STONEWALL REVERSE FERRET INCOMING

[Taytoface]

So, it looks like their income tanking might have finally made them see that trans rights is not quite the gravy train they thought it was. They are now pivoting to getting compensation for gay veterans who were badly treated. And apparently JKR is a wonderful lady, just needs to be a wee bit more kind.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/19/things-could-go-backwards-kezia-dugdale-on-safety-lgbtq-rights-and-the-future-of-stonewall

Yes. And at the London rally the other weekend, only one side was using a very loud megaphone & walking down the middle of the road while the other side followed the rules.

I know nobody who talks about ferrets, so why use an obscure phrase?

@IwantToRetire not obscure to many people interested in politics and current affairs, coined by the editor of the Sun and popularised by Private Eye and other journalists decades ago.

Agree- Nothing Burger was genius!

I've wondered this.
I suspect a bloke playing Hayley (Harold) would have been a real world version which would have not been accepted as easily.

Of course the character and actress confused things for many people, with simple assumptions as a woman is a woman even if she was pretending to be something else.

We would not have a lot of the nonsense we have suffered if it's been a bloke playing the character.

Corrie was huge. It will have had huge impact.

‘Reverse ferret’ is quite well known phrase. Originally coined in the 80s.

Yes, and presented the female colleagues of Hayley/Harold as being nasty for not wanting to share facilities with him. At that point even the mysterious ‘surgery’ hadn’t happened so it was actually a penis in their facilities they were objecting to.

It's probably already been mentioned but the development of the character of Hayley Cropper was heavily influenced by the lobbying group Press For Change and all that slight, fragile transwoman/mean old female characters saying no stuff was very deliberate from that organisation. In addition, the fact that the character was played by an actual woman rather than a man is telling.

I’ve sometimes tried to make thread titles amenable to Google searches. Maybe that is what IWTRetire means? (Although it’s not what she’s said).

I'd like to see KD challenged about the corrosive role of 'Stonewall Law' and the damage it has done not just to women's rights, but to fundamental features of society.
And yes I realise that last bit sounds OTT but I think it's true - think about it: school curricula, the medical profession, universities, language, workplace relations, the courts, Parliament... all beclowned at best, damaged at worst.

A birthday cake with 80 lit candles on it would be a conflagration!

Tinsel, I think IWTR's entire agenda is IWTR. That, and keeping the top 20 threads their own, to the exclusion of everyone else. I've lost count of the number of threads IWTR has started and never returned to. IWTR really does not like it when other posters "get there first ."

I was serious when I posted yesterday that I often wonder if IWTR has a nefarious purpose in continuing the gender ideology debate. No good news is ever good enough. For years, many, many "good news" threads have been countered with "but, what about this terrible piece of news I've just posted about??". Dragging us down into depressive news stories time and again. Leaving us no time to celebrate. What's the real agenda here?

Sorry, I'm derailing again.

Yes, me, too - as many others have said, this ideology ruins everything it touches. I doubt it will be fully untangled within my lifetime, at this rate. Especially since we are still so on our own here in the UK (and still really struggling in Wales and Scotland). I believe the EA 2010 doesn't even fully apply in NI??

The US is years behind us and, as the impetus for the ideology seems to have come from there, if we have to wait until they catch up, we could be waiting a very long while.

Meanwhile, however, Stonewall starting a bit of a reverse ferret (oops, I said it!) is a glimmer of hope, perhaps? They will still have to be watched carefully. Vigilance required.

Sorry, but I appear to be hardwired to say 'But in fairness.....' - 😒
'But in fairness', IWTR also posts some useful and positive stuff, e.g. recently posting about the LGB Alliance conference.

Seconded, I've always found IWTRs posts informative and helpful.

Fair enough, Marie and Thingybob, it's just a pattern I have noticed. Usually four or five posts in a row, normally between 1am and 3am. As a previous poster pointed out, that might explain some things. (or it's just insomnia)

I wasn’t disagreeing with you.

No worries, Tinsel, I don't mind either way. I didn't consider the Google search aspect, good point.

There is a Guardian podcast of this interview. Helen Pidd presses KD more than we might expect from a Guardian journalist & there is a contribution from Libby Brooks who is one of the few Guardian journalists still standing who reports objectively on gender issues..

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/stonewalls-new-chair-on-trans-rights-jk-rowling-and/id1440133626?i=1000762321691

Happy birthday @NotAtMyAge

Yes happy birthday @NotAMyAge

I've just realised that Kezia Dugdale was the Chair of the recent LGBTQIA+ Hustings event where journalists were told to leave. The event was a collaboration between the Equality Network, Scottish Trans, LEAP and LGBTYS, all of whom receive significant amounts of funding from the Scottish Government.

😂😂It would certainly melt the icing. 😁

No candles on a cake for me, but plenty of little treats all week instead. 😊

I hope you have a fabulous week-long birthday celebration, NotAtMyAge. Eighty sounds pretty august.

In the Times today:
https://archive.ph/tTJXZ
I believe they will target the next generation, playing the long game.

Thanks for archiving

KD: "We're not dogmatic and sitting in silos."

Is she bloody kidding? That's all Stonewall is about, silos, squeezing everyone into tiny little boxes full of stereotypes.