Second reading of Gender Identity Bill 24th Feb

[Stopmakingsense]

If you haven't raised this with your MP yet, now is the time -
www.transgendertrend.com/gender-identity-rights-of-the-child/

Wobbly

My understanding (and I am new to all this so may be wrong) is that this is a Private Member's Bill and as such has very little chance of getting passed. Usually PMB's only go through if they have the support of the government, which this doesn't. This is the second reading, so there are other stages which would need to be gone through before the bill would become law. It's also worth noting that we don't actually even know what the wording of the Bill is until later this week.

So the Gender Identity Bill is extremely unlikely to become law at this stage. But the Womens and Equalities Committee report on Transgender contains lots of very concerning recommendations. The government response to the report has rejected some recommendations, but accepted some other (including ending women (biological sex definition) only spaces, services etc so none of this issues are off the table.

According to this it looks like the second reading has been put back to 12 May 17.

That's good, more time to engage and speak to MPs etc.

MP's arent listening. The only replies from MP's so far are cut and paste Trans ideology. I'm very concerned, they are too scared to oppose this in case they look like bigots.

MPs have shown absolutely no understanding or concern for women.

They might have deferred the readonf of the bill because of backlash in the media. The Ian Huntley thing has probably given them pause for thought as it would cause an outrage.

Probably more to do with the terrorist incident disrupting the schedule. It probably isn't at the forefront of many MPs minds, one way or the other, between that and Brexit.

djbaggysmalls some MPs are listening. (Some MPs never listen whatever the topic is). The soft spot at the moment is the medical intervention with children.

I also think Woodpigeon is correct in that as a private member's bill it is unlikely to become law, especially given the legislative workload of Brexit & the 2 year deadline to complete that in once article 50 has been triggered.

That said, in many public services, it seems to be that practice already seems to recognise self declaration. There does need to be Parliamentary scrutiny of safeguards which the equalities committee has failed to do, as they have ignored red flags from a number of (non-feminist) experts such as the British Psychological Society.

Medical intervention with children (under 18) also needs better scrutiny. Waiting increases the risk of several children having unwanted side effects from Lupron, as have already emerged in the US from children who were prescribed this for growth issues. We don't yet know what the psycho-social effects are of postponing puberty are. Cross sex hormone treatment from the age of 16 has irreversible effects,especially for girls taking testosterone. We could wait until we have a generation of de-transitioners , or we could put in better safeguards now.

I think it might be worth pointing out the ignored advice given to the committee. That isn't so easy to handwave away when it's not your pet agenda, as it is Maria Miller's.

Reposting an update from the Gender Critical Manifesto thread.

Good news on Miller's private member's bill:

"This Bill was expected to have its second reading debate on Friday 12 May 2017.

However, as a General Election has now been called and Parliament will be dissolved from 3 May 2017, the Bill falls and no further action will be taken."

thank you for the update. This was one bill that really frightened me as I watch companies sleepwalking towards disasters.

Fingers crossed it will he quietly forgotten. I get the feeling the tide is turning and legislators are becoming more aware of the implications. 🙌🏻

Phew. Thanks Betsy.

I'm se thankful to read this news. Thank you!

Thanks Betsy, that's a relief.

It's literally the best thing about the coming snap election

I've written to my mp twice about this. The first time I got a wishy washy reply that looked to be a bit of a cut and paste job, the second time I got ignored. Sigh.

Great news, the tide is turning. I hope it doesn't turn too far and affect trans people negatively, who are not trying to stamp all over women rights. The TRAs have been very damaging to the cause. The aggression they have shown could only come from men. They are as far away from being female as it is possible to be. I'd like to get back to fighting for equal rights for trans as a group so they can live their lives in safety and dignity.