Government response to gender identity ideology petition

[MissScarletInTheBallroom]

I just received the below response to a petition I signed a while back.

The Government has responded to the petition you signed – “Hold a statutory public inquiry into Gender Identity Ideology and Queer Theory”.

Government responded:

Biological sex clearly exists and matters. There are processes in place for those who wish to change their legal sex. A statutory public inquiry is unnecessary given Government action in this area.

The Equality Act 2010 provides protection against discrimination, harassment and victimisation on a number of grounds (protected characteristics). Protected characteristics in the Act are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.

The Government is addressing a number of specific issues in this area. The Minister for Women and Equalities has made clear her views on this issue - biological sex clearly exists and matters. The Government also believes in the principle of individual liberty and in the humanity and dignity of every person. There are processes in place, with the right checks and balances, to allow for those who wish to legally change their gender to do so.

As the Minister for Women and Equalities set out in her letter of 21 February 2023 to Baroness Falkner, Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), she is concerned that the Equality Act may not be sufficiently clear in the balance it strikes between the interests of people with different protected characteristics, particularly in the case of the protected characteristics of ‘sex’, ‘gender reassignment’ and ‘sexual orientation’. The Minister for Women and Equalities regularly seeks advice from the EHRC as part of her role. It is right that the Government continues to keep legislation under review, ensuring that it is effective.

In relation to children, in December the Department for Education published for consultation comprehensive draft guidance for teachers on how to support pupils questioning their gender. Parents, teachers, and school leaders were encouraged to respond to the 12-week consultation, which closed on 12 March. We thank everyone for their engagement with the consultation and will set out details on next steps shortly. The draft guidance places beyond doubt the fundamental principle that parents should be involved in decisions about their children’s lives, and that significant decisions affecting a child’s future should not be taken without parents being involved. It makes clear that schools do not have to accept a child’s request to socially transition, removes any confusion about the protections that must be in place for children of both sexes and the need for single-sex spaces. It reaffirms that safety and safeguarding for all children must always be schools’ primary concern.

More generally, it’s important children and young people with gender dysphoria and those questioning their gender, receive the support they need through the health system. We welcomed Dr Cass’s recommendations in her interim report in March 2022, and look forward to publication of her final report soon.

We must protect free speech and allow open discussion. The Government listens to all views and takes an evidence-based approach to understanding the impact of the law. We are a fair society that values academic independence and tolerates differences in views, including different beliefs and religious views.

We believe a statutory public inquiry is unnecessary given all the work the Government is undertaking in this area.

Cabinet Office

Thoughts?

The fact so many charities & organisations have been so utterly captured, is very worrying. Prisons, schools, sports, NHS, etc. The very people who should have stood in the way, to protect children, the NSPCC have been useless It's not good enough & what is preventing it happening again?

I was disappointed by this response but tend to agree @happydappy2 - I wonder if we need more distance for a public enquiry to be truly effective?

I do believe some organisations will never be trusted again - as public awareness of the issues grow - and they shouldn't be. And I hope some of the large legacy charities, those that have unthinkingly cheered this on, never recover ground.

But I also think we need to stop the bus before we look under the bonnet.

This is a really good way of looking at it.

Public inquiries usually only happen when something is widely acknowledged to have gone very wrong. It's not, "Has there been a fuck up?", it's, "There was an almighty great big fuck up. How did it happen and how can we stop something similar from happening again?"

I think most people are still at the, "Has there been a fuck up?" stage.

I found the response pretty encouraging. Most government responses to petitions just say, "Nothing to see here."

Well said @GeorgeOrwellsTurningGrave. I too would like to see an Enquiry but you're right, there are still too many powerful people and institutions too heavily invested in this. No Enquiry set up today would bury this, which is fundamentally what we need. Let's stop the bus and schedule the Enquiry for 10, 20 or 30 years time.

"Public inquiries usually only happen when something is widely acknowledged to have gone very wrong. It's not, "Has there been a fuck up?", it's, "There was an almighty great big fuck up. How did it happen and how can we stop something similar from happening again?"

I think most people are still at the, "Has there been a fuck up?" stage."

Really well put. 💯

Yeah but, no but, yeah but, no but, yeah but . . .

I'd also add that it is probably fairly pointless asking the Tories to hold an inquiry because these things typically take a couple of years to get off the ground and the Tories will almost certainly be out of government by the end of the year. Even if they did launch an inquiry, Labour would cancel it when they get into power.

They’ve put much more effort into that response than they usually do, which is a little heartening.

There will be an inquiry into how gender ideology took over the civil service and NHS/police/schools, it’s inevitable. But it won’t happen until sufficient numbers of detransitioners, particularly male detransitioners, have sued the NHS and government over what’s happened to their bodies, particularly bone and brain changes. Once taxpayer money starts flowing out into large compensation payments is when the inquiry will begin.

It’ll be like what happened with Thailand when men given ‘sex change’ as young teens grew up and got angry, leaning to a ban on those type of operations. Once taxpayer money starts flowing out into large compensation payments is when the inquiry will begin.

Male anger is, usually, the catalyst for change in society I suppose.

I also think there eventually will be an inquiry. There will have to be. I expect Kemi knows this and although I think she does get it - genuinely gets it - I also think she knows she will be able to hold her head up high when the day comes for her to give evidence.

That is actually a very positive response given the subject matter.

It is far too early for an inquiry as a pp said it is for the future. The Infected Blood Inquiry is about what happened in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Post Office inquiry is looking at the period 1999 to 2015.

If the NHS and public institutions quickly absorb the new studies that are showing the harm and the ET/EAT judgements it maybe they can turn this around. I said on another thread I think Ritchie Herron’s case against the NHS may be pivotal.

JKR has also been fantastic in using her fame to make key points at the right time.