The Gender Critic

5Oct

By Sarah Phillimore2 Comments

The GRA Group

THE GRARG MANIFESTO

The Gender Recognition Act Reform/Repeal Group had its first meeting on 24th June 2020. It was born out of increasing anger and despair at the current state of our public debate - or lack of it - around issues of fundamental importance to women. We wanted to turn those negative emotions into positive action. We hold regular Zoom meetings to discuss our aims and strategy. All are welcome, provided that they are courteous and do not talk over others. The GRARG has two aims: To discuss openly and publicly reform to the GRA; to show that there is nothing in this discussion that is shameful or wrong. To take positive action to support reform or repeal of the GRA We present the third version of our Manifesto. I offer very grateful thanks to all who have contributed; the ...

3Oct

By Sarah Phillimore7 Comments

The GRA Group

First Draft of the GRARG Manifesto

October 3rd 2020 All comments welcome. Either comment below the post or email sarahvphillimore@gmail.com EDITS 4th October IN BOLD Comments in italic Thanks to all for your comments. If you made them on Twitter, apologies if they got lost, I may not have captured all. With regard to the 'self evident' truths I think we need to achieve unanimity, or as near as possible. These are the matters that we will no longer agree to spend time debating. They are facts and they are true. Those matters we deem worthy of discussion can be more contentious - it is not for us to press for any particular solution. But I think it is important that we at least engage with what these solutions might be. We hold these truths to be self evident. The definition of a 'woman' is 'adult...

20Sep

By Sarah PhillimoreNo Comments

The GRA Group

3rd Meeting – Self ID ‘DENIED’

GRARG met for the 3rd time remotely on 3rd September 2020. It was clear we remained in a limbo with no news on any Government announcement about reform to the GRA. On 19th September the fog cleared a little with a leaked report in the Sunday Times that Self ID was NOT going to be part of any reform to the GRA, although the process of obtaining a certificate would be made less expensive. What I thought was really significant was this comment: More than 100,000 responses were received to the consultation. Insiders say 70% backed the idea that anyone should be allowed to self-identify. However, officials believe the results were skewed by responses generated by trans rights groups. So we can see both the power of lobby groups but also their weakness - if you overplay your hand...

30Aug

By Sarah PhillimoreNo Comments

The GRA Group

Friend or Foe?

At the third meeting of GRARG at 8pm on 2nd September we will be discussion the results of our contact with MPs. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4247888422 As you can see from the spreadsheet below, as of August 30th we have an idea about the position of 140 MPs and SMPs. However, only 10 are based on responses to the GRARG letter, which tried to set out clearly the implications of any 'TWAW' answer. It may be that we would get a different response to those questions. Regardless, the statistics are sobering. There are a total of 533 constituencies in England; 59 in Scotland; 40 in Wales and 18 in Northern Ireland. So that's potentially 650 MPs we need to canvass; we have the views of only 22% of them. But of those 22%, the clear majority ...

27Jul

By Sarah Phillimore9 Comments

The GRA Group

Letter to your MP

This is a project with two aims: first that we make our MPs fully aware of our views on the 'sex/gender' conflation and the harm it is doing. Second, that we build up a clear idea of the views of our own MPs. What follows is a suggested draft letter - please edit it or amend it as you wish, but please do include the questions to your MP. Any comments welcome! Please email any responses to sarahvphillimore@gmail.com We will discuss the responses at the meeting on September 2nd. Suggested letter to MP Dear I am writing to you as your constituent and a member of the Gender Recognition Act Reform Group. We are a group of men and women who have come together to discuss publicly what we see as the problems with the way the Gender Recognition Act 2004 is written ...

18Jul

By Sarah PhillimoreNo Comments

The GRA Group

2nd Meeting of GRARG

Policy and strategy discussions 15th July 2020 NEXT MEETING: 22nd July IF there is a Government announcementZOOM LINK: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4247888422OTHERWISE: Wednesday 2nd September 2020 8pm This document is a mixture of some strategy proposals made by one group member and a summary of action agreed at the meeting on 15th July.The strategy proposals are presented as a starting point; we are still at the beginning of this process so all ideas are welcome. One key focus/purpose of this group is to have discussions as openly and publicly as possible; to reclaim discussion of this area of law as a natural and necessary part of a mature secular democracy. The Gender Critic website: the new home for GRARG How can we ensure The Gender Critic website becomes a ...

18Jul

By Sarah PhillimoreNo Comments

The GRA Group

Children and gender identity

Issues around education and medical treatment. Some useful resources and commentary Briefings from Transgender Trend https://www.transgendertrend.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/RSE-and-gender-identity-briefing.pdf https://www.transgendertrend.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/RSE-Parliamentary-Briefing-No-Outsiders.pdf Child-on-child sexual abuse in schools:www.theguardian.com/society/2017/oct/09/child-on-child-sexual-assaults-soar-police-figures-reveal Marcus Evans, former Director at the NHS Tavistock and Portman Trust:www.theguardian.com/society/2018/nov/03/tavistock-centre-gender-identity-clinic-accused-fast-tracking-young-adults Susan Evans, phycologist and former nurse at the NHS Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS). Her request for a judicial review:www.te...

12Jul

By Stella PerrettNo Comments

Comment

The Cancelled Cartoonist

Open Right of Reply to the readers of the Morning Star, from political cartoonist Stella Perrett, and to the people who unthinkingly trashed her as 'transphobic' on twitter. In view of my case being featured prominently in the Mail on Sunday's article "What it feels like to be cancelled" on 12 July, I feel it's now time I published what I would like to say to the readers of the Morning Star (MS), the newspaper who cancelled me back in February.The paper are unable to publish it, because their hands are tied by the big trade unions who fund them. Notably the GMB and Unison, who pressurised them to apologise for printing my cartoon, called " Endgame". Although other unions were braver, and assured the paper they would not join in with the censorship - a shout out here to the CWU, and USD...

12Jul

By Don HamiltonNo Comments

Comment

What is Trans?

...or How Stonewall Literally Denies the Existence of Trans People We see a lot of media coverage of 'trans issues', lots of sloganeering like 'trans lives matter' and 'trans rights are human rights', but what exactly is 'trans'? What does it mean, really? Stonewall – the UK organisation which started out campaigning for LGB rights has been at the forefront of adding the T (for trans) to make their cause about LGBT. So they’re the experts, right? Let’s see what they say: Trans – An umbrella term to describe people whose gender is not the same as, or does not sit comfortably with, the sex they were assigned at birth. Transpeople may describe themselves using one or more of a wide variety of terms, including but not limited to, transgender, transsexual, gender-queer, genderfluid...

8Jul

By Sarah PhillimoreNo Comments

The GRA Group, The Law

RESOURCES

Vintage books on table in library. The law and its development Legal commentary Development of the law regarding gender ID in the European Court Home Office Report of the Interdepartmental Working Group on Transsexual People April 2000 The Forstater Employment Tribunal judgment: a critical appraisal in light of Miller Karon Monaghan February 2020 To sum up: statute and case law recognises a binary distinction between the sexes; that binary distinction is dependent upon biology and will usually (though not always) find reflection in gender ascriptions; the EA 2010 recognises a binary distinction between males and females and recognises gender reassignment status as a distinct characteristic. The GRA is a muddle. Legally this is not a 'trans-right...