Monday, August 1, 2022
"For years, the seeds of the Tavistock’s downfall have been hiding in plain sight, as a picture has slowly emerged of its clinicians doling out harmful drugs to gender-confused youth ..."
This day in Herstory: Maria Mitchell, born August 1, 1818 (died June 28, 1889), was an American astronomer, librarian, naturalist, and educator. In 1847, she discovered a comet named 1847 VI (modern designation C/1847 T1) that was later known as "Miss Mitchell's Comet" in her honor. She won a gold medal prize for her discovery, which was presented to her by King Christian VIII of Denmark in 1848. Mitchell was the first internationally known woman to work as both a professional astronomer and a professor of astronomy after accepting a position at Vassar College in 1865. She was also the first woman elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. (more)
US - Pennsylvania dept of education website lists gender-neutral pronouns 'ze,' 'xe,' for students
Pennsylvania education website recommends article claiming kids can identify as transgender as young as 3 years old
From Fox News (USA)
By Jessica Chasmar
August 1, 2022
The Pennsylvania Department of Education website lists "ne, ve, ze/zie and xe" as gender-neutral pronouns that some students may prefer and advises teachers to ask before making false assumptions about someone’s gender identity.
A page on the education department website, titled, "Creating Gender-Inclusive Schools and Classrooms," includes a section about "preferred personal pronouns."
"In addition to the traditional pronouns (he/him, she/her, they), some people prefer to use gender-neutral pronouns, such as ne, ve, ze/zie and xe," the webpage reads. "If you don't know a student's preferred personal pronoun, it's always best to ask." ... read full article
US - Portland Public Schools defends teaching transgender ideology to kindergartners
From The Washington Times (USA)
By Sean Salai
August 1, 2022
Oregon’s Portland Public Schools is defending its decision to teach kindergartners that boys can have vulvas and girls can have penises in a PowerPoint presentation on transgender ideology shared by conservatives on social media.
The school district is using a grade-by-grade curriculum to teach children starting at age 5 about transgender ideology, sexual orientation and the role of “white colonizers” in marginalizing LGBTQ people, according to presentation slides that conservative Manhattan Institute fellow Christopher Rufo posted on Twitter last week.
In one PowerPoint slide for kindergartners, the curriculum labels a cartoon image of male and female genitalia as “person with a penis” and “person with a vulva,” instead of “boy” and “girl.” ... read full article
US - Florida medical board to weigh blocking treatments for transgender youth
From CBS Miami (USA)
By CBS MIAMI TEAM
August 1, 2022
TALLAHASSEE - The Florida Board of Medicine is slated Friday to consider a proposal by Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration to bar physicians from providing treatments such as hormone therapy and puberty-blocking medication to transgender youths.
The state Department of Health last week filed a petition asking the board, which regulates medical doctors, to start a rule-making process on the contentious issue. The move came as the state Agency for Health Care Administration also plans to prevent the Medicaid program from covering such treatments for gender dysphoria.
... read full article
US - WATCH: Tulsi Gabbard accuses Biden admin of 'child abuse' for pushing dangerous 'gender affirming' drugs for children
“Let’s be clear, this administration is dangerously promoting child abuse,” Tulsi said.
From The Post Millennial (USA)
By Christina Buttons
August 1, 2022
Former Hawaii congresswoman and presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard posted a video to her Twitter criticizing the Biden Administration’s endorsement of "gender-affirming care."
"The FDA made a disturbing but not at all surprising announcement just a few days ago about children’s health," she began. "This warning that the FDA issued is basically saying that puberty blockers can cause serious health risks for our kids," she continued, referencing a warning the FDA recently added to gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists—known to most as "puberty blockers"—after having identified a serious potential side effect for some that may result in a dangerous surge of spinal fluid pressure in the brain that can cause headaches, nausea, double vision, and even permanent vision loss.
US - Trans: A Threat to My Daughter, My Family, and Women's Healthcare
From Parents with Inconvenient Truths about Trans (PITT) (USA)
August 1, 2022
“We will be examining our gendered naming conventions including the Women’s Clinics and Mother Baby Clinics in order to be inclusive of those who do not identify as women.”
As the Executive Medical Director for Women’s Services for my organization, the email landed like a punch to the gut.
I am an OBGYN and leader in my organization, where we take great pride in the respectful, high-quality care we provide patients. We are especially proud of our partnership with community organizations in our efforts towards reducing disparities in birth outcomes. Our efforts towards inclusivity include sensitivity to different family configurations and use of pronouns with our patients. But now—will we no longer be identified as caring for women or mothers? ... read full article
US - 'My son is gay so don't tell me I'm f***ing homophobic.' Dad of cheerleader, 17, choked out by trans teammate, 25, for allegedly calling her 'a man with a penis' insists his daughter is '100% supportive of LGBT community'
Mike Jones, father of cheerleader Karleigh, spoke out in her defense, telling DailyMail.com: 'My daughter is 100 per cent supportive of the trans community'
Karleigh, 17, a cheerleader at Ranger College in Texas, was allegedly attacked at cheer camp by her older trans teammate, Averie Chanel Medlock, 25, on July 21
'She is not doing well. She blames herself. She should have just locked the door, let it blow over and just come home,' Jones, a father of three, told DailyMail.com
'When the truth comes out the rest of the nation is going to be surprised,' he said. 'I have a gay son, so don't tell me I'm f***ing homophobic,' Jones added
Jones, 47, has also accused Medlock of posting an 'edited' four-minute clip of the clash on social media that leaves out her threatening remarks
Medlock was booted from the cheerleading camp and given a criminal assault by physical contact citation last week
She is accused of choking out Karleigh, who Medlock claimed made transphobic remarks including calling her a 'man with a penis'
From Daily Mail (UK)
By BEN ASHFORD
August 1, 2022
A Texas dad whose teen cheerleader daughter was allegedly attacked by a transgender teammate for supposedly calling her 'a man with a penis' says his daughter is '100 per cent supportive' of LGBT rights.
Averie Chanel Medlock, 25, was kicked off the cheer camp at Ranger College and slapped with a misdemeanor citation for assault over the locker room dust up with 17-year-old Karleigh Jones. ... read full article
UK - Why the Tavistock had to fall
Its ideological roots were rotten from the start
From UnHerd (UK)
By Kathleen Stock
August 1, 2022
For years, the seeds of the Tavistock’s downfall have been hiding in plain sight, as a picture has slowly emerged of its clinicians doling out harmful drugs to gender-confused youth as if they were sweets. At the same time, though, a more subtle clue to the clinic’s endemic dysfunction has been contained in the generic communications that followed each new crisis.
“Thoughtful” is a self-description that crops up repeatedly. In response to critical reporting from Newsnight in 2019, the clinic’s Gender Identity Development Service insisted that it was “a thoughtful and safe service”. ... read full article
UK - Trans plan for young offenders raises concerns for girls’ safety
From The Times (UK)
By James Beal
August 1, 2022
Young offenders aged 10 to 18 who identify as transgender may be placed in the single-sex unit of their “acquired gender”, draft government guidance states.
The Times has seen excerpts from the Youth Custody Service’s draft Transgender Guidance, which is due to be finalised and published this autumn.
It states that staff in the first instance would try to place a trans child in a secure children’s home or a secure training centre rather than a young offender institution, which is normally just for boys. ... read full article
UK - 'I now know that I am not a trans man': Woman, 26, who underwent double mastectomy and hormone therapy to become male after just TWO HOURS of counselling tells of her regret as she begins detransitioning back to female
Sam, 26, says transition was approved after just two hours of private counselling
Born female, Sam had a double mastectomy and took hormones to appear male
Within two years, she says she suffered vaginal atrophy and regretted decision
Now, she is 'learning to love' her body and speaking against hasty transitioning
From Daily Mail (USA)
By BETH KILGALLON
August 1, 2022
A woman who says she was allowed to transition to male after just two and a half hours of counselling is speaking out after she decided to 'detransition' to female.
Sam, 26, decided to pay for private therapy sessions when she began to question her gender identity when she was just 21, after she was told she would have to wait two and a half years for an NHS appointment. ... read full article
UK - Women’s custody unit could house trans prisoners
From The Times (UK)
By Mary Wright
August 1, 2022
A purpose-built community custodial unit “specifically designed with the needs of women in mind” could be used to house some trans prisoners.
The Bella Centre in Dundee will accommodate up to 16 low-risk offenders to better prepare them for life outside prison.
The newly completed unit, developed by the Scottish Prison Service, features house-style accommodation without high perimeter walls or bars. ... read full article
UK - The false choice of feminism
The secret to liberation is becoming a man
From The Critic (UK)
By Kittie Helmick
By August 1, 2022
Last year a friend of mine was disappointed because the shoes she ordered for her daughter turned out to be hot pink. “I wouldn’t normally buy this colour,” she assured me. “I thought they were red.” She was reluctant to give them to her daughter and ended up stealthily replacing them.
Why would it bother her, I wondered, if girls should be free to wear whatever colour they want? Shouldn’t we treat pink as interchangeable with red or blue, not avoid it?
My friend’s anxiety gives lie to a pillar of feminism: that liberated women have more choices. Feminism claims to free women from conforming to traditional roles. In her review of Matt Walsh’s documentary What is a Woman, for instance, Victoria Smith contrasts feminism with “an anti-choice, conservative vision of what it means to be an adult human female”. By rejecting “gender stereotypes”, feminism has supposedly opened the door to a wider range of goals and lifestyles. ... read full article
UK - New push to stop Stonewall getting taxpayers' cash after legal battle raised fears over group's influence
Some Whitehall departments have already been told to cut their ties
Over 900 employers were still signed up to the diversity champions programme
The Bank of England, the Armed Forces and Scotland Yard remain signed up
Army, Navy, RAF and Ministry of Defence will not renew membership next year
All taxpayer-funded organisations will soon be under pressure to cut ties too
From Daily Mail (UK)
By MARTIN BECKFORD
July 31, 2022
Public sector bodies are to be told to stop giving money to Stonewall after a legal battle raised fears over the group’s influence.
Whitehall departments have already been told to cut their ties but some have only placed their £2,500 annual membership fees under review. ... read full article
UK - The BBC’s gender equality project has come unstuck
From The Spectator (UK)
By Patrick West
August 1, 2022
The BBC's 50:50 project is designed to empower women. One of its targets is to ensure that half of the contributors are female. But while this aim might have been questionable from the outset – is this really something the BBC should be focusing on? – its mission has been undermined: the BBC has admitted it does 'not monitor whether a contributor's gender differs from their sex registers at birth'.
In effect, trans women, who were born as male, will be counted as women. 'The BBC has now 'disappeared' women as a sex class and instead monitors 'gender identity',' fumed one senior BBC insider, one of many Corporation staff who have protested about the change. ... read full article
UK - Our woke civil service is frustrating democracy
As a former senior official, I have seen how far civil servants will go to push their own agenda.
From Spiked (UK)
By IAN ACHESON
August 1, 2022
A few years ago, I was amused to read an article in The Times quoting senior Whitehall sources responding to a report I had written for the government, which excoriated the competence of those very same civil servants in tackling terrorism. My report recommended that ministers should have an independent adviser on counter-terrorism because I was so concerned by the poor quality of information they were receiving from officials, who were either unable or unwilling to pass on bad news. The Times source said this recommendation was being resisted, in case I was the person appointed as the independent adviser. ... read full article
UK - Labour needs to be bold on trans rights, says party’s elections chief
From The Times (UK)
By Geraldine Scott
August 1, 2022
Labour will not win by “playing it safe” on trans issues, the party’s elections chief has said.
Shabana Mahmood, the party’s national campaigns co-ordinator, said that it should not shy away from addressing controversial issues before the next general election, expected to be in 2024. ... read full article
UK - Allison Bailey ruling: should employers police workplace freedom of speech rows?
In light of a headline-making decision centred around the ongoing debate on gender-critical beliefs, People Management speaks to HR and legal experts about organisations’ roles in such situations
From People Management (UK)
By Dan Cave
August 1, 2022
Last week, barrister Allison Bailey won an employment tribunal discrimination case after claiming she lost work and was victimised by her employer and colleagues for tweeting and upholding gender-critical beliefs.
The case made headlines not least because it centred around still-contested views on gender self-identification, as well as Bailey’s founding role in the LGB Alliance (which opposes the view that transgender women are women in the eyes of the law), and involved Stonewall and its Diversity Champions scheme (used by many employers to promote LGBTQ+ inclusion at work). ... read full article
UK - The UK’s transgender castle comes tumbling down
The world-famous Tavistock clinic has been forced to close
From Mercatornet (Australia)
By Michael Cook
August 1, 2022
Halfway through her investigation into transgender medicine for children in the UK, Dr Hilary Cass has shut down the only gender clinic in the country, radically reorganized the provision of transgender medicine and cast a shadow over its safety. Transgender medicine in the UK is in disarray, following similar turmoil in Sweden, Finland and France.
The Tavistock clinic – which has been “the model for treating trans people around the world” — will be forced to close and a new system of regional clinics will replace it. It is not, according to her interim report, “a safe or viable long-term option in view of concerns about lack of peer review and the ability to respond to the increasing demand.” ... read full article
Scotland - Silence over gender clinic closure fails children
Puberty-blockers will still be available in Scotland despite safety questions south of the border
From The Times (UK)
By Alex Massie
August 1, 2022
Unlike Las Vegas, what happens in England does not stay there. It is the great Other in Scottish politics, against which everything here is measured. Half a step ahead of England: triumph. Half a step behind: tragedy. On tax and spending and the performance of public services and much else besides, what happens in England spills over into Scotland.
And so the decision to close the gender identity service run by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust in London has repercussions and implications in Scotland too. After the latest intervention by Dr Hilary Cass, the senior paediatrician charged with reviewing gender identity services in England, the Tavistock has been deemed unfit for purpose, posing a clear risk to many of the patients it ostensibly serves. ... read full article
Netherlands - Pride Amsterdam Ad Featuring Trans Model With Self-Harm Scars Sparks Outrage
From REDUXX (USA)
By Janet Douglas
August 1, 2022
A digital poster created by Pride Amsterdam is sparking backlash for featuring a trans-identified female model with a significant amount of of self-mutilation scars on her arms.
Photos of the advertisement began circulating on social media last week, showing a digital information stand in the iconic libertine city displaying the poster, which was part of the “My Gender, My Pride” campaign. ... read full article
Canada - Cats and dogs
From gender:hacked by Eliza Mondegreen (Canada)
By Eliza Mondegreen
August 1, 2022
We spend a lot of time talking about women, men, men who identify as women, and why all of this matters. There was no way for me to write that sentence that wouldn’t piss someone off. So let’s unload the language. Let's talk about cats and dogs instead.
Cats and dogs are different. This is just a neutral fact and not a negative judgment on either cats or dogs. Walking down the street, you can confidently pick out cats from dogs—though confidently isn’t really the right word for it. Automatically is the right word. You don’t think about it. ... read full article