Emailing my MP

[TheFlatController]

Hi,

I'm thinking of emailing my MP about the proposed changes to the GRA and associated issues. I'm having trouble formulating my words and wondered if someone could give me an example kind of things they've said. My worries are about erasing women (people with periods? Pregnant person?) and ignoring safety issues with allowing men into women's spaces. My DH is a teacher and he's also concerned that he could accidentally find himself in trouble for saying the wrong things at work.

If it's of any relevance, MP is a male, middle-aged Tory. A very toryish Tory, if you know what I mean.

Thank you!

I sat down to write an email, decided it was too difficult, so arranged a face to face meeting instead. It went really well. My MP is a woman though which made it feel a bit easier

OP, that sounds like a fantastic idea. I would echo the sentiment that a meeting is better than an email but in my opinion, any contact you can make is worth the time. I think it is a good idea to keep things personal to you and DH. Keep things in your own words. Perhaps use concrete real world examples to illustrate your points.
So when it comes to female erasure in public documents, you could mention the storm over Cancer Research UK ( www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3278840-Come-off-it-Cancer-Research-UK ) or the BACP guidelines ( www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3350718-To-wonder-how-many-female-Mumsnetters-actually-meet-the-definition-of-woman-according-to-BACP-the-main-professional-body-for-counsellors-and-psychotherapists ). When worried about professional implications in teaching environments, a recent case was Angelos being fired from student organisations for retweeting a Spectator article wondering about women not having penises... ( www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3371733-Times-reporting-the-sacking-of-Angelos-Sodocleos ) or the harassment of academics ( www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3359116-The-Times-smear-campaign-by-trans-lecturer-at-Goldsmiths )

Resource threads:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3336551-Due-to-see-MP-about-GRA-womens-rights-Any-advice
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3166160-Has-anyone-written-to-their-MP-about-the-GRA
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3198021--SexMatters-MP-letters
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3083137-Contact-your-MP-about-the-Gender-Recongnition-Act

I asked mine about women only hospital and psychiatric wards and he said people who exclude trans women are a bigots who need re-educating.
But yours is a Tory so you might get on better. Also, that was before Karen White, so I might try again.

I have a template letter which you can add to and edit - I will PM you. It is a little out of date so you will need to look at it carefully but it does provide a starting framework.

I led with the Karen White story as it’s recent and shocking. I then mainly focused on wanting to be able to have sex-segregated spaces, using examples that could potentially affect my daughter (girl guides and British gymnastics)

I’m seeing mine (having recently moved I now get a relatively well known Tory male-who has a daughter) so am following this. I will need to filter out a lot of the things I now know to fit the time I’m allocated but just know my mouth will run away with me. Which is no bad thing!

Thank you for all your replies. I'll read through the links posted, and formulate from there. I'm pretty sure the MP in question has at least one daughter, so hopefully he might see some sense in what I'm saying.

Local friends who,have emailed him about various different issues have received a response in return. Not a standard acknowledgement one, but an actually written one. He comes across as a twat in many of them, but at least it shows he's reading them. May follow up email with a meeting.