Labour councillor quits in row over facilities for trans people - The Times

[ReappearingWoman]

Anne Sinnot, Labour councillor (Cambridge) has resigned.

"Ann Sinnott stood down from Cambridge council claiming that the authority was treating women with contempt and was acting in “dereliction of the law”. She said a policy that resulted in single-sex facilities, such as toilets or changing rooms, being “abolished at a stroke” was undermining women’s rights and was a breach of the equality act."

I don't have a clicky link or share token. Hopefully someone else will add?

Ann Sinnott writing in The Spectator today

blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/08/ive-quit-the-labour-party-because-it-has-betrayed-women/

Not a lot of sympathy from the BTL posters so far, but they generally seem to dislike feminists.

That Spectator article needed a penis fact box.

As expected...

Relevent to the concerns raised by @AnnMSinnott

This article was published yesterday. Two girls aged 10 and 12 were seriously assaulted :

(extract)
"the accused had been to the toilets with a carer and was walking towards the exit when the young child walked past.

Miss Lumsden said: “The accused (said their) mobile phone was still in the toilets and returned to them, alone.

“The young girl was in a cubicle and was sitting with her leggings and pants down when she saw a hand holding a mobile phone over the partition wall.

“The girl shouted and the person rushed out of the adjacent cubicle.”

The young girl then left the toilets and was described as looking “shocked”. The matter was reported to the police who retrieved in-store CCTV footage from the time of the incident.

Investigators were able to identify the teenager, whose accommodation in Kirkcaldy was searched.

A 12-second video clip of the girl on the toilet, followed by footage of the teenager running away, were recovered when an iPad and a mobile phone were seized.

A second incident took place at the Morrison’s store in Kirkcaldy on March 4.

The court was told a 10-year-old girl had been inside the toilets while her father waited outside.

Miss Lumsden said: “The complainer’s dad then heard his daughter screaming and came running out of the bathroom, looking as if she was running away from someone.

“She explained that a crazy man with long hair was in the bathroom and had grabbed her face and pushed her into a cubicle, before demanding she take her trousers off.

“She said the person had said they would stab her mum. She was upset and inconsolable.”

Police officers attended and found the cubicle locked inside the female toilets.

A male voice was heard coming from inside, saying: “I’ve been silly. I bumped into her. I’ve been silly.”

www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/fife/702003/fife-teen-on-sex-offenders-register-after-supermarket-child-attacks/

thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3329936-teen-films-girl-in-toilet

the person convicted had "been in the social care system from the age of three and had been actively engaging with mental health services"

thread which includes both the toolkit and resources produced for professionals working with young people in the care system questioning their gender identity & specifically for the children & young people (Tara Hewitt was an adviser: co founder & of TELI) :

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3324578-Vunerabilities-of-Looked-After-Children-Social-Work-CP-restricted-by-affirmation-requirement-Trans-Youth-in-Care-Toolkit

2011 Cambridge First Interview with Sarah Brown: 'Cambridge couple battle prejudice after sex change'
(extracts)
"In fact she [Sarah Brown] was named at the weekend as one of the most influential LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people in the Independent on Sunday’s ‘pink list’ for her role in pushing for greater visibility and respect for transgender people in society.

She describes herself as “probably the only ‘out’ transgender activist serving as an elected politican in the UK”.

Sarah came in at number 28 on the list – one place ahead of TV fashionista Gok Wan." (continues)

"While Sarah is currently the only transgender member of Cambridge City Council, she is not the first. In 2007 Jenny Bailey – a former Liberal Democrat councillor who is transgender – was sworn in as the city’s mayor.

“Jenny is a good friend of mine and I’m very grateful to her that she has almost paved the way,” she said.

“I’m enjoying being a councillor and love this city and want to do the right thing by it.”

But while she feels “very humbled, thrilled and bowled over” to be nominated and appear on the ‘pink list’, Sarah remarked that being transgender is only one aspect of her life.

“I am still the same person 
and I love climbing mountains,” she said.

“If I have a random conversation I’d rather have it about climbing.”

Leader of Cambridge City Council Cllr Sian Reid said Sarah deserved national recognition after fighting many battles.

“Sarah is an extremely effective member of the city council who brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise,” said Cllr Reid.

“She gives the LGBT community in Cambridge and beyond a strong voice and her work goes a long way to breaking down barriers and encouraging greater acceptance.”

<a class="break-all" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20111101214325/www.cambridgefirst.co.uk/news/interview_cambridge_couple_battle_prejudice_after_sex_change_1_1111876" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">web.archive.org/web/20111101214325/www.cambridgefirst.co.uk/news/interview_cambridge_couple_battle_prejudice_after_sex_change_1_1111876

Johnny Best article, by includes reference to Sarah Brown (former lib dem Cambridge cllr) trans rights activism:

'The story of my first brush with trans activism and what I learned.'

(extract)
"In 2005 I became the artistic director of Manchester’s Queer Up North Festival. QUN took place annually in Manchester between 1992 and 2011 and had a tradition of disruptive, provocative performance work centred around sexuality and gender" (continues)

"In 2007 QUN began a drive to programme a greater variety of events aimed at our lesbian audience. Like many LGBT or queer organisations, we’d been a bit gay men-centric. One of the artists I researched was a hugely talented singer songwriter — Bitch — yet to perform in the UK. She is top-notch musician who’d appeared in John Cameron Mitchell’s gorgeous film ‘Shortbus’ — I felt confident she would find an appreciative audience in Manchester.

So I invited her. She accepted and the event quickly sold out.

Then, a few weeks before the festival, I got an email.

It informed me that Bitch had performed at Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, which had a policy of admitting only natal women. Apparently not only had Bitch appeared at the festival, she’d defended its women-born-women admission policy as well. Therefore, the email argued, Bitch was transphobic and the event must be cancelled.

Today, this sort of email from trans activists is commonplace, but in 2008 it was something new. As one of the authors of this email, Sarah Brown , recounts in the new book Trans Britain - Our Journey from the Shadows, what was about to happen between a small group of trans activists and Queer Up North would become the prototype for the many campaigns which were to follow — and which continue today." (continues)

thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/a3337410-Artistic-Director-of-Queer-Up-North-speaks-out-on-trans-activism-Stonewall-and-womens-rights