Rebecca Don Kennedy of the Equality Network interviewed

[ArabellaScott]

https://archive.ph/yw2s0

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/25413097.equality-chief-i-not-fight-trans-rights-hurt-women/

'Kennedy sees the battle over trans rights as an “imported culture war”, which came along with “a rise in right-wing rhetoric, the rise of fascist tendencies, and a return to patriarchy. It manufactured fear and anxiety and made marginalised people scapegoats for the ills of the world”.
What’s happened in Britain and America isn’t happening in Europe, Kennedy says. “They’re looking at us in horror. The things that are going on around trans people’s human rights is unfathomable. We’re referred to as ‘Terf Island’ for a good reason.” Terf means “trans exclusionary radical feminist”.'

“It’s awful for LGBTI people, and specifically trans people, and more specifically trans women, right now. It’s terrifying. They’re demonised by the press, by their politicians, demonised on <a class="break-all" href="https://archive.ph/o/yw2s0/www.heraldscotland.com/topics/television/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">TV, questioned within institutions and their workplace, and they’re maybe not even able to use the toilet when they go outside.
“All the while this is happening, other people who are hateful are lauded and lifted up as heroes – and worse than that, painted as heroes for feminism. It’s just abhorrent.
“To be a trans women right now is so hard. Their strength is unparalleled. I cannot imagine being able to just hold my head high and live my life regardless of how – and I’m going to swear now – f***g awful it is. The admiration I have for trans women is huge. I couldn’t do it.”

“It’s dangerous for any woman who falls outside the supposed standard of what women should look like. I cannot believe that we’re returning to a world where if you don’t look like a feminine woman then you’re looked at with suspicion. I’ve heard more about cis women being pulled up and questioned in toilets – often cis lesbian women v than I have about trans women. I mean, what are we doing? We’ve gone so down the rabbit hole that people are being encouraged to take pictures of women in bathrooms. It’s not just trans women who bear the brunt of that, it’s all women who don’t conform to whatever it is we’re meant to conform to.”
She described the proposed system around bathrooms as “a mess with no clarity. It’s unreal. Trans men are to use women’s toilets, and trans women are to use men’s toilets. But anybody that’s non-binary, or looks ‘too transitioned’, is to use gender-neutral toilets, if there are any”.
“What that likely meant in practice was that, for example, bearded masculine trans men would be told they should use women’s toilets – unless that caused upset or fear – then they didn’t have a toilet to use at all, unless there was a gender-neutral one. It’s utterly ludicrous, appalling actually.”
Kennedy believes that women opposing trans rights are damaging feminism. “I’d give them grace and say they don’t realise how these things entwine. Partly this might be because before 2018 they weren’t involved in the equalities movement, or human rights or the feminist movement. So they don’t see there’s an intertwining of shared struggles.
“We all have human rights. If some of us don’t have them, then none of us do. As soon as you start that divisive pulling apart you weaken the armour and the tools that we have for moving forward. I believe in intersectional feminism where everyone who’s marginalised needs to work together. If we don’t work together, we won’t achieve anything.
“Many women [opposed to trans rights] are in quite privileged positions and have – or believe they have – what they need. Some people believe everything is fine because they’re fine, and they don’t look any deeper.”

Can AI be used to reverse articles back to their sources?

The whole interview reads like it is an ad hoc regurgitation of a pro-trans student pamphlet - maybe something you'd pick up in freshers week

You could point them to this by radical feminist Janice Raymond, circa 1979.
Free to read and download:
https://janiceraymond.com/the-transsexual-empire/

I'm sure there will be loads of intersections. Just none of them make trans women interchangeable with biological female people, or justify undefining sex in language, culture or law.

Kennedy seems to think it is 2015. She is skating on thin ice. Though with a salary in the 100,000s she can afford some drama.

Jon Pike

This is a truly disgusting smear piece. I hope she gets sued: it's defamation by innuendo. And it's worth bringing up anytime someone talks about the 'toxicity' of debate - (though this doesn't qualify as a contribution to a debate).

Helen Joyce

6h
There is no evidence, of course, because the accusations are false.

J.K. Rowling

6h
Dr Rebecca Don has made very serious accusations here. Given her position, she needs to explain who, specifically, she's talking about and what her evidence is for them being in the pay of the far right/MAGA.

Susan Dalgety

The head of Scotland’s Equality Network accuses women campaigning for their rights and the safeguarding of children of being in the pay of the far right and under influence of MAGA. This nasty, defamatory rhetoric from a senior charity leader illustrates everything that is wrong with civic Scotland (article in replies)

She goes on to suggest that women campaigners have “a limitless pot of financial resources”. She is either completely ignorant of how grassroot campaigns work, given how she enjoys the luxury of generous
scotgov grants, or deliberately provocative. You decide.

Is being in the pay of the far right/MAGA another reference, or dig, at the connection to the Southern Baptist's that is regularly bandied about by the AIB's.

It is quite alarming that someone in such a high profile, and well paid, job doesn't have any original thought or any skills to justify her being in such a position. She seems to be the one that reading off the script from an 'imported foreign culture war'.

Is the reference to "limitless pot of financial resources" a reference to JKR's money?

Unclear. I hope somebody takes her to task over this, though. Public money pays this woman to come.up.with this crap.

Tax payer money., yes.

Yes, the fact that JK Rowling donates generously to these causes does not mean there are unlimited funds and it is particularly stupid and dishonest to say so when both you and the trans rights lobby are bankrolled by the taxpayer.

The Scottish government literally used Scottish women's taxes to argue in front of the Supreme Court that they don't exist in law.

It’s exactly why people like this should be being quizzed by national news outlets like the BBC. Because what they are saying is not only causing immense damage to women, children and society’s ability to function coherently- it is factually incorrect.

and yet the bbc doesn’t do this. Instead it prerecords trans people and their supporters, allowing them to make whatever bat claims they like, often completely unchallenged, and then proceeds to give a grilling to feminists, such as Sharron Davies, who often appear live and have to respond to challenges in real time.

and I also think we need a reckoning about the amount of public money that is supporting charities and public organisations that are having such a malign impact on social cohesion. If you are constantly questioning or undermining people’s legal rights and the law itself, why are my taxes funding your wages please?

The Scottish government literally used Scottish women's taxes to argue in front of the Supreme Court that they don't exist in law.

we need a reckoning about the amount of public money that is supporting charities and public organisations that are having such a malign impact on social cohesion. If you are constantly questioning or undermining people’s legal rights and the law itself, why are my taxes funding your wages please?

100%. We need an enquiry into why the fuck so much public tax money is being spent on trying to remove or erode the rights of 50% of the population, and then further time and energy then spent maligning the women who have fought, unpaid, to protect those rights.

The women of Scotland fought very hard, for a long time, at massive individual cost, to have the Supreme Court recognise that we were correct all along, and that our rights must be upheld.

This pernicious, government-enabled, damaging, and ridiculous cult has to stop.

I do wonder at what point public officials will start to be held personally responsible for ignoring the law.

After the EHRC provide guidance?

Good point. EN is a charity.

Charities rules about political campaigning in Scotland have recently changed.

https://www.oscr.org.uk/managing-a-charity/managing-charity-trustees/charities-and-campaigning-on-political-issues-guidance/what-does-scottish-charity-law-say-about-campaigning-on-political-issues/

'Scottish charities can, where it advances their purposes, carry out activities that seek to:

• influence government, both central and local
• respond to, promote, oppose or support legislation
• petition and otherwise seek to change public policy
• support or oppose a policy advocated by a political party (but not support or oppose the party itself)

Charities can distribute information or engage in debate about the policies of political parties or candidates where these activities are ways of achieving their charitable purposes. While charities may choose to engage in political debate, as a charity trustee you must make sure that this activity is in pursuit of the charitable purposes. You must also bear in mind a charity trustee’s general duty to act in the interests of the charity. Among other things this means that you must consider any potential reputational impact on your charity.'

https://www.oscr.org.uk/about-charities/search-the-register/charity-details?number=SC037852

Objectives: 'promote the human rights of Scotland's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people, ii. promote fair and equal treatment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people in the laws, institutions and society of Scotland, and iii. provide assistance to people and organisations working in countries, to promote equality and human rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people in those countries. '

'Purposes: "the advancement of human rights, conflict resolution or reconciliation","the promotion of equality and diversity"'

“We all have human rights. If some of us don’t have them, none of us do.”

Yes. One of the most important ones being the ability to name ourselves and not to have people who aren’t us take our name for themselves.

I always want to send anyone who mentions intersectionality the original crystalline essay by Kimberlé Crenshaw and ask what in that short and expert piece of work they find justifies throwing the word around to prevent other people saying that men aren’t women. Intersectionality requires a precise understanding of who is treated differently for what reasons. It’s not an excuse to pretend misogyny doesn’t exist any more and that men saying they’re women isn’t misogyny.

" To be a trans women right now is so hard. Their strength is unparalleled. "

Do they get training in bad grammar along with performative fuckwitting? It is such a reliable tell.

Real women?

Those of us who obviously lead the life of Riley.

None of us get murdered at the rate of 2 a week; none of us are raped and only 2% of the perpetrators found guilty; none of us suffering from an average pay gap of 15%; none of us heading up single parent families most likely to be the poorest families ; none of us the poorest elderly pensioners.

Yes, she needs to talk to women.

Indeed and EN is now on record saying they will not obey the law. That is not going to fly. The SNP are running out of time. They are going to have to obey the law.

yup, the performative frailty of trans people where being in the same room as someone who disagrees with them on some issues makes them feel 'unsafe' has really paid off thus far

we REALLY need to stop giving that shit house room.

Absolutely. I wish we could take the individuals involved to court (not the government, because that is OUR money) and get them to pay it back.

It’s the ‘trans trenders’ (people without gender dysphoria who have no intention of getting any kind of gender reassignment surgery) and people identifying as one or multiple of the hundreds of made up genders that have ruined it all for trans people, it’s not “cis” people that have ruined it. Many on MN would feel differently I’m sure, but I don’t have a problem with the tiny portion of the population that are real trans women, who have had gender dysphoria their entire lives and have gone through full gender-reassignment surgery and fully present as women, using women’s bathrooms. I do have a problem with self-IDed trans women who have only socially transitioned and have no life-long dysphoria, they just fancy “being a woman”, using women’s bathrooms. It’s all these fuck wits jumping on the gender ideology bandwagon that have truly fucked things up. If it wasn’t for them the 0.0001% of real trans women would just be quietly getting on with their lives and I don’t think most women would care (or be aware that they aren’t biologically female) that they’re using women’s toilets. People like Blair White have been saying this for ages. She just wants to get on with her life and isn’t interested in all this drama and obsession with gender

@Spookygoose I think you're right. If there were only 200 of these men in the country, and they had all had their genitals chopped off*, it wouldn't be a nationwide (indeed worldwide) problem.

*No idea how many it is, but it can't be many
**Of course some of those men are still a risk to women, like the fragrant Sarah Jane. But maybe without a movement to attach himself and clap him in the park, he would be less dangerous?

So the 'actual trans people' are annoyed that their 'stealth' use of single sex spaces which they weren't entitled to use is now scuppered.

They were ignoring women's boundaries and rights as much as the ones who have jumped on the bandwagon, they were just more secretive about it.

Even if they are super duper nice/your lovely trans pal etc. And yes, women were bothered.

Trans-trenders 🤣

I no longer believe there are 'real' trans people. This psychologist's view that gender dysphoria https://x.com/Psychgirl211/status/1808825717204922755 is a fashionable fantasy seems more credible than anything else I have come across.

Any man who chooses to have his genitals amputated is obviously and demonstrably a violent person, even if some of the violence has been turned on himself. I do not want to share a space with someone mentally disordered and destructive. And, btw, almost certainly much bigger than me.

We don't coddle the delusions of people with anorexia.

I'm amused that the 'gender critical' fake feminist movement is getting all up in arms about this interview, like they're unaware that they're the UK arm of the anti-gender movement, despite the fact that they literally sat for many meetings with the religious right, crowed about it on social media, made a whole website and individual 'gender critical' activists have reported being approached by people representing those orgs.

Those men/women-babies having tantrums on Twitter are either lying or are extremely ignorant.