Maria Miller MP repositioning or U turn re Transgender Equality Report and GRA self-id reforms?

[R0wantrees]

Interesting articles and statements by Maria Miller MP (Chair of APPG Women & Equalities) today.

' Independent: 'Government 'mishandling' trans rights reform by failing to tackle health inequalities, former Tory minister says'
(extract)
"A former Conservative cabinet minister has accused the government of “mishandling” reforms needed to improve the health and quality of life of trans people.

Maria Miller, the chair of the commons women and equalities committee – and equalities minister under David Cameron, said basic healthcare “taken for granted” by the public is out of reach to trans people.

This is down to the government’s failure to act on recommendations made by her committee three years ago, the MP for Basingstoke said.

The committee is due to publish a new report on the care of LGBT+ people in the coming weeks but Ms Miller has already warned services are “going backwards quickly” – with trans people among the worst affected." (continues)

There also appears to have been little thought as to how the legal reforms of the Gender Recognition Act would be achieved, she added.

The reform pledge faced a backlash from some feminist groups, who have raised concerns that people who identify as a different gender could gain access to single-sex spaces, such as bathrooms, or services.

Ms Miller called on the government to make clear that no one’s rights would be eroded by making the legal system fairer to trans people.

“My advice to ministers is that they should be clear that there is no threat to single-sex services, they are clearly protected in law and they need to be clearer on that,” she said. (continues)

www.independent.co.uk/news/health/trans-rights-reform-lgbt-gender-recognition-conservatives-maria-miller-theresa-may-a8707691.html

HuffPost:
'Senior Tory Maria Miller Says Transgender Issues 'Mishandled' By Government
Ex-minister says self-ID reform "not as important" as basic healthcare.'
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/transgender-issues-mishandled-by-government_uk_5c2c9408e4b05c88b70433ca

Professor Kathleen Stock's analysis of the flaws of the inquiry led by Maria Miller: medium.com/@kathleenstock/womens-place-talk-full-text-house-of-lords-oct-10th-2018-b1f3d70c4559

Janice Turner Interview with Maria Miller 2017:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/2993425-Maria-Miller-interviewed-by-Janice-Turner-full-text

Pam Ayres - totally agree with that. MM should be the first person to go when they start to see sense finally.

I don't see Maria Miller as any part of the solution but very much a part of the problem.

David Davies has done a better job whilst be hindered all the way.

Well said, Pam. I won't be forgetting Maria Miller's part in this.

Absolutely agree, Pam.

What is it about a TW that makes them a W?

Transubstantiation. Well-known, that is.

The threads which include many questions and concerns for Penny Mordant MP (Minister for Women & Equalities) might also be asked of Maria Miller MP who is the chair of the APPG Women & Equalities & the cross party members of the group as well as Dawn Butler MP (Shadow Minister for Women & Equalities)

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3297184-Your-comments-for-Penny-Mordaunt

This thread evolved from the original one posted by Justine Roberts at the beginning of the Govt. GRA Consultation:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/site_stuff/3297067-Mumsnet-moderation-response-to-yesterdays-feedback

(As its in another place, 'Talk', there is a risk it gets lost.)

There are also serious issues raised in the thread collating some of the failings and failures of Child Protection & Safeguarding frameworks:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3301266-Safeguarding-girls-and-protecting-women-post-Jimmy-Saville-metoo

Maria Miller's reassurances about single-sex services are meaningless because she believes that TWAW. She has said that transwomen should have access to women's refuges and rape crisis centres. Has she made a U turn on that?

Has she made a U turn on that?

Maria Miller was speaking directly to the Trans Lobby. She was 'running an idea up the flag-pole to see who salutes' - the ubiquitous ploy of a politician to save face.

She was, in effect, offering to see what could be done about NHS waiting times for Gender Identity Clinics, prescriptions and surgery, in return for Stonewall and the rest relaxing their campaign for self i/d.

There was nothing on offer to the female sex - ie the people who are already disadvantaged by the state's support for gender ideology.

Maria Millers reassurances about single sex services are meaningless because the law is already vague and people are already interpreting it to mean that single sex services are not protected. (See the famous case of the Girl Guides).

I'm also confused about her claim that trans men can't access smear tests - why not? I thought doctors had to record biological sex by law?

GPs get paid for smears and seem desperate to give them, i cant see them turning anyone down. What they might be whinging about is the invite letters.

I thought doctors had to record biological sex by law?

Apparently not, it's up to the patient.

A 24-page Public Health England booklet giving information on NHS screening programmes for trans people explains who is routinely invited for tests.
The booklet explains that trans people who register with their GP as being their birth sex will be invited to screenings appropriate to that.
But if they register with their doctor as their new gender, they will not be. For example if a trans man, who was born a woman, registers with a GP as male, they will not be sent an invitation for breast or cervical screening. Studies have reported most trans men have not had their wombs removed.
Cervical cancer claims the lives of 900 women each year in Britain, but the NHS screening programme is estimated to prevent thousands of cases.
A video accompanying the guidance explains that smear tests can be “uncomfortable” for trans men, as “it is often a procedure designed for women”.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/14/women-identify-men-not-offered-routine-nhs-breast-cancer-screening/

I think Rowantrees linked to legislation in another recent thread that made it clear that GPs must record sex and gender?

It seems very odd that any doctor would be expected to provide adequate care if the patient deliberately withholds information.

I really don't know why my GP would need to know my gender identity unless I have gender dysphoria, but how can they even do basic tests if they haven't recorded my sex?

Helen Lewis has published a generally good response to this. But what I fail to understand is why Helen still claims TWAW.

I would also like to understand more regarding her logical and evidenced reason for this belief system.
I know a PP has submitted an extract from one of HL's earlier articles but it still doesn't make sense to me. Immigrants to other regions don't magically become like those who were born and raised there. Sure a person from the UK can choose to immigrate to the US for work, love or the sheer thrill of living in a foreign country. But they can only ever truthfully say that they are UK born and raised and have chosen to move to the US and adopt their ways, customs, accent potentially, etc. They do not magically become someone who was born and raised in Iowa

The NHS doesn't appear to think 'sex' is an important characteristic: self identified gender is the information required from patients.

I wonder if all that training, the implementation of recommendations from the Parliamentary Committee and the guidelines for putting trans patients "at the heart" of the NHS, has been counter-productive?

Who benefitted from the changes in the NHS's gender-based data collection model? Could the answer be "No-one"?

My main problem with TWAW is that I don't really understand when it is relevant.

Most of the time I specifically don't want to be treated 'as a woman'. I want to be treated as me, a human being.

I can't think of any situation where it is necessary to distinguish between men and women except because of biological sex.

Helen Lewis has published a generally good response to this. But what I fail to understand is why Helen still claims TWAW.

According to Helen Lewis: "Male and female are biological categories, but “man” and “woman” are social ones."

So I think what she means is not that she thinks that male people can change into female people, but she doesn't believe in the standard dictionary definition of 'woman' as an 'adult female human'.

In other words, she doesn't believe that all men are male and all women are female. She believes that transwomen are women, but that they are also male. I think. I'm now unsure what she thinks a woman is.

I can sort of understand TWAW in the legal sense that once somebody has a GRC they must be treated as their acquired sex. The problem is that I don't know how you treat somebody as a sex unless it's a situation where differentiating sex is important, and then the logic starts to break down.

Anyway, I think Helen Lewis definitely distinguishes between sex (can't be changed) and gender (like nationality).

If Helen Lewis believes that transwomen should be treated as women in all areas of society, she should just say so. Comparing the outcome of gender dysphoria to citizenship is emotive nonsense. If she is saying TWAW just to be nice, national identity would be a better analogy as it doesn't have any legal meaning.

As for the choice of wording used by TRAs, "basic healthcare" sounds better than "any cosmetic surgery we want for free", I guess.

merrymouse

Most of the time I specifically don't want to be treated 'as a woman'. I want to be treated as me, a human being.

I can't think of any situation where it is necessary to distinguish between men and women except because of biological sex.

Yes indeed, crucial point, often made on FWR, rarely seen elsewhere. The only reason to segregate is sex, for specific reasons. There is no good reason to treat any by 'gender'

I don't want to be treated 'as a woman' unless it's relevant because it relates to my reproductive biology or smaller muscle mass etc. And relative vulnerability in specific situations. I don't need to be treated 'as a woman' in general conversation, or when doing my job, when dealing with a mechanic about the car etc.

The other thing I've done is right away learned the most courteous phrases in the country's language, which never include phrases like "Die in a Fire" or "Let this penetrate: ich bin auf Deutschland!"

Hello, wanted to introduce myself after a friend alerted me to the many discussions on MN about transgenderism. I have to say, though, that the relevant and most recent threads are not easy to find; I had to do a lot of searches till I found this one!
Up to now I have been following the concerns about TG thrugh the Facebook page of Fair Play for Women so I am up to date on the Maria Miller about turn. I will read the thread later.
I am 67, a mother and grandmother of two girls. I want to see them grow up safely and confident within their female bodies; i do not want them to be forced to share spaces with people with male bodies, so here I am!

Hello arunadasi and welcome.