Interesting thread on misgendering in Reddit's legal sub

[TBHno]

https://www.reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/comments/jfc0wb/foreignstudenttpeopletryinggtogettmeexpelled/?utmmsource=share&utmmedium=iossapp&utmname=iossmf

This is an interesting read for anyone who has an interest in the legalities surrounding misgendering.

The sub is where people can post for legal advice on UK matters. Some of the replies will be from real lawyers or those working in the field.

Interesting to see how many deletions there are Also, a poster telling the poor OP to do better

It's actually a really good illustration of how the TRA movement is very exclusionary to certain groups.

I see someone has advised him that the trans student could take civil action against him under the Equality Act under the Protected Characteristic of "Gender Identity".

also interesting how the 'legal advice' from one poster states that gender identity is protected against discrimination under the EA2010.

This poor person, I feel for them trying to study in a foreign country in their third language and getting so much grief from people who appear to be looking for problems. Why, if as he says, you see a male name, see and hear a male person, is it unreasonable to refer to that person as he?

Maybe we should all make up protected characteristics.

'Gender Frequency'.That's my new one. I bet if I put on my Twitter bio that I'm an expert in gender frequency or started #GenderFrequency that no-one at any of my old universities would bat at eye-lid.

Or 'Gender Solvency'.

I saw this earlier-someone was deriding the OP for saying 'it', (don't know if the comment is still there). Of course we shouldn't call people it, but they're completely ignoring that the OP isn't great at English, as they explained in their post, and was most likely in a panic to not offend and blurted the first word they could think of on the spot to avoid saying 'he'. :(

But as has been pointed out on other threads today, there seems to be no compassion or understanding for people with disabilities, language barriers, etc. Probably because they're the easiest people to bully, I suppose.

I think the deletions were because people were commenting on the general situation, rather than offering legal advice.

Oh, poor bugger. Firstly, they have the misfortune of dealing with a fragile drama queen, then secondly they’ve fallen foul of the performative empathisers, who get a weird thrill out of bullying people on behalf of others, and thirdly they thought Reddit would give them sound advice.

I know. Why can't some people look at the bigger picture and see that not everyone's life revolves around "gender identity"!?!

As the op says, he genuinely isn't doing this on purpose. It was a genuine error that he's trying to resolve without any drama.

I’m honestly surprised there hasn’t been a wide discussion yet about the issue of pronoun policing vs not having English as your first language. To assume everyone who misgenders you must be doing it intentionally is very privilege-y.

I know a few people whose first language is a Romance language, and while they speak at a very high level, they often confuse he/she when not fully concentrating on what they are saying. I knew someone else whose first language was Finnish, which doesn’t have separate he/she pronouns, and they had the same issue.

Even if your native language is similar to English and you are comfortable with English grammar, it’s still easy to make mistakes while not realising what you are saying.