Sunak: I’ll change the Equality Act to protect women’s spaces

[Binglebong]

Sorry to dump and run but this needed sharing.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/02/rishi-suank-equality-act-protect-womens-spaces-tory/

Rishi Sunak will on Monday vow to change the law to protect women’s spaces such as toilets and changing rooms.

The Prime Minister will announce that the Conservative manifesto will include a pledge to <a class="break-all" href="https://archive.ph/o/swvKD/www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/03/16/rishi-sunak-amend-equality-act-single-sex-spaces-sport/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">rewrite the Equality Act to make clear sex means “biological sex”.

This is to ensure that trans women – those who were born male – can be legally barred from places such as women’s prisons and sessions for domestic abuse victims, even if they have a gender recognition certificate.

The new legislation will also make it easier for organisations to prevent biological males from joining female sports teams, or from women’s single-sex wards in hospitals.

The proposals are an attempt to mark a clear dividing line with Labour, which the Tories say is <a class="break-all" href="https://archive.ph/o/swvKD/www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/07/24/labour-backs-down-gender-self-id-not-follow-snp-law/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">weak on the gender issue.

The Prime Minister said on Sunday: “The safety of women and girls is too important to allow the current confusion around definitions of sex and gender to persist.

“The Conservatives believe that making this change in law will enhance protections in a way that respects the privacy and dignity of everyone in society.

“We are taking an evidence-led approach to this issue so we can continue to build a secure future for everyone across the whole country.”

Article continues at https://archive.ph/swvKD

Assuming he does actually announce this, its a bit late, because the Tories are going to lose, because Sunak cant make up for the shit show of Boris and then Truss.

Shame the Tories didn't do this at some point in the last 14 years when they had the power to do so. They are using the issue now to get at Labour in an election campaign rather than to protect women's rights. Women and girls have been badly let down by politicians on all sides.

Isn’t this the very definition of closing the barn door after the horse has bolted?

This little twerp would sell his grandmother for more votes (pointless as nothing will save him now) and if he had genuinely been bothered he could have acted years ago.
Don’t believe a word he says.

Yeah sure he will

If the Tories were serious about this, why haven’t they done it during 14 years in government?

I have a much better idea. Repeal the Equality Act altogether & don’t replace it. The act has been a socially divisive disaster. It has created a culture & hierarchy of victimhood and encouraged people to ‘identify’ as members of allegedly oppressed minority groups in order to assert that victimhood. It has pitted those groups against each other in a competition for resources, protected status & special treatment. It has even allowed white men to claim that they are now the ‘real’ oppressed minority in society. So get rid of it.

Exactly this.

He's suddenly some kind of policy-o-matic robot, blurting out empty promises everywhere.

Funny how he's now got his arse in gear now he's lost the ability to do it. They've had 14 years.

That's because 14 years ago the tories were part of the general political belief that the GRA should be simplified, as were many feminists.

It is sad to see that the years of campaigning since the attempt to bring in self ID, when women from diverse political backgrounds woku up to the threat to women's sex based rights by the vague drafting of the EA and the impact of the GRA on it, is only now reaching fruitition now.

The reality is 14 years ago women weren't campaigning for this, and 99.9% of the populations, including feminists, were unaware of the unintended consequence of the GRA on the EA.

So the question is how come women, who say they are activists for women's sex based rights, didn't have this as their top political issue 14 years ago. If we weren't aware why would the Tories be.

And now that feminist activism has got this issue to the top of the agenda how are we going to put pressure on Labour.

They are just going to dismiss this a a woke culture issue.

Agreed. I'm glad it's going in the manifesto because now Labour will hopefully be pressed harder about what specifically they will do. Will they agree? Disagree? Will they make it part of their manifesto too?

Labour will probably form the next government so I want to know going in very clearly where we stand.

“That is why we are today pledging that, if we form a government after the election, we will clarify that sex in the law means biological sex and not new, redefined meanings of the word.”

They won't be forming the government tho.

This is to ensure that trans women – those who were born male – can be legally barred from places such as women’s prisons and sessions for domestic abuse victims, even if they have a gender recognition certificate.

This law already exists. They are not promising to bring in anything new.

It needs to be made mandatory, not at the discretion of the service provider.

We can only hope that whatever is written as the officials Tory committment is well thought through and clearly states what needs to be done.

If it is, then it will be something that anyone who finds themself being door stepped by a Labour foot soldier or attends a local hustings, can ask whether Labour will promise the same.

Let's wait and see.

If it is, then it will be something that anyone who finds themself being door stepped by a Labour foot soldier or attends a local hustings, can ask whether Labour will promise the same.

This is where it's useful.

Whether it's seen as a last ditch attempt at vote winning or not, it's on the table now as an option. Labour's opinion is now directly under the spotlight.

Labour's response to this is going to be incredibly interesting. It doesn't seem so long ago that we were being told that nobody cares about this issue, that the electorate doesn't give a shit, and we should all just give up and talk about something else but here we are - it seems that someone thinks that public opinion has an investment in reality.

As I’ve said before, England has generally done ok on this issue compared with other western democracies. Not good, but far far better than Canada, Australia and the US. Closer to home, Spain, Germany, Ireland, even Scotland and Wales are all demonstrating how much worse it could have been. There’s lots I don’t like about the Tory government, but they have presided over Terf Island in a sea of gender identity.

We’ve now got far enough to get protections in a major political manifesto. I for one will celebrate that. And yes of course we should use this to question other parties. I don’t want women’s rights to decide my vote, it should absolutely be a given across all parties. What Sunak is saying shouldn’t need to be said, but it does, he is saying it, and we should surely welcome that. Starmer should be very. ashamed

I think that this is a positive, a weak one but one none the less. Because if it is officially in the manifesto the discussions with Labour will be had. And if the discussions are had, Labour can no longer perpetuate the myth that it is so niche and it never comes up.

This is effectively what the sex matters petition was about. To force clear language rather than the contradicts we are getting from different legal bods that is untested and causing blocking of action by service providers until it is tested or clarified. If I remember some sports bodies were concerned and so are having to do long consultations etc rather than making decisions quickly and following World Rugby.

Sure, it is highly unlikely that they will get in. And we’d suspected that it was pushed into the ‘next term’. There is nothing new there.

And so what if it is ‘just a ploy to get votes’. Remember there are still current Tory MP such as Caroline Nokes who would have fought this. This was never fully supported by all Tory MPs.

Putting it on the manifesto can do some good work in making Labour discuss it and clarify their own stance. No more weasel fucking words. No more ‘safe spaces’ rather than straight language of ‘single sex spaces’. No more ‘yes, most women don’t have penises, but legally some do’ ambiguity.

It isn’t the ‘fix’ we need, but it is another step. Just like the emergency ban on PBs for usage for gender affirmation is not a permanent fix, however, it will hopefully need public discussion by Labour to either make it permanent or they will look like failing on the very first hurdle of their ‘fully support the Cass report’ pledge.

I have always had the suspicion that we had to fight very hard to get more support from Labour before the real protections would come into place. Otherwise the changes would not have got through the House of Commons.

And the reaction all around will be interesting. Because it is pride month after all!

Now, what will the BBC headlines be?

I agree with this. Very interested to see what Labour and the others have to say.

Also worth adding as this has a long piece by Kemi:

Equality Act will be about sex not gender, Tories pledge

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/62eb3ffc-f9db-4d92-a14c-c5c8cea1fa11?shareToken=20d1895e41dd15a640bd42281d0a6885

I wonder if this being in the manifesto might mean that we are less likely to see Mourdant either become the leader or, at least, play nodding dog to the Labour gender project when they are in opposition?

I wonder when this topic will first come up in one of those TV debates.

Oh, the ITV debate is tonight at 9pm - 100% Sunak will raise the topic.

Edited to say it is not tonight - it is tomorrow, Tuesday 4/6 🙄

Kemi Badenoch in the Times is very clear. It sets out the benchmarks and helps to expose (or clarify) Labour's real position after all these years of wafting away women's concerns - or the outright bullying too many have indulged in.
Interesting to see their response

A situation that makes sense to me is that providers should still be free to offer single sex spaces or not offer them, but they should not be able to have a policy of allowing both sexes whilst describing or labelling the service as single sex, that would be indirect discrimination.
(Not sure if the current proposal acheives this. I have been following this topic for years but the equality act still hurts my head).

Increasingly I agree with this. The EA is often achieving the opposite of equality. For a start, I rarely see very little actual effort to ensure disabled people are accommodated by businesses, though often they do lots of rainbow virtue signalling.

It's not going to happen though, what Sunak is proposing is good. Better late than never.

Yes, I would very much agree with this. The lying and deception is a big part of the problem.