Shirine Khoury-Haq on “protecting trans people to the end”

[PopstarPoppy]

According to this morning’s news:

Shirine Khoury-Haq said the trans community brought a “massive business benefit” to the Co-op. She told The Telegraph: “These are highly talented people who, if they feel loved, if they feel valued, if they feel like they can bring their whole selves to work, their contribution is immense.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/05/04/ill-protect-trans-people-to-the-end-vows-co-op-boss/

What about the contribution of WOMEN, Shirine? Don’t they count??

And why does ‘protecting trans people’ have to come at the expense of protecting women?

These useful idiots for the TRA brigade don’t seem to register that it doesn’t have to be either/or, it’s quite possible to work to protect both groups. Trans women do not need to have access to women’s spaces to be protected, they simply need spaces that are separate from those provided for men. The reason that has been repeatedly rejected by the TRA mob says more about the motivations of trans women (requiring the rest of us to validate their identity) than anything else, and is a big part of why we are where we are. If there hadn’t been such a push to be ‘inclusive’ of transwomen in every possible situation – eg forcing through things like describing smear tests as necessary for ‘people with a cervix’ rather than women – there wouldn’t have been the pushback there has been. Nor would we be in this situation had women’s feelings been met with empathy, rather than repeated threats, which ironically undermine the argument that transwomen are no threat to them!

Co-op Bank doesn't belong to the Co-op any more. I think it's now in the Coventry Building Society.

A fictional and emotive spin that bears no resemblance to reality.

Try engaging with the actual situation honestly, and the whole situation.

This is weird. People who work in a supermarket wear a uniform and stack shelves, serve customers, fill out forms etc. nobody cares or noticed whether they are claiming to be trans or not? It doesn't make them any better or worse at their job. Or any job.

"Have you stopped to consider there might be just the smallest chance that - in a case where 'No! It's everybody else who is wrong!' - you might, in fact, be the one who is wrong?"

By that token, LGB people would never have obtained their rights. It wasn't so long ago at all that LGB people and their allies were a small minority, and everybody else were telling them they were wrong. Don't go making the mistake that what seems like the majority opinion because it screams the loudest must necessarily be right.

"a victimised, and currently terrified, group in society"

Victimised, in a country where the GRC exists?? Please!

Nope. That overused trope doesn’t work any more. It was always dishonest. But kind-hearted women can be easy to manipulate until their boundaries have been not just kicked down but trampled into the ground.

Now we know trans-identifying men are more (not less) likely to commit sex offences than other men. And we have for years seen them given endless privileges: access to women-only spaces, free rein to take women’s sports prizes, the right to make their rape victims call them ‘women’ in court, the English language mangled to meet their narcissistic demands, even their choice of prison.

We’ve had enough of giving, giving, giving but never having given enough to meet their infinite demands.

So don’t waste your time trying to guilt-trip us.

Why not save your concern for the victims: transwidows and their children, teenage girls conned into having their breasts amputated, children dosed with puberty blockers, female athletes cheated of recognition … the list goes on and on. But it doesn’t include the men you favour.

What about the contribution of WOMEN, Shirine? Don’t they count??

Imagine if just a quarter of their female staff, went on strike to make a point about this shite.

Women are taken for granted that they will put up and shut up - because financially they are so dependent.

That's exploitative.

'Child to be transed'

That makes it sound like when the cybermen come along and are 'upgraded' or when the Borg come along and they 'assimilate'.

Yes, I am just looking up alternatives

The Co-operative Bank is now owned by Coventry Building Society. Coventry Building Society acquired the Co-operative Bank in early 2025, returning the bank to a mutual structure where it is owned by its members, rather than shareholders

‘If they feel like they can bring their whole selves to work, their contribution is immense.”

Their whole selves? This sounds like the sort of thing a 12 year old would come out with, how do these people function in their heads real world?

@LadyBracknellsHandbagg unfortunately, "bring your whole self to work" is very common in workplaces now.

The Cooperative Bank is owned by Coventry Building Society and not by the Cooperative Group if I understand correctly- please correct me if I am wrong.

I can't access them, but can anyone see and give a flavour of what the 3000 or so comments on the article are saying?

I hate the "bring your whole self to work" shite. I only bring my work self to work, I'd be fired if I brought the rest of me, and rightly so!!! 😂

I wonder how trans people feel about constantly being infantalised in this way. "They just need love and they'll be really good at work!" seems really quite insulting, as it suggests if they're not constantly affirmed and validated they'll...not work?

They don’t have shareholders, but they do have members with votes at the AGM. Most don’t use it. The AGM is later this month so unless they can table an emergency motion they won’t do anything this year. It’s probably worth anyone who is a member keeping an eye on. My experience is that so few people get actively involved you just need to be organised to get heard. There’s also the members council.

https://www.co-operative.coop/get-involved/your-council-your-voice

@Joolsin
Had a quick look. Most of those commenting very unimpressed..Several suggested Haq should have focused on data protection rather than trans protection. Many feel Coop is a business with little sense of direction. My personal favourite idea was for a branch entirely staffed and run by trans people..

And as for the concept of people ‘bringing their whole selves to work’, I don’t think there are many, if any, jobs where that is appropriate, whatever your sex or gender identity.

Absolutely. There's plenty of things I think are better not shared with the whole office, in the interests of getting along professionally with colleagues who might have different values and opinions.

A) she knew what a woman was when she needed a surrogate to carry her children
B) Trans people, like gay men, are probably less likely to take maternity/paternity leave, which I imagine would be a big financial win for a large firm like Co-op

Exactly my first response. I'd cringe myself fucking inside out talking about anybody like that! How unbelievably patronising.

Please stop bringing your whole selves to work - please bring your professional self who understands personal boundaries to work instead. No, Tim, you do not get to act like an asshole all day Monday and expect people to understand because Liverpool lost this weekend. No, Patricia, it is not OK to tell someone their new haircut makes them look awful because you "tell it like it is". And no, fishnets and knee high boots are not an acceptable form of self expression in the office, no matter your sex, gender identity, age, or sexual orientation.

Based on what’s in the NHS policies I’d say that employers are expected to allow a lot of time off for transition medical and counselling care. Bringing your whole self to work in that case might be expensive.

For F's sake, you can see why Doc
Stock and JKR have gone postal and the rest of us are outing ourselves like our lives depend on it...the backlash is truly mental

Do you remember there was a deranged councillor woman or local politician filibustering/disrupting a meeting in the US by repeatedly screeching “We love trans people” at the top of her voice? That’s what these people remind me of. It’s unhinged.

Yes. I think about her sometimes. Bewildering.

Cult, you say?