ScotGov Gender Reform Bill - tomorrow

[Hagiography]

Professor Sharon Cowan, Professor of Feminist and Queer Legal Studies, University of Edinburgh School of Law

Naomi Cunningham, Barrister, Outer Temple Chambers and Chair, Sex Matters

Karon Monaghan QC, Barrister, Matrix Chambers

David Parker, Lead Clinician, National Gender Identity Clinical Network for Scotland

www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/committees/current-and-previous-committees/session-6-equalities-human-rights-and-civil-justice-committee/meetings/2022/ehrcjs62218/agenda

Will be screened live.

He was so animated I kept thinking I had landed up on the Cbeebies youtube channel. Quite extraordinary.

Father Noel ( played by Graham Norton)

100%

I actually wondered if he was chemically assisted.

The article in the Telegraph today is amazing. Including:

”Asked how Ireland had ensured people who formally changed their sex on health records were still called for medical checks required because of their natal sex, she claimed the issue had never been raised.

“Embarrassingly, none of these things were identified around the time of the enactment of the legislation,” she said. “We couldn’t tell you how many pregnant people [as opposed to women] there could be in Ireland because we don’t know how many trans women there are, trans men there are, how many non-binary people. We haven’t collected that data.

“To my mind it’s a glaring gap in policy formation because you’re enacting a policy to be all-encompassing without knowing how many people you’re enacting the policy for.

“We have no knowledge for our public services, such as prostate check, breast check, cervical check, none of those would include any of our new gender-registered people. That’s a glaring omission.”

She urged MSPs: “So learn by our mistakes. I’m not even sure we realised it is a mistake until you told me here today, which is a poor show.”

Sometimes people just don’t know when to stop talking. 😁

www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/06/23/irish-senator-who-says-country-has-nine-genders-backs-snp-plan/

So what are the 9 genders?

Thank you @rogdmum for the link.Yesterday I meant to post "I’m not even sure we realised it is a mistake until you told me here today" myself as it's my favourite Regina Doherty quote out of so many. And did she change her mind about "pregnant people" during the session or am I misremembering?

Anyway, so much for Ireland's contribution to "international best practice". It doesn't even require accurate data gathering.

But I found her innocence and open honesty charming. In her world everyone is well intentioned and what the advocacy groups want is just what's best for everyone. I wish we could all afford to be that naive.

I was wondering if I imagined her change of stance on “pregnant people” Amaryllis so clearly not! Yes, at the end she said something along the lines of maybe we should say pregnant non binary people, pregnant trans men etc. Possibly as a result of her seeming to think trans people should be perfectly happy to share their trans status when talking about doctors (which will not make the TRAs happy, I wouldn’t think).

What a glorious mess!

'it’s a glaring gap in policy formation because you’re enacting a policy to be all-encompassing without knowing how many people you’re enacting the policy for.

“We have no knowledge for our public services, such as prostate check, breast check, cervical check, none of those would include any of our new gender-registered people. That’s a glaring omission'

Fucking hell.

And the commission will spin this as:

'there are no reported problems in Ireland'

BECAUSE THEYRE NOT EVEN CHECKING TO SEE IF THERE ARE ANY

'Senator Doherty also told a hearing of Holyrood’s equalities committee that Ireland had “probably about nine genders”,'

It's such a specific made up number.

Suggests there is a list.

Senator Doherty also told a hearing of Holyrood’s equalities committee that Ireland had “probably about nine genders”, defended a push to rewrite legislation to refer to “pregnant people”, and insisted people other than women “can absolutely get pregnant”.

it genuinely sounds like a scene from a sitcom. Like a PP, I applaud her candour, but clearly Ireland did not think it through and anyone advocating they are used as a model for Gender law is very mistaken

If you enjoy true semantic horror, this advice from the Irish govt on how to Apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate should satisfy:

"Once a Gender Recognition Certificate is issued, the gender of the person named on the certificate becomes for all purposes the preferred gender from that date forward.

Accordingly, if the preferred gender is the male gender the person’s sex becomes that of a man, and if it is the female gender the person’s sex becomes that of a woman."

The data scientist in me just curled up and died.

That wording is almost identical to that in the UK GRA2004:

Where a full gender recognition certificate is issued to a person, the person’s gender becomes for all purposes the acquired gender (so that, if the acquired gender is the male gender, the person’s sex becomes that of a man and, if it is the female gender, the person’s sex becomes that of a woman).

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/7/crossheading/consequences-of-issue-of-gender-recognition-certificate-etc

That wording is almost identical to that in the UK GRA2004

Just fills us with confidence, doesn't it?

Yes, we wondered as well...

The difficulty is Maggie herself 😂

She is always rather confused 😐

Yes she did change her mind about pregnant people “ and about 15-16 year old “ knowing everything “ it was quite bizarre and a huge own goal for the committee.

We had the unedifying sight of one of the persons speaking to the committee walking across the cafe of the Parliament in their bare feet afterwards...🤢I think their heels were pinching... and other person who was there behaved in the same way away from the committee room. I’ll leave it up to all of you to guess who was who in my comment. 😀

Tomorrow at 10am is the start of the last day of the Scottish government hearings on the GRC in this session of parliament before the summer break.
It will be interesting as one of the speakers is Shona Robison, who is in charge of pushing this bill with absolutely no regard for the rights of women and children in Scotland Will be worth a watch live if you have the time.

Thanks, Rhannion. Shona Robison, eh? I'll be there.

Hope everyone is watching

I am listening to Shona right now but will miss some and catch up later.

'trans people are not responsible for [that] abuse' says Shona.

What, she thinks trans people are incapable of committing crimes?

Did you see the women being told to leave ?

One by one we were told to leave because of our t shirts! Hope you all saw Nicola Sturgeon Destroyer Of Women’s Rights on our T shirts before the plug was pulled!!!! Women Won’t Wheesht 💚🤍💜💪💪💪

Please check Twitter for all the messages, banners, yarn bombing etc that’s going on today! Please retweet as much as possible!