AIBU to refuse to use 'preferred pronouns'?

[BonBonns]

If someone presents themselves as transgender and says they want to be known as 'she' do I have to do that?

Do I have no freedom of speech?

I do not believe people can change sex.

I do not believe that a man can become a woman. With pronoun use. With hormones. With dresses or lipstick. With surgery.

It is just NOT my personal belief.

Is it a hate crime to refer to someone born male as a man against their will?

Even if it is against mine?

Where would that end?

I am atheist. Do I have to say I believe in God to appease a Catholic? Am I forced to refer to a priest as 'Father' even though I don't follow that religion?

If someone is called David but wants to be called Dave am I to be investigated if I choose to continue using David?

Isn't this madness?

How can my own beliefs come 2nd to someone else's delusions?

It is biology. It is science. It is common sense.

A man cannot become a woman any more than I can become 23 again or an antelope.

An assembly at school told us that almost half of young transgender people have attempted suicide.

You know that statistic is false, yeah?

Also, you are how old, and what on earth is that kind of fake stat doing in an assembly at your school, fgs?

Sadly thats not true, in 2012 a British study of teenagers identifying as something other than their birth gender found that 84% had contemplated suicide, 35% attempted it and 25% more than once.

That wasn’t a proper peer reviewed research study.

This is the real research: gids.nhs.uk/evidence-base

Interesting you should say that- I have been in no way misogynistic and I have all the empathy in the world for women
Gaslighting. Why not just call me fat and ugly too and I'll have a full card on misogynist bingo.

Some of the people on this thread make these kids feel like they would rather die than be who they are

Idiot.

My age is irrelevant- why should that have any bearing on whether what I am saying is valid or if this forum is 'for me'.

Because your ignorance is staggering, and I might be a bit more forgiving if you are really, really young (as I'm almost certain you are, especially with your last statement - only very young people say that).

www.stonewall.org.uk/sites/default/files/trans_stats.pdf

I have all the empathy in the world for women, being a woman myself

Meaningless. No different to what a TRA would say (if less aggressive).

Why call me an idiot? What about that statement was idiotic?

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/teen-transgender-drama-butterfly-inflates-suicide-risk-9ng3z22mv

You are being mislead. Who actually gave the assembly?

Ahh, Stonewall, that bastion of truth, honesty and inclusiveness.

People who don’t use the pronouns a man wants are responsible for young people feeling suicidal.

Idiot.

ellastellabella

This is a forum for parents, really intended for Mums. Why is a child trolling here? It’s weird.

I want to contact your school because they’ve provided false information and it’s actually really dangerous. Stop spreading falsehoods about suicide.

Those statistics are for INPATIENTS who are transgender.
People INSIDE a hospital. Not representative of the whole population...

No they aren’t.

They are for all. One of them happened to be an inpatient. The others were not.

That’s the total number of trans youth suicide and suicide attempts.

I am a) not a child and b) not trolling, just saw an opportunity for discussion and voiced my views.

Mumsnet is it not obvious why this forum is not for you? I don’t want to debate with a child, particularly an obviously misinformed child who has been fed lies by TRA’s.

You are school aged. You said it yourself. That means you’re a child. This forum is not for you.

Actually, if you are a school kid it's actually a good thing that you're curious to find another side of the debate, but I would suggest reading up rather than accusing anyone who disagrees with you of transphobia, as it's a lot more complicated than just 'being kind':
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3335962-Frequently-Asked-Questions-FAQs-I-have-noticed-here

Penny it’s half term. They’ve probably got a project to research and decided to do it on trans youth.

Hopefully they will learn a lot about research and how lobby groups aren’t reliable sources.

Seriously, arguing with official stats whilst using a stonewall survey 🤦🏽‍♀️

It only serves information for trans youth under the GDIS, not representative of the whole population.

BettyDuMonde Yes, my teen is on half term 👍 she’s painting and reading, not trolling Mumsnet and abusing women! ( they’ve had 2 abusive posts removed today so 1 more.... )