Reporting problems with the GRA consultation

[Oldstyle]

Baroness Nicholson who invited WPUK, FPfW, TT to run a session on the GRA at the House of Lords) suggested that problems with the consultation - content, language, focus, process, publicity etc - should be reported. Apparently we can do so via members of the Women & Equalities Committee. Worth doing. This is so very important.

Here are some of the problems people have raised... sure there are more.

Consultation advised by TRA lobbying organisations. No women's groups or women's services consulted.
Poorly publicised (except within trans community). No public meetings arranged by govt / local govt.
No support for women who attempted to organise meetings to discuss the GRA. No condemnation of attempts to silence them or prevent them meeting, often by violent means.
No clear information available from govt, either about the GRA or the related EA. Contradictory/incorrect info supplied when specifically requested.
Focus almost entirely on the impact on trans people - few opportunities to explain the impact on women & girls who will be directly affected.
Language complex/academic & hard to understand. Frequent confusion with terms 'sex' & 'gender' - misuse is significant given the implications of the GRA.
Consultation has not been translated, further excluding those religious/cultural groups who rely on women-only spaces.
Govt Minister Penny Mordant began consultation by stating that TWAW and has met several times with Stonewall who are promoting the GRA change. She has not met with women's groups.
The collection of the data is suspect. Anyone from anywhere can complete it as many times as they wish.

This is the email address for the Government Equalities Office:

[email protected]

Thank you Oldstyle I am worried that they have had lobby groups in to write stuff which should be neutral and written in line with civil service values.

This is so great. Will do this.

The Equalities Office hates us. Can we send it anywhere else? I don't trust them.

I've emailed them, asking when the Women's Consultation is due to take place.

If I get a response, I will then ask other questions.

Excellent question

Thank you Oldstyle I am worried that they have had lobby groups in to write stuff which should be neutral and written in line with civil service values.

Agree.

Judging by the dismal revelations on this thread it would seem that starting at pre-school level might be necessary with some of the committee members. Such as directing letters/emails to Sarah Champion spelling out some pretty damn basic biological facts.

Absolutely shocking beyond words that a presumably-educated woman, an elected MP, can be this clueless.

The deadline for submitting a response to the Consultation is Friday 19th October 11pm. Fair Play For Women now have a "one-click" response to which you just add your e-mail address.
Please read my previous 3 posts above.
Dr Kathleen Stock gave a talk on 10th October to the House of Lords pointing out how biased was the initial enquiry on "transgender rights" by the Women and Equalities' Committee in 2015. Here is a link: medium.com/@kathleenstock/womens-place-talk-full-text-house-of-lords-oct-10th-2018-b1f3d70c4559
The real solution, which would bring the law back into line with biological reality, is repeal of the GRA 2004. The gender-critical transsexual Miranda Yardley favours this: medium.com/@kathleenstock/womens-place-talk-full-text-house-of-lords-oct-10th-2018-b1f3d70c4559
Please see another Mumsnet thread about Prof Kathleen Stock's speech in House of Lords: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3391330-Prof-Kathleen-Stock-WPUK-speech-at-House-of-Lords-Important-disection-of-the-key-issues-for-MPs-policy-makers-etc-with-ref-to-The-Trans-Equality-Report?watched=1&msgid=81821232#81821232

Sorry. Miranda Yardley's article is here: mirandayardley.com/en/why-the-gender-recognition-act-2004-should-be-abolished/

The Equalities Office hates us. Can we send it anywhere else? I don't trust them.

Me neither. I was just deciding whether I was prepared to risk sending an email. Isn’t that awful that women feel that way about an office that’s supposed to represent them.

Thank you Oldstyle I am worried that they have had lobby groups in to write stuff which should be neutral and written in line with civil service values

They absolutely have. Gendered Intelligence wrote guidance for the EA that drastically negatively impacted women’s rights via the sex exemptions. Their sodding logo is on the government document.

They are a lobby group who have openly campaigned for the removal of those exemptions, which their guidance drastically weakened.

It’s ridiculous

I wondered about the Cabinet Secretary who is responsible for the Ministerial Code among other things. It was Jeremy Heywood - he was having treatment for cancer though so I'm not sure if he's back or not.

Can we write to the baroness to forward our complaints, asking her to pass them on?

I am actually afraid of the Equalities Office. It is an extreme transadvocate grouping.

I think the Baroness will accept complaints. Even if all she does is pass them on she's an ally and will be inclined to hold people to account (if that's possible given the levels of incompetence/corruption/inertia). I'd also suggest that we copy all messages to WPUK, FPfW and TT. The more pressure the better.

RedToothBrush shared this on another thread, from today in the HoL.

hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2018-10-17/debates/E6F1FE28-73F1-47A3-8276-40FEB920DF31/ChildrenGenderDysphoria

Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne (Con)
The Minister has mentioned the GRA consultation document already, which is on the web. Would he consider reviewing, withdrawing and reissuing that document? I have known a number of people try to fill it in and it is a little difficult; the language is complex, opaque and many of the linguistic terms are not readily used. I am not certain whether the general public, with whom we are consulting, are normally ready to read 100 pages of explanation before finding a small number of questions in the middle. It is a monumentally complicated paper, which has had little academic consultation, and people with less than a higher level of education have told me they simply cannot understand it. Will the Minister consider reviewing that document?

Lord O'Shaughnessy
It is important to distinguish the provisions of the Gender Recognition Act from the health services provided for people with gender dysphoria. Nevertheless I take the noble Baroness’s comments on board; I know some concerns over the document have been raised with the Government Equalities Office, which has responsibility for it; the Department of Health does not have direct responsibility.

I'm no legal expert but it seems that there is a clear case for a judicial review for failure to consult.

Sarah, that's massive that they have not even translated it. Shows the massive arrogance that this was aimed at straight white males (I say straight as there are questions cleatly dedicated to marriage to give middle aged TRAs yet more freedons)
The Govt's assumptions over who this should target are outrageous.

Okay, so got a response to my email asking when the Women's Consultation is going to take place.

"Thank you for your email of 15 October regarding the Government’s consultation on reforming the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA. I am responding on behalf of the Minister for Women and Equalities.

On 3 July, the Government launched its consultation on reforming the GRA in order to make the process less bureaucratic and intrusive for applicants. The consultation ran for an extended period of 16 weeks, closing on 22 October.

The consultation was conducted in accordance with the principles of openness and objectivity. The Government made a commitment to listen to all voices and to understand and address the legitimate concerns that were raised from all sides of the debate. We did not put forward any specific proposals for how we wanted to see the system change. This is because we entered this process with an open mind and did not want to pre-empt the findings of the consultation.

During the consultation and our pre-consultation engagement work, we made a particular effort to reach out to a diverse range of voices. We wanted to understand how any changes to the GRA might affect the rights and responsibilities of, amongst others, transgender people themselves, women, providers of single- and separate-sex services and religious groups. To that end, the Government Equalities Office met with over 100 organisations before and during the consultation period, including LGBT groups, women’s groups, faith groups, other Government departments, foreign governments and other civil society organisations. We have worked hard to hear all perspectives, and we are grateful to everyone who has contributed their views to this consultation.

We have had an exceptional response rate to the consultation, which indicates a real desire to engage with the issues and contribute to the Government’s understanding. As a government, we therefore have a responsibility carefully to consider all the contributions we have received and determine how, in our response, we will properly address all the views expressed and concerns raised. This includes considering the effects that any reform may have in specific contexts, such as single-sex spaces, prisons or schools.

Considering all of these responses will not be a swift process, and we think it is right that we take some time to ensure that we get this right. We therefore do not anticipate publishing any response until next year, and we will not be in a position to comment on specific issues related to the consultation during that period.

Thank you once again for taking the time to write to us on this important issue.

I hope this information is helpful."

So clearly they don't wish to engage further.

That is why I intend to engage further.

I was going to ask:

• Which women and women's groups specifically did you consult with?

• Which LGBT groups specifically did you consult with?

• Which faith groups specifically did you consult with?

Are there minutes/notes/reports of these consultations?

If they do not respond to my email (and they've pretty much said that they won't), then of course I can submit a FOI request to ask for the information.

Any thoughts? Are any of the other organisations/individuals who are doing work around this? Be good if we can pool our efforts.

So clearly they don't wish to engage further.

That is why I intend to engage further.

Good for you, Popchyk.

I would ask whether they only met the leadership from women's organisations or if they consulted any service users. You could send them the Stonewall and the FPFW domestic violence sector reports to illustrate the stark difference. This is important because the consultation was designed around the needs of individual trans people. So where is the input from individual women? Because none of the consultation questions addressed the needs of women. Women could only respond to some of the questions properly and even then only by already being on the back foot of defence.

Popchyck - You should also ask what efforts they’ve made to engage female service users of eg refuges, homeless hostels, mental health wards, schools. The issues with only speaking to management teams, whose hands are tied by trans inclusivity criteria for funding, have been covered by FPFW and others.

Thanks for the suggestions.

This bit made me guffaw:

"We did not put forward any specific proposals for how we wanted to see the system change. This is because we entered this process with an open mind and did not want to pre-empt the findings of the consultation.

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