Starmer backs banning tw from women's sport 🤔

[IcakethereforeIam]

He seems fairly unequivocal

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/2024/03/11/keir-starmer-backs-ban-on-transgender-female-competition/

https://archive.ph/4lLbf jump the paywall, don't get stuck halfway

There's a rehash of a few things at the end. That some sports have already done this except football and cricket. Apparently they are being called to parliament to explain themselves!

💯

He just wants it to go away. It’s the preferred approach for anything hard and this is top of the list for ignore

He doesn’t think women are talking about it so his brain short circuits on any question where he might have to be clear

I do think it matters what Starmer really believes as he is likely to be our next PM with a large majority so will have a significant impact on policy. I think as a lawyer and former head of the CPS he must be aware of the adverse impacts on women of GI theory and I hope he will rein in the gender zealots once he’s in power - we’ll see I guess.

Any organisation which is classed an association (see below, Govt guidance) is covered. IANAL, but I think that if you start any organisation or club it has to be open to everyone on the same terms unless the reason for setting it up is to provide opportunities for a group that share a protected characteristic. If the club is just

The Act defines an association as an organisation that:
• has 25 or more members, and
• has rules (not necessarily formal or written) regulating who can be a member and there is a genuine selection process for members.
Examples of associations include private clubs such as golf and other sports clubs, ex-forces clubs, alumni clubs, social clubs, working men’s clubs, gaming clubs and drinking clubs.

If the cycling events were just pay and turn up they might not be covered, but if they have genuine membership and racing categories split by gender then that might count as having rules? It depends how they are set up, but basically if they do fall under the Act and categorise by gender identity, then they are indirectly discriminating against women and also any males without the PC of GR and perhaps anyone who doesn't think they have a gender identity or is religious (PC of belief). Please don't take my word for it, because IANAL. But I think that is the general idea. There's also an official. human right of equal access to sports for girls and women.

I do hope this isn't garbled nonsense. I've got post-viral fatigue and my brain shut down a couple of hours ago!

*if the club is just

I don't think it will be as easy as he hopes to ignore this issue. His conflicting comments, the deeply dangerous views from labour MPs and the constant stream of court cases evidencing just how unsafe a significant number of transwomen are, will make it easy for journalists and opponents to exploit his inherent bias against women and safeguarding children.

He'll be repeatedly asked about his 1% of be penissed women - why if it's common sense for transwomen not to be in elite sport, what's the difference in grassroots sport? Why are changing rooms, hospital wards, prison cells different to this common sense approach? Until he comes up with coherent answers (which he can't as we all know) he'll sound evasive, dithering and untruthful.

And if KJK gets to stand in his constituency..... 😂😂

This does get repeated often.
My only response as ever is
If he is such a cowardly, weasley, yellow bellied man that he cannot get to grips with gender zealots well before any election, why would we want to vote for him?
He wants to be leader of the country(press x to doubt) he needs a fucking spine, some guts, some nous. Running the country ain't easier than getting a grip on his party.

I for one could not bear such an abject coward in charge. Difficult decisions have to be made. Hows he going to do that?

@Snowypeaks ah yeah, the events I'm thinking of are not run by clubs and don't have memberships - they are all turn up and pay. In fact many of them are run as for-profit commercial ventures, so the organisers are service providers rather than associations as far as the EA is concerned. This would be an example: https://grinduro.com/ They don't tend to have any published rules other than 'the official's word is final'. They certainly don't bother with anything as trivial as drug testing so enforcing sex categories is not going to be remotely on their radar.

Hope you feel better soon.

I’m not a fan of his @Winnading just saying why his views are important.

Ha at this. You sum it up well

He’ll eventually have to have a view on something

It would be interesting to find out. The membership criterion would be tough to prove, but even informal rules count as rules.

There might still be a human rights case about reduced access for women and girls, but that would be complicated by the logistics and practicalities you were talking about earlier.

It would be great if girls and women had some fun/community events that they could do just as women, for confidence-building and companionship.

Yeah I got what you were saying.
I do my spiel for any lurkers.

He's very slow at making a decision. Even most of the broadly sympathetic comments about trans on social media were saying female only sports years ago.

When sports or service users say its a womens event or service, its important to know what that means. Not in the small print, but obvious to everyone, straight away.

From an ideology that creates hundreds of new words for different gender feels, I'd have thought at least one of them could come up with a word thats not 'womens' or 'female'.

OK

A long as it is clearly presented as a unisex event. Calling it a women's event but allowing males to participate as women is entirely unfair, inappropriate, and should be illegal as it discriminates against women.

Better?

Is there an election coming up?

I think the Labour candidates are getting more awkward questions about this than they like at the moment and I'm really hoping the pushback's starting. We had the Labour candidate around door-knocking last night, DH was being nice and polite and non committal... and I wandered to the door to see who it was. Told him that I was very aware it was a marginal constituency and that I tend to vote very tactically (and that I had a politics degree so fully understood the importance of thus) but that I couldn't vote for Labour with their current indecisive stance on matters relating to gender recognition (Starmer will say whatever the fuck is going to get him the easy ride to election at the moment). Mr Labour looked very uncomfortable and desperately tried to figure out what my particular views were so he could kiss arse to them in as non committal a manner as he could get - then batted past them that "I don't think that it's going to be much of an issue... so out of 10 how likely would you be to vote Labour"

They don't get how bloody huge it is and what the power of pissed off women can be when we set our collective minds to it. They're trying to dodge the large elephant in the room to fuckery and hoping we all forget about it.

"I don't think that it's going to be much of an issue

Labour are so convinced no one is talking about it that even when someone standing in front of them raises it they say it hasn’t come up. Numpties

My goodness he is one pathetic individual. Pity that Labour can't produce a more plausible leader.

*bepenised ladies" - love that!!

This. ^^

Running the country ain't easier than getting a grip on his party.
Actually I'm not so sure about that. Leading the Labour Party's a handful at the best of times and at worst, it must be like trying to carry an open bag full of snakes. Tony Blair, it could be argued, got lucky because Neil Kinnock had already done most of the dirty work for him.

So I kind of get why Starmer might have decided he'll have a better chance of facing down the ideologues if he can win an election with a decent majority. That certainly doesn't make me trust or feel inclined to vote for him but I don't think it's entirely irrational.

Mmm - the wind must be changing . . .

I think the important thing is that the sports governing bodies take a lead on this. And they are doing that, and we’re supportive of what they’re doing, particularly in elite sport.

Shouldn't be just "elite sport". Men/ boys should be banned from women's/girls' competitions altogether.

How many girls will get to "elite" levels if they can't get a foot in the door at grass roots level?

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK! 😧

Snowypeaks · Yesterday 14:38

He might realise women's rights are important to the electorate but if he himself doesn't believe that women are or should be a sex category and that sex is real, he will nonetheless find it easy to ignore our pleas or even worse, press ahead with the changes Angela Eagle listed and claim they will help "all women".

Can anyone explain how criminalising women who speak factually and calmly, on a subject currently protected in law, is helping all women? I can't work it out.