Equality Act - what next?

[ArabellaScott]

The petition to look at this seems sadly to have virtually ground to a halt:

www.mumsnet.com/talk/petitions_noticeboard/4722618-petition-to-update-the-equality-act-thread-2

Government have responded with a dismissive:

'providers are already able to restrict the use of spaces/services on the basis of sex and/or gender reassignment where justified. Further clarification is not necessary.'

What next?

We know that providers, while technically able to exclude males, just do not and will not. Nobody seems to agree on or understand the law fully. Legal experts get in huge tangles arguing about it.

The current situation means women are excluded from many women's spaces, there is no provision for single sex services apart from Beira's Place in Scotland, there are still males in women's prisons, and in hospitals.

What do we do if the government and EHRC won't listen? Whatever the law says, this situation is untenable.

Fabulous news! I had to go to a work meeting so I missed the magic moment - so happy to see 100,125 and still going up as I type. Well done to everyone who had a hand in it. Now to campaign for actually getting that debate.

Here is Sex Matters guide for writing to your MP now the petition has reached 100k https://sex-matters.org/take-action/write-to-your-mp-about-the-petition/

FAN......(fans overly excited self)
DABBI....(dabs eye)
DOZEY........(falls asleep)

Action stations everyone.

twitter.com/sexmattersorg/status/1633824467196723205?s=46&t=3vhG_KDq77qvuwlnTiE6jg

Just to mention that if anyone has any spare carrot seedlings, Maya needs a teeny bit more gardening - remedies hearing on March 21st.

sex-matters.org/take-action/write-to-your-mp-about-the-petition/

What to do next.

Cross posted with everyone!

You're welcome @ResisterRex and @Boiledbeetle.

What a fabulous day this has been.

Is there someone else we can all write to too? Who ultimately decides ifthe debate takes place - do we write to Downing Street?

Start with your MPsex-matters.org/take-action/write-to-your-mp-about-the-petition/

Fabulous!!! 🎉🎈

And yes, next step.

They may have to hold a debate.

It is going to take us a LOT of work and prodding to make the debate a serious one involving more than six MPs, only five of them awake, and all agreeing that its all fiiiiine.

Horizontal tick

Under duvet tick

Fat purring cat tizzzzzzzzzzzzz

nilsmousehammer · Today 14:11
Fabulous!!! 🎉🎈

And yes, next step.

They may have to hold a debate.

It is going to take us a LOT of work and prodding to make the debate a serious one involving more than six MPs, only five of them awake, and all agreeing that its all fiiiiine.

Yes, this is absolutely true. They have already shown they want to sit on the fence. There was that counter petition asking them to ignore this one.

This is from the “Responses to J KR “ thread:

ScrollingLeaves · Today 15:08

“bellinisurge · Today 14:58
Write to your MPs - tell them to write to the chair of thePetitions Committee to get this in place”

This is very important.

Everyone needs to spread this message.

But first, can anyone come up with armoured points based in evidence and law to bolster the letter ( lots of people have captured MPs) so the MP will take it seriously? and so that also, if there is a debate, enough people who actually understand the issues legally take part? (Whoever wrote the “response” after the first 10,000 signatures didn’t.)

Otherwise it could be a tick-box debate that comes along and is over as nothing.

Anyone reading
can see about this petition here.
⬇️

www.mumsnet.com/talk/petitions_noticeboard/4758082-petition-to-update-the-equality-act-thread-3

Yes I meant in addition- the right person getting a deluge of letters/emails would surely help.

Would it be an Equalities minister? Is Caroline Nokes still around in that department, and to be avoided?

i'm having a poke around & it does sound like we should get a debate 🤞 so then it would be about nagging MPs to actually show up. OTOH I'd like to write to as many as possibly!

from petition.parliament.uk/help

Debates

Petitions which reach 100,000 signatures are almost always debated. But we may decide not to put a petition forward for debate if the issue has already been debated recently or there’s a debate scheduled for the near future. If that’s the case, we’ll tell you how you can find out more about parliamentary debates on the issue raised by your petition.

MPs might consider your petition for a debate before it reaches 100,000 signatures.

We may contact you about the issue covered by your petition. For example, we sometimes invite people who create petitions to take part in a discussion with MPs or government ministers, or to give evidence to a select committee. We may also write to other people or organisations to ask them about the issue raised by your petition.

Actually looks like it's the petition committee itself we should be lobbying

guidetoprocedure.parliament.uk/articles/3xojSzwO/time-and-location-of-petitions-debates

Good news is that Tonia Antoniazzi is on that committee

The committee list

committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/membership/

Thank you! I shall write to my MP too but good for us all to lobby this lot too

I don’t know if lobbying the petition committee would be appropriate. One thing they do is gauge MP’s support for a debate so it is definitely worth contacting your MP.
It is almost certain a debate will happen unless the Government already has something else scheduled.
The link gives some more info on the PC’s proposed way of working.
https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/news/99341/committee-opens-consultation-on-its-working-methods/

'The Petitions Committee is set up by the House of Commons to look at e-petitions submitted on petition.parliament.uk and public (paper) petitions presented to the House of Commons.

The Petitions Committee can:

ask for more information in writing—from petitioners, the Government, or other relevant people or organisations

ask for more information in person—from petitioners, the Government, or other relevant people or organisations. This might be in Parliament or somewhere else in the UK

write to the Government or another public body to press for action on a petition

ask another parliamentary committee to look into the topic raised by a petition

put forward petitions for debate in the House of Commons

The Committee is made up of 11 backbench Members of Parliament from Government and Opposition parties. The number of seats each party has is calculated to reflect the membership of the House as a whole. The Chair of the Committee was elected on 29 January 2020.'

'The Petitions Committee has two options if it decides an e-petition or paper petition should be debated.

Firstly, it can recommend a debate in Westminster Hall, which is the second debating Chamber. These debates take place on Mondays at 4.30 pm, for up to three hours.

Secondly, it can ask the Backbench Business Committee to find time for a debate in the main Chamber on one of the days allocated to it by the Government. The Backbench Business Committee considers:

topicality and timing

whether holding a debate is important

the number of MPs who are likely to take part

whether a similar debate has already been held or is likely to be arranged soon

Both types of debates will be listed in the Order Paper.'

Sex Matters seems to be trending.

I think it is still worth considering aspects of the committee when writing to MPs.

For example Peter Benton is a married gay man and Michael Foran in the Oral Evidence to the House of Commons 23rd of Jan or 10 Feb mentioned that he is gay, and the importance of “sex” (biological) in his orientation, and also how, if a gay man experienced discrimination at work, a law suit could fail as a result of a non sex based comparator (a transman?). I don’t fully understand but it could be quoted from the transcripts.

Catherine McKinnell wrote a good letter here I think responding about Conversion Therapy
committees.parliament.uk/publications/22588/documents/166235/default/

Elliot Colburn

Seems to agree with sex based exceptions in the EA, but also wants to be seen as supported of GRA reforms like the Scottish ones and seemed to endorse Crispin Blunt.
He may possibly not understand the problem of the meaning of ‘sex’ not being clarified as biological.
committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/membership/

Haven’t finished looking them up yet.

Scott Benton