Biden has completely obliterated woman’s sex based protections as he said he would do.

[yourfaceisaforeignfood]

www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-preventing-and-combating-discrimination-on-basis-of-gender-identity-or-sexual-orientation/

“Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports."

Biden just passed all the worst parts of the Equality Act by executive order (so without going through any legislation at all). It is limited in effect to agencies (I think) but those agencies include the Bureau of Prisons, Dept of Housing and Urban Development, Dept of Education, Dept of Labor etc

This will of course be unchallenged, even welcomed by the media. It will likely have a knock on effect around the world.

And I am so angry. So so angry. He was never the ‘least worst option’ he is the absolute worst option.

As Abigail Shriner says
twitter.com/abigailshrier/status/1352121732723666946?s=21

I'm devastated, I have some sort of pathetic hope the new VP may steer this nonsense away from it becoming the biggest fuck up for women in the US.

[quote MoleSmokes]Obama took a sudden interest in “bathrooms” when prompted by Billionaire Penny Pritzker, a significant fund-raiser for his presidential campaign and his nominee as US Secretary of Commerce.

Penny’s cousin Jennifer Pritzker, transgender billionaire, has pumped millions of dollars into medical, military, educational and political transgender projects and organisations in the USA and Canada. (Further afield too?)

Jennifer has switched financial support from the GOP and Trump to the Democrats and Biden.

Penny is now lead economic adviser on the Biden transition team.

Might Penny have put “Gender identity legislation”, erasing sex-based protection, on Biden’s “To Do List” for Day 1?

”Follow the Money: Pritzker Money All The Way, Baby!"

[/quote] Where's Austin Powers when we need him?

When you said "the Biden transition team", just for a second there...

@theuglyswan

I just wanted to mention something quickly from the perspective of an American: I've seen quite a few comments on this thread saying that people in America don't care about this and that black/Muslim/Hispanic/what-have-you Americans have better things to worry about.

But as a black American the trans issue is one of the top issues I care about. It's why I refused to vote for Biden and chose to go for a third party. He and Kamala were incredibly open about being for trans activism. It's frustrating that Americans who voted for Biden are acting shocked that he would do this. He said he would do this.

People just didn't realize how bad it would be, because most people don't pay attention and just think it's a weird Twitter argument.

Thank you for posting on this thread. The racism that seems to go hand in hand with the trans activism is shocking - and I'm including in that people talking about "black and Muslim women" as though they were some kind of monolithic groups go all think exactly the same way.

It's frustrating that Americans who voted for Biden are acting shocked that he would do this. He said he would do this.

Yes.

At least Trump didn’t start any wars.
Obama and Biden had an aggressive foreign policy that has disrupted great swathes if the world.

Jj is doing that disrupt and distract thing again.

Your point about abortion rights holds to a degree Jux.
To say "We know that this issue affects only the female sex. But we all agree to say it affects potentially all humans, both male and female, because we will not and must not reference the specific group it exclusively affects" has consequences. It's tempting to heave a sigh of relief, be so grateful for the concession that we take our eyes off the consequences.

It has consequences because it denies the subjects their fundamental existence. It makes discussion of us impossible. One in three women have an abortion. Except no, now they don't. One in six people do. People get harassed at clinics by protestors. No particular people, both sexes. Children who fall pregnant can be married off as teenagers even at the age of 12 in some states. But it's both boys and girls obviously.

All issues relating to female lives and female bodies become unspeakable, and forced through a lens of distortion; not a female thing, instead just a human thing.
Being female - really being female - becomes taboo. Any reference to the lives of people with our bodies becomes taboo.

How long can women sustain a right to our own bodies if we can't even sustain a right to a name?

I was pondering today on animal rights. It's a misnomer. Animals don't actually have legal rights. My dog can't take me to court. I do however have an obligation to my treat my dog in accordance with our laws. I have a responsibility, as an owner, to my dog, who is an animal without rights but with protections. If the law changes to say it is permissible to beat my dog with a stick, the dog cannot assert any autonomy to argue otherwise. It is entirely at the mercy of the law and it's owner. It will never play a role in making a law or resisting an unjust law. It is powerless. Its life is entirely at the mercy of those who own it and those who influence the law. Does it care that it has no rights, that it can assert no case, demand no recognition? No. I feed him and care for him and he's happy as an animal, entirely oblivious to an alternative existence, and with love and a full tummy what could a dog complain about?

I feel this deliberate unrecognition of all female people as an act of abject terror enacted upon half of humanity. The half that we all know have always been treated as lesser humans, possessions. And I feel us slipping into the status of less-than-human. Yes, we are happy to have abortion rights for now. But when we can no longer even name ourselves, when our permission to distinguish our sex from the opposite sex is revoked and we are punished for defiance, do we start to become like pets? Rewarded for good behaviour, punished for disobedience, told we are equal but finding ourselves denied the most fundamental of all human rights. The right to be recognised exactly as we are in order that we may assert any and all human rights that we need, as female people.

The most terrifying thing is that we have already so normalised this unrecognition of sex, that people have already accepted that laws will now pretend actual female people don't exist, and that actual female people might be reasonably punished for defying male people in this.

@rockinaftermidnite

Sorry for my earlier comment. Point taken.

That’s refreshing! Good for you.

Less than human, becoming like pets?
Wow.
That's some scaremongering, hyperbolic screed if ever there was one.

Then why aren't men having to rename themselves akd deny their sex?

If its perfectly normal and not dehumanising ...

Where r all the ejaculaters amd prostate havers ? If its no big deal.

Too depressed to read this thread in full. I think I buried my head in the sand carried away with all the happiness yesterday. This is a bump back to earth...

@feelingquitehopeful

Okay so now I understand, it looks like an organisation but I can see now what you are saying. What are the actual chances of it being passed if it has been blocked for fifty years?
And if it is blocked again, where does that leave you?
There's a few options to pass it - states can finish ratifying it or the Senate can w/ 2/3 majority
Pros: We have a Dem majority Senate (Dems have historically favored this amendment)
Cons: We need 2/3 Senate to ratify, so we need to pull some Republicans over
Pros: A bipartisan bill in Dec. 2020 pushed for more time to ratify

Are you likely to see big support for taking the EO all the way through the courts? How organised are you in the US?
WOLF USA is organized, however, the verdict is still out on whether they risk making this seem like a conservative movement, which I think will hurt us. However, they've been very helpful in advancing the issue w/ talking points sharing. Other groups that can help are any that want the ERA passed. I am trying to email them all today to get their take on the EO. I'm also interested in learning more about what the ERA Coalition is doing for this next Congress
It strikes me that the TRA are far more advanced in terms of organisation, funding and connections, enough to be able to channel their visions and totally obliterate women's rights like this on day one with a new president.
I know...it's depressing, really. Sarah McBride has made herself a close friend of Biden's and I'm pretty sure he's just trying to 'be kind.'

Yes America voted for Biden to get Trump out, we can see that, but did they vote for the new woke agenda that are seeing the rights of women being upended in this way? I somehow doubt it.
I really don't think they did. That's why I welcome the EO vs. the Equality Act as court cases can shine light on the flaws w/ trans rights obliterating female rights.

people have already accepted that laws will now pretend actual female people don't exist

And to add to that the last logical step:

Why are males insisting that the world pretend actual female people don't exist? So that male people can have what they want without boundary or interruption.

This is absolute subordination of the female half of the human race to the better interests and choices of the male half. And the absolute lack of interest or even recognition of female voices, bothering to consult them, caring when they raise issues or say no? (Other than the bile, rape and death threats?)

Tells you all that you need to know.

We are going to have to fight all over again and repeat all the work done even before the likes of Mrs Pankhurst. All of it. And this time we are going to have to do a much, much better job so that our grand daughters don't end up with the same nice veneer we had, where it's pretended women have been given equality, but underneath nothing whatsoever has changed and men, in heavily male dominated groups and governments, acting in male interests, can take it all with a flick of a pen.

Demonstrating that they still see all resources and female rights as something in the gift of men, to give or withhold as they see fit. And to be removed as soon as females have something males want. And to insist that females co operate, willing or not, with being physically present in states of vulnerability and undress where male people request this, and they can submit to this or lose the service or space altogether, and possibly face legal punishment.

We've re entered the fucking Victorian age.

Barracker. Good post. And I totally agree with you. It's so depressing when people simply do not understand this.

Breaking GOOD news...

This just happened...and it really, really gives me hope that the ERA could have legs this Congress. The ERA would OVERRIDE any seeming sex-based rights lost in yesterday's EO.

A word of caution...if passed, the amendment would take 2 years to take effect.

January 21, 2021 (Washington, D.C.) — The ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) Coalition expressed its enthusiastic support for landmark joint resolutions to the U.S. House and Senate today announcing that the first bipartisan legislation introduced for the 117th Congress will be to remove the time limit to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) announced the bipartisan Senate resolution, and Representatives Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) and Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) introduced the House version. First proposed in 1923, the ERA would ensure that the Constitution promotes equality and prohibits discrimination on the account of sex.

@MichelleofzeResistance

people have already accepted that laws will now pretend actual female people don't exist

And to add to that the last logical step:

Why are males insisting that the world pretend actual female people don't exist? So that male people can have what they want without boundary or interruption.

This is absolute subordination of the female half of the human race to the better interests and choices of the male half. And the absolute lack of interest or even recognition of female voices, bothering to consult them, caring when they raise issues or say no? (Other than the bile, rape and death threats?)

Tells you all that you need to know.

We are going to have to fight all over again and repeat all the work done even before the likes of Mrs Pankhurst. All of it. And this time we are going to have to do a much, much better job so that our grand daughters don't end up with the same nice veneer we had, where it's pretended women have been given equality, but underneath nothing whatsoever has changed and men, in heavily male dominated groups and governments, acting in male interests, can take it all with a flick of a pen.

Demonstrating that they still see all resources and female rights as something in the gift of men, to give or withhold as they see fit. And to be removed as soon as females have something males want. And to insist that females co operate, willing or not, with being physically present in states of vulnerability and undress where male people request this, and they can submit to this or lose the service or space altogether, and possibly face legal punishment.

We've re entered the fucking Victorian age.

Yes to all of this.

This is doing the rounds on facebook. As someone in the UK I dont know all the procedural ins and outs. But assuming it is correct this seems like a positive idea of how to be proactive. And hope all the whatabouterries of left and right wing, will not undermine this potentially positive way of challenging this attempt to erase women and women's rights:
.

The recent executive order by Pres. Biden does two things: it states a principle of anti-sex discrimination AND directs a review by all Agency heads to make sure their policies comply with that principle. That review is essential to implementing the principle.

If you want to be activist around this, my suggestion is not to focus on rescinding the EO. But to tell the Biden Administration, and the relevant Agency heads, that the review must encompass ALL aspects of sex discrimination. And that protecting Trans persons should NOT come at the expense of women.

IOW, spend your efforts at trying to influence the results of the review. Not in trying to end the review. You will NOT get the order rescinded. Tell the Administration to implement it responsibly with due attention to the rights of women and girls.

For example, tell the head of the DOE to make sure that sex-based distinctions remain in place for Title IX purposes. Tell HUD that sex-based shelters are important for women's safety. Tell the Bureau of Prisons that sex-based segregation of prisoners is necessary for women's safety.

And give them an alternative: males compete on male teams without discrimination. Males get access to male-spaces without discrimination. Everybody gets access to gender-neutral space at their own discretion. Trans and Gay prisoners get safe, appropriate, and sex-segregated housing.

The order DOES NOT implement anything but a policy review, to be completed in 100 days. Get your voice in there. Make yourself heard. Be polite. Be smart. Be respectful of people's needs, including the needs of the Agency heads to have evidence to reject, in even the smallest way, TRA's insistence that males are females.

Remember, this is a President who JUST told all his appointees that he would fire them on the spot if they were rude or attacking of their colleagues.

Remember, also, that TONS of money is coming from TRAs. This is well-funded and organized. But the Senate and the House hang by a thread. Let every Democrat know, politely, firmly, and respectfully, that they need to protect the rights of women and girls or you will have to reconsider your support.

Every time you get a fundraising appeal from any Dem, have a standard text or email response that says: I am concerned about the rights of women and girls. What are you going to do to protect those rights?

.
Women united will never be defeated (I hope)

If Biden and Co can't see something that is so basic and blindingly obvious, what else goes straight over their heads? SEX MATTERS.

@Floisme

Yes I admit I'm not well versed in US lawmaking but I've never understood why the Democrats haven't tried harder to place abortion rights on a more secure footing when they've been in power. Call me cynical but it seems quite convenient to be able to hold it as a threat over women every 4 years.

I think part of the problem has been Roe v Wade ironically. It's meant that other efforts to shore up abortion rights haven't been a priority, while simultaneously ensuring republicans were completely obsessed with taking over the Supreme Court.

One big step in this is going to need to be to get equal representation into governments, and stop this business of it being a very few, very privileged good girls with limited grasp on reality, who have been allowed by men, through being very good girls who make the right noises on command, to rise through the party.

We need to look at women like Anne Ruzylo and confront, properly, why do we have women of that calibre in the lower ranks of parties never allowed to rise, when there is almost no talent at all among the few women in parliament and cabinet? Let's face up to it. Having seen Anne speak and interact with a room I strongly suspect if you put Anne in a working men's club, I would put money on her to answer any question put to her, on her feet, with a grip of evidence and real life experience. She could motivate people in the old Labour heartlands. How many politicians in the top echelons could face a room and talk to them now? How many would dare? They won't even risk talking on a webchat here.

In Charlie brooker's "death to 2020" on Netflix Leslie Jones does a great rant about 14 mins in...

"On the right, you got shit nosed extremists wondering aloud if hitler was all bad and inventing their own clown house reality. And on the left you got whiny fucking wokelords cancelling the shit out of anyone who dares to take a dump at the wrong time of day. And both sides look so unhappy it makes you want to puke. But the way it’s going, you know we gonna end up one side or the other, so pick your fucking team and hunker the fuck down."

@stumbledin great post thank you.

Humans can speak the truth without being punished for disobedience Quaagars.

If I have the rights of a full human being I should be able to state the truth without adverse consequence. That any man I am being ordered to call a woman is not female, not a woman, not a transwoman, not a trans woman. That no-one can transition to being female. That there is no human group characteristic called gender, and that to force me into a false group with members of the opposite sex under the banner of my own sex's name is inhumane.

If I am fully human then no-one can censor or punish me as if I were a pet for defying and refuting and refusing to comply with men's wishes.
If I am fully human then there can exist no other human with more powerful authority who can have me arrested and remove my freedom for saying no to him.

If I am fully human I cannot be compelled to adopt a false, nonexistent 'female gender identity' imposed upon me by men simply to regain access to what once was a right for my sex but which has been reallocated to men for their pleasure.

If I am fully human I can stand eye to eye with any man and openly defy his outrageous claim to be a woman, and there would be no higher authority that would seek retribution, and my defiance would be seen as a justified expression of truth.

As a woman, to be recognised as fully human I need to live in a world that does not demand I serve at the pleasure of men.