LGBTQ+ Action Plan Wales Consultation - ends 22 October

[OldCrone]

The Welsh Government consultation on the LGBTQ+ Action Plan ends this Friday 22nd October.

gov.wales/node/40753/respond-online

Anyone can respond. You don't have to live in Wales.

There is more information here with guidance about completing the consultation:

merchedcymru.wales/can-the-action-plan/

Previous threads about the consultation.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4324416-Welsh-Government-Transgender-people-are-people-who-are-born-as-one-sex-but-are-the-other-sex

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4309364-Welsh-Government-commits-to-end-women-s-sex-based-rights

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4309066-Wales-going-LGB-woke

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4337855-Welsh-Government-is-following-Scotlands-anti-woman-lead

Thanks, OldCrone, I was looking for this.

The easy-read version of the consultation document contains such gems as
Transgender people are people who are born as one sex but are the other sex. For example, a person who looks like a man on the outside may be a woman on the inside.
Stated as a 'fact'. Unbelievable.
and
Protected characteristics includes race, age, gender, religion, disability and sex.
(No: gender reassignment is one of the Equality Act's protected characteristics. Not 'gender'.)

I'm plodding through the questionnaire in solidarity with women in Wales. Hope springs eternal ...

I found this consultation quite hard going. The questions are very open ended which makes it difficult to work out what should go where. For example Q1 and 2 seem to be covering the same ground.

I ended up commenting about what I see as some of the most important issues under Q3 (for me that's mainly about GRA reform, medication of children and LGBTQ+ teaching in schools) and about the inadequate Equality Impact Assessment under Q6.

Thanks for posting OP. I've managed to stagger through it with help from the Merched Cymru guidance (merchedcymru.wales/can-the-action-plan/) but you are right... it's repetitive and incoherent. Like the Plan itself.

I'm most excised by the lack of objectivity, integrity and transparency. This is a Stonewall-led travesty. Not a single GC voice represented and an unaccountable 'Independent Expert Panel' whose chair and several members publicly abuse those who refuse to accept that gender ideology must be prioritised above sex.

It's shocking - and dangerous.

Oh god, I've finished it. I am pretty sure I spent more time filling the consultation in than the Welsh government spent thinking about the impact of their plans on women, children, ethnic and religious minorities, or disabled people.

I've read on here before that there is no word for 'gender' in the Welsh language and therefore a lot of lost in translation. I'm sure a Welsh speaker will be along soon who will be able to confirm or refute this and explain the nuances of the Welsh language.

Transgender people are people who are born as one sex but are the other sex.

Agh, my brain! It would at least be more coherent if it said 'were born as one sex but changed to the other sex'. (Incorrect, but more easy to follow what it's trying to say).

I am pretty sure I spent more time filling the consultation in than the Welsh government spent thinking about the impact of their plans on women, children, ethnic and religious minorities, or disabled people. Same here @thinkingaboutLangCleg, I bumbled my way through it. Was very grateful for the Merched Cymru info & guidance - I'm not very articulate at the best of times and find that the way the whole gender ideology thing is being pushed onto us makes me almost speechless with rage.

When gender was mainly used as a polite synonym for sex it was translated as "rhyw" which means sex. When talking about the gender of nouns the word is "cenedl". For gender as a social construct or gender identity the word is "rhywedd", which roughly means the stuff that goes with being a certain sex. Translators aren't necessarily familiar with the differences so Welsh documents from captured organisations are sometimes more GC than intended. I saw a Police/Welsh Govt poster about hate crime in a hospital recently that said that being targeted because of your sex was a hate crime. The English version said gender identity. A lot of the rules and linguistic shenanigans of gender ideology are very anglo-centric.

@enfyspreseli

Thanks for that.

All my post 16 education has been science based, so I'm no linguist. Over the last few years I've learnt a huge amount from Mumsnet via GC threads about the importance and power of words and the evolution of language.

Does anyone know what the deadline actually means? By the end of tomorrow? Or do I need to finish it tonight?

It just says 22nd October without giving a time, which I think is unhelpful!

@FreezerBird

Does anyone know what the deadline actually means? By the end of tomorrow? Or do I need to finish it tonight?

It just says 22nd October without giving a time, which I think is unhelpful!

It currently says '2 days left to respond' on this page gov.wales/lgbtq-action-plan, so I think that means we've got until tomorrow to respond (presumably midnight since it doesn't give a time).

There's also another Welsh Government consultation here on a different issue which has a closing date of 21st October, and it's still open.

A reminder that today is the last day to submit a response.
gov.wales/lgbtq-action-plan

How did we get into a situation where a lobby group is rewriting the law?

Their 'expert panel' is a lobby group which refused participation by people who disagree with them.

I submitted a response this week.

@Gingercake2018

I've read on here before that there is no word for 'gender' in the Welsh language and therefore a lot of lost in translation. I'm sure a Welsh speaker will be along soon who will be able to confirm or refute this and explain the nuances of the Welsh language.

@Gingercake2018 Yes, to be honest, we use 'rhyw' (sex) but I've also seen 'rhywedd' (gender). I'm unsure as to the etymology of 'rhywedd'. Not sure if it's always been around or if it's something that's been made in the last few years to explain the concept of gender.

Just a few more hours before this closes. Merched Cymru have a useful guide if you want to make a last minute submission.
merchedcymru.wales/can-the-action-plan/

I managed to respond just in time. After putting it off for weeks I found it a lot more cathartic than expected.

I particularly enjoyed enjoyed question 9 "the acronym LGBTQ+ should be used" because it gave me a chance to point out that as an elderly lesbian I did not enjoy being lumped in with adult men who gain sexual satisfaction from appearing in public dressed as giant babies, sucking dummies and soiling their nappies. So I would be very grateful if they removed the LGB from the rest of that acronym.

Done! I enjoyed question nine too.

LGB Alliance Cymru's response is absolutely brilliant. I'll link it.

merchedcymru.wales/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/LGBAC-response-to-Action-Plan.pdf

Just submitted mine. I pity the poor person who has to read it. It's a stream of consciousness based on my personal experience and not the well considered, rational and evidenced response that I would have liked to have made with more time, energy and brain space.

Hopefully it said something useful. This stuff is so important. Come on Welsh Government and do the right thing.

I've responded, though I'm ill and it's been a heavy week, so not as well as I would have liked to. Still, an unambiguously negative response to the action plan and better than nothing.

I found the crappiness of the action plan a bit embarrassing as a Welshie, not just the political bias but the overall poor quality of it. Is this the best we can do? I feel sad that our government is in thrall to a lobby group, and also that they are so boring and charmless and bad at writing.

Oh well. Croesi bysedd a gobeithio fydd rhyw unigolyn unig, call yn y Senedd yn ymyrryd.

@JulesRimetStillGleaming

Just submitted mine. I pity the poor person who has to read it. It's a stream of consciousness based on my personal experience and not the well considered, rational and evidenced response that I would have liked to have made with more time, energy and brain space.

Hopefully it said something useful. This stuff is so important. Come on Welsh Government and do the right thing.

I'm sure it will be an easier read than the action plan itself.