The Lobbying has Started

[BovaryX]

What precisely Boris Johnson plans to do with this majority remains to be seen. However, the Conservatives are as susceptible to aggressive lobbying as any other party. That lobbying has already begun. It is absolutely imperative that everyone who cares about freedom of speech, freedom of thought, the ability to assert belief in biological reality without fear of the consequences, the importance of sex segregated spaces and the need to protect children from being steamrollered into medical intervention raise our voices in opposition to this. If the Conservatives fail to address the existential threat to freedom of speech in academia and capitulate to the increasingly totalitarian demands of this niche lobby, that would be contemptible

In response to the results Friday morning, the charity have adopted his Brexit slogan and is calling on the Prime Minister to use his landslide majority to “Get EQUALITY Done”

Which charity is this Bovary?

The UK LGBT Foundation. It’s from an article in Forbes

www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/jamiewareham/2019/12/14/could-boris-johnsons-landslide-majority-be-good-news-for-lgbt-people/amp/

This is the article referenced.

BovaryX thanks for raising this. It's not at all scary.. 🙄

The Conservative manifesto did not commit to trans and non-binary legal reform, unlike Labour, The Lib Dems and Green Party who said they’d reform the Gender Recognition Act

Doesn’t this suggest lobbying to reform the GRA? To include self ID?

Conservatives fail to address the existential threat to freedom of speech in academia

I had a look at their manifesto yesterday, and this is actually in there. How they plan to address it remains to be seen. However, there is a judicial review against Oxford Brookes in the pipeline (nothing to do with the government, brought by the artist Rachel Ara), and MPs who know this is an issue. I will be raising this again with my MP, who actually seemed to latch on more to the academic freedom aspect of transactivism than the other issues it raises. What the Tories need to understand is that the election result was in part a rejection of authoritarian identity politics, and going down this route themselves is not going to help them hang on to their new seats.

It does. I'm going to book in an appointment for a face to face with my Tory MP early in the new year. That slogan could be something made useful to pin our focus on.

I will be raising this again with my MP, who actually seemed to latch on more to the academic freedom aspect of transactivism than the other issues it raises. What the Tories need to understand is that the election result was in part a rejection of authoritarian identity politics, and going down this route themselves is not going to help them hang on to their new seats

Absolutely agree GC. I think the threat to academic freedom in Rachel Ara’s case and Dr. Louise Moody’s case are critical. It’s the General fighting the last war syndrome that worries me. Particularly if a politician hasn’t considered the implications of a policy which is being presented as progressive and is looking for positive media coverage. The newly won voters will be alienated if the Conservatives don’t understand why they switched

I will be raising this again with my MP, who actually seemed to latch on more to the academic freedom aspect of transactivism than the other issues it raises

You know, the more I think about this, the more I think this should be the approach. Defending freedom of speech and thought should be hardwired into the DNA of Conservative politicians. On another thread, The Times reports that 70 academics are objecting to the language of the 2021 census which allows people to self identify sex thus rendering results meaningless. Some academics are too frightened to identify themselves. This is a sustained, relentless onslaught against freedom of speech and it has created an atmosphere of intimidation and fear. It absolutely must be challenged

Freedom of speech is the angle I am going to use as a conversation opener on this issue in the coming months, I think.

It cuts through all the be kind, be nice, it's only a few people type responses that I have had.

I agree that the freedom of speech issue is crucial. It's essential for shining the light on what is happening and it's an issue Conservatives understand. It's fundamental to democracy.

Freedom of speech is mentioned twice in the Tory manifesto - in the section on Universities, and in a section on protecting democracy. I agree that this is a principle that is fundamental to Conservatism, and it's also one which is creating many refugees from the Left who have now seen multiple examples of its authoritarianism. The Tories should want to capitalise on that.

Fucks sake.

Please, anyone with a Tory MP make an appointment to see them at their constituency surgery.
It’s a massive topic so cut it down to the bits that bother you most - I would imagine the majority of Tories will get the freedom of speech problem, the prison problem and the sport problem.

If you have a ROGD kid, like we do, maybe go with that.

I agree that this is a principle that is fundamental to Conservatism, and it's also one which is creating many refugees from the Left who have now seen multiple examples of its authoritarianism. The Tories should want to capitalise on that

DuMonde GC TheShoesa Imno

Absolutely agree. This lobby is relentless, it has powerful contacts and it is selling a totalitarian agenda masquerading as kindness and equality. Ironically, its success in colonising chunks of the state apparatus could bring about its downfall once more people see its malign influence in schools et

The Conservatives don't need to do a thing for LGBT+ now; they've served their purpose.

So they won't.

I certainly hope that the Conservatives don’t capitulate to demands to reform the GRA. I also hope they do something to address the existential threat to freedom of speech in academia and beyond. I hope they look at Maya Forstater, Harry Miller, Rachel Ara, Dr. Louise Moody and ask WTF is going on?

I think they’ve more than likely noticed that Jo Swindon was crucified in interview after interview over self ID. It will be kicked far, far into the long grass.

Don’t take anything for granted though - tell them
that their (new?) electorate don’t support woke bollocks. See them in person or at the very least, write to them

My MP is a wet, one nation type of Tory.

My best route in with him is child safeguarding rather than freedom of speech, I think.

Well worth checking what "type" of MP within their own party you have and choosing attack lines accordingly.

I can see Boris doing a Donald Trump on this issue, as long as it's not blatantly discrimination. Rejecting the whole 'woke' shit would be a win-win really.
One thing this whole election has highlighted is that twitter hashtags don't really matter.

‘No one in my constituency has mentioned this’ is a fantastic excuse for MPs of all parties. Don’t give them that excuse.

One thing this whole election has highlighted is that twitter hashtags don't really matter.

Indeed. Academic Twitter is in complete meltdown with supposedly-intelligent people in a state of complete disbelief that all the memes and hashtags they've seen are not directly proportional to actual constituency seats.

Indeed. Academic Twitter is in complete meltdown with supposedly-intelligent people in a state of complete disbelief that all the memes and hashtags they've seen are not directly proportional to actual constituency seats

Well worth checking what "type" of MP within their own party you have and choosing attack lines accordingly

Lang
That is an excellent point. To be honest, the buffet of outrage is so eclectic, that there’s bound to be some facet that will register with even the most obtuse Conservative.....

-Unless conflicting needs are allowed to be discussed.

-Unless politicians are able to understand the difference between LGB and T.

-Unless the reality and real-life scenarios that the proposed removal by many trans-focused lobby groups of sex-based rights in the Equality Act/self-ID is allowed to be discussed.

• Unless we are able to define the difference between biological sex and gender/identity

-Unless we are able to highlight and discuss the separate groups lumped under the current trans umbrella by lobby groups such as these, unpicking the differences and implications between the 3-year olds whose parents say they're trans, the huge rise of teenage girls identifying as trans, the cos-play anime furries who say they're trans, and the 45+ males with penises demanding their right to be in women's spaces because they're trans.

The slogan is not 'Get Equality DONE'.

It's 'Equality is DONE for' .