I do find it interesting that Ngozi Fulani is lauded for having a black only, female only charity for helping black victims of sexual abuse, yet JKR opens one for any woman and she's bad and anti-trans.

Scotland really seem to be leading the way with this - I wonder why they are pushing forward so hard?

Is it a backlash against JKR? Are there strong vocal groups of TRAs?

Or I wonder if it's all political - to diverge from English politics to strengthen their independence argument ?

Maybe Sturgeon really is Jimmy Krankie.

The government may strike this legislation down.

Almost certainly both.

Starmer now saying we should follow the Scots.

Here we go, @jez - I do try to be balanced and open-minded >

Email your MP: Say no to gender self-ID by the back door

The UK Government has to decide what to do about Scotland’s Gender Recognition Bill by 19th January.

The Scottish Gender Recognition Reform Bill will effectively bring sex self-declaration into UK law, backed up by criminal penalties against “disclosure” of someone’s actual sex, even where it is obvious.
This will have significant impacts across the UK including on the operation of the Equality Act and on the fundamental human right of freedom of expression.

@jez ... well, that's the million dollar question!

As we've previously discussed, seeing as I'm in favour of segregation in prisons based on genitals, and in favour of sports making their own rules based on testosterone levels (or similar), then no, I have to conclude that trans women are not women in the true sense.

However, I am still very conflicted. As I've said before, most trans people just want to get on and live their lives in peace. They won't end up in prison, and they likely won't amount to much in sports.

But what most trans people do want is to use the public facilities aligned with their chosen gender. As I've said before, the various women I've spoken to about this in real life think it's total non-issue, and they are happy to share their spaces with trans women.

I understand that you're not happy with this, and I understand and empathise with your reasons.

So a question back at you -

I'm guessing you would exclude Brian (now Brionna) from public female spaces - aged 40, recently identifying and presenting as a woman.

But would you also exclude Samuel (now Samantha), who has been living as a girl since the age of 7, took puberty blockers, and is now 25 and fully transitioned physically?

This is the main cause of my conflict. Brionna gets most of the attention (and lets be honest, the mockery) but increasingly it's Sam who is more representative of trans women.

I wish the speaker hadn't calmed him down, because I think he might have exploded if allowed to carry on unchecked. Miriam Cates spoke, as far as I heard, perfect sense, whereas he's a clear example of the kind of person who screams the word 'transphobic' and thinks it has won an argument.

To my mind, this is the major problem.

Trans rights is something that requires a subtle and detailed discussion leading to a solution that maximises benefits to all parties.

Instead we have a topic that has been taken over by screaming bullies who instantly try and shut down anyone who dissents from their exact viewpoint. And a cowardly (and cowed) media who are too scared to put their heads above the parapet and defend those who hold different views