Baroness Nicholson on twitter

[Winesalot]

I have been lurking on twitter lately and noticed Baroness Nicholson has been very active recently. Amongst her tweets are quite a few gems - letters to Liz Truss, tweets asking for evidence about Stonewall’s involvement CPS guidance just to name two.

This tweet I found very encouraging too.

It is imperative to restore the rights of women.I foresee a single issue, cluster approach;we make a new Women’s Rights movement lasting one year,solely to rescue womanhood from its destruction through today’s legal and social denial of our existence.Emma,BNoW

She has today written to Liz Truss again but this time with her concerns about the gross misinterpretation of the ECHR in the trans toolkits used in schools and recommends that such toolkits are removed from use now. Such support is great news.

twitter.com/baroness_nichol/status/1256326753850556418?s=21

I will try to post the letter for those not on twitter.

I look forward to seeing what what happens next.

Latest update from twitter re: the Baroness.

Munroe Bergdorf: she's a meanie!

Mermaids: Yes she is! And she is Booker prize judge! This can't be right. Booker Prize, you must get rid of her!

The rest of twitter: you'll struggle, her husband established the awards. Why are you trying to organise a pile-on when you should be worrying about how your charity will survive, based as it is on a very flawed and dangerous ideology?

Yes. And all the while they overlook the hateful views that Berghof expressed about Lesbians.

"A truly venomous homophobe and transphobe."

GMC getting close Ade?

Well they would know all about hateful conduct wouldnt they....

@Xanthangum

"A truly venomous homophobe and transphobe."

GMC getting close Ade?

Sadly one of my FB friends, a lovely woman but very TRA friendly, is ranting about the Baroness, saying she has spoken out against gay marriage (and incidentally also ranting about Liz Truss...). I've looked on Twitter and have not seen any such statement by her -- but then, I'm not much of a Twitterati. What has she really said?

To be fair, I find BN’s views on gay marriage unpalatable and the Tweets by the LGB Alliance were mystifying for an LGB organisation (they basically said that it wasn’t homophobic to oppose gay marriage?!)

However Bergdorf’s campaign does seem all about Bergdorf as per. They have a picture or two of the Baroness on their instagram (positioning her as ‘a Conservative billionaire business partner of J K Rowling) and you can swipe through to some of her offending Tweets.

The main complaint is referring to MB as a ‘creature’ - a descriptor that’s open to interpretation - I’d hate to be called a creature too because I find it objectifying and sexist. But I’m not dressing in fantastical costumes such as a Mermaid or pouting at the camera with nipple pasties on. I’m therefore in no danger of being called a creature in either a complimentary or pejorative sense.

But one of the other screenshots they’ve put up is a close-up of a horrifically racist comment featuring the N word and I’m not sure if they’ve zoomed in on the statement themselves or whether it was sent to Bergdorf in the zoomed-in state - either way it’s a quote, (and I will ask MN to delete this if I’ve got this wrong) from one of the many dodgy tweets that Bergdorf themselves made that got them into trouble with L’Oreal - the same batch that unearthed the charming ‘hairy, barren dyke’ Tweet. MB apologised for these Tweets and put them down to the mistakes of a younger MB who has since learned.

This screen-shot, sitting as it does amongst other screenshots of the Baroness’ tweets and retweets, actually appears to suggest that BN might have written it and sent it to MB. Which of course would be horrific and racist. If it’s the former case (ie. quoting back one of their own Tweets) then it’s still justifiably open to criticism but if it’s the latter, then it’s rather disingenuous. It’s all evidence that is being used by MB’s supporters to complain to Parliament anyway.

Of course, because the Baroness is also shining a light on important issues relating to women’s rights and sex-based protections, and we support this, we are all now acolytes of the Baroness. All devout Christians, believing in the heterosexual sanctity of marriage. I part company with the Baroness on many of her views but think this particular tweet, if it is to be used against her, should be properly contextualised.

"That same-sex marriage tweet was very badly formulated! The introduction of same-sex marriage was a great breakthrough for gay people. But support for it wasn’t universal among LGB activists: many saw it as a sellout - joining the establishment. A minority still view it that way."

LGBAlliance pointing out that LGB people are allowed different opinions! Same sex marriage was not something they all agreed on and the Baroness is entitled to her own view, as a woman of faith.

It's great that Baroness Nicholson is speaking up for women and girls but we do need to be aware of what she says:

twitter.com/Baroness_Nichol/status/1270703409931452416

LGB Alliance got themselves into a mess trying to defend her views on twitter:

twitter.com/sophduncan_/status/1273701398874636289

Ahh, cross-post. I can see what LGB Alliance were trying to argue but wince every time I see a screenshot of that now-deleted tweet.

It is true that the Baroness voted against same-sex marriage ( www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22779586 ). Interestingly she was a Lib Dem peer at the time (I think she's been a Tory for 23 years of her political life, a Lib Dem for 22 of them - including 10 years as a Lib Dem MEP). In 1994 Nicholson (as a Tory MP) had supported the move to bring the age of consent for gay sex down to 18, but opposed the move to 16 (which was defeated by 27 votes).

I don't know whether you could get away with voting against same-sex marriage today and still expect to remain a Lib Dem or Labour representative (in the Commons vote of 2013, four Lib Dems and fourteen Labour MPs voted No; three of the Labour MPs are still in Parliament today). But traditionally everything to do with sex, gay rights, abortion etc was regarded as a matter of conscience and a free vote and was barely ever an issue at elections.

While Nicholson's history means I've never seen her as a hardcore Tory, she seems to stand by her opposition to same-sex marriage today ( www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/06/10/baroness-emma-nicholson-same-sex-marriage-equality-tweets-twitter-homophobia/ ) - and while this shouldn't detract from the important work she's doing fighting TRA extremism, I'm sure we all want to get across to people that opposing TRAs isn't the same thing as being homophobic etc, so the more liberal and left-of-centre figures (like Rowling) speak out, the better - not that this will prevent them from being smeared and abused.

I also think sometimes people’s voting history does not reflect their true views. For instance, the Baroness indicated she felt that the proposal for the same sex marriage bill did not work well with women’s rights. Now, I would love understand what she meant by that. Did she see ways that the legislation clashed that had not been discussed.

She certainly does not come across as being homophobic but does come across as being very aware of the impact on women. But then twitter is not the place for these conversations . And she may well have held the more conservative view that marriage should only be for male and female (not one I agree with).

I happened to bump into a Tory MP at a show last year, it was something he has an interest in as did I but a very non-political show/exhibition. I collared him and discovered he agreed with me on the GRA BUT he told me he had been opposed to same sex marriage. Now I’m not particularly good at the old poker face so he went on to tell me why. He said it was because in all the years he’d been an MP (at that point) not one constituent had raised it with him. I’m not defending him and maybe he read the room wrong by not asking for instance! I think he was wrong but if he took on board my Ted Talk then I feel I’ve achieved something. I’ve said this before but the 3 ‘officials’ I’ve talked to about this are all Tories and they’ve all listened & engaged. The left-nada. I’d much prefer they did engage with me but on this issue I’ll talk to whoever listens.

Yes, my MP is a Tory and he did listen and was polite and sent a follow up email.
The local Labour candidate (female) was horrendously rude and couldn’t even explain her reasoning.

Just seen on SSA that Asda have responded to Baroness Nicholson

mobile.twitter.com/Baroness_Nichol/status/1275377329364221952

So they responded that's good but still no evidence they are severing ties with an agency who tried to use asdas name to groom children, the way they would openly condemn and block any GC woman who pointed it out to them...

Oh what a day when we are supposed to be grateful they said they dont condone child abuse and should read stuff before they put their name to it.

I thought it a very weak reply. They admit have been told about the inappropriate/paedophilic material and had just asked for it to be removed. They didn’t apologise until the Baroness wrote in and they didn’t seem to question whether it was a good idea to have partnered with a group who were actively promoting paedophilia to schools.

I said similar on the other thread aesop

No apology for harm caused to kids. Just regret about any damage to their reputation and their relationship with the LGBTQ.

Still not good enough.

Hot of the presses! I hope this blows over for the Baroness and highlights the things that Munroe has said.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8451039/JK-Rowlings-charity-founder-Tory-peer-accused-bullying-British-transgender-model.html

“Bergdorf added: 'She has also deliberately misgendered me and begun retweeting dangerous propaganda from anti-trans hate group Transgender Trend, who actively go into schools to disseminate anti-trans rhetoric.' “

What?!

Comments so far are all on the side of free speech / JKR & The Baroness.

I am pro gay marriage but I don’t think it is necessarily homophobic to oppose it. Just as I don’t think it necessarily misogyny to be against abortion. People can have deeply held religious views without hating the individuals concerned.

Whatever happened to respect for a difference of opinion?

"Whatever happened to respect for a difference of opinion?*

I think it died off around about 2015.

Hahaha yes.
I mean obviously there are some opinions based on loathing or a genuine desire to hurt or even kill other people that should not be countenanced, but where an opinion is not based on hatred then sometimes you have to respect that and agree to differ.
E.g. I am anti blood sports, but managed to have a friend I walked with, who spent his weekends shooting deer in the Highlands.

I do think that the Baroness’s style of communication is clear to anyone who reads her timeline. Sometimes, like all of us, she misspells things and autocorrect is rarely my friend in that nuance can be obliterated with an auto correct. And she does use French (including stray accented letters occasionally) and I have seen her address people as M.(insert last name). she has stated that she retweets to keep the tweets she wants to ‘action’ and reference just as much as she retweets to give support. Which has bamboozled many people in the past.

Her comment in that article is more plausible than the accuser who seems prone to making outrageous comments.

I would hope though that whoever did create that meme did not use remarks addressed to Bergdorf in the meme. That, of course, would be cruel.