#SexMatters - MP letters

[Badgerthebodger]

Hello everyone, I’ve volunteered to be one of the team to help get the Sex Matters campaign off the ground. Over the next few days I’m going to get some template letters together by collating all the excellent posts people have shared and refining them into separate templates on different issues which people can use to write to their MP.

Writing to your MP is a hugely important step - unless we speak up our voices will not be heard. Let’s stand up and be counted, let’s be a nuisance, let’s make our objections and worries heard. I’ll come back and post letters once I’ve fine tuned them.

Could I also ask you to PM me if you have had a positive response from your MP? I would like to get a list together of gender critical MPs as I think there’s safety in numbers and it might be useful to know who is supportive. I am not going to put the list on here as it will inevitably result in a pile on but I would be grateful if you could let me know who is with us.

Many thanks!
Badger

Another confirmation that Badger is the real deal!

It would be great to get an overall view of our MP's opinions so we know who to approach for assistance and who to target with more letters. I'm really interested in Scottish MP and MSP replies so please add these into your pms.

So far my LibDem MP Jamie Stone has been supportive and wrote to the Scottish parliament with my concerns (says he has a duty to do this even though he is not a MSP). It was all news to him though and I'm not convinced he appreciates what the LibDems party position is.

My constituency MSP, Gail Ross (SNP) has yet to reply (2 letters and a request for meeting outstanding).

As for the regional MSPs:
John Finnie, (Green) - no reply to 2 letters and a request to meet.
Rhoda Grant (Labour) - initially replied with brief statement of manifesto quotes, so not supportive of us at all. Has now agreed to a meeting next month.
David Stewart (Labour) - no reply to 2 letters and a request to meet.
Maree Todd (SNP) - no reply to 2 letters and a request to meet.
Donald Cameron, Edward Mountain, Jamie Halcro Johnston (all Conservative) - very non-committal and of a wait-and-see what ScotGov do attitude.

I don't mind posting this info here because it seems to be a common experience with MSPs throughout Scotland. There seems to be a remarkably high occurrence of simply ignoring constituents. It was the beginning of November when I first made contact and I've made next to no progress in getting any of them to talk with me. I will keep on keeping on!

My Labour female MP is awful. She won’t give a damn. I’m hesitant to write a letter detailing my abuse just for her to dismiss my concerns. I’m already getting anxious and depressed over this issue - even dreamt about it the other night

Is it worth the risk?

#democracyisdead

I’ve written (emailed) my female Labour MP. Auto response says 28 days for a response and if no reply within thst time, please feel free to chase up 🙄. She has until the end of next week.

@AreYouTerfEnough

You don't need to give any personal information, and certainly not to a likely unsympathetic ear. How about saying you support the five demands from A Woman's Place UK and add a small personal experience or statement why you agree with one of the demands. It could be something as simple as mixed-sex hospital wards are universally hated, both men and women find the lack of privacy humiliating, so single-sex spaces are very important.

Ok so I’ve looked at a lot, A LOT of threads, us MNetters are prolific

I have come up with a few pointer phrases and paragraphs and am working on a number of different concerns and approaches so people can personalise and pick and choose what works best for them. I’m hoping this is a better approach than say, 8 different letters which will always sounds samey. There’s a bit of work still to be done so I will let you know when there is something to look at.

Thanks for your help so far!

Not samey was what I was trying to convey. Thought it would be easier to dismiss if they suspect same source and that people are. Only going along with something someone else has decided.

This is a good idea Betsy

Glad it helped, but it's advice that comes straight from fairplayforwomen.com/womans-place-uk/

Over a month now since I wrote to my MP. I'm going to chase through his web page.

Areyouterfenough... I so empathise ... this is happening to me too..... haunted by what is happening and often find it difficult to concentrate on something else....

And badger huge thanks for working on those letters - look forward to seeing them....

Hello people on this thread, I have another thread running with the letter template but I have made a note of the posters on here who want letters and will try to send them out to everyone but it would be a massive help if you could PM me if you want one.

I’m currently on my way back from holiday and stuck at the airport but I will catch up on PMs by the end of the weekend

Jacob Rees Mohr doesn't do emails.

Mogg!

Please keep writing, its so important. I've written once and will write again, Its a complicated message so every little helps.

@LongWeek
When you say your MP doesn't reply to template letters, what constitutes a template letter? Is it when they get lots that are the same, or can it just be one without a 'personal' slant to it?

I ask because I wrote my own letter, based around the Women's Place UK demands, with some examples of potential problems, but no personal experiences.

Do you think they would view that as a 'template' and not respond? Do I need to say something more personal in order to get a response?

Oldcrone (can only speak for my office- every MP is different)
'Template' letter- eg from 38 degrees, absolute copy & paste, nothing personal.
In some offices, they get a reply.

In our office, a single extra personal line, and you'll get a reply. (Eg template about NHS drugs, a line saying 'my child has this disease and really needs this drug- you'd get a reply)

Some offices- if it looks template, even with some personal bits- no reply.

Sadly there is no obligation for MPs to reply to people, so if yours is a safe seat, MPs can just ignore people.

(We reply to Everything personal by letter, but when you email 5/10x a day, we stop replying)

And if you are threatening to the MP, their family or staff, we don't reply. Well, we might, but not when you threaten to shoot us.

@Longweek your input has been so helpful on this so thank you It was your posts which made me change the format to something which I think will work a lot better than a standard template as it’s more of a list of suggestions where you can choose one or two issues (backed up with evidence) which ideally personally affect you, so you can then expand on them in your own words.

Would you mind if I PMed it to you to look over? I would be very grateful for any constructive critiscism - that goes for everyone who has asked for a template; it’s not a fait accompli and I am more than happy to consider any suggestions.

well the reply may be sent to them longweek, but delivered by the ploice armed response team?

We done @Badgerthebodger good news.

I've written to my MP. He is a knob! Letter back all about LGBT rights.

Who else can I write to? Advice on who to write to would be hreat, please?

Badger- very happy. My phone doesn't seem to like me replying to PMs at the moment, and I can't access a computer at the moment, so there may be a delay in replying.

Blackeyedsusan

Italiangreyhound, you could ask for your letter to be sent on to the minister /shadow minister responsible for their answer as well.

Chased my MP by email today. I wrote to him on 4th March and nothing yet.

Got an email back from MP's office. It appears they have not received my letter .

Have sent it again by email, with some updated comments about the Tara Wood case and the Mercure HH statements. Also linked to the WPUK Youtube channel.

Not confident of getting a response, tbh.

I've now heard back from my MP (a cabinet minister who I'll just refer to as "he" here) in response to a letter I sent a couple of weeks ago which contained passages from the template Badger helpfully provided. I'll summarise the content.
He assures me that "There is no hierarchy of equality" and raising the profile of transgender equality "has not been to the detriment to women". It's all about equal rights.
"Proposals to streamline and de-medicalise the process for changing gender will be part of a broad consultation of ... the Gender Recognition Act". "The proposals include removing the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria before being able to apply for gender recognition, and options for removing the length and intrusiveness of the gender recognition system". (I note he makes no explicit reference to self-ID.)
He then talks about how the Equality Act 2010 allows organisations to provide single-sex services, saying "the Government has no intention of changing the safeguards already in place to protect vulnerable women by providing these services. Those who run single-sex services are professionals and make decisions that are in the best interests of the individual in need and other services." (Yeah, maybe.)
On consultation, he assured me that "The consultation on the reform of the Gender Recognition Act will be a wide and open consultation, and I know the Government Equalities Office wants to hear from all stakeholders, including women's groups and refuges". He tells me that "Ministers will consider further evidence and representation from all affected parties before taking any future policy decisions" and he ends by saying "I would encourage you to contribute to the consultation when it opens".
So it's presumably a standard government brief which one of his assistants turned into an email for him to send me. I suppose it's disappointing for anyone hoping to hear that the government has given up any idea of 'streamlining and de-medicalising the process' but encouraging, I guess, to the extent that they say they want to hear all views.

Hopefully not bumping a zombie, but I finally got a reply! It’s from a Labour MP and not as dismissive as I thought it would be. Not sure why the reference to LGB though... is there hope?

Hi Katya no not a zombie! I’m grateful fo you sharing the response, sounds reasonably ok? I would love to know when and with whom the government will be consulting