From article in OP,
Mr Hooper, 29, has previously worked at Swim England, which was forced in 2018 to axe official guidance encouraging transgender people to use swimming pools after criticism it was ‘sinister’ and ‘dangerous to women’.
Swim England's self id policies prompted the first #ManFriday action two years ago!
Hannah Clark, speech made by ManFriday’s Media Officer at a Women’s Place UK meeting on 17th May 2018.
(extracts)
"I’ve called ManFriday a movement, I think a better word might be concept. We are a loosely organised group of women who are horrified by the implications of self identification and the resultant erasure of women. We are making a stand against what is happening by self identifying as men on Fridays. We show how preposterous it is to be able to self-declare as the opposite sex by doing exactly that.
This all came about when Amy Desir took it upon herself to address the ludicrous guidance Swim England produced to engage trans people in swimming. This guidance, soundly rejected by the good ladies of Mumsnet, included such gems as telling us women who object to penises in their changing rooms require education, whilst our boobs should be covered at all times for fear of causing offence. Amy started a Mumsnet thread one Friday morning in February telling us that she had arranged a meeting at her local pool to discuss her inclusion in men only swimming sessions as a self identified man in accordance with the guidance." (continues)
Amy’s meeting ended with her being told they’d take time to consider her needs and would revert to her within a fortnight, though they eventually took a little over three weeks. In the meantime the rest of us started writing to our local pools. Men only swimming sessions are fairly few and far between, even in London, but I found one in near me in Dulwich, and sent an email asking them their policy.
They responded that I, as a female bodied self identified man, would be welcome to swim at their pool during the men only session and should change in the facilities that I felt necessary for myself. Having got the green light I shared my plan with the ManFriday group and what happened next was all a bit unexpected, to be honest. Amy said she was able to come, which was great as I really didn’t fancy doing it alone, and some journalists contacted us through twitter as they wanted to cover what we were doing.
You can read most of what happened next in the Sunday papers from the 18th of March, and I’ll be happy to talk about it in the pub tonight. Some points I’d just like noted for the record though:
We swam separately, there was no strength in numbers (I was terrified, I can tell you)
I wore a rash vest. As comfortable as I am with Amy swimming topless I didn’t want to. I hope it was still pretty clear I am a woman and that I shouldn’t have been in the swim session.
I feel awful for putting the staff in the leisure centre in the firing line. Service workers on the front line, often on minimum wage, are being put on the spot with difficult decisions due to the ill-considered edicts from on high. This is really not on. And this next bit has been a secret up to now. I popped back to the leisure centre with some chocolates and a letter thanking them for their professionalism and appreciating we had drawn them into this melee but very much not apologising for what we had done.
Swim England removed their guidance the following week and have stated they’re opening it up for consultation. I have registered to be included in this, and urge you all to do the same via their website. Let’s get women’s voices heard above Stonewall, Mermaids, Allsorts, GIRES, Transfigurations and the rest of the trans lobby." (continues)
manfridayuk.org/2018/05/18/why-manfriday/#more-1541