This day in Herstory: Rachel Anne Maddow, born April 1, 1973, is an American television news program host and liberal political commentator. Maddow hosts The Rachel Maddow Show, a nightly television show on MSNBC, and serves as the cable network's special event co-anchor alongside Brian Williams. Her syndicated talk radio program of the same name aired on Air America Radio from 2005 to 2010. Maddow has received multiple Emmy Awards for her broadcasting work and in 2021 received a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for her book Blowout (2019). (more)
How activists used a veil of secrecy to rewrite biology
As feminists are vilified online and politicians try and fail to describe what a woman is, the rest of us are entitled to ask how we got ourselves into this mess and how we can navigate a sensible route out of it, says Lucy Bannerman
From The Times (UK)
By Lucy Bannerman
April 1, 2022
What is a woman? And when did that become such a tricky question? For Jan Morris, the late, great Times correspondent, the question was profoundly personal and had little to do with labels or legal status. The writer spent the first half of her extraordinary life as male, breaking the news that Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay had conquered Everest as James, before crossing the Rubicon with her gradual transition into womanhood that culminated in 1972 with a sex change performed by a Casablanca surgeon “who asked no questions and imposed no conditions legal or moralistic”.
By that point, as Morris reported in Conundrum, her evocative memoir, only about 600 people in the United States and perhaps 150 in the UK had braved the reassignment surgery that had been developing since the 1950s. Being such a novelty perhaps, she found the British state responded to her new status “with unexpected flexibility”, reissuing a passport, driving licence and other documents to match her new identity.
Fast forward 50 years, and the confusion over issues of identity is so great that men are being asked if they are pregnant before hospital scans, an MP has declared himself to be transgender while continuing to refer to his biological sex, and the very fairness of sport is at stake, with athletes such as the cyclist Emily Bridges, who have had the physical advantages of male puberty, seeking to compete in women’s sport. … read full article (share token)
Transgender father-of-two, 47, awaiting gender reassignment surgery is sent to male prison after being exposed as predatory paedophile who targeted girls as young as six and took upskirt photo of seven-year-old
Britnee Aitken will have surgery delayed after two girls said she molested them
One of the victims, then six, said she targeted them after offering to play games
They said she poked genitals through a letter box when they knocked at her door
The 47-year-old is convicted of three charges of sexual assault, one of exposure
From Daily Mail (UK)
By JAMES GANT FOR MAILONLINE
April 1, 2022
A transgender father of two awaiting gender reassignment surgery has been jailed in a male prison for three years after being exposed as a paedophile.
Britnee Aitken, 47, will have her treatment delayed after two girls said she molested them ten years ago when she identified as a truck recovery driver called Marcus.
One of the victims, then six, said she targeted them under the guise of offering to play board games.
They said she poked her genitals through a letter box when they knocked at the front door.
At Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, Aitken appeared in the dock wearing a low cut woman's blouse and sporting makeup and long red hair.
She was referred to as 'she' and 'her' during the hearing that saw her convicted of three charges of sexual assault and one of exposure. … read full article
Women will never accept sports being rigged
How can female bodies be expected to compete fairly against those who were born with inherent physical advantages
From The Times (UK)
By Janice Turner
April 1, 2022
n Thursday night I watched an unusual football match. The Dulwich Hamlet women’s squad played an entire team of trans women. It was a good-natured game with a decent crowd despite snow showers, and the result was decisive: biological women 7, trans women 0.
What can we learn from this lively fixture in the midst of a frenzied debate about participation in women’s sport? First, that the fun of belonging to a team, invigorating outdoor exercise and the buzz of competition should be open to all. Second, that well-drilled, semi-professional females in their prime are faster and defter than — I don’t wish to be rude — 11 mainly portly, middle-aged pub team players.
They fought hard, the Dulwich Hamlet women. It was just a friendly but they were clearly in it to win. I wondered how these young athletes, dreaming of England glory, would feel playing fit trans women their own age. In 2016 the Australian women’s team, then ranked fifth in the world, lost to under-16 boys. That score was also 7-0.
Inclusion in sport matters but not more than the truth. In recent weeks I’ve read thousands of words justifying why the American trans swimmer Lia Thomas, 22, should compete in the women’s NCAA college games. Thomas was compared with black women or lesbian athletes who were also judged “unwomanly”. It was argued that sex categories in sport are out of step with “evolving science”. So much sophistry. The simple, inescapable fact is that as a man Thomas barely made the top 500 and never qualified for the NCAAs but as a woman came 1st, 5th and 8th. … read full article
Leak puts Victorian Greens in turmoil over transgender policy
From The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
By Paul Sakkal
April 1, 2022
The Greens party is in turmoil over the issue of transgender policy, with hundreds of members accusing the party hierarchy of promoting trans-exclusionary views.
A group of rank-and-file members, councillors, election candidates and party officials from across Australia have sent a letter to the executive of the Victorian Greens, demanding new standards to “resolve significant concerns about trans-exclusionary influences on the party”.
The letter, signed by more than 300 members, has escalated a destabilising feud over trans rights ahead of federal and state elections.
The issue has been simmering for years in the Victorian branch. It came to the boil on Sunday when comments made by Melbourne Greens councillor Rohan Leppert in a private Facebook group were leaked. … read full article
Respect my sex if you want my vote
Launching what they call ‘the most significant female movement since the Suffragettes’, these three women today call on the public to protect hard-won women’s rights by asking everyone standing for office on May 5 a simple — and very direct — question
From Mail+ (UK)
by Maya Forstater
April 1, 2022
CAN A WOMAN have a penis? A simple question, you might imagine. But not, it seems, for a flustered Sir Keir Starmer, who squirmed when asked just this in a radio interview this week.
‘I’m not . . . I don’t think we can conduct this debate with . . . I don’t think that discussing this issue in this way helps anyone in the long run,’ the Labour leader stammered.
And he’s certainly not the only politician struggling with such matters. Anneliese Dodds, the shadow minister for women and equalities, recently had an issue defining precisely what a woman was (a clue, Anneliese, look in the mirror!), before reaching the conclusion ‘it depends on what the context is’. The Chancellor Rishi Sunak, too, in a recent radio interview was unable to say in his own words what a woman was.
How worrying it is that politicians are now too cowardly to answer this most basic of questions, that they are unable to define what is, after all, half the population.
And what do we know of the views of all the other MPs and councillors who represent women in this country? Hardly anything, because so few have the courage to stick their heads above the parapet. … read full article
Conversion therapy: Ban to go ahead but not cover trans people
From BBC News (UK)
By Sophie Gallagher & Josh Parry
April 1, 2022
The government now says it will ban so-called conversion therapy for gay or bisexual people in England and Wales - but not for transgender people.
It comes hours after it had said it would drop plans for the ban entirely.
The announcement on Thursday evening that ministers would explore non-legislative routes to stop the practice was criticised by LGBT groups and MPs.
According to NHS England, conversion therapy tries to change someone's sexual orientation or gender identity.
NHS England and other major psychological bodies in the UK have warned all forms of conversion therapy are "unethical and potentially harmful".
A senior government source has told the BBC the ban will feature in the next Queen's Speech.
The legislation will mean therapy to attempt to change people's sexuality will be outlawed, but those practices carried out to try to change people's gender identity will not. … read full article
EHRC urges fresh start with critics after UN body rejects requests to review its status
From The Equality and Human Rights Commission (UK)
April 1, 2022
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has encouraged critics to reset relations after the UN body that assesses national human rights institutions rejected a request by campaigners to review the EHRC’s international accreditation.
The Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions, through the Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA), last week rejected a complaint by Stonewall and other groups who had questioned the EHRC’s independence and effectiveness and sought a special review of the EHRC’s ‘A Status’.
The EHRC is now encouraging campaigners to work collaboratively with them to deliver a new three-year strategy to tackle some of the most significant equality and human rights challenges facing Britain today.
Marcial Boo, EHRC chief executive, said:
“The EHRC has a crucial role to play as a strong and independent regulator and many campaigning organisations share our goal: a Britain where no one is discriminated against for who they are.
“We are pleased that the Sub-Committee on Accreditation assessed evidence of our independence and effectiveness and upheld our position, declining a special review of our work.
“As we launch our new strategy, we are reaching out to organisations that have been critical of the EHRC, encouraging them to put aside past disagreements and to work with us and other like-minded organisations to protect everyone and to achieve a fairer society for all.”
Helen Joyce joins Sex Matters as Director of Advocacy
From Sex Matters (UK)
April 1, 2022
Sex Matters is delighted to announce that Helen Joyce, author of Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality, is joining the organisation as Director of Advocacy.
Helen’s best-selling book has played a critical role in making the phenomenon of gender identity, and the political and policy debates around it, accessible and understandable for thousands of people. Last year Sex Matters supporters sponsored copies to be sent to every MP, MSP and Member of the Welsh Parliament.
Helen has taken a leave of absence from her position as senior staff journalist at The Economist to join Sex Matters at this crucial stage in our development as an ambitious start-up human rights organisation, dedicated to bringing clarity on sex to law and and policy-making in the UK. … read full article
Trans people are not a monolith. I would know
From The Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism (USA)
By Zander Keig
April 1, 2022
There has never been a community in which every member agrees completely on every question. Individual human beings are too unique and complex to fit neatly into ideological boxes. Indeed, one of the characteristics of a healthy and vibrant community is the promotion of diverse points of view.
Majority groups are often assumed to have differences of opinion within them. But in smaller communities, especially those small enough to have only limited contact with most people, members are assumed to all share the beliefs of a handful of vocal activists. These activists are treated as representatives of these communities, despite never having been elected, and despite holding views with which the majority of these communities often disagree.
Unfortunately for those who disagree, the activists with the largest public platforms are often the most resistant to even acknowledge dissent, let alone engage with it. This is motivated as much by fear as it is by fervency: the dissenter’s fear of disproportionate and vicious censure over having “the wrong ideas,” and the activist’s fear of platforming them.
I am a transsexual man and a former police officer, and I have witnessed this firsthand. Many activists in the trans community have gone out of their way to try to smear the reputations of my friends. When one of my friends, a trans police officer, and liaison to the LGBT community, was getting an award at a local LGBT community center in Southern California—with her parents, children, and fellow officers in attendance—trans activists showed up to protest, oinking and holding up signs calling her a “pig.” She was devastated. … read full article (and SUBSCRIBE to FAIR!)
GC News editor’s note:
TAKE ACTION: write letter to NPR demanding balance and accuracy in their science reporting - here’s a great template!
Sample Letter to Science Friday on NPR
From Parents with Inconvenient Truths about Trans (PITT) (USA)
April 1, 2022
On March 4, Science Friday on National Public Radio featured a doctoral student who asserted that there is a "robust evidence base" for medically transitioning children.
This purported expert presented misleading and incomplete information. Listeners of this show need to hear from people who know better, and who are able to provide more accurate assessment of the evidence base for treatments.
Please e-mail Science Friday at: http://www.sciencefriday.com/about/contact-us/
Tell them the safety and efficacy of puberty blockers and cross sex hormones is being debated around the world…It is not settled science—far from it. Parents need accurate information to make good decisions for their children.
Here’s an example letter to use as a template for your own response
Proposed City Program Guarantees Income for Transgender Residents
From Newsweek (USA)
BY JAKE THOMAS
March 29, 2022
A Southern California city is moving forward with plans for monthly payments as high as $900 to transgender and nonbinary residents to help them overcome discrimination.
The Palm Springs City Council on Thursday unanimously voted to allocate $200,000 from two local nonprofits for the initial legwork to provide the payments to members of the marginalized demographic living in the city. The city's move comes as California is implementing a guaranteed income plan, and as Republican-led states have sought to restrict the rights of transgender people.
The money will go to Palm Springs-based Queer Works and DAP Health to work out details of the first-of-its-kind pilot guaranteed income program. … read full article
"I discarded the entire idea of gender identity as I found it incredibly toxic to my life..."
From Writing behavior by Eliza Mondegreen (Canada)
By Eliza Mondegreen
April 1, 2022
What’s the difference between people for whom transition works and people who go on to detransition?
Time. Expectations. Unloading the language. Unplugging from trans spaces. Setting gender aside and focusing on the whole self. Realizing what it’s possible to achieve through transition isn’t good enough. Reconnecting with your body and nature.
I don't think there is any inherent difference between someone for whom transition will work and someone for whom transition won't. Expectation management, understanding that transition can only change the body, these things predict how well someone might live post transition. But I absolutely don't believe there is an inherent difference between say, dysphoric butch lesbians like myself and same sex attracted trans men that makes us fundamentally different kinds of people. We simply have different approaches to the same struggle.
There is no "inner self" or "deeper process of self-discovery" or whatever, trying to figure out if you are "truly trans" or not. … read full article
Rachel Levine Is 100% Woman And We Are Sorry For Calling Her A Man
From The Babylon Bee (USA)
April 1st, 2022
We, The Babylon Bee, have decided to issue an apology. After being caught in a culture-war whirlwind of hatred and bigotry, we published an article naming Rachel Levine our "Man of the Year." Sometimes, even satirists make mistakes.
Our misgendering headline was hateful, insensitive, and cruel. Rachel Levine is 100% a real, actual woman. We were absolutely wrong to say otherwise. We understand now that our attempt at comedy was really "punching down" at a wealthy and powerful government trans woman official, and we have no excuse. We went too far.
We apologize to the trans community. We apologize to the women community, of whom Rachel Levine is clearly a part—and has been since her birth. We hope to take this opportunity to learn, grow, and be better as satirists—and as human beings.
So we invite our readers to say it with us, loudly and proudly, and with all the strength and goodness of 1000 kindergarten teachers in Florida trying to teach 5-year-olds about sex:
Rachel Levine is a powerful, beautiful woman.
Whatever that is.
House Republicans Introduce Resolution Declaring Emma Weyant the ‘Rightful Winner’ of NCAA Title Over Trans Swimmer Lia Thomas
From American Faith (USA)
April 1, 2022
‘We cannot allow woke nonsense to shatter dreams and undermine legitimate women’s accomplishments’
House Republicans introduced a new resolution Wednesday to recognize Olympic silver medalist Emma Weyant as the “rightful winner” of the 500-yard freestyle event at the NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships earlier this month. Weyant was the runner-up to transgender swimmer Lia Thomas. The resolution was introduced by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.). and cosponsored by 21 House Republicans.
Boebert wrote on Twitter, “I’ve had enough of the woke foolishness. I’m leading a House Resolution to declare Emma Weyant the winner of the NCAA Women’s 500 yard freestyle swim. You cannot be a man and win a women’s swimming race.”
“Emma Weyant was the fastest woman competing in the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s 500-Yard Freestyle, but her first-place win was stolen by a mediocre man who couldn’t cut it in men’s swimming,” Boebert said in a press release.
“Emma is a world-class student-athlete whose strong performances in the Summer Olympics and 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship speak for themselves,” Boebert added. “These victories, coupled with her leadership of other women on her team and her dedication to excellence are worthy of Congressional recognition. I will keep working to save women’s sports from woke ideology threatening to strip women of a level playing field.” … read full article
“Lesbian” Dating App Frames “Trans Exclusion” A “Hurdle,” Attempts to Cater to Male Users
From REDUXX (USA)
ByAnna Slatz
April 1, 2022
A lesbian dating app is under fire after it appeared to frame female homosexuality as a “hurdle” that needed to be “overcome” by trans-identified males.
On March 31, lesbian activist and TikToker Shay Woulahan posted screenshots originally circulated by HER, a dating app intended to cater to the lesbian community. The app offers searchable profiles in a similar fashion to Tinder and Bumble.
“@HERSocialApp is celebrating Trans Day of Visibility by framing lesbians sexual boundaries as “hurdles” that need to be overcome,” Shay wrote on her Twitter, posting a screenshot showing the results of a survey conducted by HER which apparently had sought user feedback on “trans-specific hurdles” experienced on dating apps.
Of the options, “trans-exlusionary preferences” took the lead with 35.2% of responses.
… read full article (and SUPPORT REDUXX!)
Walking the Transgender Movement Away from the Extremists
Today's radical gender ideologues are harming the transgender community the same way left-leaning activists harmed the gay and lesbian rights movement in the early 1990s.
From American Purpose (USA)
By Jonathan Rauch
01 Apr 2022, 12:26 pm
My friend Giselle Donnelly is the kind of person whose views, these days, are routinely denounced in elite circles as transphobic. She favors reasonable accommodations for trans people in areas like sports and bathrooms, but she rejects what she calls the “biological silliness” of denying the gender binary. She thinks trans women are different from natal women and should be called “trans women,” not “women.” The distinction, she says, is important in fields where sex matters, such as medicine, and it also recognizes the unique challenges of being transgender. “I want ‘discrimination,’ in the sense of making precise distinctions,” she told me. “The ‘trans women are women’ thing drives me batty. Beyond the biological silliness, it suggests that being trans somehow isn’t legit. It’s a true form of ‘erasure.’”
A transphobe? Actually, Donnelly is a trans woman. The gender ideologues who claim to speak for transgender equality do not speak for her. “I lament that small numbers of activists appear to want to use these issues in service of a larger social and political agenda,” she told me. “Their fight is not my fight. I do not wish to be a tool of revolutionaries or a target for reactionaries, and I detest their wish to tear the fabric of Western liberalism to shreds.” … read full article
So many good articles today. While MSNBC is as captured as captured can be by gender ideology, I cannot be not alone in hoping that Rachel Maddow is a Secret TERF. I imagine her going home to Susan and putting on a purple and green and white Super TERF cape and writing a secret TERF book of her real views. She hasn't proved to me that she is against us. She did not refer to women as "people" during the Supreme court coverage about the effective repeal of Roe V Wade, even though her guests from Planned Parenthood etc all did. Not once. I tracked it, rather obsessively I admit. I have written to her about the dangers of gender ideology for a few years, not expecting a response of course, but just trying to plant a seed, even if it never makes its way to her. She is a brilliant woman and I believe has a good heart. I hold out hope that she is biding her time til it's the right time. But my heart has been broken before, so steeled for that too! Hope she has a happy birthday.