I'm not in a position to out myself on FB yet -- I've started a new career after retirement and the crossfire could be dire at this point. I even had a PM once from Dr Nicola Williams, advising me not to be so open about my personal details, because I do have a public profile.
I also have lots of FB friends who all belonged to what was once a very active professional forum, where I had hundreds of contacts; we were all very close and comfortable and talked about lots of things, including politics. I was an active member and everyone knew who everyone else was irl.
Many of them were gay or lesbian. They were all extremely liberal, back in the day. This goes back over decades, I think joined around 2005. I was hooked to the forum, we all were, and we were all friends, moaning about spending too much time chatting online on the forum instead of doing what we should be doing.
It was US based. Slowly becoming woker than woke.
Over the last decade, I began hearing about trans issues, exclusively from these friends. One of the very long time members was in fact a transwoman and I and all of us accepted her as such. But more and more the trans talk began to infiltrate everything. I slowly stepped away, and gradually I moved to Facebook, as did most of them.
Most of us are now FB friends. The most outspoken are VERY outspoken on trans issues. They say things like "if you are a TERF unfriend me now!" so I say nothing but just read. That's how I kept informed before mumsnet, but actually very casually, sporadically. It's also where I first heard the term cis.
Over the past week two members of this old group have voiced outrage at some new TRA issue. And today, one of them has posted a long diatribe against the trans cult. She got a reply from another friend who posted a long, long comment which included following paragraphs:
Women have fought long and hard over the centuries for the rights and equality we enjoy today and we are still fighting. So forgive me for being a bit angry when I see a man awarded "Woman of the Year" or a man celebrated for being a "female" model. WTF? There was a running magazineWOMEN'S RUNNINGthat chose a transgender for the cover of their magazine. Thousands of actual biological female runners entered to win but were passed over and for what? So the magazine could make a political statement? Needless to say, I sent them a letter canceling my subscription.
......
‪Transgender women are not equal to biological women, IMO. Or should I say they are NOT THE SAME and shouldn't be treated as such.
......
I'm a human physiology major. You are either born as a biological male or female, e.g., you have testes or ovaries. Yes, there are some individuals who are born with extra chromosomes and thus testes and ovaries but that is rare. And I get that some people aren't comfortable in their own skin but I see this as more of a mental health issue versus a gender issue. (And I certainly do NOT support tax dollars being used for inmates and other criminals to get "gender reassignment" surgery, which in itself is problematic IMO, just because they don't feel right in their own skin. We'll soon have rapists and pedophiles getting their junk cut off in order to hang out in the women's prison.)
......
And it sickens me that these people are now held above actual biological females; our deeds and accomplishments diminished simply because we are happy and content in our own skins. Pretty soon there won't' be a single biological female on any podium anywhere or on any magazine cover, etc. (It's interesting how not many women want to be men. 🤔 )‬
The actual comment is much longe: these are just extracts.
This, to me personally, is HUGE. These are Americans and belong to left-leaning groups and they are finally seeing the light and talking about it!
There is hope.
It's interesting to note that the very woke members have said nothing at all about women in sport, the James Younger case, the Yaniv case... not a word. The above post was instigated by the Always issue.