Trevor Phillips in the Times

[RhymesWithOrange]

Trans extremists are putting equality at risk

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0fe1693a-d56f-11e8-926d-96790161a92a

Sorry I don't know how to do a share token but this is brilliant. Some extracts:

The disaster of the public consultation process on gender recognition has revealed a government so terrified of being labelled transphobic that it is ready to destroy half a century of painstakingly assembled anti-discrimination legislation to the detriment of every woman, person of colour and disabled individual in Britain.

The self-declaration principle, masquerading as compassionate recognition, risks making a mockery of the struggle for equality. If ministers give in to trans zealots, a white man would merely need to say “Today, I’m a black woman. I might not be tomorrow but, hey, who cares?” Well, I do. And so should everyone who genuinely believes in fairness.

Trevor Phillips WROTE the Equality Act 2010. How can politicians argue with him?



ShotsFired it's then end of the consultation but it'll be a long fight before changes become law, it's not too late.

Mordaunt and co will be coming to a decision on this very shortly. I think his input may have been timed to have an impact on them, rather that on the public.

I can't thank The Times enough though for providing the platform.

Brilliant piece. Registering for a few free articles a week allows you to comment, btw.

I think his input may have been timed to have an impact on them, rather that on the public

yes. If I were a Tory would be grandee (and maybe leader...?) I wouldn't want to go up against Trevor Phillips

I expect PM choked on her marmalade when she read this

could be time for a rethink Penny

Amazingly, the comments are appearing already, it looks like in real time! Normally, they don't appear for a few hours on these articles!

I think his input may have been timed to have an impact on them, rather that on the public

I agree. Trevor Phillips is probably the first person to have come out against self-ID who actually has significant influence behind the scenes in the exact area of equality legislation.

This is a very helpful intervention.

I think the timing is great too - a public consultation (where the term are being challenged) is not the end of the process it’s another step along the way. Having Trevor Phillips says this gives MPs cover to challenge it. Plus he has explicitly supported Janice Turner in his comments so he may have judged this as a good time to go on record.

And still there is at least one "a small minority of radfem Tory's don't want this." Comment, how many thousands do they need to be against it before they realise they are the minority?

If anyone here is able to comment, some has replied to a post about TW in women’s prisons asking how many there are. Be great if someone could add the FPFW/MOJ FOIA data in, as I get the impression the questioner thinks Karen White is a one-off.

Rad fem Torys

yes, that well known demographic!

these people are actual loons aren't they?

I think he's right. They will come for ethnicity and religion next.

It's already happening on the fringes. There was that white TW who identified as a Muslim woman and insisted on attending a mosque in Brooklyn and using the women's section. The women complained, but the mosque leaders were told by government that legally they had to allow the individual to attend as a woman (to their utter confusion and bewilderment).

Where there is a benefit (political, financial, cultural, social) in terms of power, influence or access, these people will go for it. Look at the whole Elizabeth Warren issue over her supposed Native American ancestry. I don't think she genuinely tried to identify for nefarious reasons, but the fact was that no one raised any question over it for years.

Great article. Thank you for sharing

Rad fem Torys

yes, that well known demographic!

The cognitive dissonance resulting from holding a regressive, rigid, hyper-individualist ideology but believing it to be "progressive" is something to behold, is it not?

I agree. Trevor Phillips is probably the first person to have come out against self-ID who actually has significant influence behind the scenes in the exact area of equality legislation.

Except of course for Linda Bellos.
Attempts to smear and silence her are ongoing through the private prosecution by Guiliana Kendell.

threads:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3237264-Linda-Bellos-arrested-Title-edited-by-MNHQ-to-make-clear-that-she-was-in-fact-interviewed-under-caution

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3348613-Linda-Bellos-prosecuted-in-private-by-trans-activist-Thread-title-edited-at-OPs-request

Linda Bellos speech on her knowledge and role in equality legisation:

Guiliana Kendell included by OP TheHarpySings in following thread about recent TRA conference, 'We're Still Here' :
(extract)
"Mr Lord was very bumfaced about the Andrew Gilligan article about him in July and said that opposition to the GRA consultation just wanted to “cause mayhem.” He directly mentioned the Man Friday Hampstead Pond stuff.

Apparently “there have been no incidents of men turning up to the women’s pond but Man Friday turned up to the men’s pond and demanded admission- by force if necessary.”

As of 8/9/18, 15.5k people had completed the attitudes survey.

Lord said that TW were entitled to the protected characteristic “Woman”- he said the Gov dept on woman and equalities has confirmed this. Apparently the brave and stunning vexatious litigator Giuliana Kendall has something to do with this being confirmed. (continues)

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3398737-We-re-Still-Here-Conference-8th-September-A-report-from-the-inside

Amazingly, the comments are appearing already, it looks like in real time! Normally, they don't appear for a few hours on these articles!

I was just going to say the exact thing. I'm so used to seeing my comments greyed out, it makes a nice change.

Rad Fem Tories
'Accuse your enemy of your crime'. Arendt

these people are actual loons aren't they
No. It's funded, marketed and promoted with professional precision. This is a cause, hijacked by the usual suspects, to divide opposition at a time when macro politics is taking a dangerous lurch to the extreme right.

Same techniques being used against women and feminists were used against Jews in the 1920s-30s.

(premises targetted, access to HE blocked, silencing, businesses targetted, public villification, mob rule)

Alliances between opposition parties and Jews, like alliances between liberal and left wing parties and women are targetted and shut down.

Have just read this. Great piece, from someone with real clout and a background in equality which can’t be argued with.

Although, like pps, as I read it I thought, why only now?

I can see the tide turning though, as ordinary women who put their heads above the parapet seem to have given the great and the good a nudge to courage and conscience, at fucking last!

LangCleg I agree the coauthor of the EA2010 coming out saying ‚this is not how the legislation was intended‘ and pointing out the problems with the current path is helpful.
That said, it should be noted that the person who wrote the US Patriot act pointed out years later that it had not been intended for how it was used now and urged its repeal. And yet, administration after administration has renewed it and allowed it to be applied in the most Orwellian manner. So...

How do you see comments in the Times app? I can’t see any or how to see them.

I can't see comments in the app either, I read it in a browser because of that.

one tiny gripe - he seems to believe that men who have had SRS are no longer male - but apart from that, absolutely spot on.

I didn't get that. Personally, I think there is room to treat people who have medically and socially transitioned (transsexuals) as socially female while still maintaining women's sport, refuges etc.

Also: Trevor Phillips, woo hoo.

This has definitely been timed for maximum impact on the Tories, both those like Mordaunt who may not be fond of the idea of going up against Phillips in public on his area of expertise and those who have wanted to object but been too scared to.

I wonder if he approached the Times or if they approached him.

I think he’s realised that once they’ve come for the women, they’ll come for black people (and other minorities too) and he’ll be powerless to stop it.

Or perhaps he, rightly, worries that trans , as the cause du jour, will eat up attention and funding that should be spent on reducing other inequalities.

So every training session DH attends run by Stonewall looking at the issues faced by a very small number, who in his industry are often middle class white men, is a training session that could be looking at how managers can support and mentor ethnic minority women, and every pound spent on gender neutral loos is a pound diverted from elsewhere. (Bristol Uni is spending £3.4 million whilst their welfare spend is £1 million pa. £3.4m might pay for a lot of access support for non traditional students.)

Except of course for Linda Bellos.

Yes. Apologies to Linda!

Also, recall that many of us have suspected for a while that if the consultation doesn't yield the "yep, full steam ahead with self ID" result that they were hoping for some Tories fully intend to press ahead with self ID anyway. Phillips is also talking to those people.