Penny Mordaunt MP: Trans women are women, that is the starting point for this consultation.

[Macareaux]

This is even worse coming from a woman.

Link to cross-party members of the Women's & Equalities Committee:

www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/women-and-equalities-committee/membership/

I'll be surprised if I get a reply any time soon. I think my local MP's assistant will reply as I've met him before although my MP is Labour so I'm not expecting much in the way of support

I'm really not very good with words, would anybody mind if I copied their letter? Or could someone suggest something generic that I could send?

£4 million in a country of 65 million is about 10p per person...

Also:
www.parliament.uk/about/parliament-and-women/

I'm happy for anyone to take my letter as a template although I do think it's better to alter and personalise them a bit as a load of letters/emails that look like cut and pastes are less likely to be taken seriously.

Within the Women's & Equalities dept, Victoria Atkins MP is specifically Minister for Women

www.gov.uk/government/people/victoria-atkins

Thank you for emailing the office of Penny Mordaunt MP, Member of Parliament for Portsmouth North. We aim to respond as quickly as possible.
In order to help us to do so please would you include contact details, including your correspondence address so that we can confirm you are a constituent of Portsmouth North.

This comes back as an auto reply so I wouldn't be surprised if all correspondence from non constituency members are ignored.

I think you can contact your local MP with a specific request to ask a Minister? Alternatively it may be that contacting a minister needs to be directed to the specific dept rather than the local office of PM?

Hopefully someone will clarify

Without wanting to cause offence here the address linked earlier in this thread has a typo and should sayparliament.

No offence caused and thank you for picking it up. I hadn't noticed. I copied and pasted it so it's a little concerning it was wrong! We definitely want letters getting through to the right place.

Write to you own MP & ask them to forward to penny mordant. They should then send it on, and you should get a response back.
Warning- most ministerial responses are fairly bland, and will almost certainly repeat what penny has already said.

But DO write to your MP asking their view. Make it personal. If it’s genetic it might be ignored. Ask specific questions. If EA rights are to be protected, and if TWAW, then Surely EA meanings change.

Ask what your MP thinks.- do not be afraid to be explicit- should people with a fully functioning penis be allowed to share sleeping & washing places with women & girls? Ask about youth hostels, prisons, girl guides, hospital wards etc.

I work for an MP. Ask the questions. Keep going!

This honestly makes me despair. It isn't a consultation. They don't care about the rights of women and girls. TWAW is an extremist position, not supported by fact. Some people believe it, sure, and they have the right to be heard. But as a starting point?

Can you imagine it in relation to any other issue?

We're launching a consultation on abortion law. Our starting point is that all abortion is murder.
We're launching a consultation on school science teaching. Our starting point is that God made the world in six days.
We're launching a consultation on affordable housing. Our starting point is that private property ownership is wrong.

We're so far down the rabbit hole that I don't think letter-writing will make any difference.

current thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3295690-Dear-sir-or-madam-the-to-whom-do-we-write-to-express-our-womanly-fury-thread

LongWeek
Can I ask - what does it look like from there? Are MPs listening to concerns?
I have written to my MP again today, who has already replied that he will pass it on up - am I wrong to be hopeful about this?! I'm looking for any glimmer of hope!

The petition which reached 10 000 influenced the gvernment's response.

It currently stands at 12,421 signatures

At 100,000 signatures, this petition will be considered for debate in Parliament

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/214118

Consider the comments under Janice Turner's article at the weekend:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3292661-Does-the-government-consultation-re-changes-to-the-GRA-start-this-week-Janice-Turner-thinks-so

Also The Guardian article: www.theguardian.com/education/2018/may/15/transgender-row-teachers-afraid-challenge-breast-binding

Don't give up! Write the letter to your MP, there is such a small window before the consultation closes.
And at that point, if it all goes to hell, and if it really is the beginning of the end, at least you will not look in the mirror and say "There was more I could have done".

Acciowine
It will depend on your MP. We have had very few emails on this issue. Most MPs have simply not thought about it- they will start to now because of the consultation.

I have spoken to several MPs about it- all are supportive of trans people having equal rights, and being able to live in their new gender without fear.
But self ID is a different matter. Many are concerned about what it means for women’s services, and want reassurance that abusive men will not take advantage of new laws to make it easier to abuse women.

My MP is not in favour of self ID. He is concerned about threat to women & girls, and is very against transitioning of children.

There are GC MPs out there, they’ve just been keeping their heads down. And many of the others presume that trans = post surgery.

Raising awareness is good. Highlighting specific issues is good. Make them think about their mothers, their wives, their daughters sharing space with biological males.

Victoria Atkins MP (Women's minister)

twitter.com/Commonswomequ/status/1012719843840274432

Thank you LongWeek, I shall keep on going.

If transwomen are women, then transmen are men.

If transmen are men, then they should be allowed to inherit titles and estates over their younger natal brothers.

That is the only logical conclusion.

So why is the estates and title exemption retained in the GRA?

Because the government doesn't believe that transmen are truly men, although 'transwomen are women'?

Or because the government fears opportunistic, faked transitions? (After all, if self declaration becomes a thing, and no physical change is expected of a trans person, it would be the easiest thing in the world to fake. Candidates could keep their own sexual orientation and spouse, after all.)

But if this is the reason, why are natal women demonised for fearing opportunistic, fake-transitioning men in women's spaces?

Great news! Because trans women ARE women.

A penis is not a female sex organ in any species of mammal.

On writing to MPs and Ministers...

MPs will only respond to their own constituents - they may pass your letter along to the correct MP for them to respond (for example, neighbouring MPs will often get correspondence that should have been sent to the other one, and have standard arrangements in place to forward it on)

You can ask your MP to share their own views on a particular matter. You can also ask them to raise the issue, on your behalf, with the relevant minister. This is a particularly effective way of getting a reply from a minister, as ministers have to reply to MPs (a Cabinet Minister can delegate it to a junior minister in their department, though).

You can also write directly to a minister or member of a Parliamentary Committee, making clear that that is the capacity in which you are engaging them (ie not as a constituency MP). In many cases you are likely to get a reply from an official instead of a minister (though if the numbers who write on a particular issue are high enough, this gets noted at senior levels in the department in question), and probably just a standard response - at the moment, it will probably be along the lines of encouraging everyone to participate in the forthcoming consultation blah blah blah

Thanks Oleannas. Very helpful. We can't afford to waste energy.

I'd add:

Be respectful
Don't make allegations that it's all sewn up already or that there is some conspiracy
Avoid templates as far as possible
Proof read or get someone to do that for you.