Amnesty has drunk the Kool Aid

[AlessandraAsteriti]

I asked Amnesty to amend their page which incorrectly listed gender as a protected characteristic under the Equality Act. This is their reply. It is really a dangerous cult
Dear Alessandra,

Trans rights are human rights and Amnesty International stands unequivocally for trans rights. We live in a society that is more likely to discriminate and commit violence against transgender people, so we are proud to stand with them here in the UK and everywhere around the world.

For trans people having their gender legally recognised is essential to live freely, authentically and openly. We support reforming the Gender Recognition Act, which you can read more about here; www.amnesty.org.uk/we-support-reforming-gender-recognition-act

We dispute your assertion that championing the rights of transgender people affects women. Restricting the rights of transgender people will not advance or protect women’s rights. Our campaigning is based on Amnesty’s research on legal gender recognition in multiple countries and on existing human rights standards. It also draws from our long-standing work on violence against women and its root causes. We invite you to read more about our work on gender identity issues here:

www.amnesty.org.uk/lgbt-gay-human-rights-sexual-orientation-gender-identity

www.amnesty.org.uk/we-support-reforming-gender-recognition-act

www.amnesty.org.uk/issues/lgbti-rights

We will have to agree to disagree.

Amnesty - I think they're the ones promoting prostitution because men have a human right to rape.

None of that addresses the Equality Act which is the legislation that they, like the rest of the UK, needs to adhere to.

Did they actually mention the EA?

Yes, but incorrectly, listing gender (not sex) and then sex/gender as the protected characteristics. Their 'we agree to disagree ' is really sinister. The law is the law, they cannot re-write it. These are the people who are supposed to defend the rule of law.
www.amnesty.org.uk/equality-and-diversity-policy

We've had a few threads on Amnesty. The have form for this as well as other anti women behaviour.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3383981-Amnesty-has-jumped-the-shark

Amnesty have been guzzling the kookaid for a long time.
I stopped my direct debit to them nearly 2 years ago.
Sadly I really find so called international aid agencies have become unsupportable not only for involvement and promotion of questionable practices (prostitution/trafficking) but also the disproportionate high salaries of the corporate staff.

Better to send your hard earned to more local grassroots orgs.

It's safe to say at this point they are part of the bigger picture of regulatory capture.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3541908-Regulatory-capture

They are ridiculous now. I used to donate regularly but stopped when they threw their lot in with pimps. No radical feminist should have anything to do with them.

Despicable.

I cancelled my Amnesty DD when I realised what a waste of space they were. I notice they didn't even deny they were misrepresenting the law. They just couldn't give a fig about women. How does men being incarcerated with women, having access to women only spaces, taking women's places in sports, academia, grants and political representation not affect women? And they want the law changed to force this on women irrespective of their viewpoints, religious sensibilities or objections. Insisting that gendered essence makes a woman is worse than a religion. So Amnesty care to define this magic gendered essence? Or will we just have to take your word for it because men never ever cause harm to women and can always be trusted in all circumstances. Got any research for that Amnesty you clueless woke halfwits? At least Catholicism doesn't insist that we must believe in transubstantiation on threat of criminal sanctions.
Amnesty, I suggest you find a short pier and go for a long walk.

They are just one of many.
I have stopped all my charitable donations.
The local foodbank is the only organisation that gets anything from me now.
I have raised money for 9 big charities over the last 30 years. No more. I am completely disillusioned.

Had a look at AI's report on Iran, and there's not a word about this:

the Safra Project's 2004 report considers UNHCR's report over-optimistic. The Safra Project's report suggests that UNHCR underestimated legal pressure over transgender and LGBT matters. The Safra Project report further states that currently, it is not possible for presumed transgender individuals to choose not to undergo surgery - if they are approved for sex reassignment, they are expected to undergo treatment immediately. Those who wish to remain "non-operative" (as well as those who cross-dress and/or identify as genderqueer) are considered their gender assigned at birth, and as such they are likely to face harassment as being homosexuals and subject to the same laws barring homosexual acts.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender_rights_in_Iran

Don't forget AI's view that love is a human right. I'd love to know how this actually works. I think they also view sex as a human right IIRC. God knows how that would work either. Pie in the sky, head in the clouds, castles in the sand.

Waste of space now, not a patch on what they were set up to do. Their founders would be spinning in their graves.

Good for Amnesty

They were my go-to charity for 20 years, every time I moved house I joined the local Amnesty group and was their urgent action coordinator for years.

They can fuck right off with this bullshit. Reprieve get my donations now.

Good for Amnesty

What, good for Amnesty incorrectly listing the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, which are enshrined in law?

What did you send? Did you say ‘FYI this page is incorrect’ or did you say more? Looks like they have selectively answered your email and used your wider concerns to avoid answering the question.

Maybe email them back and say ‘that’s terribly interesting. Anyway, are you going to make this page factually and legally accurate and list out ‘sex’, ‘gender reassignment’ and ‘sexuality’ as the separate protected characteristics that they are?’

My original complaint:
Your Equality policy does not respect the Equality Act (see www.amnesty.org.uk/equality-and-diversity-policy). The protected category is sex, not gender or sex/gender. Please amend accordingly. Would you dare erase race as a protected category, or rename it? Shame on you. Women deserve protection under the law too. And males are not women. Extremist trans rights are a Western obsession, women all around the world deserve and need segregated spaces and the UN campaigns for them. How is a British girl different from an Indian girl? Stop listening to Stonewall and Mermaids and start respecting the law.

I replied by telling them to abide by EA2010.

It looks like the current head of AI UK is on the Scottish Equality Network.

James Morton from the Scottish Trans Alliance is a member of the same group.

The link you gave to their equality policy says "page not found". Have you given the wrong link or is there a chance they are amending this?

www.amnesty.org.uk/equality-and-diversity-policy
does this work?

It does. Thanks! Disappointed that they weren't changing it though.

They have "cis" in there too.

"Discrimination by association: This is discrimination against someone because they associate with another person who possesses a protected characteristic. For example, a cis-gendered man is treated less favourably at an event because of his friendship with an trans man."

When I was a teen, Amnesty seemed to be very careful about what political rights it fought for. I think now many people would see it as missing very important ones, but there was a sense that when you wrote your letter to some official in a far off country you knew nothing about, with a different set of beliefs, different circumstances, different lifestyle, you were really asking them to recognise principles that they knew about, that no one really argued were not universal.

I think it gave them a kind of credibility, even with those who they were trying to pressure.

Now it seems a lot like they are trying to pressure them all into toeing the line of western social values. I have doubts around whether this is more effective, and I think it tends to water down support for them even in the western countries themselves.

There's also the "toxic culture" and bullying, including on the basis of "gender".

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48431652

I used to donate to Amnesty at Xmas time but didn't last year because of something I read on this board.

When I read this response I realise how totally detached they are from being involved in effective change for an individual who is female.

I also used to do a direct debit to Peter Tatchell I can't believe I was so stupid to support these causes that I thought would protect the weak and vulnerable. Their lack of critical and layered thinking is stupidly dangerous.