Gov.uk statement about the GRA consultation

[donquixotedelamancha]

This doesn't seem to have been posted already:

www.gov.uk/government/news/facts-about-the-gender-recognition-act-consultation

The Gender Recognition Act sets out the legal process by which a person can change their gender. The Government Equalities Office wants to ensure that the legal gender recognition process works well for the people who use it which is why a consultation is currently underway. These are complex and sensitive issues. We know that many trans people find the current requirements overly intrusive and bureaucratic.

We have always made clear that any reform of the Gender Recognition Act will not change the exceptions under the Equality Act that allow provision for single and separate sex spaces.

In this current consultation, which ends next week, we are seeking to understand the issues in more detail and explore ways in which we can improve the system.

This is an open consultation – we are not putting forward any specific proposals for how we want the system to change. Only after we have gathered all the evidence will we set out what we think the new gender recognition process should look like.

Neither the Government Equalities Office nor Ministers were approached for comment on today’s coverage. The consultation ends next week and we will look carefully at all the responses.

Thanks.

@ollieentwistle is the man leading the charge, the depot behind the consultation

The tweets actually came from the women and Equalities select Committee, @womenequalities

So actually even more disingenuous as that's the commute that recommended reform of the EA 2010, removing single sex spaces and moving to Self ID

Shit actually I was right the first time! The tweets come from the office, not the committee

I'm not sure if I'm missing something in the thread because I can't see what's new about this, tbh.

The govt have been saying for months that they don't intend to make any changes to the sex-based exemptions in the equality act. Which is why TRAs are saying "but it doesn't affect you."

And yes, we know that Stonewall etc were planning to have those exemptions removed by stealth, but the point is that even if they remain in place, those exemptions are rendered meaningless on the ground by self-ID. We are already seeing this happening in practice.

Will this translate to tomorrow’s meeting, then?
A clear and open consultation will certainly want to hear from Women’s groups... won’t it?

There is a desperation to try to frame women as scare mongering.

Pretending they were never going to change the EA and its only admin is an intentional communication strategy to undermine women and describe us a liars. Which is a dubious strategy for them to use as the recommendations are all there on record, showing they are in fact liars.

Here it is again;

Exemptions in respect of trans people
21.Significant concerns have been raised with us regarding the provisions of the Equality Act concerned with separate-sex and single-sex services and the genuine occupational requirement as these relate to trans people. These are sensitive areas, where there does need to be some limited ability to exercise discretion, if this is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. However, we are not persuaded that this discretion should apply where a trans person has been recognised as of their acquired gender “for all legal purposes” under the Gender Recognition Act. In many instances this is unlikely, in any case, to meet the proportionate test. (Paragraph 132)
22.We recommend that the Equality Act be amended so that the occupational requirements provision and / or the single-sex / separate services provision shall not apply in relation to discrimination against a person whose acquired gender has been recognised under the Gender Recognition Act 2004. (Paragraph 132

And of course here again is the Private Members bill to add gender identity to the EA2010. Which only got stopped when May called a snap general election in 2016.

(gender identity is the thing that got Karen White into a women's prison).

services.parliament.uk/bills/2016-17/genderidentityprotectedcharacteristic.html

Incidentally here's the other people that supported this for Maria in 2016;

Gender Identity (Protected Characteristic)

Presentation and First Reading (Standing Order No. 57)

Mrs Maria Miller, supported by Jess Phillips, Mrs Flick Drummond and Ben Howlett, presented a Bill to make gender identity a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010 in place of gender reassignment and to make associated provision for transgender and other persons; and for connected purposes.

Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 24 February, and to be printed (Bill 106).

Jess Phillips? I'm surprised.

Flick Drummond, eh? She's apparently keen to get back into Portsmouth South. I doubt Pompey has much love for pomo mind games.

Philosopher Penny's in Portsmouth North. They need to be careful they don't alienate their core voters. Portsmouth's conservative tendency is through a naval heritage, not affluence, and Portsmouth South in currently Labour with minority Lib Dem Council.

... Portsmouth South is Labour, and the city has Lib Dem Council.

The govt have been saying for months that they don't intend to make any changes to the sex-based exemptions in the equality act. Which is why TRAs are saying "but it doesn't affect you."

The bit in the Equality Act that affects sex-based exemptions is the protected characteristic of 'gender reassignment'.

The bandwidth of gender reassignment expanded: you don't need a Gender Recognition Certificate, you just have to claim that you will, one day, possibly, seek surgery or hormones and a GRC.

The 2010 Equality Act brought in self i/d by stealth and allowed those without gender dysphoria to jump on the backs of transsexuals' who needed the protection of the law during a difficult lfe-changing process.

The misuse/abuse of the protected characteristic of gender reassignment has already had a detrimental consequence for women's spaces (Karen White, girl guides, NHA, mixed sex toilets, women's amateur sports, shortlists etc.)

if you can legally change your sex, then it negates sex as a protected characteristic in the Equality Act.

This is the key issue and I'm sick of being lied to by the likes of Mordaunt about it.

I got the standard line about this in the reply I got from Mordaunt's office about it - they cannot seriously believe the shite they're talking on this and must know perfectly well that it means anyone under self-id gets the key to the spaces.

Penny Mordaunt's statement:

"Penny Mordaunt The Secretary of State for International Development, Minister for Women and Equalities 1:17 pm, 3rd July 2018
The hon. Lady is absolutely right. Ultimately, what will enable someone to hold their partner’s hand as they walk down the street is not a piece of legislation but a culture change in this nation. As I have said before, back in the 1980s—before many of us were in politics—we saw the homophobia that gay men, for example, faced at the time. I am sure we all agree that if we had been in politics at that time, we would have called that out and stood up for those individuals. That same scenario is happening now to the trans community, and we must show our absolute unwavering solidarity with those individuals. As I said in my speech this morning, trans women are women and trans men are men. That is the starting point for the GRA consultation, and it will be its finishing point too. We need to send out a strong message on that front, and I thank the hon. Lady for affording me the opportunity to do so.

www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2018-07-03c.184.1

OK, I concede. Thick.

What's the point of a consultation then? Mordaunt has already decided the end point of it.

What's the point of a consultation then?

Rubberstamping.

Oops.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Mordaunt

Mordaunt's wiki entry is interesting. She's basically a cool girl - trying to show all the men in her life that she's just the same as they are.

Incidentally her twin brother is a gay instagram star whose entire feed is selfies of him wearing very little, pouting at the camera

Place marking

They are going to implement self ID. And say that 'the EA exemptions are the same' so self ID doesn't matter at all. Which is a clear lie.

People are goign to get hurt when they do, they'll have blood on their hands.