TiTINATrance I think the way out of feeling conflicted might be to recognise that things are very different now than they were in 2004 when the GRA was passed.
2004
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"Trans" meant "transsexual" and in the UK this conjured up public images of glamorous models April Ashley and "Bond Girl" Tula (Caroline Cossey), tweedy travel writer Jan Morris, and Hayley Cropper (Coronation Street character played by not-trans actress Julie Hesmondhalgh).
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Most transsexuals who could "pass" went "stealth". That this was the norm, or at least the intention, is reflected in the prohibition in the GRA against "outing" by someone who learned in an official capacity that a transsexual had applied for or been granted a GRC.
Section 22 - Prohibition on disclosure of information
www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/7/section/22
Successful "stealthing" was framed as a "legal privacy" issue for the transsexual rather than a non-consensual intrusion on the privacy of others.
- The GRA codified "transsexuals" as people who had a specific psychiatric diagnosis:
“gender dysphoria” means the disorder variously referred to as gender dysphoria, gender identity disorder and transsexualism,
Section 25 - Interpretation
www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/7/section/25
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The main purpose of the GRA 2004 was to enable same-sex marriage by the back door, ie. transsexuals were understood to be homosexual in the real sense of the word.
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Transsexuals were understood by the general public to be very different people to "transvestites" (aka "cross-dressers"), professional "female impersonators" and "drag artists". Many if not most "hobbyists" were heterosexual and most of the best-known professional performers were, at least officially, heterosexual.
2022
6) "Trans" means, in practice, anything that someone who calls themselves "trans" says it means, although the term "transsexual" is frowned upon by trans advocacy groups:
www.stonewall.org.uk/sites/default/files/setting_up_lgbt_011.pdf
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Promotion of the concept of a "trans umbrella" plus non-consensual mothballing of the term "transsexual" has resulted in the intentional blurring of distinctions between, for example, male cross-dressers, female impersonators, drag queens, eunuchs (men with a castration fetish), "furries", "other kin", "adult babies", etc.
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The GRA 2004 is still in force but lobbying and training by Stonewall and similar trans-advocacy organisations has resulted in statutory sector, voluntary sector and commercial organisations "going beyond the law" (breaking the law in some cases) in substituting "gender" and/or "gender identity" for "sex" and/or "gender reassignment" as a Protected Characteristic under the Equality Act 2010.
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The assaults on language and reality, and the determination of trans advocates to appropriate, twist and erode the meaning of the words "woman", "female" and "lesbian" present a real threat to the legal protections, privacy, dignity and safety of women and children.
For example,
Girl Guiding exempts males who self-ID as women from safe-guarding procedures that apply to all other male staff and volunteers 1 and GG sacked women who raised concerns:
www.mumsnet.com/search?q=girl%20guiding&topic%5B0%5D=Feminism%3A%20Sex%20%26%20gender%20discussions
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"Trans" in all its manifestations is no longer something to be "in the closet" about. "Out and Proud" is the thing. You cannot turn on the TV, listen to the radio, open a Newspaper, surf the internet, use Social Media, go to the Library, School, College, University, work, department store, coffee shop, etc. etc. without being forcefully reminded that TRANS PEOPLE EXIST!
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"Stealthing" is less likely to be in the news as tabloid "outing" than as the almost equally rare occurrence of a case of non-consensual sex by "deception as to gender": Justine McNally v R [2013]
www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/rape-and-sexual-offences-chapter-6-consent#a11
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Women are now alert to the fact that males who cannot "pass", or who make absolutely no concessions to "passing", are aggressively invading what were once women's single sex spaces both on and off-line.
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Number 13 - unlucky for some or perhaps all of us? Successful "stealthing", previously framed as a "legal privacy" issue for the transsexual, is now understood as deceptive, non-consensual intrusion on the privacy of others and a threat to the legal standing and protection of women.
At a practical level, there is no reason on earth why a woman should assume that "passing" equates with a benign disposition, compassion for women or empathy for women. All the "lucky genes", cross-sex hormones and cosmetic surgery in the world cannot alter the fact that we live and die the same sex we are born.
At a societal level, those who "pass", do no favours to women by "stealthing". Just because they can "pass themselves off" as women it does not mean that they should.
All credit to those who have recognised the harm that they have done to women as a class by successfully "stealthing" and are intent on stopping being part of the problem of institutionalised reality denial and medico-pharmacological exploitation of children and vulnerable adults.