Statement of support for Wales’ Trans Communities

[PurpleGhost]

gov.wales/written-statement-statement-support-wales-trans-communities

I've just seen this and thought it might be of interest.

Who else thinks Wales is going to go the way of Scotland?

Maybe but I think it's more a case of Welsh Labour being out of touch with it's voters. Not like English Labour then!!

We have provided funding to Stonewall Cymru to begin work engaging stakeholders to develop an updated Transgender Action Plan for Wales.

Why have they done this? Surely the correct way to proceed is for the Welsh Government to write this document, following consultation with representatives of all the different groups protected under the Equality Act.

It is not good practice for the Welsh Government to fund a lobby group with an obvious bias to write a document which will have far-reaching effects on many other people.

Bloody Hell. So they are funding a lobby group with a very clear agenda ? Pretty obvious what their “findings” will be. Surely that is corruption ? How have Stonewall got so much power ?

FFS. I live in Wales. I've emailed my MP. I see 'Welsh Women Speak Out' are tweeting about this very well. What else can I do?!

Divide and conquer

Brexit is just the start

If my provisional hypothesis about astroturfing and various social and political activist movements is correct we would expect to see the Orwellian extremes of the TRA movement surfacing in the geographical areas that would be most likely to become independent states.

So Scotland, Wales, London and the SW would be expected to show the highest levels of institutional batshit.

Very, very pushed for time, just laying down a marker for cross referencing with another thread on the subject of D&C

In Wales too. Really hoping we don't go the way of Scotland...

I'm a member of Plaid. I'd been wanting to join for a while, and decided to after the last election, to show my support when my local Plaid candidate had to stand down because of the agreement with the Lib Dems. I hesitated for a long time between spoiling my vote and voting labour, and ended up doing the latter after checking our local candidate would support GC views. Labour never do very well in this part of Wales though.

I am really unimpressed with Plaid's stance on the GRA as it is written in their manifesto, but before I joined, I contacted a gc member of the Senedd and voiced my worries. She assured me that there are many gc members fighting to retain the single sex exemptions, and indeed there had just been a move from the National Council to commit to this, which had only been stopped because the Youth Party Section had proposed amendments which removed this commitment. I contacted her in March and this had only just happened.

Adam Price also seems to be pro-Stonewall if an article someone shared on here is anything to go by. However, he is very well liked, because he (apparently) genuinely listens to all points of view, and his colleagues feel supported even when they have differing opinions. The member I contacted also told me that, although discussions on this subject within the party have been difficult and complicated, they have not been unpleasant, and people are willing to consider each other's points of view.
This gave me enough hope to join! I will contact the member I spoke to again, as she said she was considering forming a gc network. I should think she's had a lot on her plate since March though!

I do have a feeling that most people in Wales, and particularly the members of Plaid that I know/have met, are just too sensible for all this nonsense. I hope I'm right...

What else can I do?
Write to your AMs, now called MSs (Members of the Senedd). Apart from your constituency MS, there are also 5 for each region, and you can write to all of them. Make sure you include your full postal address even if you use email to contact them.

You can find your Members of the Senedd here.
business.senedd.wales/mgMemberIndex.aspx?bcr=1

You can also write directly to Jane Hutt (Deputy Minister and Chief Whip) and Jeremy Miles (Counsel General and Minister for European Transition), whose names were on the statement. Their emails are on this page.
gov.wales/contacting-welsh-government-ministers

Use the email from this page for Jane Hutt and Jeremy Miles, and say that you are writing to them in their capacity as Welsh Government Ministers, otherwise they may not reply if you aren't in their constituency.

Thanks FOIrequester

This reminded me about the equality impact assessment by the Welsh Government that a tenacious poster was querying. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3652524-Welsh-Assembly-and-the-lost-equality-impact-assessment.

Hopefully, copious note taking will be taken this time so that when people request information, it is readily available rather than lost.

I live in Wales too, so presumably my rights under the protected characteristics of my sex are also important to the Welsh Government and they won't 'advance equality for all' by regressing my protections?

I also thought of that impact assessment

Yes, I wondered if they'd managed to find that impact assessment yet after your months of patient work requester

You were amazing with that.

I wondered if they'd managed to find that impact assessment yet

I took it to the Information Commissioner in the end, and they decided that it had, indeed, been lost without trace.

ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-taken/decision-notices/2020/2617258/fs50865468.pdf

The whole report is 9 pages long, but this is the decision:

"1. The complainant requested a copy of the Equality Impact Assessment conducted for the Welsh Government’s plan to advance quality for transgender people. The Welsh Government stated that it did not hold the information requested. The Commissioner’s decision is that, on the balance of probabilities the Welsh Government does not hold the information requested. The Commissioner does not require any steps to be taken."

The report ends:

"31.The Commissioner has some sympathy with the complainant in this case as she considers it reasonable for an individual to assume that the document is held. However, based on the representations provided by the Welsh Government the Commissioner is satisfied that it has carried out searches of the places where relevant information would be held. There is no evidence of any inadequate search or grounds for believing there is a motive to withhold information. The Commissioner has also considered the Welsh Government’s representations in relation to background information and explanations about the drafting of the document. Based on the searches undertaken and the other explanations provided, the Commissioner is satisfied that, on the balance of probabilities, the Welsh Government does not hold any recorded information relating to the request."

Ah I see.

So they lied that it had been done and showed no issues.

But the issue is that the Commissioner is sure that they definitely don't hold the document they said they did - not the shocking fact that this proves they didn't carry out an impact assessment according to policy and then lied about it when caught out. And no implications or consequences for this obvious failure and deceit, nor a suggestion that they might want to deal with the people involved and follow their own policies.

I swear the professional standards of national government at this point is now slightly lower than those of school kids doing a paper round.

I swear the professional standards of national government at this point is now slightly lower than those of kids doing a paper round

Totally agree.

Longtime MNer but recently been lurking on FWR board after feeling uneasy about gender for a while. Think I've now been radicalised.
I'm in Wales too and I'm worried by this. I had no idea about that missing impact assessment. I'll be writing letters to all my representatives, thanks for the links.

Anyone in Wales, you really do need to write to your Senedd (formerly Assembly) member about this. You can find out who your member is through the senedd’s website (and you can find this through a google search).

I know people in politics in Wales. Because there is so little interest in the Senedd from ordinary people, Welsh politicians are very vulnerable to pressure groups. The pressure groups like Stonewall are the only people who bother to get in touch, basically. And they will be ramping up the pressure on Wales now given their apparent setbacks with the UK Government.

So Senedd members need to hear from us now. Particularly if you are a Labour voter whose vote turns on this! There’s an election coming up in Wales & it’s looking worse for Labour than it has done before. This is the time to make your voice heard, GC women of Wales. Basically, Labour will be worried if they think there’s a risk of this blowing into a big issue.

Outside Cardiff, much of Wales is not woke & will not welcome males in female changing rooms. It’s electoral poison. This point needs to be made.

Will contact my Senedd member.