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.

This is a terrible day for women's rights and the Scottish government should be utterly ashamed of itself. It's fucking madness and makes me so furious.

In some ways the thing I find most galling is the disingenuous insistence that there is no risk of harm to women, when no one has bothered to collect any evidence and no one has planned to collect any evidence after the bill passes. Classic gaslighting. If they were acting in good faith they could have a comprehensive plan to evaluate the new law, to check that there are no unintended consequences.

It's sadly not a case of oversight or laziness.

It is actively suppressing and avoiding having to see and face evidence.

They know what it would show. They know it would make what they are doing unjustifiable. They know it would make the public refuse to accept this.

So they have lied. And lied. And avoided. And made it as difficult as possible for organisations dependent on funding to mention it or, created a chilling effect on women under threat of exclusion, shame and punishment for mentioning incidents, they have in every way actively prevented this evidence coming to light.

When you can only achieve a political agenda by lies, cheating, deceit and oppression, by hiding evidence and putting fear into people to try and prevent them sharing it?

You know damn well you are doing wrong.

I can’t bear to listen to Vine’s show. Was it remotely balanced?

please don’t let it put you off Scotland! Many of us are completely sane

Exactly this. Deceitful. Dishonest. It’s a Parliament for liars and predators. The sleazy Lib Dems, the Scottish Greens as creepy as p.i.e., weak Labour and the SNP who even ignore the traumatic experiences of their own MSPs. They will not be allowed to forget this. Wonder how their wives and daughters can even bear to look at them.

yeah I’d be disowning my MP relative if they’d sanctioned sneaking this horror through…

I am sure lots of Scottish people are great (i am related to some of them!) but it just feels less safe for me and my DC…

It seems they accepted at face value the ridiculous, false, statement from someone in the UN(?) that in countries where it is similarly easy to change gender they had found no evidence of the right to change gender ever having been abused with resulting harm to women or children. There is so much evidence to refute this.

People seemed to think that only predatory men ever cause harm and that a man who says they are transgender would never be one if them: to suggest any harm from a trans person is remotely possible is a wicked attempt to align all transpeople with sex criminals.

Why are they still in power then? Sturgeon has always been a dictator and a radical. She plays to this image that she is a progressive. But how the hell is Scottish devolution anything but nationalism and how is the new transgender bill anything but putting male interests above women’s?

she is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I think the Scot’s have been totally fleeced.

I was appalled by the applause. And from women.
As if they had done the equivalent of ending the death penalty, or abolishing slavery.

Are there any Scottish Mumsnetters defending this? I live in Wales and would be truly appalled if they follow suit. It's a huge retrograde step for women's rights.

Yes lots of Scottish people are great, but it definitely feels less safe for women and children.

The Scottish Parliament believes women are worthless and undeserving of safety, privacy and dignity.

And their actions will impact on women and children across the UK.

Little girls being taught that their boundaries don’t matter. Having to accept any male person in their changing areas without question.

So many of us have suffered from male violence, assault, harassment. Our voices and our lived experience does not matter.

Scottish MSPs simply don’t care.

Did anyone hear Helena Kennedy this morning?

my elderly feminist mother has just declared that I’m ridiculous after listening to her. “It’s happening all over the world and there is no evidence of any harm”.

I feel like screaming!!!!!!

I posted this on another thread but might as well post again here. Ripples from the rancorous debate will continue for a while

www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-11568107/STEPHEN-DAISLEY-sees-house-divided-Scotlands-gender-bill.html

The ease of getting a GRC makes absolutely no difference whatsoever to trangender people's access to single sex spaces.

You a Scottish politician 🤣🤣🤣

In Scotland they say a GRC makes a person the sex say say they are ‘for every purpose’. They also say sex is not biological, it is (by default) mental.

Anyone can get a GRC, whether transgender or not, and for whatever purpose.

Most male people who obtain GRCs will retain their penis.

Even a criminal, not on a special police list (the majority) may get a GRC.

As a male with a GRC will be regarded as the sex they feel they are for every purpose, every
man who gets a GRC will say they can have access to women’s single sex spaces because single sex will mean one of two ‘felt’ genders rather than. anything biological.

Have I misunderstood?

In the Scottish Parliament debate I think it was pointed out that only 1 in 9 criminals are on a special police list.

How short is your memory? You were shown the evidence that this is an inaccurate statement yesterday. Two high court judgements and the EHRC disagree with you, very much confirming what women's campaigners and various legal experts had been saying all along.

A GRC makes a difference, precisely because men with the protected characteristic of gender reassignment who remain legally male have no right to access female-only legal set asides. Whether some providers feel differently or not and whether they include the latter or exclude them, doesn't change the basic fact that a GRC bestows rights an individual does not have without it.

And the ease makes a difference, because a number of people who identify as trans would have no chance of getting a GRC and therefore could not gain the right of the opposite sex without this self-id bill.

What was that song again?

"Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation".

I should also add, about the claim that a GRC makes no difference and that the ease makes no difference, that schools and associations can only lawfully exclude by restricting membership to a protected characteristic.

If they restrict based on sex, following the For Women Scotland judgement, they cannot ever - ever - lawfully exclude someone of the excluded sex who has a GRC. As the protected characteristic of sex is legal and not biological according to Lady Haldane's judgement, GRC-holders of the opposite sex must be included, because the sex-based exceptions are not available to schools and associations.

One Labour MSP who broke the whip on GRR bill, said they had been speaking to party whips all week and had been "prepared to accept the consequences".

While that MSP did that, another was allowed to skip the vote to save their job.

Can you guess what the possible difference might be between the two Labour MSPs?

twitter.com/ginadavidsonlbc/status/1606308380641005568?s=46&t=lROpVsgjpHCDGCKjDEpamw

twitter.com/ginadavidsonlbc/status/1606348541143781394?s=46&t=lROpVsgjpHCDGCKjDEpamw

Thank you to Claire Baker for standing up for women and children.

Skipping the vote? Shameful behaviour from Michael Marra.

It looks like the government is seriously considering blocking this bill using Section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998. This allows the Secretary of State for Scotland to make an order prohibiting the bill from being submitted for Royal Assent if it will negatively affect the law on reserved matters. If he makes such an order, it will be subject to judicial review and is likely to ultimately end up in the Supreme Court.

Note that no government has previously used Section 35 to block Holyrood and it is not yet clear if this government will do so.

I think the gmt will do something as they can see the flaws.