Shirley-Anne Somerville 'firmly behind single sex spaces' - Scottish parliament

[ArabellaScott]

Gosh, Shirley-Anne. How you've changed.

https://www.scottishparliament.tv/meeting/meeting-of-the-parliament-february-25-2025?clip_start=14:34:18&clip_end=14:35:16

Great follow up question from Tess White.

'How many other NHS institutions are operating this unlawful policy'

And when they leave politics they move into the charity sector with their mates.

all so dishonest

Start with asking him to talk about the holocaust.

Then ask him to discuss what evidence we have for it - talking about contemporary evidence and later eye witness accounts.

Then ask him to provide evidence for where JKR denies the holocaust. Including sources.

Because being able to source and provide evidence is the difference between a very shit grade and a good one. I'd like to know what he's been learning at school if he can't source and evidence properly.

conitnue with the questions theme? : 'who told you, & why do you believe them?'
(originally from a Mr Hayton)

He was referring to her saying on Twitter that trans people weren't genocided in the Holocaust.(My words, I can't be bothered to track down the exact phrasing) He specifically mentioned the Nazis burning down the Institute for sexual research in Berlin a research facility which treated transgender men. The fact that the director was Jewish and presumably it was linked to treating gay people may have been a big factor in it being targeted by the Nazis ( I don't know if there are any sources showing why the Nazis targeted the institute). I think jk rowling was unwise to say the Nazis didn't target transgender people. I don't think she's a Holocaust denier.

However even when we legally get single sex facilities we are going to have a problem still.

It's going to add an extra layer of thrill to a small group who already, by their own admission, were getting off on the idea of covertly using women's facilities without their knowledge women challenging them.

🎯 we really need to get this aspect talked about more.

You have to give One Gear Keir time for his OS to reboot.

Magnus Hirschfeld's institute. He was a gay Jewish sexologist, so probably objectionable to the Nazis on several grounds.

Fascinating guy, Hirschfeld. An incredibly brave man, and also a quack with some very weird ideas.

He specifically mentioned the Nazis burning down the Institute for sexual research in Berlin a research facility which treated transgender men.

I've noticed the TRAs have really picked up on this recently (not saying your DS is a TRA btw). It's as if one of them read about it, thought "Aha! Evidence of transgender persecution by the Nazis!" and it spread all over social media. In fact, one of our regular visitors who used to "flutter by" was a big fan of referring to this in a way that suggested trans people were the main focus of the studies at the institute.

In fact, the institute studied many aspects of sexuality, of which transsexuality was just one. The institute was denounced as Jewish, Social Democratic and offensive to public morals. Hirschfeld was Jewish and gay, so an obvious target.

He was also an advocate of equality for women. That bit always gets left out!

JKR is not a Holocaust denier, although perhaps unwise to comment on the issue because she must have known how it would be taken out of context. But she can make her own decisions. As far as I understand it, she was saying the Nazis did not make trans people a specific main target for genocide. Which is true.

To me it sounds like TRAs attempting to rewrite history again (like the Stonewall riots) and place trans people at the centre of the Holocaust.

To me it sounds like TRAs attempting to rewrite history again (like the Stonewall riots) and place trans people at the centre of the Holocaust.

That's exactly what it is.

It's always worth posting this when that accusation RE JKR rears its head.
threadreaderapp.com/thread/1768427557425234010.html

Also worth talking about Erwin Gohrbandt, a surgeon who performed gender reassignment surgeries on Dora Richter, who worked at the Institute for Sexology under Magnus Hirschfeld, and the Danish artist Lili Elbe. (Lili Elbe, born male as Einar Wegener, died in 1931 as a result of a procedure to implant a uterus and construct a vaginal canal, performed by another surgeon.)

Gohrbandt was a research assistant for surgical questions in the Social Office of the Reich Youth Leader, held various medical posts under the Nazis and is strongly suspected of conducting experiments on prisoners at Dachau.

With the rewriting of the Stonewall riots, they will stubbornly ignore eyewitness testimony from someone who was there (Fred Sergeant), articles and minutes from the time and actual video evidence.

It's quite something to see.

IIRC the Hirschfeld institute was the only place in the world carrying out experimental gender reassigment surgeries, and only did a handful of them. So when the Nazis came to power, there were how many trans people in Germany? Two, maybe three? I doubt if they were even on the radar as a target, let alone a main target.

Heterosexual cross-dressers, of course, were not a target at all.

Yep it's appropriation of history. Which is fairly typical and particularly for the course for an ideological belief or political group seeking to legitimaise themselves.

Indeed the Nazis did that...

Godwin would be proud.

Oh and shall we talk about unethical experimentation on children and who did that...?

Somerville has some brass neck on her!

I think politicians differ from normal people in that they have no functioning shame response 🙄

Experts challenge Swinney over Government single sex policy

John Swinney has given his backing to the Scottish Government’s trans inclusion policy, despite concerns it breaches legislation on single-sex facilities.

The guidance, which was signed off last month, states that “trans staff should choose to use the facilities they feel most comfortable with.”
It also makes clear that an "employee does not need to hold a Gender Recognition Certification" to be covered by “the principles, commitments and protections set out in this policy and procedure.”

That means the government believes someone who self-identifies as female but who is both biologically and legally male should be allowed to use female facilities.

However, the Workplace (Health, Safety, and Welfare) Regulations 1992 state that changing facilities will not be suitable “unless they include separate facilities for, or separate use of facilities by, men and women where necessary for reasons of propriety.”

start of a long article at https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/24966790.experts-challenge-swinney-government-single-sex-policy/

Can be read in full at https://archive.is/UNIB8

Swinney seems to be able to hold many contradictory beliefs in his noggin and feel no embarrassment at admitting that in public. To think that I used to believe that to be a politician one had to be a serious and intelligent person 🤷‍♀️