Last few days to support For Women Scotland's fundraising

[SarahBeenysBikerJacket]

Just spotted a tweet from Sarah Phillimore that the hearing is on 6th and 7th January, there is £18k to go to hit the target!

I thought/hoped some of you might be up for a bit of last minute seasonal digging to support them.

For those who don't know, FWS are challenging the Scottish Government's redefinition of "woman" to include men, whilst excluding some women. This has implications for the Equality Act throughout the UK.

Please google For Women Scotland and "judicial review" to find the page- Direct links to it here will result in the thread being removed.

Happy New Year to all the FWR gardeners; may this year be a fruitful one.

I'm listening to it. Can't post what's being said as the rules you agree to mean you have to be accurate in what's being said, and IANAL so wouldn't want to repeat something that I'd misheard etc. It's very very & technical. But I can follow most of what's being said.

No idea what way it'll go.

*dry.

@ArabellaScott

I hope so, Manderley, I see that public can attend by emailing a request, but I'm not sure how to. Plus - homeschooling etc ...

You can directly listen to the audio without needing to email a request.

Info here - www.scotcourts.gov.uk/coming-to-court/access-to-virtual-hearings

Court of Session
Case: For Women Scotland - Day 1
Date: Thursday, 7 January 2021
Time: 10am
Dial (United Kingdom toll): +44-20-7660-8149
Access code: 174 245 7708

Court of Session
Case: For Women Scotland - Day 2
Date: Friday, 8 January 2021
Time: 10am
Dial (United Kingdom toll): +44-20-7660-8149
Access code: 174 111 1518

When prompted, press # to join.

Please note this call may incur a cost and you should check with your phone provider.

Home schooling etc means I'll have to see what's reported on it after. I hope it goes well.

FWS co-director will feature on a report about the case tonight on Reporting Scotland at 6.30 and The Nine on the BBC Scotland channel at 9pm.

Ah, thanks Nonny, that's great! Will see if I can check in tomorrow. Hope it goes well ...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-55579700

well at least they've come clean - according to the Beeb it is all about improving trans rights.

Scottish government proposals to amend laws to allow trans people to have greater representation on public boards.

so sod women's rights - they're all about the (mtf) trans. Am I right in thinking that this does not benefit ftm transgender people at all?
Or are they allowed to identify their way into all that male privilege, socialisation, 'old boys club' etc that will help them on their way?

Why can't they have a trans category if that is their aim rather than diluting women's already woeful representation?

this does not benefit ftm transgender people at all?

I imagine not, no. It's apparently okay to identify into an oppressed group, much harder to identify out of one.

Ms Crawford also told the court that the Scottish government had the power to modify the Equality Act and that the UK parliament gave it the power to do so.

Really?! Holy moly. Any lawyerly types able to verify this?

If it's true that the Scottish Government can redefine the definitions, and therefore the intention, of the EA in any way they wish then women's rights under that law are meaningless. Can this really be possible?

Boggled at the injustice.

Scottish government proposals to amend laws to allow trans people to have greater representation on public board

This is untrue. If I recall correctly, FtM transitioners are excluded by their wording. So it doesn’t benefit «trans people». It benefits men who claim they are women at the expense of women.

Article in the Scotsman -

www.scotsman.com/news/politics/scottish-government-can-ride-roughshod-over-equalities-law-row-over-definition-women-new-act-3089086

@AnyOldPrion

Scottish government proposals to amend laws to allow trans people to have greater representation on public board

This is untrue. If I recall correctly, FtM transitioners are excluded by their wording. So it doesn’t benefit «trans people». It benefits men who claim they are women at the expense of women.

Exactly!

Thanks nonny

Just so I’m clear (I don’t trust the liars at the bbc) - is this the Scottish Government redefining who can be counted as a woman to allow them to take up reserved women’s political positions?

And this is in breach of the EA 2010 but they say that they can override that law with their own laws?

Just so I’m clear (I don’t trust the liars at the bbc) - is this the Scottish Government redefining who can be counted as a woman to allow them to take up reserved women’s political positions?

Good summary here:
www.scottishlegal.com/article/blog-shifting-sands-on-the-definition-of-woman-in-scots-law

Thank you Itsall - that is a very helpful article.

When you look at the previous discussions they had about the definition of woman and aligning it with the EA 2010, it seems that they knew exactly what they were doing when they slipped the new definition in at the second reading of the bill.

The BBC report seems to have hit the nail on the head when they mentioned the intention to allow trans people greater representation on the boards.

This gender representation bill was never about women - but they knew that a bill that explicitly wanted to promote transgender representation would not get public support - was this a Dentons move as well?

I'm not sure what the final decision will be on this but it's invaluable in how it's drawn out information that Scotgov/SNP have wilfully withheld from the electorate & as far as I can see, the SNP as well.

Claiming that GRA reform will have no impact on EA2010 single sex exceptions because the EA2010 is reserved & isn't changing, while adopting a blanket policy of always considering TWAW unless there's law that prohibits treating TWAW, is wilfully misrepresenting their intentions with GRA reform. They're absolutely not ensuring women retain hard fought for legal rights as outlined in the single sex exceptions.

Come the next election in May, the SNP can feck off for my vote. I'll never believe a single disingenuous word that Sturgeon or her hangers on utter. They're a bunch of lying b'stards, lot of them 🤬🤬🤬

Claiming that GRA reform will have no impact on EA2010 single sex exceptions because the EA2010 is reserved & isn't changing

Whilst arguing in court that they can override the EA....

To clarify, the only legislation that prohibits considering TWAW is the Forensic bill. And only because of the Lamont amendment.

Every other legislation this SNP will push will in one way or another undermine sex based legal rights & protection. The hate crime Bill exclusion of sex is the current illustration of this, and it'll only get worse.

Honestly, I'm raging with them. 🤬🤬🤬

Talking about lies from the BBC - the headline to this (otherwise ok) online report is so disingenuous.

Bid to improve trans rights breaches law, court hears - implies that women are being mean again rather than acknowledging that a) this only benefits transwomen not transmen and b) that it directly undermines women's representation on public boards.

If it was actually about improving trans representation that's what it would focus on. This is, once again, about erasing women's sex-based rights. Fuming!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-scotland-55579700?__twitter_impression=true

The BBC article doesn't seem to understand what it's about. The second half is a list of things that were said in court but they are just randomly listed and not hung together or explained.

Thanks to the scotsman journalist for making it make sense.

Whatever the outcome, some things are now out in the open. We really must fight to keep the right to juducial review.

Judgement day Tuesday
forwomen.scot/

Please dig if you can. They still have about 50k to go.