Politicians who prioritise sex offenders over safety of women and children

[Whereareyourshoes]

Our Scottish Parliament yesterday showed us the contempt our politicians have for women in Scotland.

Reading through the list of politicians who voted against Russell Findlay’s amendment to make it harder for sex offenders for change their legal sex.

From Maggie Chapman of the Scottish Greens who doesn’t want any barriers in place to anyone getting a GRC to Alex Cole-Hamilton from the Lib Dems and so many SNP MSPs prioritising rapists and paedophiles over the safety of women and children in Scotland.

They bring shame on the whole Scottish Parliament.

Anyone going to the rally today - the start time has been changed to the earlier time of 12.45 as the debate is now starting at 1.15pm instead of 2pm.

twitter.com/ForWomenScot/status/1605514132920209408?s=20&t=CjcJ_KbOwO-5umf5r4pnXw

I wish I could be there but am away with my kids.

Wish everyone going a safe, peaceful protest.

See if our MSPs can show a shred of decency and pause this Bill before they inflict even more Dolatowskis on us.

💚🤍💜

Wish I could be there.

Male Sexual Rights movement. Front and centre.

Men's feelings matter more than women and children's bodies, safety and equality of basic human rights.

Come on Westminster, end this shitshow.

Come on Westminster, end this shitshow.

I posted this on another thread but according to this, UK government could stop it:

ukconstitutionallaw.org/2022/12/21/michael-foran-sex-gender-and-the-scotland-act/

"the Gender Recognition Reform Bill, coupled with the recent decision in For Women Scotland will likely destabilise existing categories and frameworks for the purposes of the reserved matter of equal opportunities and could therefore lead the Secretary of State to issue a s.35 order prohibiting the Presiding Officer from submitting the Bill for Royal Assent. Section 35(1)(b) states that this can be done where the Bill in question contains provisions:

which make modifications of the law as it applies to reserved matters and which the Secretary of State has reasonable grounds to believe would have an adverse effect on the operation of the law as it applies to reserved matters

Although this power has never been used, there is a distinct possibility that the change to the law in this area may satisfy the requirements for issuing a s.35 order, given that equal opportunities is a reserved matter."

So so sorry. This is appalling. What were they thinking of? (Not women, children or safeguarding) And solidarity with GC Mumsnetters in Scotland.

I am also waiting for the UK Government to end this nonsense. It adversely impacts the rest of the UK and clashes with other UK wide legislation. There must be a way.

Being discussed on Jeremy Vines Radio 2 show now

Text list of the MSPs who voted against Russell Findlay's amendment to make it harder for sex offenders to change their legal sex;

Adam, George (Paisley) (SNP)
Adam, Karen (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP)
Adamson, Clare (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP)
Allan, Alasdair (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) (SNP)
Arthur, Tom (Renfrewshire South) (SNP)
Beattie, Colin (Midlothian North and Musselburgh) (SNP)
Brown, Keith (Clackmannanshire and Dunblane) (SNP)
Brown, Siobhian (Ayr) (SNP)
Burgess, Ariane (Highlands and Islands) (Green)
Chapman, Maggie (North East Scotland) (Green)
Coffey, Willie (Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley) (SNP)
Cole-Hamilton, Alex (Edinburgh Western) (LD)
Constance, Angela (Almond Valley) (SNP)
Dey, Graeme (Angus South) (SNP)
Don, Natalie (Renfrewshire North and West) (SNP)
Doris, Bob (Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn) (SNP)
Dornan, James (Glasgow Cathcart) (SNP)
Dunbar, Jackie (Aberdeen Donside) (SNP)
FitzPatrick, Joe (Dundee City West) (SNP)
Gilruth, Jenny (Mid Fife and Glenrothes) (SNP)
Gougeon, Mairi (Angus North and Mearns) (SNP)
Grahame, Christine (Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale) (SNP)
Gray, Neil (Airdrie and Shotts) (SNP)
Greer, Ross (West Scotland) (Green)
Harper, Emma (South Scotland) (SNP)
Harvie, Patrick (Glasgow) (Green)
Haughey, Clare (Rutherglen) (SNP)
Hepburn, Jamie (Cumbernauld and Kilsyth) (SNP)
Hyslop, Fiona (Linlithgow) (SNP)
Kidd, Bill (Glasgow Anniesland) (SNP)
Lochhead, Richard (Moray) (SNP)
MacDonald, Gordon (Edinburgh Pentlands) (SNP)
MacGregor, Fulton (Coatbridge and Chryston) (SNP)
Mackay, Gillian (Central Scotland) (Green)
Mackay, Rona (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (SNP)
Macpherson, Ben (Edinburgh Northern and Leith) (SNP)
Martin, Gillian (Aberdeenshire East) (SNP)
Matheson, Michael (Falkirk West) (SNP)
McAlIan, Mairi (Clydesdale) (SNP)
McKee, Ivan (Glasgow Provan) (SNP)
McKeIvie, Christina (Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse) (SNP)
McLennan, Paul (East Lothian) (SNP)
McMillan, Stuart (Greenock and Inverclyde) (SNP)
McNair, Marie (Clydebank and Milngavie) (SNP)
Minto, Jenni (Argyll and Bute) (SNP)
Nicoll, Audrey (Aberdeen South and North Kincardine) (SNP)
Rennie, Willie (North East Fife) (LD)
Robertson, Angus (Edinburgh Central) (SNP)
Robison, Shona (Dundee City East) (SNP)
Roddick, Emma (Highlands and Islands) (SNP)
Ruskell, Mark (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green)
Slater, Loma (Lothian) (Green)
Somerville, Shirley-Anne (Dunfermline) (SNP)
Stevenson, Collette (East Kilbride) (SNP)
Stewart, Kaukab (Glasgow Kelvin) (SNP)
Stewart, Kevin (Aberdeen Central) (SNP)
Sturgeon, Nicola (Glasgow Southside) (SNP)
Swinney, John (Perthshire North) (SNP)
Todd, Maree (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP)
Torrance, David (Kirkcaldy) (SNP)
Tweed, Evelyn (Stirling) (SNP)
Whitham, Elena (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (SNP)
Wishart, Beatrice (Shetland Islands) (LD)
Yousaf, Humza (Glasgow Pollok) (SNP)
Abstentions
Carlaw, Jackson (Eastwood) (Con)
Greene, Jamie (West Scotland) (Con)

Yet again, logic has gone out the wondow.

The Scottish Government has assured us - by absolute statements no less - that no sex offender will ever abuse this self-id law.

If that statement is the truth, there is no reason whatsoever to block any of the amendments aimed at stopping sex offenders from abusing the bill.

This is a group not generally thought to identify as trans, because another, equally absolute statement heard yesterday in Parliament was that no one who identifies as trans would ever commit a sexual offence.

Following their logic, therefore these amendments did not aim to prevent anyone who identifies as trans from legally changing their sex, but only those who do not identify as trans and have committed a sexual crime they have been charged with, tried for or convicted for. Just in case the Scottish Government might be wrong, they could have protected women and children.

But instead, ordering SNP MSPs to vote down these amendments was an order to explicitly prioritise the desire of sexual offenders to abuse the new law over and above the rights, safety and needs of women and children.

And they bloody did just that.

Mine is on that list to and I know he understands our concerns. (Even though he signalled that understanding to me as cautiously as a hostage would to prevent their captors from noticing.)

I bared my soul to these people to help them understand why survivors have grave concerns and to share my lived experience of self-id having caused me and other survivors harm in the last eight or so years, since these policies were introduced. To bear witness, to give the evidence they claim doesn't exist.

And yet...

CharlieParley

This is a group not generally thought to identify as trans, because another, equally absolute statement heard yesterday in Parliament was that no one who identifies as trans would ever commit a sexual offence.

Do you know which demented bullshitter said that?

I am so sorry @CharlieParley. They have ignored so much of our lived experience and experiences of male violence and issues with self-id. Thank you for all you have done. We will keep fighting.

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We are only women. Less than human. We don't matter.

Disgraceful. Puts me off going to Scotland.

I understand but this is likely to impact you in so many other countries as well. We keep fighting. Women and girls DO matter.

Time to get rid of SNP and wee Nicola.

It's it time for a new party to represent Scotland

Yep - she’s gone too far, too fast.
I really dislike her.

Excellent article on this at www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2022/12/21/holyroods-shame/

Part of me wonders if Sturgeon is hoping this is blocked by the government or the Supreme Court so she can use it to fuel the grievance politics that she peddles in the hope of getting independence. But, even if this is a cynical manoeuvre, it is shameful from someone who claims to be a "feminist to her fingertips".

Its a new twist in Scotland's history isn't it? The century where the Scots leadership tried to sell their women to buy independence.

If a person has a Scottish Birth Certificate how can you tell if it is an original one or a reissued one?

If the UK gov refuse to recognise a

Bloody phone or website is too slow

How can the UK govt refuse to accept a Scottish GRC? The birth certificate will be changed. Who would know that it's changed?

How does this impact people (like me) who have a Scottish Birth Certificate issued at birth?

Will this mean that my birth certificate is worth less?

How can you distinguish between my proper one and one that is a legal fiction?

I think my point is, I don't see how the UK govt can allow the Scottish govt to pass thus law as I don't see how the UK govt can simply refuse to accept a Scottish GRC in other UK countries. And the Birth Certificate (which may be requested on occasions) is a legal fiction.

Sorry for the rambling but I just can't see its an option to just refuse to accept a Scottish GRC.

It's a bizarre twist on 'Such a parcel of rogues in a nation', isn't it?

Excellent article. Whatever Sturgeon’s true motives it’s shameful and reflects badly on the whole Scottish Parliament.

This article is brilliant prh47:

Excerpt:

When this amendment was defeated, women in the public gallery shouted “shame on all of you”. The MSPs who voted down this amendment should be ashamed. They have been repeatedly warned (by women, equality lawyers, the prison service, social workers, the EHRC, the UN Rapporteur on Violence against Women) of the risks of allowing sex offenders to take advantage of the Bill’s provisions. They know who bears that risk. Not them – but women, girls, children. They know why boundaries are needed to try to keep those at risk safe from those who pose the greatest risk. They know that sex offenders seek to abolish or breach boundaries. In actively permitting this, despite all the known risks, all the evidence of harm, all the warnings, these MSPs are willingly acting as enablers of – and accessories to – sex offenders. They share their mentality: women are not allowed to have boundaries, to say what they are, to keep themselves safe, to say “No means No” and have that respected. They have chosen to privilege convicted sex offenders. They have chosen to put women and girls and the vulnerable at risk.

Why? Albert Camus had it right all those years ago when he said: “Mistaken ideas always end in bloodshed but in every case it is someone else’s blood. That is why some of our thinkers feel free to say just about anything.”

For shame Scotland. For shame

.

It’s disgusting. The fact they’ve happily prioritized male sax offenders over women just shows exactly what they think of us.

This.

This is male supremacism, in law and your legal representatives are all for it