Transgender women advised to call 999 if asked to leave women-only lavatories

[ChristinaXYZ]

"Transgender women should call 999 if they feel unsafe through a request to leave a women-only lavatory, Britain’s largest child transgender charity has said.

The advice from Mermaids comes amid lingering confusion over the long-awaited new guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), the watchdog, for providers of single-sex spaces such as refuges, changing rooms and hospital wards.

The EHRC ruled last month that trans women, who are born as males, can be excluded from female-only spaces if there is a legitimate reason such as protecting privacy and dignity...

...But Mermaids has become the latest lobby group to issue its own guidance in response, saying it is “not happy” with the regulator’s approach “because we feel it is not inclusive enough of trans people”.

In its helpsheet, titled “single-sex spaces: know your rights”, the influential young people’s trans charity lists a series of tips for “what to do if someone asks you to leave a facility”.

The first tip, branded “grossly irresponsible” by lawyers, stated: “If you are at risk of harm, try and get somewhere safe and call someone you trust, or the emergency services if you feel comfortable in doing so on 999.”

It also recommends that gender-dysphoric youths “ask the facility/your school for a copy of its trans inclusion policy” and “ask the facility/your school for its reasons for your removal, in writing”.

Trans people are also urged to direct the school or venue to Mermaids phone lines and “take notes”. The charity stresses that the EHRC’s guidance “is not the law and cannot be enforced” and that “you still have the right to access the services and facilities you did before the guidance was published”.

Leading lawyers have said it shows how venues such as schools, gyms and hospitals are caught in a war of words between activists and regulators, with little clarity on how to act....

read more

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/04/30/transgender-women-advised-call-999-asked-leave-women-only-lavatories/

The EHRC didn’t ‘rule’ last month. What they stated has always been the case.

I can just imagine the local police getting multiple calls at the same time from the same toilet -
‘police please, someone has tried to throw me out of the toilets - I’m a transwoman in a single sex toilet’
’police please - there’s a bloke in the ladies loos and he’s refusing to leave’

Can’t read it, OP, as the Telegraph doesn’t allow free access. Can you provide a share token or a screenshot?

It’s getting beyond a joke now. I have told my dd to scream the place down if a male is in a female space with her, if he tries to touch her spray him in the face with hairspray or deodorant and run away screaming. I mean what else can we do?

That article is behind a paywall.

This is the helpsheet it refers to…
mermaidsuk.org.uk/news/single-sex-spaces-know-your-rights/

Amanda Jones, a barrister specialising in equality law at Great James Street chambers, told The Telegraph: “If an organisation is lawfully providing single-sex facilities, refusing to leave would certainly be a problem. The provider would be entitled to use security or call the police.
“Anyone wishing to challenge such an organisation’s policy should do so calmly and use the provider’s complaints policy. Mermaids appears to advise ignoring the EHRC’s advice, but then relies upon assertions about the law which are unclear and dubious.”
‘Advice to call 999 is grossly irresponsible’
Naomi Cunningham, a discrimination law barrister, added that “the advice to call 999 is grossly irresponsible”.
“Being entitled not to suffer discrimination on grounds of gender reassignment is not the same thing as being entitled to be treated as the opposite sex,” she said.

Thread tends to get deleted if you use the full article on here and the Telegraph does not have share tokens.

Ovarit does allow them though - see the Gender Critic board (or circle) as they call them.

rest of the article
"Amanda Jones, a barrister specialising in equality law at Great James Street chambers, told The Telegraph: “If an organisation is lawfully providing single-sex facilities, refusing to leave would certainly be a problem. The provider would be entitled to use security or call the police.

“Anyone wishing to challenge such an organisation’s policy should do so calmly and use the provider’s complaints policy. Mermaids appears to advise ignoring the EHRC’s advice, but then relies upon assertions about the law which are unclear and dubious.”

Naomi Cunningham, a discrimination law barrister, added that “the advice to call 999 is grossly irresponsible”.

“Being entitled not to suffer discrimination on grounds of gender reassignment is not the same thing as being entitled to be treated as the opposite sex,” she said.

The EHRC’s advice also sparked a mutiny from NHS diversity chiefs who vowed to ignore it, prompting the embattled regulator’s chairman, Baroness Falkner of Margravine, to insist “campaign groups or vested interests” would not sway the law in their favour.

Mermaids was contacted for comment."

“Being entitled not to suffer discrimination on grounds of gender reassignment is not the same thing as being entitled to be treated as the opposite sex,” she said.

This should be on stickers.

Can't read the article. But from the help sheet, if someone does feel at risk of significant harm (ie are being threatened with violence), whats wrong with calling 999?

For clarity, I don't mean, and don't believe that the help sheet means to call 999 if someone is asked to leave. It seems to refer to if people become threatening or violent about it.

Ffs 🙄

For fucks fucking sake

given that misgendering is apparently “literal violence” it’s not hard to insigne a liberal use of 999 when clearly male ppl are asked to leave womens single sex spaces

I think what you've described would be fair but the problem is how many TRAs count any disagreement with their beliefs as harmful/violent, eg misnaming someone is "literal violence" and failing to treat someone as the desired sex is literally akin to murder. Stonewall will be well aware of this so the advice to call 999 is inflammatory.

If I were in a public toilet feeling threatened I’d do my best to get out. I doubt I’d stand there phoning 999

I think a relevant course of action here is for the EHRC to invite the CEO of the Mermaids charity to a meeting to discuss Mermaids' failure to understand the single sex exceptions in the Equality Act 2010.

It's just so clear isn't it.

They've just jumped a whole row of sharks.

Interestingly the last para of the 'fact sheet' is 'Please note this help sheet does not constitute legal advice.' Well, quite

Nice bit of ass covering by this 'charity' though

It says IF YOU ARE AT RISK OF HARM call the emergency services

That isn't a bad rule to have, irregardless of transgender issues

If you're on a phone click the telegraph link then switch immediately to flight mode - article will load but the paywall block won't.

Datun - some kind of shark long jump record being attempted

@Datun "They've just jumped a whole row of sharks."

We need to contact the Guinness Book of Records? 😉

And as it's Mermaids I presume we're talking about young males getting access to toilets being used by teenage girls or even younger here.

I was just writing a long reply, but as I have consumed copious amounts of 🍷
I've changed my mind.

Fuck it. Just fucking fuck it.
I'm going to start using the men's, as we know all the fucking creepy men are in the ladies.

And when the bloody men complain that women are in their toilets they will be listened to.

Hopefully then we can get single sex loos back.

I have an 10 year old child.

I will pass this advice on to her. If she sees a dick, she will know what to do.

I don't think DH really grasped it until I told him that a male 'girl' could impose himself on the Safe spaces of your daughter. It's amazing then effect this can have on a daddy.

Funnily enough, I don't have the same worries over DS.

Fuck it. Just fucking fuck it.

Wine or not, that just about encapsulates the entire thing from start to finish.

😁