Scared and disheartened today

[teawamutu]

The Rosie Duffield interview in the Times, the commitment to make GRCs easier to get in Labour's manifesto, all the sneering about culture wars, the Tories doing SO bloody badly...

It feels like we're about to lose all the ground we fought so hard to regain, let alone the potential advances that just won't happen now.

My seat is a tory stronghold.

Lucky for Labour libs and greens, we are 'blessed' with both Reform and AFD candidates. So they should hopefully bleed off the "What we need is a bigger harder BREXIT!!!!!" and "I did my own research flat earth vaxpiracy" tendencies, respectively, from the tory vote.

Can you even believe it, labour have a chance, apparently (thanks a lot to the tory splitters, keep it up, good work you absolute lunatics)

Truth and logic must surely come back into fashion at some point.

Hopefully.

Yep. Labour have made it clear they don't even feel they need to pretend to care.

The country is going to vote for them whatever they say or do.

That said, I'm not sure if a Labour landslide is a better option than a Lab/Lib coalition ...

Yes I agree. My hope is that once they’re in power and realise the full extent of the massive shit show they’ve inherited and that they’ve got to deal with, is that they’ll have no time for the perpetual whining of the never satisfied wing of TRA

my biggest fear is that they’ll bring in self ID by any other name ie get a doctor to sign this form, give us £5 and you’re a woman because it will be in their eyes a quick easy ‘win’

I don't disagree with you either @Floisme , it will be very difficult. Hence my indecision. I feel like I'm being asked to choose between the NHS (and public services in general) and women's rights. It's impossible.

I think that's realistic. Maybe SKS "35000 women have a penis" wasn't an estimate, but a goal?

My hope is that once they’re in power and realise the full extent of the massive shit show they’ve inherited and that they’ve got to deal with, is that they’ll have no time for the perpetual whining of the never satisfied wing of TRA

Unfortunately I think it's more likely that once they realise the extent of the shit show (if they don't already) they'll be even more eager to press on with self-ID-Lite because they'll see it as relatively low cost. The only hope I can see is that GPs might kick off.

Sorry I'm feeling very negative today. I'm sure I'll bounce back soon

I too feel despondent and feel it’s inevitable Self ID will come into law pretty soon.
The only plus point is Cass and the fact dc will be more protected.
I wont vote for the Tory’s, though, I cousins live with myself. Labour are going to win by a landslide and there’s not much, the relatively few people who are concerned about self ID, can do about it.

If Labour don't know what a woman is, how can they protect them?

I''m afraid that it will bring a huge disaster to wake people up. I don't wish for one but something along the lines of the thalidomide story. I'm looking towards a massive medical scandal that will involve thousands suing the health service - it is surely brewing but a lot more damage will probably be done before it really takes off. The sheer scale of the damage could take years to unfold - the sterility, crumbling bones, cancers etc. attributable to puberty blockers, wrong sex hormones etc. In the meantime Labour and its handservants - Liberals, Greens etc. are walking blindly into the abyss.

One of the immediate actions we can take is to campaign for IPSO to change its stupid guidelines preventing journalists from describing transwomen as men. It is perpetuating a lie, which has real life effects - distorting crime statistics and making it appear that women are suddenly morphing into rapists and murderers.

Also, we as women, should stop worrying about being described as bigots or terfs. My response to an accusation of being a bigot or terf (which occasionally happens when I voice my opinion) is "so what?" or "I don't care" - and I really don't.

I suspect most labour MPs are keeping their heads down on the issue. It's only a very few that are outspoken. I think it might get quietly shelved when they win and there is loads of proper things to sort out

I've completed exactly this thought loop about 4 times now! I won't vote Tory (based on the utter shitshow of the last few years and general state of the country after 14 years of Tory rule), I want to vote Labour but genuinely feel I can't while they continue to sell women and our hard won rights down the river. My constituency has four candidates, Lab, Con, Libdem and Reform, rocks and hard places spring to mind 🙄

I am going to write to all of my candidates and listen to their responses.

I'll make a decision based on the individual candidate rather than the party.

I wouldn't be too despondent........we've managed to get this issue into the pubic realm and significant steps have been made on raising consciousness. The Cass Review has been commisssioned and cannot be put back in the box; neither can any of the other significant books and texts that have been written in the last few years. We've also now got significant campaign infrastructure ( Sex Matters/Transgender Trend/ FPFW) and so on

Labour were always going to press ahead with Self ID ( which is what they are proposing in any other name) no matter how they tried to disguise the fact - and soon there will be government benches packed with trans activist MPs ,but also with those who are happy enough to go along with it all - for the sake of their careers. We knew this.

But Labour will now be challenged every step of the way. -and hopefully the Tories will retain Kemi Badenoch, Victoria Atkins and others who understand the issue and are not afraid to pursue it. I wonder who will end up as the Education secretary ( Bridget Phillipson?) - because trans ideology in schools in going to continue to be a huge issue - and the big teaching unions are sold on it.

The inevitable issues and events will arise, though, as they have already been doing ( sexual predators and fetishists in women's spaces; detransitioners wanting to take action against doctors and professionals, and so on.....). We just carry on - because it has always been a long haul campaign. Labour will not be able to call it a "Tory culture war" any more - because they'll be directly responsible for whatever they do, or they don't do. They cannot say they were not warned or told.

What happens in America will be important too.........because that is where this shit started and where most of the funding comes from.

We also have the Lords

We'll always have the Lords. 😭

There will be more research following on from Cass review of the other adult clinics. I don't think the results will be good - otherwise why and try and hide it. Labour can't continue with this medical scandal and even finding adult operations when they know evidence is so weak and nhs will get sued in future. Law suits are happening

Funding - not finding

I've just been notified of a boundary change in my constitunecy, which means that Kim Johnson is no longer my MP ( I cannot stand her). She's the one who has refused to meet with her constituents on the issue, and whose twitter account is " followed by Mermaids".

My new MP ( Labour will get in where I live) will be Paula Barker. I've spoken to her already, at a local produce/craft market, where Labour have been campaigning. She's an improvement on Kim Johnson in many ways - but she mentioned that she " doesn't speak to Rosie Duffield" because of a tweet Rosie apparently 'liked'. She ( my new MP) also says that she is friends with Kate Osborne - who is a full on TRA and best mate of Linda Riley.....

So even though I managed to collar her for about half an hour - it was clear she has little understanding of the issue, and just goes along with the party position. She did hear me out though - in full.........She had no choice. She cannot pretend she isn't aware...and I told her that things would escalate once Labour got into government - and that until they clarified the definition of Sex, and stopped the spread of trans ideology in schools - the issue would be going nowhere and that life long Labour voters will not be able to vote Labour on account of this, and on account of the way they have been treated by the party.

I think you are being a tad too optimistic....I suspect it will come up within the first year of office.... but not straight away.

They say they are going to do some sort of consultation.

All those years I used to sound off about the House of Lords and now I'm looking to them to save us.

I understand how you feel OP but this ideology is never going to survive under the light - and there will be (and currently are) case after horrifying case which will eventually cause it to topple because the vast majority of people (as far as I can see) do not support it in real life.

We shouldn't have to waste energy fighting it but if that is what it takes we will.

It is so much better and more openly discussed now than 10 years ago and the effects are being seen amongst the general populace.

I have seen such a backlash against Pride and, for the sake of my gay/lesbian kids, I wish it would all just go away - they just want to be part of the normal not constantly pushed down everyone's throats.

I am hugely grateful to Rosie - and I do not envy her one bit. But Keir needs to grow a backbone on this issue quickly.

Are you sure? Starmer intends to replace the Lords with........ TBC

I’m so torn. Never EVER thought I would vote Tory. I work for the NHS and the damage they have done is going to take years to recover from…
But I just can’t vote for Labour when they have this stance.

Hopefully with people who deserve to be there - wise heads - rather than hereditary peers and political donors. The ones who are holding the line ( and actually turning up for debates) seem to be the deserving ones like Jenny Jones, Robert Winston etc.

The Queens Speech podcast covered the significance of the Alison Baileys case. If successful either now or in higher court it would surely collapse all funding for Stonewall. This will have a huge impact
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/queens-speech/id1648866471?i=1000656231330