Stonewall Chair gets direct phone access to No10 re: Scottish GRR

[GreenUp]

Saw this clip of an interview today that the CEO of Stonewall Iain Anderson did with Ayesha Hazarika on Times Radio.

In the clip he says that he has been on the phone to No10 and the Scottish Government today. He claims he wants to help the government "step back from the brink" from taking legal action over the GRR.

twitter.com/TimesRadio/status/1614309842633764864?s=20&t=Gyux2rc5B_-cyjhlO5V7rw

Why on earth should this anti-women lobbying organisation get so much close access to the Prime Minister? How many feminist groups get direct phone access to lobby Number 10?

Anderson also has form saying in one breath that he would work with feminists and then backtracking days later saying not that kind of feminist. I can just imagine what kind of spin he would have told Number 10 about "compromise" and "broad solutions" or "everybody's rights" only to screw women over the minute he gets what he want.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4666359-new-chair-of-stonewall-iain-anderson-says-he-wants-less-shouting-in-the-debate-around-lgbt-rights

Yes, the "most marginalized and oppressed" myth continues....

None of us women would get that access. No5 one of us

That's why we're in this mess - politicians are so scared of being accused of transphobia that they cosy up to every anti women / anti child safeguarding organisation. Of course, the call will have gone to one of the dodgy civil servants pushing all this from the inside.

Just watched him. Omg the posh bloke telling everyone. How come they get this access

He’s removed the ability for people to tag him on Twitter. God forbid he be alerted to unwelcome opinions.

It is obvious that there will be cross-border effects, tho, whatever he says.
But ..

Just listened to the whole interview on catchup, it's making my blood boil.

www.thetimes.co.uk/radio/show/20230114-21394/2023-01-14
The segment starts at 00:46 with Susan Dalgety and then the Iain Anderson interview starts at 00:53.

Anderson made an outright misstatement of fact, claiming that countries like Ireland that "accept the Hollyrood model" have GRCs accepted in the UK, but I'm sure that isn't true as Ireland isn't on the list of approved countries

www.gov.uk/government/publications/gender-recognition-certificate-list-of-approved-countries-and-territories/gender-recognition-certificate-list-of-approved-countries-and-territories.

He makes the same mistake in statements he gave to a report in the Times today....

"'For 8 years Irish people who have a non-medicalised GRC, like the Holyrood model, have been able to come to the UK ...If we were prepared to accept citizens from the Ireland and other countries, why wouldn’t the UK accept Scots on the same basis?'

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/3b5a2b68-9390-11ed-8b99-f233af7a7956?shareToken=11769a951fda19e9db4b87e5c2672653

So this guy who doesn't even know basic facts about the current GRC system is the one that is going to be advising Sunak on this? Anderson says in the spoken interview that Stonewall will be right at the heart and the centre of UK national life and will be playing a "constructive part in this conversation over the next few days."

I saw an article by, I think, Murray, Blackburn, Mackenzie explaining that there have been very few people with non-uk GRCs getting recognition so far but that self-id in Scotland would greatly increase the numbers.

This retweet captures it. Who does he think he is? It was bad enough when he was giving it the big I Am, opening up his "big tent" to which his response was to ignore The Wrong Kind Of Women.

But this..? He's not in government. He's representing ONE stakeholder.

twitter.com/lucyhunterb/status/1614386340510175233?s=46&t=dqwcS47i4r-MdWo4hV6Zcg

"For benefit of those new to Scottish politics: this is the head of a UK charity, not a Scottish Government minister with a mandate to open inter-governmental discussions with UK counterparts (though you could be forgiven for thinking so, from the implied ownership of the issue)."

Letter to him from Sex-Matters
sex-matters.org/posts/updates/letter-to-stonewall/

As so many people in positions of power seem to take Stonewall’s word for truth instead of checking for themselves, I wonder if Sunak will know he is wrong about Irish GRCs being recognised here?

I don't think they are scared of being seen as transphobic. That are way more terrified of being labelled as "caring". It is a female weakness.

A really good thread by Lucy HB:

twitter.com/lucyhunterb/status/1614446155563413505?s=46&t=pre3yKmaZSTo_Byw99Ecig

"Haven't had to watch the UK-level Stonewall operation in action close up till the last few days, and it's pretty mind-blowing. How are you all not asking them major questions about their organisational ethics before you do anything else @10DowningStreet @UKLabour @BBCNews?

There's the misleading letter writing campaign to MPs./twitter.com/LucyHunterB/st…

And the same claim repeated in identical text articles from the two most senior people, days after the error has been pointed out./ twitter.com/LucyHunterB/st…

And the misleading presentation of consultation responses. twitter.com/LucyHunterB/st…

And the talking about wanting to talk but untagging and restricting responses, having ignored earlier letters asking for exactly that. twitter.com/soppystern/sta…

This is just in a handful of days. Have government and media now lost all self-respect about what sort of stuff they'll let go past them from massively well-funded bodies? This sort of behaviour used to damage the credibility of major organisations, not get them more gigs.

Forget everything else, I'm just feeling a burst of injustice on behalf of everyone who has ever gone into their salaried employment feeling any sense of duty not to say, or cause to be said, stuff that's just completely wrong. twitter.com/LucyHunterB/st…"

I would add: will Stonewall apologise to organisations like FOVAS? If not, why not?

fovas.wordpress.com

www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/3627936-Letter-from-FOVAS-DAMNING-for-Stonewall

I'm guessing there are going to be a few more "we are not experts or medically trained" court cases.

Thread of comments from under the Times article:

twitter.com/cforwomenuk/status/1614235659782455299?s=46&t=pre3yKmaZSTo_Byw99Ecig

I’m not sure how I feel about cforwomenuk posting comments from the Times’ paywalled, partially closed comments seeing as they recently instituted a real names only posting policy. The Times comments are good though.

The action of de-tagging himself on twitter is all the evidence that people need to see to see this is a very dishonest man.

Letter to the Times from MBM Policy. Scroll down at last link or see the C for Women one:

twitter.com/cforwomenuk/status/1614882320074379266?s=46&t=P33U0JZcHQsRt9q-Y4VadA

Times letters: NHS head’s call for UK to train more doctors

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/85dedbec-94fe-11ed-91ab-4070465550ba?shareToken=2c02bc291a52c0c4c7a064d7c264a224

ResisterRex · Today 07:35
Letter to the Times from MBM Policy. Scroll down at last link or see the C for Women one:
twitter.com/cforwomenuk/status/1614882320074379266?s=46&t=P33U0JZcHQsRt9q-Y4VadA

Times letters: NHS head’s call for UK to train more doctors
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/85dedbec-94fe-11ed-91ab-4070465550ba?shareToken=2c02bc291a52c0c4c7a064d7c264a224

Thank you for those letters.
I hope the government has picked up the message that what Stonewall said about GRCs is not true.

Those letters about the NHS are interesting too.