Thank you, SNP et al

[pattihews]

I'm spending a few days with relatives. Yesterday I was taken by the people I'm staying with to an event attended mainly by people in their 70s and over, and most of them very straight and liberal types (lots of Labour Party voters). When we arrived I was introduced to a little group who were all talking in horror about the idea of sex offenders being allowed to change their name and birth certificate so easily. I plunged in and started to gently explain the background to what was going on. They turned off the music, poured extra wine and tea and sat, 30 or more of them, focused on this subject for more than two hours. They all went off with instructions to speak to their MPs and to sign the Sex Matters petition. I signposted everyone to the Break it Down thread here.

Earlier today I took an elderly relative out to three homes to deliver presents. At each of them she spontaneously started a conversation about what's happening in Scotland and on each occasion everyone around joined in — including care home staff.

So thank you, Nicola Sturgeon. There are millions of people who'll be talking about this over Christmas dinner.

Wow! What an experience!

I have noticed similar in conversations and online - this has provided both the tipping point and the sunlight for people who either didn't know or didn't understand previously.

I've been terfing for years, quietly drip feeding and holding my own line. The messages I have received over the last few days - picking it up, ready to really listen and share concerns ...GREAT!

Wow! What an experience!

I have noticed similar in conversations and online - this has provided both the tipping point and the sunlight for people who either didn't know or didn't understand previously.

I've been terfing for years, quietly drip feeding and holding my own line. The messages I have received over the last few days - picking it up, ready to really listen and share concerns ...GREAT!

One of my much older in-laws had a Sturgeon meme (on the GRR) on text from a friend which they hadn't understood. I was asked to explain, which I was happy to do

Yeah my dad was round today dripping off presents and showed me a meme my uncle had sent him on the GRR.

People are horrified that the rights of sec offenders were prioritised over female safety.

It really is a case of Be Careful What You Vote For

While this was all just the province of woken HR people and University students the general population let it go.

Sports started to open eyes.

But now its proper mainstream to be a Terf. As it should be.

You obviously approached the subject with them carefully and thoughtfully. That would have been perhaps a surprise to people who may think that women are being off or funny about this subject. I always start off with just one area that is affected - eg sport, prisons, women-only shortlists. But brilliant that they are all off to talk to their MPs. I'm afraid now the Scottish debacle will need to be dealt within Scotland - very little I or anyone outside can do.

yes it does feel a bit like there will be a great many people observing that the emperor is not in fact like actually really wearing clothes though

Anyone outside Scotland will need to work hard to secure your own rights as there is support for similar changes down south in all the main political parties.

And yes, thank you Nicola, for causing arguments up and down the country.

I will be treading carefully for a couple of days over Christmas, due to fragile family member who identifies as non binary (I think they still are, may have moved on to something else tomorrow). I’m also feeling pretty fucking fragile but being a boring old female I just need to get on with things like the reliable support human I am.

I suppose when the time feels right you could ask the family member concerned how you might help to protect them from bad faith actors and outright predators from muscling into their 'category'? What safeguarding do 'non binary' people need in order to stay safe?

I've just had a look at the comments under an article in the Telegraph - "Labour has ‘gone mad’ over women’s rights, Tories warn". Hundreds of comments - the majority men and all commenting that Labour are throwing away any chance of regaining power because of this.

It's often said on here that it's just a small subset of women who are bothered about this - but the thousands of comments under articles currently in the mainstream press suggest that the support for predators being able to self ID as women by the Scottish parliament has finally woken up the population to what we've been warning about.

"Change name....... so easily" OP????

Please get a grip!!
Live and let live and anyone thinking that their reason for disagreeing is, security EG people ex crims etc changing name/gender etc to go undercover etc are talking BS. Have you not heard about computerised records
AND - yes AND
NATIONAL INSURANCE number cannot, thats right, cannot be changed - ok,ok!!

Thank you but they are only in the country for a very short time so I’m supporting by not discussing their ‘identity’ with them at all this visit. Am not wheeshing, the political conversations just need to be a little more careful to keep lines of communication open.

Michael Crick is a political journalist with 189,000 Twitter followers. He's retweeted that 2020 clip of Julia Long asking Lisa Nandy about rapists in women's prisons.

mobile.twitter.com/MichaelLCrick/status/1606452245440126976

This tweet has been viewed 166,000 times today.

Thank you wee Nicola for putting this madness right in front of more and more people IRL and on Twitter.

Michael Crick always seemed a good egg. Well done him. And a very Happy Christmas to all you feminist killjoys who are celebrating it.

That's brilliant OP and well done you! Some pp on Twitter have been suggesting that it might be this that really raises awareness, so I'm glad to see its actually happening in real life.

YES! I came on here to say: I've just seen a FB post from my older brother (late 50s) absolutely disgusted by the bill and its implicationsfor women. We dont live near each other and we've not spoken about it. Today, it came up in conversation with a bunch of women I exercise with. Gilead was mentioned, refuges, safeguarding, prisons. It's as if, suddenly, people (normals who haven't been paying enough attention) are speaking out.

I talked to a friend about it. She knew nothing so I’ve educated her. Only one person I’m afraid.

If the memes by uncle has been posting on Facebook are anything to go by, a whole new demographic are now aware of what's going on.

Rushing the legislation through before Christmas could have been another major misstep by the SNP. Families up and down the country are gathering, aghast at the unfolding self-ID shitshow, and talking about the issue. There are well-informed GC women and men among them. People will be mingling over the next week at parties and seasonal events. Debate will be happening.

I’m reminded of that line in the Handmaid’s Tale: if you didn’t want to raise an army, you shouldn’t have given us a uniform.

If you didn’t want a population-level (insert mountaineering goal) event, you shouldn’t have rammed through a bill that endangers and disrespects women and girls before the annual nation-wide festive soft lockdown. Big mistake. Huge mistake.

Except that someone could supply a passport issued under their new identity as part of a DBS check and forget to declare their previous identity and its not clear that the link would be made.

Excellent, OP! I am anticipating similar discussions over the next few days with family members who I know are appalled by the situation in Scotland.

Happy Christmas, Nicola!! Absolutely spectacular OWN GOAL 👍

Yes this happened to me. My father in law came round to drop off presents and after general chat he started speaking about this being passed into Scottish law. He was shocked by it all and my teenagers were agreeing with him

My DF, DH & me explained it all to his partner who has no idea. She kept stopping us to say “but but that’s insane!! That can’t be happening”

Very proud of DF who knew all about JKR and DH who explained all the sports stuff so it wasn’t just me banging on

i think we blew her mind!

I find it quite frightening that people are so unaware of what’s going on under their noses.

Jesus, Joseph, Mary and the wee bloody donkey! Do you really believe this? Do the shit-for-brains that voted for the bill believe this?

I have heard of computerised records but the registrars in three of the home nations have not and record any changes as a note in the margin of the paper register. Scotland does have a computerised system and the Registrar General for Scotland maintains a Gender Recognition Register. The bad news is that this is confidential and cannot be used for purposes such as DBS checking.

NI numbers do not change but it would be illegal to use them for DBS checking as that is not a purpose for which they were originally intended.