and this has to be based on sex.

Done.

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Leyat in your blog you say:

this is aided by organisations like Stonewall in their refusal to any longer support females to be exclusively same sex attracted

Can you provide a link with more information, when you get a chance? As I haven't been able to find that particular statement anywhere on the Stonewall site or by Googling. Thanks.

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Done

Done.

My OH has done it too.

DD is also going to fill it in, along with asking her Uni friends to do the same.

Hi @leftoutandwondering, I am very happy for people to refer to my blog regarding Stonewall, in terms of 'the claim was made here that Stonewall...'. I contacted them and asked them directly if they would state that they support the right of women to exclusive same sex attraction and after much to and fro they refused, and I responded that i would be writing about their refusal to any longer support exclusive same sex attraction so they were clear on that (my comment re it being seen as transphobic can be taken from how Ruth Hunt et al have written publicly on basing attraction on sex and not gender and Google will bring up a number of pieces, but I was after a statement from Stonewall Scotland specifically on excl same sex attraction). So I wrote my blog as a source that can be linked to, but the main point for me in this is to raise this issue with the govt, tell them to get a categorical statement from any LGBT/Trans org regarding exclusive same sex attraction, to say they do not find this inherently objectionable. Not only should these orgs not have a say in policy when this is their position, but they should not get any govt funding. This is a big deal and these orgs are avoiding making outright statements to avoid the consequences of their position, the only way to force this is to demand the govt approaches them on this - I will be pushing for this. I think we should demand this from our local MSP's.

I have to tell you I can't agree with this at all.

It's extremely narrowminded and sensationalist and seems to be re-enforcing your own agenda against trans people, rather than a feminist issue.