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/

@NoWordForFluffy it's better than I got whether it's his own work or the central Comms team. Slowly slowly they creep...

this case is not about the triumph of one group at the expense of another, about winners or losers, or ‘us or them’. this case is not about the triumph of one group at the expense of another, about winners or losers, or ‘us or them’.

Unfortunately, it absolutely is. The genderwoo movement needs putting back in its box. Yes, it does need to be defeated. Because it is fundamentally malign, for one very good reason.

The problem is that there is no middle ground, is there? So naturally that leads to a 'winner' and a 'loser'. Both sides can't have what they want, as they're fundamentally opposed.

It is all a bit too even handed, isn't it?

Why is 'treat everyone with respect' and 'there mustn't be winners and losers' always used as a way to shut women up and stop the conversation about women's rights and needs? I wonder if they use those lines to activists because I'll bet they don't.

'Everyone' does not include women in that sense. And this pratting about just means going on making women suffer and be excluded while they summon up the courage to annoy men. It's been months now and they are fine with this, they're still only upset and worried about the men.

My reply, from conservative Robert Jenrick

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’ was never true in fact and 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. 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.

With best wishes
Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP

Do Sex Matters want me to log my reply anywhere?

I’m late to the party. I don’t expect much as my MP is a Labour nepo baby, funded by Lord Alli.

I opened with I am a survivor of sexual assault and the mother of a teenaged daughter.

I closed with i am horrified by the farcical situation faced by nurse Sandie Peggie and the Darlington nurses and that I ask the Labour Party to stop pandering to mediocre,almost overwhelmingly middle class white men and stand up for women especially working class women.

My MP is by all accounts a shrewd reader of the room so maybe he’ll have evolved somewhat given the events of the last week

Let’s see.

@AmberLime that's nice and straightforward if a little pyromaniacal.

I think they did ask for replies to be sent to them but I've deleted their update email and I can't find their email address! But you could sign up for the mailing list and get it that way?
Edit to add link
https://sex-matters.org/take-action/sign-up/

Who’s the mp? I got the same message!

Thank you for contacting me about the Supreme Court ruling on the appeal brought by For Women Scotland.

In April, the Court ruled that sex in the Equality Act means biological sex, meaning a person will be considered as their biological sex for the purposes of the Act, whether they have a Gender Recognition Certificate or not.

Ministers have welcomed the judgment for bringing clarity for women and service providers. They have emphasised that single-sex spaces must be protected, and that clear guidance must be available across a range of settings, from healthcare and prisons to sport and single-sex support groups. It also highlighted that trans people retain clear protections in law and should be able to live their lives free of harassment and discrimination.

I appreciate this is an issue with strongly held views on both sides of what has become an extremely polarised debate. I fully support the Government and the Supreme Court in their declaration that this case is not about the triumph of one group at the expense of another, about winners or losers, or ‘us or them’. Now more than ever, it is essential that people in positions of authority, such as politicians, speak out about the importance of treating everybody with respect, even when our beliefs differ.

As you will know, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has submitted a revised code of practice to the Government, following public consultation. The code is to support service providers, public bodies and associations to understand their duties under the Equality Act and put them into practice, taking the judgment into account.

Ministers are now considering the EHRC’s updated draft, to ensure it provides the clarity service providers need in line with the ruling, and that people will have appropriate access to crucial services.

More widely, I will continue to back the Government in its work to protect and support women. I support its mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, and to ensure women’s equality and tackling discrimination is at the heart of its work.

Thank you once again for contacting me about this issue.

Yours sincerely,

Richard

Richard Baker, MP

@Cantquitebelievewhatitscometo I'm so sorry that you suffered that 💐

Patrick Hurley. Clearly the comms team's work!

Mines is Richard Baker so none of what was written in reply to us is what our mp’s actually think or from them personally. That’s really shitty!

I must have had the 'quick rush something short out while we think about it' response!

It was 20 years ago and happened in a ladies loo, before this insanity. Long story short, my then fiancé, and 3 barman chased him up the road, one sat on him til the police arrived and the other 2 held my fiancé back. He was arrested, charged, found guilty, no jail time but put on probation and a sex offenders list..

These days I’d probably have a hate crime charge against me and my fiancé and the barmen would probably get custodial sentences if he said the magic word… trans

It’s disgraceful.

[email protected] I think this is where to send replies

Dreadful response from my Labour MP. I suspect she is one of the backbench Labour MPs putting pressure on Bridget Phillipson.

"Thanks again for getting in touch on this issue.

I remain fully committed to fighting against discrimination of both women and the trans community. While I respect the Supreme Court ruling, I also appreciate there are questions over the ruling being raised by legal professionals and several well-respected bodies, including the British Medical Association.

It was hoped that the recent ruling would bring clarity on issues such as access to sensitive single sex spaces. But it is clear there are many questions about implementation that need a great deal more consideration to ensure the needs of all people are respected and represented in guidance.

Clear guidance should rightly be produced by the EHRC. However, I would question if the interim guidance they have issued appropriately considers the needs of all groups. It is important that some single-sex protected spaces, such as rape crisis centres, should be protected on a case by case basis, but I do not consider the blanket interim guidance issued by the EHRC to be an appropriate means of safeguarding the rights of all citizens. In addition to the protection of some sensitive single-sex spaces, the priority for guidance on this issue needs to be inclusion for all, including trans community. I believe that when issuing future guidance, the EHRC should be far more considered and nuanced.

As you state, the proposed new guidance remains under consideration by Ministers.

Thanks again for reaching out on this matter".

She thinks the SC ruling means that some 'sensitive' single sex spaces should be protected on a case by case basis. And that the EHRC should be more nuanced in their guidance, i.e. misrepesent the the judgement.

Does she think that women who have been raped live in rape crisis centres? And if not, as they go about their lives, it is fine to gaslight them that a mixed sex spaces is single sex? Why do these women care so little about vulnerable women?

And she defers to the BMA (a bloody trade union that is currently mired in activism) as an expert source on the ruling.

I really despair. I'll send it to Sex Matters.

I'm going to reply tomorrow. Can anyone point me to relevant sections of the judgement that I can quote?

@Cantquitebelievewhatitscometo it is, the situation now is (unbelievably) no better and arguably worse for women who are attacked by men. I'm glad there were people there to help you in the moment and that he was charged and convicted. And I hope he rots in Hell.

@ItsCoolForCats that is a massive steaming pile of shite answer. Total disregard for the SC ruling on the actual law, as it is and always has been.

It's an awful response. It seems as if she is being wilfully ignorant of the judgement because it doesn't say what she would like it to. I've written a response but I'm going to get ChatGPT to help me make it sound a bit more polite 😄

What is betrayed there is the belief that 'inclusion' only applies to men with trans identities. It doesn't. The SC judgment has flown over without making contact there.

You cannot let men into women's single sex spaces - any of them - without excluding the women who cannot use that space with a man in it. And 'inclusion' means women too. Those women also need access, equality and sensitivity.

It's mindboggling how fantastically sexist these people are.

They also have not clocked that once it's been wangled that entitlement to single sex space is a conditional thing permitted to women when it's deemed sufficiently sensitive - salami tactics, it will just be a case of then systematically challenging and destroying those boundaries, because if a man is a woman in a loo then he's a woman in a rape crisis centre.

There cannot be shades of grey in this, there cannot be loose boundaries or variable circumstances, that was tried. It was called the GRA.

Chat GPT did a good analysis of her email, pointing out all the places where it is inconsistent with the SC judgement,.

I've sent a reply, but I expect she won't respond anymore.

Watching PMQs yesterday I was pleased to see Rebecca Paul raising the issue of 5 biological males still being in a women’s prison (in Banstead) despite the SC ruling having been in place for months. Starmer replied something to the effect that all institutions must implement the ruling without delay. I looked up Rebecca Paul and she’s the Tory MP for Crispin Blunt’s old constituency and is on the Women and Equalities Committee.