Thoughtful post is in front of the paywall.
I feel strongly that in the face of such illiberal laws, it’s best to fight on your own turf. We shouldn’t wait until a litigable case presents itself, because the woman in question may be doing a job she can’t afford to lose in a workplace that is unsympathetic. Her social circle and family may be unsupportive, antagonistic or vulnerable – not many women are willing to be arrested in front of their children, or to have those children asked about their mother’s supposedly hatefulness in school. She may not know the law or be able to afford representation, and the facts of her specific case may be less than ideal because she was speaking in the heat of the moment rather than choosing her words with an eye to defending them later, if necessary in court.
Fighting on our own turf means a woman with none of these vulnerabilities taking her time to think what she wants to say and what she is willing to repeat in any situation to anyone. Either nobody complains as a result – and to be sure of that, she will have to put in frequent “subject access requests” asking for any information held about her to both her home police force and to Police Scotland, if the two are not the same.
…
I’m not suggesting that “misgendering” is some sort of punishment for trans-identifying people I don’t like. I’m saying that when people use their trans identification to trample on other people’s rights, or to argue against other people’s rights, it’s not merely my right to refer to them as their actual sex, it’s my duty. I understand that they may experience this as hurtful, even hateful, and I don’t relish that. I prefer, all else being equal, not to hurt other people’s feelings. But the solution is that they stop infringing on other people’s rights, not that I roll over and accept it. Unavoidable hurt caused as a byproduct of defending human rights is not hateful; it’s morally important.
https://www.thehelenjoyce.com/joyce-activated-issue-80/