Women's Rally in Edinburgh, Thurs, 6th Oct

[PogueMahoneBoris]

There is going to be a women's rally outside of Holyrood (Scottish Parliament) on Thursday 6th October. Gather for 11.15am for a 11.30 start. It's the one delayed from Sept 15th.

The focus of the rally (and the timing, during what is normally First Minister's Questions) is the Gender Recognition Reform Bill that is currently going through the Scottish Parliament and the impact on Scottish women's rights.

The following speakers will be there so do come along and listen, mingle, network and then come for a drink :

Cllr Alison Dowling
Elaine Miller ("fanny physio", Gusset Grips)
Lisa Mackenzie (Murray Blackburn Mackenzie)
Rhona Hotchkiss (LGB Alliance)
Helen Joyce (Sex Matters)
Maya Forstater (Sex Matters)
Johann Lamont (retired Labour MSP)
Caroline McAllister (Scottish Feminist Network)
Kate Coleman (Keep Prisons Single Sex)

The rally is organised by For Women Scotland and all are welcome to attend.
If you are coming from out of town, or even from within Edinburgh, and would appreciate some company walking into the rally (which might sound a bit intimidating if you haven't been to one before) then get in touch as there will be a couple of meeting places organised.
Looking forward to seeing you there.

Will there be any videos of the speakers?

Looks like a really good turnout, in the hundreds.

Really good humoured crowd, lots of people, no protests at all that I saw or heard. Glad I went! Standing in solidarity with my Scottish sisters

It was great. Really excellent speakers, and a strong sense of sisterhood. Also a fair number of men there supporting.

I was there with a colleague who isn't very familiar with all of the detail and when the speakers were mentioning things (like rapists being in women's prisons; what the GRA means in reality etc.) he kept turning to me and asking if he was hearing things properly. I think he understands it all now!

A good turnout and passionate and informative speakers. Lots of young people and men there too showing support.

fabulous! and weather mostly good!

Thank you to all the the wonderful women & men who came along today to NO to SELF ID & YES TO WOMEN’S RIGHTS , Our Safety, Privacy & Dignity Matter. Women Won’t Wheesht 💚🤍💜

What @RhannionKPSS said.

Glad it went well... Will anyone listen though.

Just seen this in the Times:
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0170d5d6-4576-11ed-8885-043c27446b97?shareToken=b025ec1ccb0a1b75013ff8adb60686de

It was brilliant but I've just seen the BBCs take on it very disappointing they only used footage from the set up so only a few people there no footage of the actual rally or the real crowd of supporters 😕

Me with my women wont wheesht banner... it was packed.... an excellent turn out with the problems with trains, weather, cancellations etc .... and WEIRDLY no TRAs had they finally realised they just look like misogynist shits and best to say away ?

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/msps-vote-to-allow-gender-change-without-medical-report-jp5fd579z

Sounds like it was bloody brilliant. Loads of great stuff on Twitter - I loved the 'Joanna Cherry is a Legend' poster and JKR expressing her solidarity with a t-shirt.

Saw this absolutely brilliant thread by a Scottish woman, addressing Nicola Sturgeon, which I think sums up what women are trying to say really well - twitter.com/CleverclogsNina/status/1578066847114690563?s=20&t=bkZo4QkzSVh2v6xft0RKJg

So pleasantly surprised to hear there were no violent aggressive protesters!

Really wish I could have been there, am also keeping an eye out for any videos of the speakers, I would love to hear them.

@JanieAllen love your sign!
@Waitwhat23 that is an excellent open letter to NS via twitter!

I'm there in spirit. Unfortunately abroad but it's my home town and I care passionately about this. Thank you to all who are going. It means the world.

FWS have said that there will be. Not sure when - I haven't seen any full videos yet.

Did see this fantastic clip though -
twitter.com/GSpellchecker/status/1578092742885969920?s=20&t=HLRLzvCmsjBxbKA3gFuGBw

'The word woman is taken. The word lesbian is taken. And you cannot harm our children'.

Helen Joyce -

twitter.com/GSpellchecker/status/1578094319113732118?s=20&t=ZxP582nB6726E1gAVeR67Q

Gussie Grips -

twitter.com/GSpellchecker/status/1578023142614007808?s=20&t=NarVG2beEIt7hFjQKts22g

It was fantastic, great to see and meet so many brilliant campaigners! And so many people I'd only met on here or other sites before.
I'm @Babdoc 's DD, the one with the autism advocacy sign (and the Kiwi Farms T-shirt 😁 it gets a lot of flak, but for a long time it was the only site other than here where you could talk about women's rights, so I'm a fan).

@Waitwhat23 Thank you for those moving videos

Found another one -

twitter.com/mbmpolicy/status/1578089667487989761?s=20&t=5U6NjXOKMsujp85KK1yPkQ

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-63162533

JKR 😍What a woman

Yep. FWS will edit footage and release in separate clips. I was blown away by speeches today, they pulled no punches. Regardless of politics, listen to Johann Lamont's. My god.