The New Statesman.

[EastWestWhosBest]

New Statesmen are men. Or something.
We get a mention.

www.newstatesman.com/long-reads/2021/11/the-battle-for-stonewall-the-lgbt-charity-and-the-uks-gender-wars

Sorry if already posted.

“I think the ‘no compromise’ position has radicalised people,” one former Stonewall staffer told me. “Someone like Rowling started off just asking questions, Rosie Duffield the same. Now, some of the things Rowling says are quite problematic, but I don’t think it had to be like this.”

Did it not occur to Gaby Hinsliff to ask what these things are that are quite problematic?

So this studiously fence-sitting but TRA-biased article is getting attacked by TRAs (OJ and his gang of course.) They’re trying to make a big deal out of the throwaway line that Stonewall Tweeted about Gaza, because they can’t find that Tweet in a search.

The bizarre thing is that they clearly wouldn’t regard it as a bad thing if Stonewall had Tweeted about Gaza. So it’s just a weird campaign to attack the article and the journalist by any means available.

People really need to figure out that fence-sitting is not a viable course of action.

This is positive. As I posted elsewhere:

Eventually, having done their "transphobia" denunciations of feminists (the non-compliant kind), most women, the general public, the BBC, The Guardian, Mother Nature, and ultimately reality, what will they do then? When they've alienated everyone as being insufficiently ideologically pure, how are they going to convince people they're right?

Did it not occur to Gaby Hinsliff to ask what these things are that are quite problematic?

It's like people crossing themselves when they've long abandoned a faith. It's a reflex defence/action.

I read the article as being the kind of obituary (of Stonewall) that a newspaper will write and then keep in the bottom drawer in advance of the event.

More importantly though, it's Gaby Hinsliff nailing her colours to a number of masts so if necessary she can bail out in the right direction in case it all goes wrong. She's seen what kind of articles about gender identity ideology have been gathering serious praise recently. They've not been those saying that everything is transphobic.

You may have a point there nauticant. That is some high level fence sitting.

It's an interesting attempt at a balanced article, assuming everyone is acting in good faith. That kind of thing can be useful.

I don't think it really gets at the underlying issue, which is really the coherence of the whole question - what does gender really mean, ideologically and scientifically? Why should we address it in this particular way?

This struck me:

When he was re-elected in 2015, his inner circle – knowing he didn’t plan to serve a full term – began exploring ideas a successor could embrace to show that Tory liberalism wasn’t dead. “George [Osborne] was saying, ‘The next big equalities thing is trans rights, that’s what we need to do, it’s happening in the US,”’ a former Tory staffer told me.

It's just about, whats the next thing, because we need a thing. This seems to be the working model of so many organizations now, if you are a safety organization, find something new to make safer. Ect. It's all about doing something, not about seeing what needs to be done.

OT but I hate these Americanisms like staffer. Am I the only one? What’s wrong with saying member of staff or referring to their job title?

It's just about, whats the next thing, because we need a thing.

Osborne has been critical/mocking of TRA rhetoric since though, so i imagine it was purely cynical on his part.

i imagine it was purely cynical on his part

Well yes indeed.

OT but I hate these Americanisms like staffer. Am I the only one?

You're not the only one. Gaby Hinsliff does like to pretend she's cooler than everyone else.

@JustcameoutGC

You may have a point there nauticant. That is some high level fence sitting.

Quite. I do hope Gabby has lots of cream for her sore ass. That really is some impressive fence sitting there, Olympic standard.

I thought it was a bit weird. Seemed to be suggesting George osbourne is responsible for trans rights becoming a thing here in the U.K. and that Theresa may was the main advocate for self Id and abolishing single sex spaces ( which no body cared about anyway) and stonewall just sort of went along with it and in any case have rowed back from this position now
I dunno - it was balanced in that it gave space to Lgb alliance but you would also get impression stonewall were a much more passive player in this whole issue than they are.