Mermaids response to piece in Mail tomorrow

[EweSurname]

Looking forward to seeing what drops

www.mermaidsuk.org.uk/press-enquiry-from-the-mail-on-sunday-25th-may-2019.html

We are very proud of the training we offer to schools and we have a proven record of helping teachers to support vulnerable children who simply want to get along with their lessons like any of their classmates.

We are disappointed to find that a school governor has made a covert recording of our training because our presentations are not held in secret and all of the scientific and legal information we offer is publicly available and well-tested.

We are surprised to see that a Church of England rector is complaining about our training when we are included in the CoE guidance on support for transgender people, which can be found here.

Part of the work of Mermaids is giving training talks to schools. These talks are well received and are an important part of how we promote an inclusive and informed approach to trans children and those who support them.

We have been contacted by the Mail on Sunday who are doing an article about one such talk. This post is our response, in accordance with our policy of posting our replies to media queries for the benefit of anyone interested in our activities.

misinformation from mermaids.

Definition of "misinformation":

"false or inaccurate information, especially that which is deliberately intended to deceive."

I concur.

Otherwise, Mermaids would have studied in forensic detail both the GRA 2004 and the Equality Act 2010 and would know that it propagates erroneous information about UK law.

Young, socially transitioned transgender children between 3 and 5 years old are just as likely as gender‐typical children to:
(a) Prefer toys, and clothing culturally associated with their expressed gender,
(b) dress in a stereotypically gendered outfit,
(c) say they are more similar to children of their gender than to children of the opposite gender how could a child do all this and know all this without the parental or societal influence?

So the jelly baby thing. They actually believe it going by that extract. This really needs sunlight and the mail could be the one that can open the curtains.

I wish I had such faith in our laws but look what has happened in Canada. Canada itself pretty much replicates our entire legal and political system. And the only resistance in the US has come from Trump and no one cool wants to come out of favour of him and ruin their rep. He and the republicans are never really going to be a feminist icons with their abortion stances.

The worst in the UK are those WEP fuckers. I’ve never been in favour of a gender specific party of any stripe but how the fuck anyone has the cheek to campaign on the issue of women’s rights and then willingly support causes which erodes them is insane

I think this is it.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7070773/Vicar-resigns-schools-plan-eight-year-old-pupils-sex-change-secret-parents.html

Our UK law will stop it. Our law is really very clear .. and it has been utterly misrepresented [deliberately or otherwise] by those who propagate "gender identity" ideology

But the law isn’t stopping this happening. It’s going on all around the country.

Who is regulating Mermaids? How can they be stopped from lying to organisations?

Someone needs to go into that charity, look at all their training programmes and tell them to change every incorrect reference to the Equalities Act. Who’s going to do that?

I’m so fucking angry this morning. It’s happening in plain sight and no one in authority is doing anything.

caucho There's been much consternation across the rest of the world that "UK TERFS" aren't taking this lying down but are fighting back. I think the resistance to the erasure of women has been different here so there's cause to be optimistic. Meghan Murphy has said so herself!

More bad news for Mermaids this morning - the Scouts have removed most references to them in their policy and disregarded the advice that aligns with Mermaids position of confidential disclosures etc

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/scouts-earn-u-turn-badge-after-scrapping-trans-policy-w6rnxbflc?shareToken=dc09effc06301868a86f76ddd096ed39&wgu=270525_54264_15588527048837_0478226934&wgexpiry=1566628704&utm_source=planit&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_content=22278

Do share this 2:30 video of Diane Ehrensaft a child gender therapist, on her experience with pre-verbal toddlers either flicking their unbottoned onsie like a skirt (amab), or pulling out hair clips, (afab). This is cutting edge stuff. . Mermaids etc lap up this nonsense, it is so misleading and downright stupid.
vimeo.com/185149379

That "training" is shocking, hope it comes to the attention of the Lottery. She says she's not there to listen, she talks over people, when he raises issues she tells him she'll send him some literature (presumably to prove him wrong!), she asks him about intersex then when he responds she tells him they aren't here to talk about that, she tells him Michael Biggs article has been discredited (is that even true?) and at the end has a pop at him about not all Christians to imply his comments are because of his faith rather than his biology degree. Appalling.

Having read that piece in the mail I’d say this mermaids organisation is surely ripe for a good piece of investigative journalism a la winterbourne view ... only a matter of time I reckon.

It's great that mermaids came out with that statement before the article as it's all there in black and white what they do do and believe they really are quite dim.

They state clearly they are for affirmative care. This is not Tavistock policy nor agreed policy as they also say.

They back up this flat earth science.

Mail article has numerous scientists pointing out the stupidity of the science including a fixed 'gender identity' and lawyers correcting them on the law.

The national lottery were wise to offer the grant on a year by year basis. Bar Kids Company I can't think of a more controversial charity.

It's behind a paywall but there was a supportive article about them in Third Sector magazine portraying them as the victims of nasty people www.thirdsector.co.uk/pictures-child-catcher-posted-online/small-charities/article/1584904

In the infamous 'Jelly Baby' recording, Jan the trainer from Mermaids, states:

*So toilets, changing rooms, sports, residential. The Equality act is unambiguous - its crystal clear. Unisex and gender neutral facilities are absolutely fine, but that’s not a disabled toilet with a sticker on.

But you can’t prevent anyone from using the facilities of the gender with which they identify and are living as. If someone complains, you provide an alternative to the person complaining. THAT IS THE LAW.

If you get a what if? which you will, just replace one protected characteristic with another and ask yourself the question again. So what would happen if you said ‘you can’t use those toilets because you’re Jewish?

Usually if you’ve got a ‘what if?’ just do that and it will quite often just give you the answer and then you can go ‘OK, I can deal with this. It’ll be fine. So that’s for primary schools..*

Am I right in thinking "affirmative care" means raising a child as the opposite sex? i.e. instead of just letting your child adopt things stereotypically associated with the opposite sex (clothes, haircut, name, friends, interests) is it doing all those relatively normal things AND pretending they are the opposite sex, changing pronouns and insisting everyone else pretends they are the opposite sex as well?

Im rather disturbed by the story suggested in the clip about Vincent the Vixen (anyone else feel that's a bit of an unnecessary overtly sexual choice of link to an animal often used to describe how women are dressed?)

• but specifically that his siblings appear to set the seed there's something 'wrong' with him because of what he chooses to play with.

Yes rickety it's gaslighting and coercion.

That "training" is shocking, hope it comes to the attention of the Lottery

I understand that the Lottery Fund will be reviewing Mermaids on a regular basis so I hope several of us will notify them on how awful the training still is.

From the review into the grant and specifically the criticism that Training courses are delivered in a manner which lacks authority and professionalism. For example, misinformation being given about human chromosomal development., the conclusion was;

Any organisation publicly presenting data has a responsibility to ensure the legitimacy of such information. This is particularly important when assuming a specialist and professional roleand in discussing matters which may practice, behaviour and understanding especially when working with children.Organisations run/operated by people with lived experience have an important part to play in educating professionals. However, there is also a responsibility to be clear when they are expressing opinion, describing an experience or stating fact. Mermaids should be mindful of this when undertaking their review of training and engage with relevant professional organisations who may hold such data.

www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/media/documents/Mermaids-UK-Review-Report_February-2019.pdf?mtime=20190219142027

I suspect it may be because of pressure of available time to apply critical analysis. All of our public institutions have been under enormous pressure during this period of public sector service cuts. More experienced public sector staff have taken the offers of early retirement to facilitate public sector service cuts, which has left a body of younger staff with much less prior experience, knowledge and wisdom. [Been there, seen and done that, worn the T-shirt and the mug got smashed ages ago].

And so the predators work on the naive prey!

That's an excellent point, Jacky. Thanks for your untiring clarity on this issue. Lisa Muggeridge has made points along these lines too, I think.

I put a lot of the blame on social media, the rise of reality TV/celeb culture and a move to relentless drilling and testing in the education system, so children are taught how to regurgitate rote learning, but not how to critically evaluate other people's arguments or the importance of being sceptical. Teaching respect for others has somehow morphed into 'never, ever challenge what someone else believes or you are committing a hate crime'.

A lot of people have been led to believe that their view is just as good as anyone else's and what matters is who has the most followers, which is often for extremely superficial reasons. 'People in this country have had enough of experts', as the vile Gove infamously said during the referendum campaign.

Anyway, thanks to the Daily Mail for grasping the nettle here. Long overdue that somebody does.

I get the feeling there are quite a few organisations who would like to sidle away from mermaids but can’t quite work out how to do it without bringing a shitstorm down on themselves. NAS springs to mind.
A journo needs to get in and find the smoking gun.

I should imagine in a few years there will be lots of documentary investigations with in these organisations.

There are on a downwards slide now

That recording is absolutely chilling. Talk about a pack mentality - all the others there seem to be virtue-signalling wildly and are falling over themselves to demonstrate their woke credentials, while the trainer is a complete and utter disgrace.

Betty the Badger FFS.

(Ha - just noticed my autocorrect changed 'woke' to 'women'....)

Interesting that it is a church school. Where beliefs about the existence of a supernatural being are taught to young and impressionable children. When I was little the training to be a catholic included the demand that I believed that the communion wafer and wine was literally body and blood of christ. Luckily I saw through it and refused to alllow this brainwashing. Children see through this lie also. Hopefully we are at the point where schools will refuse mermaids training too.

Great article- the mail readership is ENORMOUS.

Mermaid’s will be apoplectic.

But you can’t prevent anyone from using the facilities of the gender with which they identify and are living as. If someone complains, you provide an alternative to the person complaining. THAT IS THE LAW.

Incredible lies!

If you get a what if? which you will, just replace one protected characteristic with another and ask yourself the question again. So what would happen if you said ‘you can’t use those toilets because you’re Jewish?

I can't believe they are all lying that transgender is a protected category. It's is not.

I was aghast at that Vincent the Vixen story too. Choosing to wear a pink dress is not a sign that a little boy (or fox cub ) is really a girl! This is horrendous gender stereotyping.

At the risk of sounding like a snob, is that £16k salary quoted above to be a Mermaids trainer a full-time salary? What educational qualifications are required? That doesn't sound like a graduate salary, far less what someone with a science degree would be willing to accept, unless they were a fanatic, which would be a whole other concern. So I'd be wondering about Jan's ability to critique what she's been told to put in the training.

I wonder what Jan's professional/educational background is. 'In education' could mean she worked in a school office or as a teaching assistant. Valuable work, but not the same as being a teacher or educational psychologist.