WRITE TO YOUR MP

[GeneticTest]

I work for an MP.

We’ve had very few emails about GRA in the last few years- mostly against self ID.

We’ve had 4 emails in the last few days all outraged at this attack on transgender people.
All very similar. It’s a campaign.

We must keep emailing so MPs don’t think everyone agrees with the TRAs.

(My MP is GC)

Please- email your MP and let them know your views.

(sorry I just re-read that and realised you said nothing about disliking your MP, my apologies)

Does anyone have a draft or some sort of starting point? I want to, but honestly I don't even know where to begin.

Why don't you start like this:

"Dear MP,

I am writing to express my support for the government's decision to halt the reform of the Gender Recognition Act and to scrap proposals to implement gender self-identification. I also welcome the government's commitment to strengthen single-sex provision for women."

... somebody else take over?

...and to halt the experimental medicalisation of children at gender identity clinics.

And throw in some examples such as Karen White and Katie Dolatowski for the dangers of Self ID; the widely reported phenomenon of girls at school either skipping school (thus damaging their education and career prospects) or not drinking water (thus damaging their kidneys) just so they can avoid using gender neutral toilets; the fact that so many clinicians at the Tavistock Clinic have resigned because of their concerns about the effects of puberty blockers and hormone treatments for children.

You don't need chapter and verse, as OP points out. You just need to say what you object to and why. If you mention those names and circumstances mentioned above, that should be sufficient because your MP should already be aware of them - or sufficiently motivated to look them up before responding to your letter. And if they can't be bothered to do their homework, you've just had your next response set up for you.

Even if you know your MP is all TWAW, it doesn't matter. Write or email anyway. You are their constituent and they need your vote. They need to know that they haven't necessarily got a free pass on this.

I am considering writing to my MP (female labour hasn’t said anything that I can find on the issue but I am scared of being told I am a bigot. I want to write about the importance of same sex spaces for women who have experienced abuse.

@WhatTiggersDoBest-that is helpful, thank you. I considered North Down MP but thought he wouldn't respond as I am not a constituent so will definitely do that. The joys of NI politics, but that's a whole other thread.

Then make it clear that you are not a transphobe by pointing out that you support people's wish to express their personal identity by how they dress and what they want to call themselves, but that must not supersede the protected characteristic of sex and the right of women and girls to single sex spaces on the grounds of safety, decency and privacy when they are in a state of undress and therefore vulnerable.

Complete waste of time to write to my local MP - he is so ideological that if he doesn't agree with you he would just pop it in the bin.

Please do not be scared of being called a 'bigot' - this has been the biggest weapon of one of the most unreasonable political movements of the 21st century. It is not bigoted to speak your own truth - which, presumably, is that you are female and that this fact has political consequences. This is not about being mean to trans people but about women's rights and how they are defined in law.

Even if your MP is TWAW, he still needs to know that you don't agree with him. People do change their minds, even if they don't admit it.

I emailed (my Conservative MP) on Sunday and got a reply yesterday by email. It was slightly guarded but I didn't get called a bigot.

@2020Wumben he seems pretty sound, I wonder if he gets a few people emailing him from outside his constituency. Having said that, my address is in a town that's in his constituency, just my actual house isn't. Bizarrely. So IDK if that's why he listened last time. I just emailed Number 10, I wish there was something similar for Stormont, as this legislation will affect us (AFAIK).

@Sandybval they dismissed the other side and we have this window basically because TRAs sent copy and paste draft emails, but focussing on how the GRA would affect you directly might be a good starting point. I focused on my concerns re: women's refuges and I also said that I refute the GRA in Ireland being used as an example.

Is it just me that couldn't care less if my MP thinks I'm a bigot? They're just the same as everyone else and many haven't given this much thought. In my email I actually spelled it out for them that riding the coattails of this movement is a misogynistic element whose very objective is to overstep the mark on women's rights, and that women are being called bigots as a silencing tactic. Don't know if I did right or not, but fed up with not calling this out for what it is. I did of course say I agree with trans people having the same rights as everyone else, but not prepared to beat around the bush any more, as they clearly haven't been listening with that approach.

Thanks for the nudge! I don’t think my MP needs pointing in the right direction, but I will send an email anyway, just to be sure!

Is it just me that couldn't care less if my MP thinks I'm a bigot?

I’ve got to the point where I don’t care. It’s an MP’s job to represent the interests of all their constituents. Like being a parent, you don’t get to do the job just for the ones you like the best.

for everyone writing today.

Please remember that MPs get a lot of emails- so a response might take longer than you think. (Sometimes up to 500 individual emails a day from constituents when things are busy)
If you don’t give your address they might not answer at all.
But don’t email every day (or several times a day) asking for your response- you’ll just piss off the staff... and if you phone daily asking the same thing you might never get an answer!

Some MPs will ignore you. Esp if they’re pro TRA.

But light. More light.

Thank you, GeneticTest, thank you for this thread.

Have had a rather fence sitting attachment reply from my Labour MP this afternoon

I've written to Baroness Nicholson and Liz Truss. I've never written to a politician before.

I'm late to the party on all of this but I'm here now! I plan to write to Keir Starmer next.

This will be the third time I've written to my MP and he is guarded but supportive. I got an email back within a couple of hours today! He is conservative and works in the whips office so could be a good person to have onside.

gra.good.do/trusstme/trusstme/

This is the campaign they are using and why MPs getting emails from 'allies' now... I just made it read the opposite of what they wrote and used that.

Done.

@Shepherdspyreads

gra.good.do/trusstme/trusstme/

This is the campaign they are using and why MPs getting emails from 'allies' now... I just made it read the opposite of what they wrote and used that.

Where do those messages even go? What a bizarre website.

@Shepherdspyreads

gra.good.do/trusstme/trusstme/

This is the campaign they are using and why MPs getting emails from 'allies' now... I just made it read the opposite of what they wrote and used that.

Excellent idea and in a similar vein, here are their tips reversed to fit the gender critical view:

• Share your personal experiences where you feel comfortable to do so, including the situation for women or young people on the ground in your local constituency

• Say why rolling back of women's rights would be so harmful to you personally as a constituent and more widely for women and children

• If you want to go further and meet your MP (and we would definitely recommend this if you feel up for it!), state that clearly.

• Keep in mind MPs are, widely but not universally, not going to know a great deal about these issues, so do keep it as simple as possible while telling a truthful and meaningful story

Who knows but have had a fair few Instagram friends share it today.