The loss of freedom of speech, of sidelining women and biology

Good news about new public buildings:

"Single-sex toilets will be compulsory in all new public buildings under new government plans, reports claim.

The new rules will affect new office buildings, schools, hospitals and entertainment venues over a certain size, The Telegraph reports, in a bid to prevent public spaces from being built solely with gender-neutral facilities.

The driving force behind the plans is equalities minister Kemi Badenoch, who is said to have seen the move approved by ministers last month.

The newspaper alleges that the MP for Saffron Walden insisted it was both legal and “important” to provide separate spaces for men and women.

Ms Badenoch’s designs, set to be announced next week, follow a review spearheaded by former housing secretary Robert Jenrick which reportedly came across concerns voiced by women about the reduced privacy and longer queues generated by gender-neutral toilets.

The Fair Play for Women campaign group told the government same-sex facilities “disadvantaged” women and that “many women and girls are unwilling to walk past the urinals to get to the cubicles in the former men’s facilities”.

Meanwhile, a government source told the newspaper it was “vital” that women feel “safe and comfortable” when using public toilets, and called for a “greater emphasis on provision that is focused on dignity, privacy, tolerance and respect for all”.

The source continued: “These changes will stop the march of ‘universal’ and forced sharing of spaces - with a focus on guaranteeing privacy for all. This is a common-sense approach that is inclusive for all.”

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/single-sex-public-toilets-compulsory-b2114721.html

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Police are investigating re JKR and I hope they can at least track down the individual who tweeted that.

The latest threat to JKR is very concerning. If anyone had threatened to make a pipe bomb and send it to someone in the name of any other form of fundamentalism they would be jailed, but somehow trans fundamentalism is ignored.

I have sent JB a few quid, but strongly suspect that it will be an open and shut case, as Notts Council tweeted their rationale for banning her meeting, and it is clearly discriminatory.

Did anyone watch the 50 Years Of Pride thing on Ch4 last night? I wondered what would be said on the trans issue, and sure enough, the programme ended with lectures about trans rights being about freedom of sexuality and the trope about how their struggle parallels that of gay people in the past.

Trans issues are not about sexuality. It is not the same fight at all, but from memory the only dissenting voice was that of an older lesbian (on a march, rather than in a studio, so not given the same gravitas as the invited speakers) who said that men could not be lesbians, and if transpeople wanted a Pride-type event they should start their own, rather than hijacking the LGB one. Otherwise, they had numerous people (Peter Tatchell, Tom Robinson, Olly Alexander, Ian McKellan, Bimini Bon Boulash and others) spouting about trans rights (without, of course, saying what 'rights' they claim to be denied). It was incredibly one-sided, and didn't even give a hint that there is any dissent from the Stonewall position. Disappointing.

Great post grannygranby!

'Stonewall law' has already been debunked, in particular by the Forstater case where it was ruled that belief in biological sex is a protected belief under the Equality Act 2010, and is "worthy of respect in a democratic society".

The Nottingham City Council situation should never have happened at all and they have definitely picked on the wrong person, in Julie Bindel, if they hoped to get away with it.

I’ve donated to the crowdfund above, accessing the law to protest that Julie Bindle was deplatformed in Nottingham public library for a talk on womens rights. Good god we have to shout about it as no one else is. Luckily and hopefully there are some deep enquiries on the quality and honesty of tge Stonewall advice being pedalled to the institutions and even the police.
There is so much confusion over this issue. So much contradiction in Pride. A million people attended the march a massive success for Stonewall but I doubt if any of the Lesbian Gay Alliance were allowed to join in, not under their own banner. It was a spectacle, like carnival and those who don’t understand what is really going on nod it all through for popularity sake and believing they are ‘on the right side of history’.
It’s big bucks and it’s dangerous. The TERF hate is encouraged, now in the Oxford dictionary, invented by trans activists, men who are redefining women and are deeply misogynistic at heart. Kill the Terfs is a common cry and not an offence. But Woman= adult human female is seen as hate speech.
I’m glad that you lot are here.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202207/medium-422818-screenshot-20220703-122345.png https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202207/medium-415277-screenshot-20220703-122234.png https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202207/medium-442202-screenshot-20220703-122141.png

A few more.

A glimpse of the comments on JB's crowdfunder.

Thanks farnorth thats reminded me I need to donate.

Julie Bindel's crowdfunder has reached its stretch target of £35,000 in only a few days.

Donations averaged £25 from many individuals who are clearly infuriated by Nottingham Council's attempt to deny free speech.

The Labour party really has a problem with women having their voices heard:

www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/03/labour-accused-of-silencing-women-in-row-over-sex-based-rights-group

Police are investigating the latest death threat, to JKR, from the "always be kind gang".

"Police are investigating a death threat against J.K. Rowling after a trans activist urged Twitter users to send a bomb to the author’s home.

The offensive tweet included a picture of the Harry Potter creator, her family’s address, an image of a pipe bomb and the cover of a bomb-making handbook.

Ms Rowling shared a screenshot of the June 14 threat on Friday, complaining that the activist’s Twitter account had been active for several weeks. She added: ‘The account remains active, naturally.’"

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10976955/Police-investigating-JK-Rowling-death-threat-trans-activist-urged-Twitter-users-send-bomb.html

They swallowed whole whatever Stonewall said.

Yes, and it seems clear that they had no initial understanding of what they were doing. A cursory glance at a lot of it would show that it makes no sense, eg Transpeople are the most marginalised group in society. This is trotted out by 'allies' and people in the media, including politicians. What does it mean?

What does being marginalised mean? Where are the margins? Who else is marginalised and how was that measured? If a group is marginalised, how do we know it exists? As we don't know how many transpeople there are, how do we know that they are more marginalised than other groups (particularly if the other groups are so marginalised that they have no pressure group to speak for them)? How is it that a marginalised group has (or has had) people advocating for them in the BBC, the NHS, in education, in local government and other powerful areas?

The answers to those questions, are, of course, amongst those that never get answered.

I've had replies from MSPs stating that their policies are in line with Stonewall recommendations.

I think a lot of individuals and organisations felt that Stonewall could be trusted to guide them through the complications of gender identity ideology, as they had done for gay rights.
They swallowed whole whatever Stonewall said.

Here's Julie Bindel crowdfunding for her case against Nottingham City Council.

Julie says :
"I am a feminist campaigner, journalist and author who was de-platformed by Nottingham City Council for campaigning against male violence towards women and holding feminist views."

www.crowdjustice.com/case/de-platformed-by-nottingham-ci/?utm_source=backer_social&utm_campaign=de-platformed-by-nottingham-ci&utm_reference=42533ebb9cb436252d0a6a86b1e65a3a&utm_medium=Twitter&utm_content=post_pledge_page

Exactly FarNorth
I find it truly scary how Stonewall has
1) Changed in what it represented from same sex attraction support to trans activism in such a relatively short space of time. Imo, it can only be for financial reasons, when the acceptance of homosexuality became widespread then they had to find another “cash cow” to stay in business.
2) Managed in that short space of time to infiltrate (for want of a better word) so many departments and organisations.

If Stonewall is doing nothing wrong, they've got nothing to worry about in their activities being made public.
I wonder why they've been so secretive.

This is an article about Stonewall’s influence.

grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/a-huge-win-for-sex-matters?r=k9z5j&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

I do wonder why they haven’t been pushed, either by the media or the other parties. Or maybe the answers weren’t what was expected. There’s certainly a lack of publicity about questioning.

Agreed. But if they aren't pushed into saying what their own stance is, they don't have to do anything, and it could lose opposition parties a lot of votes, which is dangerous for everyone.

They have finally noticed a way to beat the opposition parties over the head with it. I am astounded it took them so long. I dont think this indicates a commitment to womens right. However if it means that it leads to a review of the tavistock data for example then it is a good thing.

They are doing a good job of capitalising on Labour's (and Lib Dems, Greens and SNP's) utter daftness on the matter, and I don't understand why the opposition parties don't turn it back on them.

As we know, it will be a big deal for a lot of women when it comes to voting, so I don't know why the opposition parties seem to be just letting the Tories get away with it.

I don’t know. Googling simply brings up confusion.

What is the Tory stance on so-called 'gender' these days?

I keep hearing them (Tories) saying that Keir Starmer 'doesn't know what a woman is' (and fair enough - he's being an idiot about it), but I haven't heard their own take on the matter. If I were a Labour pundit getting that thrown at me about my leader, I'd be straight back at them asking for their own definition, but it doesn't seem to happen.

Saw this on FB this morning. If it hadn’t been such hard work getting female women into Parliament . . .

FarNorth

I also came across this very sensible guide for journalists reporting on trans-identifying people accused, or convicted, of crime.
I don't know how likely it is that this will be adopted by journalists.

www.uclan.ac.uk/news/trans-identified-defendants

In connection with printing a person's previous name(s), the guide says :
^"An analogy would be with press treatment of far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, AKA Tommy Robinson. The media, across the political spectrum, routinely refer to him by both names, regardless of his preference."^

Well, far from being implemented, this guide has been pulled altogether so we'll continue to see lies in print, I suppose.