Hepwo Give over, that’s putting it a bit arse about face about how government consultation works, isn’t it?
The Tories consulted on self ID because they were getting pro-self ID pressure, yes. But it wasn’t as though they didn’t really want to bring in self ID and in secret the Tories really hoped that the women and the gay community would all write in and save them from havimg to do it.. that’s just not how it works.
What actually happened was, women had been raising the case against having men in women’s toilets, sports, and prisons with the government as an issue of female safety, privacy and dignity, for years.
Women said the legal justifying of excluding men from women’s spaces under the Equality Act was not widely understood and many places didn’t feel confident legally to do it. So EqA was not a sufficient legal protection for us. Lesbian culture and women’s services and spaces were being changed seemingly irrevocably without these legal changes. Women saying this were roundly ignored by the Tory Government.
And then Stonewall, Mermaids, Gendered Intelligence and whoever else was lobbying for the TRA, had at the same time been raising GRA reform with an eye to self ID and towards children under 18 being able to get GRCs and getting rid of the ‘spousal veto’ and whatever else.
Funnily enough the government then gave that TRA lobby… a full government public consultation on self-ID etc and the government made really positive comments about all this and the women that objected were called silly names and increasingly threatened.
The Tories also had to consult on self ID and getting rid of the spousal veto all the rest of it, because any process of law change to the GRA necessarily requires a consultation. They consulted on it because that is the first step to changing the law.
It’s quite wrong to imply that the government used that consultation as some sort of opinion poll (they’d already polled extensively and stilll wanted to go ahead!) or that it was great that they consulted because it flushed out loads of evidence. Firsly that is really not how they work and it also downplays the efforts of women making their case previously in the face of being ignored by the Tory gov and harassed online for speaking about that for years..
Result is now-under this government, no changes to EqA or GRA likely. The advent of £5 GRCs (when other government certification like immigration forms cost people thousands of pounds). And a Tory government who will do fuck all to change that situation forever if they can get away with never again touching this. because they’ve kicked this issue into the long grass realising it’s a toxic nightmare. But they can always then also hold it over women that they might do something more to help TRAs, if women MPs ask for too much in future. I’m not grateful for these crumbs.
And again, I’ll ask Tory voters what the government have actually DONE that’s been good for women? Deeds not words.