The reason why the UK is so important in the Trans battle: why we matter as the "tipping-point"

[loveyouradvice]

I have only recently realised why we are so important in this strategy and why Trans resources will be poured into the UK..... and why, if (and when) we win this for girls and women, it will be so significant.

On another thread, someone posted that:
the population of the UK is bigger than the total of all the populations of the countries that have legalised Self-Id put together.

If that is true, it is a very scarey thought.....and I suspect it is

All the other countries who have legalised it are TINY in terms of population - small numbers where managing anything controversial should be so much easier......And we have already seen the problems it is causing within these countries.

Apologies if you have already realised this - I hadn't and it has made me aware of how very important it is to win this for women and girls.

The country where I am currently has a draft Bill on self ID to go before Parliament. It has gone completely under the radar. It is not in mainstream news. People are not being informed. It will be brought in by stealth.

I only know about the draft Bill myself through professional reasons. It's depressing that this is supposed to be a democracy, and yet these things are being done in secret.

Important threads:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3145470-Break-it-down-for-me

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3241837-Why-has-the-trans-lobby-been-so-successful

James Kirkup article:
'Why are some MPs trying to shut down the transgender debate?'

(extract)
The other column that [Stephen Doughty MP] was so interested in also concerned children. In particular, he was struck by the Times’ headline using the phrase “trans lobby”. This, for reference, was on a column that argued that a number of changes in policy and convention are being made at the urging of groups advocating things that they say would benefit transgender people which, the columnist suggested, were not in the best interests of children. “You will understand why that is a particular concern, given the previous use of “gay lobby”, “Jewish lobby” and all of those sorts of things,” Doughty said. “Do you think the use of the phrase “trans lobby” is an appropriate one?”

As it happens, Dr Carmichael in her lecture said some things that seem relevant here:

“Gender has become amazingly topical and we have to be really careful not to assume that anyone is exploring or questioning their gender is going to want to change their bodies in line with that. The extremes on either side are not helpful. We need to look at the grey areas in between. To do that we need to be able to talk and discuss these issues. All too often stakeholders become lobby groups.”

She did not name any stakeholder. But her words might be relevant to a charity called Mermaids. Mermaids is a charity that describes itself as “a support group for children and young people with gender dysphoria and their families”. Its CEO, Susie Green describes herself as “parent to a daughter who was born male.” Mermaids is a relatively small charity (it had income of £127,000 in the year to March 2017) with a big reach. It has prominent backers and its advice and recommendations have been absorbed and adopted by many public bodies.... continues

blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/05/why-are-some-mps-trying-to-shut-down-the-transgender-debate/

There is a thread on Reddit’s Gender Cynical board asking why the UK is such a hot bed of Terfs.

I’m tempted to sign up just to make some sort of comment about ‘British Women in Sensible Shoes’

Alex: can we do anything to help publicise it?

There's quite a bit going on in NZ at the moment I think.

I think also it helps that we don't have (NI excepted) a politically influential Christian right. Politics is always a tribal affair and it probably works better, say, stateside, to accuse people who don't buy gender identity theory of being akin to fundies. Here, everybody just goes eh? Like who? The fact that we have an NHS has also meant that child transition has not proceeded at the same pace as in jurisdictions where healthcare is private.

I think that freedom of the press, free speech and political process will ultimately have more influence on how England & Wales respond. These issues intersect as James Kirkup alludes in the article above.

Universities and British comedians may well also become significant.

I don't know, Pratchet. I am currently living in Cyprus. I know of the draft Bill through a client who works for the Ministry of Justice - she brought me some texts to translate that mentioned the forthcoming changes in legislation, and whe I queried it, she told me the gist of the Bill. I don't know what you could do to publicise it in Greek in Cyprus.

I have been talking about it to other parents of children at the same school as mine. None of them had a clue. Several have said they will contact the MP - but obviously they all live in the same constituency. A few people said they had heard ridiculous stories from the US and UK, and they were sure it wouldn't happen here. I wish I shared their optimism.