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/

"In the woods" is such a great book. Adam/Rob Ryan being a total enigma. I love it. Wish she would write a follow up but I don't think she ever will.

..Adam Ryan was a solid character until the moment w/ Maddox - then he turned a little schizophrenic..
(Barbara in Goodreads)

Meanwhile back to women’s rights….

I am totally flummoxed
helle with all due respects you are coming across quite angry about a reasonable perspective on KB. If GC feminists on here can't make a clear case why the Conservatives position protects women better than the Labour position, the ordinary voter has no chance.

I think KB fluffed it yesterday. Tonight we will see if Sunak manages better. I still don't believe Conservatives and Labour are differentiated enough for Sunak to be able to get clear water on this.

My opinion (as I've said many times) is both parties are now seeking to achieve the same outcome, but using different methods. Neither are going to achieve what GC women want so no point voting either Labour or Conservative on this single issue.

Labour still have many more women friendly policies overall though.

Haha. It's a bit more complex than that. I have a whole fanfic sequel in my head!

This sounds like making the GRC process easier to me? Never actually talking to the person involved? The Conservatives want to make it easier to get a GRC.

Learn something on here every day

Exactly 💯

The Conservatives want to make it easier to get a GRC.

Unless, of course, they’ve changed their minds what with an election in a few weeks and everything.

The truth is if Labour has been in power during the last seven years we'd already have Self Id, there would still have been " No Debate", women would have continued to be treated terribly by their own party - told they were not welcome, and the Cass Review would never have been commisssioned.

What most of us are concerned with is MPs taking action to halt the march of trans ideology -- which party they come from is irrelevant. We've a long way to go yet, and with Labour in office things are really going to heat up, as they will be held to account at every step of the way.......and we'll not have to deal with the endless " evil tory" distractions and diversions we've had from people like you for years.

Yep.
It's a shame she didn't do it last year.

Why a shame?

I thought you were not keen on changing the EqA

Isn't the real issue the interacton between the GRA and the Equalities Act - not the act in and of itself.

You have no idea what would or wouldn't happen, you aren't a mind reader.

I think feminists, logic and court cases would have (and have) changed Labour's mind as much as they have the Tories. Don't forget DC and TMs administrations were both trans friendly and Maria Miller (Conservative minister for women and equalities) initially proposed self- ID.

Labour and the Tories essentially have the same now (more GC), as they did in 2010 (more self ID). This is not and never was a left/right issue. Any speculation about what Labour might have done in a parallel universe is fruitless.

What is currently uncertain:

Whether sex in the Equality Act means (i) biological sex or (ii) biological sex unless modified by a GRC.

Whether biological females are protected as a distinct group under the Equality Act.

How precisely the Schedule 3 exceptions which allow for single-sex services operate. If sex means sex as modified by a GRC these exceptions become more complicated to rely on and that can affect how useful they are in practice, given concerted campaigns to spread misinformation about the law here.

Whether single-sex associations defined by reference to biology (eg. Lesbian walking group, informal support network for female victims of male violence) are lawful. If sex doesn't mean biological sex, these are unlawful.

Whether trans men who become pregnant are protected from pregnancy discrimination. If a GRC modifies sex for the Equality Act they likely lose protection.

Whether sexual orientation is defined in the Act by reference to biological sex or biological sex unless modified by a GRC.

What this proposal will do:

Clarify that sex in the Equality Act means biological sex, referring to the ordinary common law position from Corbett v Corbett.

Make it clear that single-sex services and associations are defined by reference to biological sex.

Make it clear that trans men are protected from pregnancy discrimination regardless of whether they have a GRC.

Make gender reassignment a reserved matter, preventing devolved parliaments such as in Scotland from legislating to introduce Self-ID, ensuring that the continuing operation of the s35 Order blocking the GRR Bill.

What this proposal will not do:

Remove the protected characteristic of gender reassignment.

Make it lawful to discriminate on the basis of gender reassignment in the provision of goods & services, employment, or housing.

Prevent services from offering a trans-inclusive service where proportionate.

Require a new analysis of biological sex. The common law position will be reverted to and there are decades of caselaw on how to define biological sex in law.

The winners are the TRAs

Anyone applauding the dropping of this action - they are too for sure. I wonder why they don’t want it

That's just bollocks.

I've always supported making it clear sex = biological sex. Hence my thread about the King's Speech I linked before.

I don't trust the Tories not to fuck around with disability and maternity protections while they have the legislation on the table - we've seen they will do that sort of thing recently where some Conservatives have used the "decriminalisation of abortion" amendment as an opportunity to push for stricter abortion rights.

I don't think amending the EA is going to necessarily restrict male access to female spaces. As Kemi admitted yesterday.

I also think its possible to achieve the same outcome by either amending the GRA (Labour's proposal) or the EA (Tories proposal). So that's why I was happy to join Labour after Dodds announcement last July, and continue to be happy to vote for them now.

I don't think anyone ought to be at all surprised that Labour has re-buffed the proposal. It was always evident, in spite of the massaging of the message that Labour has not fundamentally critiqued anything to do with trans ideology; and are still actively beholden to Stonewall, Linda Riley, Iain anderson and others

It's called politics, dear.
You basically trash the oppositions ideas, then nick them later. See the Tories and non-Dom tax.

So you were keen for it to be done pre GE but now Labour have said no you’re a no

I don’t trust Labour to not fuck around and kow tow to TRAs

TRAs are far more challenging against what women are after

Hence their legal threat being an actual issue across the board

Which could have been deflated by changing the EqA

Of course they are

You’d have to be very party loyal to miss that

I'm not a no. I just think it's an absolutely pathetic offering that doesn't outweigh all the harm the Tories are doing to women and girls 😂
Badenoch could have done this a year ago. If she had I'd possibly feel differently. Instead she's expecting me to feel pleased they are now proposing doing something that last year they said was unnecessary. And still no word about how they propose to end the effective decriminalisation of rape. No thanks.

I honestly do not need you to explain to me how politics works. It is you who is tribally obsessed, not me, even though I was a Labour party supporter long before you were born, I suspect.

Labour have never fundamentally grasped the issues inherent in the conflicts of rights brought about by trans ideology. Successive Labour MPs have demonstrated this more than amply in the Women and Equality Committee - and their mouthpieces and hangers on continue to do so.

Fuck sake not the emoji soup again

But Labour won’t do it either, which is presumably also a shame. They’ll maintain the status quo where ‘sex’ does not equal biological sex. Either it should refer only to biological sex or it shouldn’t.

You are very polite, I can see you do know politics

Labour's day of reckoning is soon to be upon them....there will be no more excuses, and no room to hide, no room to waffle and fudge once in office.