Sex Matters are asking you to email your MP this weekend

[PachacutisBadAuntie]

Re the delay in publishing the EHRC guidance. Can't see a thread on this yet, please do email if you can.

sex-matters.org/take-action/write-to-your-mp-the-government-must-stand-up-for-womens-rights/

Done. Thank you!

I had a reply! It's quite short:

"Dear Ms (PBA),

Thank you for your email regarding the Supreme Court’s judgment in For Women Scotland v The Lord Advocate and Scottish Ministers and your concerns about single-sex spaces.

The Government is implementing the law as clarified by the Supreme Court, and the Secretary of State for Women and Equalities reiterated this commitment in the House of Commons earlier this week. As your Member of Parliament, I will always support the principle that we must follow the law and ensure that everyone’s rights are respected and protected.

Thank you again for taking the time to write and share your views.

Yours sincerely,"

At least I was addressed correctly. But can anyone else hear the gritted teeth, or am I imagining it?

It is rather terse.

I've had a response from my MP - I didn't really expect to hear back so quickly (the typos lead me to believe that this is a personal reply rather than a c&p mailout, but maybe not!) Very interesting....

"Thank you for contacting me about the Supreme Court’s ruling on For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers.

The Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex, concluding that the ‘concept of sex is binary.’ This comes after Nicola Sturgeon’s Scottish Government had argued that transgender people with a gender recognition certificate should be afforded the same sex-based protections as biological women.

Saying ‘trans-women are women’ is not true in law. I do not believe that you can change your biological sex. Unfortunately, we now face a Government that cannot define a woman and has spent years battling against common sense.

Since the original Sipreme Court ruling ruling, I have asked numerous written Parliamentary Questions of different Government Departments, asking them to make the necessary changes to their policies and practices to uphold single-sex spaces.

Please be assured that I will be holding the Government’s feet to the fire on this ruling so that they do what is necessary, not what is on trend.

Thank you again for taking the time to write to me."

@SaffyWall that does sound like they wrote it themselves and it's very straight talking. Don't feel obliged to confirm but I'm going to guess that they're a Conservative! Or Rosie Duffield.

@PachacutisBadAuntie It's from Kevin Hollinrake - so you are very correct!

Has anybody had a response from a Labour MP yet, or has their comms team not drafted one for them yet?

I'm still waiting for my Labour MP to reply, or even to acknowledge my email.

My Labour MP hasn't even acknowledged my email.

Mine either. A misogynist grump session will arrive in a couple of weeks however, it usually does.

Mine neither. I was going to give it another week and then chase it up. His platform is mostly workers' rights, although mainly on protecting manufacturing-type jobs, so I'll be interested to see how he tries to spin it.

Mine's Labour and has replied (see above) but it does sound rather like a Comms team standard reply...

Ah yes. I shall await a carbon copy!

Done Hope he listens, a LibDem.

Mine's Labour and not a word...

Still waiting.....

Still waiting to hear from my labour MP. It’s been a week, I plan to give him one more before chasing.

Mine hasn't replied either, whereas to previous letters I've had prompt (idiotic) replies. Possibly it's good news that they are being told to wait for something centrally coordinated? I noticed that over on reddit they are very concerned to send more letters than "we" do (and say they're leading 7k to 2k, though how up to date either of those figures is who know, and I'm not convinced numbers matter either provided it's clear both sides are watching) though somebody did have the temerity to point out that the EHRC guidance or lack of it doesn't change the law...

Labour response! Peter Kyle.
The sentence in bold is almost an exact echo from a previous email he sent. I then echoed it back in one of my add on queries to the Sex Matters Template / email; for it to pop up again in the reply, points to the high probability that none of my email was read and its a copy and paste job. None of my queries were addressed and the manipulative / shame calling to join his just be kind brigade is a departure from his past responses of generally making the right sort of utterances and noises regarding women and girls rights to SSS.

"Thank you for taking the time to write down your thoughts on the Supreme Court ruling. I now welcome the clarity that this judgement has provided. We must be mindful of the fear and worry this has placed in the trans community, but I’m sure you join me in providing assurances to the trans community across the country that Labour’s Equality Act is still there to protect them from discrimination and harassment.

The EHRC have now shared their formalised code of practice for services, public functions and associations with the UK government and the code is now being carefully considered. We also have a Minister for Women and Equalities with experience of protecting single-sex spaces, who ran a refuge for women fleeing abuse, who served on the APPG on Domestic and Sexual Violence – who knows the importance of these issues deeply and personally.

This Labour government continues to have an ambitious agenda to advance the dignity and respect of trans people – with a ban on conversion practices, high quality NHS care and measures to tackle hate crime and we continue to have an ambitious agenda to advance the dignity and respect of trans people – with a ban on conversion practices, high quality NHS care and measures to tackle hate crime but women’s safety, privacy and dignity must be protected in the wake of this landmark ruling.

Thanks for getting in touch."

God they make me so mad. "We must be mindful of the fear and worry this has placed in the trans community", after basically sneaking self-ID in by the back door without a single thought for women's rights to privacy and safety.

The 'ban on conversion practices' being what, exactly?

I dread to think! I do remember Lloyd Russell Moyle pushing for it but Labour got rid of him. I started reading through this earlier to try and pin down a definition that Labour might adopt.
https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-9972/CBP-9972.pdf

I would definitely respond to that.
"Thank you for yr letter/ email of x date, it appears to have been sent to me in error rather than to its intended recipient as it does not answer any of my questions or respond to the points I raised. I attach a copy of my original email for your reference & await your response with interest."

@HildegardP Thank you! I have been overthinking my reply so this is very helpful in bringing me back to point.

Yes, right to be wary there! LRM may not still be around, but his spirit is still strong in the Labour Party. Is there any need for such legislation anyway? Is there evidence that gay people are being 'converted' out of homosexuality to any substantial degree, and is it right to give gender identity equal status with sexual orientation?