Welsh Government commits to end women’s sex-based rights

[MerchedCymru]

The Welsh Government has now released their Wales LGBTQ Action Plan.

Despite continual requests from groups and individuals across Wales to meet with Welsh ministers to outline concerns and shape this plan no invitations were forthcoming.

We must not underestimate the impact on womens and girls rights in Wales, if this plan is implemented it will end access to single-sex spaces, services and opportunities.

The consultation ends in October, we will be responding and actively campaigning to raise awareness in Wales. We fear our efforts may not be enough but we cannot stay silent.

We will publish guidance on how to respond in September, and issue a call for collective action.

We do not consent to a society organized around the belief system of gender rather than the objective reality of biological sex

merchedcymru.wales/2021/07/29/welsh-government-commits-to-end-womens-sex-based-rights

Flipping Nora! What is wrong with these people???

What can we do to help? We are firefighting this crap in Scotland too.

Evening. We've now moved this to the Sex and Gender topic.

@LivMumsnet

Evening. We've now moved this to the Sex and Gender topic.

God forbid this should be seen in any other of a site mainly visited by women! I doubt there are any women on the rest of the site who would have any interest in this or may be pleased to get the heads up on this , much better they miss out on seeing it to avoid 'offending' anyone visiting the site who thinks gender trumps sex.

@LivMumsnet
There's already a thread about this in sex and gender.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4309066-Wales-going-LGB-woke

Can you move this one back to where MerchedCymru posted it originally, so that more people can see it? It's an important consultation about an issue which affects all women.

Leanne Wood (Plaid Cymru) is very vocal on her FB page, supporting “TW rights” at the moment. She has deleted many posts from people who have questioned. The posts in support of her views are still there.

It seems this topic is not up for debate, more like if your a woman who defend women’s rights to women only spaces you can shut up and get back in your corner.

I, and many others, have asked why TW are not campaigning for a third space, plus of course, our very valid concerns around women’s safety. 99% of the posts have been deleted as LW deems anyone who has a different viewpoint to her as “Trolls and Bullies”.

Ah, too dangerous for the Feminist section that is all about feminism but not at all about sex and gender. Somehow.

This split really winds me up.

Anyway, OP, can non-Welsh people respond? Anything else we can do?

@ArabellaScott

Ah, too dangerous for the Feminist section that is all about feminism but not at all about sex and gender. Somehow.

This split really winds me up.

Anyway, OP, can non-Welsh people respond? Anything else we can do?

Well said Arabella. Maybe Mumsnet should start an AIBU subject in the feminist section... More and more people, especially women, need to know what is going on all over the UK at the moment.

@WelshWhisky

Leanne Wood (Plaid Cymru) is very vocal on her FB page, supporting “TW rights” at the moment. She has deleted many posts from people who have questioned. The posts in support of her views are still there.

It seems this topic is not up for debate, more like if your a woman who defend women’s rights to women only spaces you can shut up and get back in your corner.

I, and many others, have asked why TW are not campaigning for a third space, plus of course, our very valid concerns around women’s safety. 99% of the posts have been deleted as LW deems anyone who has a different viewpoint to her as “Trolls and Bullies”.

The TRA don’t want third spaces, they want to invade ours, nothing less than validation is what they are after.

ni fydd menywod yn dowel WomenWontWheest in Welsh ( I hope that’s right)

The TRA don’t want third spaces, they want to invade ours, nothing less than validation is what they are after

Yes I know which is why I questioned why they are not campaigning for a third space. Some other poster on there said it’s because TW shouldn’t have to out themselves by having to use a third space because they fear for their safety. When I, and others, then questioned why the safety and comfort of TW trumps the safety and comfort of women the posts were deleted.

We should try and help Welsh women against this policy of the Senned. Would there be mileage in linking with Scottish women who have been fighting this for longer? If the rest of the UK abolishes Women’s safe spaces, then England will be next, and we will all pay the price. I think this should be on a more public part of the site than sex and gender. It’s important that ALL women understand what is at risk to their privacy and safety.

Link to plan on this page

gov.wales/lgbtq-action-plan

Thanks NiceGerbil good to read the whole thing. There is some that sounds good - looking at LGBTQ+ issues in the asylum system is a really hard and important area and I would welcome learning from that strand across the UK. I also personally welcome the initiatives on data as having proper data, especially in healthcare, would be valuable, and if it could result in a data collection standard that collected both sex and gender data that had wide community acceptance that would be good. However, having family in Wales, the stuff on seeking devolved powers on gender ID and basically increasing access to hormones for adults, with no medical evidence attached, is really worrying. A lot of sections in the recommendations could be beneficial, but some of it is really one sided and I don’t think it will actually benefit trans and non-binary people who deserve more evidence based and thoughtful policy-making.

On the one-sidedness point, this probably comes from the over-reliance on Stonewall Cymru. Several pieces look very self-serving to Stonewall (like the recommendation for a “homogenised” approach to workplace diversity), and I recognise a lot of their talking points. On the list of organisations consulted there is of course only one women’s group (Welsh Women’s Aid).

The policy paper seems to depend on one 2020 survey by Stonewall Cymru, and the survey is described in different places as having 532 respondents or “over 600” so who knows what other inaccuracies and misrepresentations have crept in. As so much hinges on that survey they should really publish the dataset as part of the consultation.

And then they did 12 focus groups. They clearly did try to get a cross-section of the LGBTQ community by other protected characteristics, but the Welsh MNers will be able to spot better how representative they are of Wales.

Question 6 in the consultation set is helpful:

Do you feel the LGBTQ+ Action Plan adequately covers the intersection of LGBTQ+ with other protected characteristics, such as race, religion or belief, disability, age, sex, and marriage and civil partnership? If not, how can we improve this?