Thursday, April 21, 2022
This day in Herstory: Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary), born April 21, 1926, is Queen of the United Kingdom and 14 other Commonwealth realms. (more)
Police Scotland ‘caught in row over gender rights’
From The Times (UK)
By Mary Wright
April 21, 2022
Police Scotland has been caught in the middle of the row over gender and women’s rights, according to the former justice secretary Kenny MacAskill.
The Alba Party MP for East Lothian said that the Scottish government had “caused confusion” by advocating a broad definition of female to include trans women, while courts suggest another after a Court of Session ruling found that the Scottish government did not have the power to expand “the definition of women”.
Police Scotland has been criticised for its policy of allowing trans suspects including alleged rapists to self-identify as women regardless of whether they had legally changed gender. … continue reading (web page archive)
Judge orders gender-affirming surgery for transgender prisoner in federal case in Illinois
From USA TODAY
By Maria Jimenez Moya
April 21, 2022
After what's being called a "landmark decision," a federal prisoner may become the first to receive gender-affirming surgery.
Judge Nancy Rosenstengel, with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, ruled Monday that the U.S. Bureau of Prisons must immediately find a surgeon for Christina Nichole Iglesias.
The federal court ruling comes after three years of litigation. Iglesias faced repeated delays and denials from BOP, according to a statement sent to USA TODAY by the ACLU of Illinois. … continue reading
Transgender comments threaten Perrottet’s minority government
From The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
By Alexandra Smith, Lucy Cormack and Tom Rabe
April 21, 2022
The NSW Coalition’s shaky grasp on government is under threat as a key independent warns he will no longer guarantee supply and confidence if Premier Dominic Perrottet continues to make damaging statements about transgender children and sport.
Sydney MP Alex Greenwich has confirmed that he would withdraw his support for the government if Perrottet’s rhetoric about children’s sport continues.
Fellow independent Greg Piper has not yet decided to end his deal with the government to ensure supply and confidence, but said he was “appalled” by Perrottet’s comments and would consider his options.
The premier this week publicly weighed into the debate on excluding transgender people from women’s sports, triggered by inflammatory comments by the embattled Liberal candidate for Warringah, Katherine Deves. … continue reading
Toxic gender debate needs a fresh start, says watchdog
From The Times (UK)
By James Beal
April 21, 2022
The chairwoman of the equalities watchdog has warned there is a “slow-burn toxicity” around trans rights as she urged campaign groups to co-operate with her.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) called for a fresh start amid an increasingly polarised debate on trans issues, citing the closing down of debate and academics losing their jobs.
It resulted in LGBT charities calling in February for the United Nations to review the EHRC’s status. … continue reading (web page archive)
Dr. Devin Buckley Deplatformed by Harvard
From WoLF (USA)
April 21, 2022
Dr. Devin Buckley, a feminist philosopher and WoLF board member, was scheduled to speak at Harvard University on her cutting-edge work on British Romanticism and philosophy. But on April 18th, Dr. Buckley was notified that she had been disinvited, citing her board membership with "an organization that takes a public stance regarding trans people as dangerous and deceptive."
WoLF opposes this blatantly false characterization of our work, as well as Harvard's flagrant disregard for free speech. Dr. Buckley's original talk did not have anything to do with her feminist beliefs. … continue reading
Radical Gender Lessons for Young Children
Evanston–Skokie’s school district adopts a curriculum that teaches pre-K through third-grade students to “break the binary” of gender.
From City Journal (USA)
By Christopher F. Rufo
April 21, 2022
Evanston–Skokie School District 65 has adopted a radical gender curriculum that teaches pre-kindergarten through third-grade students to celebrate the transgender flag, break the “gender binary” established by white “colonizers,” and experiment with neo-pronouns such as “ze,” “zir,” and “tree.”
I have obtained the full curriculum documents, which are part of the Chicago-area district’s “LGBTQ+ Equity Week,” which administrators adopted last year. The curriculum begins in pre-kindergarten, with a series of lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity. … continue reading
Trans author's book 'kills off ' JK Rowling: Backlash over Harry Potter writer's fictional death in fantasy novel fire
A transgender writer has published a book which features JK Rowling's death
Gretchen Felker-Martin's book 'Manhunt' features characters hunting TERFS
TERFS are trans-exclusionary radical feminists, a term some call Miss Rowling
The Harry Potter author has faced death threats for her views on trans issues
From Daily Mail (UK)
By EMMA POWELL
April 20, 2022
A transgender author is facing a backlash over her twisted horror novel which depicts JK Rowling’s violent death in a fire.
Gretchen Felker-Martin has received praise from some readers for her post-apocalyptic fantasy which sees a virus turn men into zombies.
But the novel – produced by an imprint of publishing giant Macmillan – has also been panned as ‘misogynistic bile’ from an ‘unhinged’ writer.
Miss Rowling has faced a barrage of abuse in the past few years over her views on the trans debate, including death threats.
The Harry Potter author has been accused of being transphobic over her claims biological sex is real.
Miss Felker-Martin’s novel Manhunt depicts the death of Miss Rowling at the hands of trans activists in a fire in a Scottish castle. … continue reading
Teachers must tell parents if their child comes out as transgender, says Nadhim Zahawi
Education Secretary says schools ‘have a duty to safeguard those children and parents are very much part of that’
From The Telegraph (UK)
By Daniel Capurro,
April 20, 2022
Nadim Zahawi, the Education Secretary, has said that schools have a “duty” to inform parents if their child identifies as transgender as he said his department was drawing up guidelines to help teachers.
Appearing before the Education Select Committee in Parliament, Mr Zahawi was asked about a recent YouGov survey which found that nearly one in five secondary school teachers would not tell parents that their child had changed gender identity if the pupil had not done so themselves.
He said: “Parents have to be front and centre of this. And that is my message to the front line is to say: you have to involve parents in this. You have a duty to safeguard those children and parents are very much part of that”.
Mr Zahawi said his department was working on drafting guidelines, alongside the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), for teachers so that they could feel that they were “supported and informed” to deal with trans issues.
The Telegraph understands that the DfE is aware of teachers being scared of being labelled bigots or otherwise drawn into controversy when dealing with issues around trans pupils. … continue reading (web page archive)
The New Homophobia | Opinion
From Newsweek (USA)
By BEN APPEL
April 21, 2022
There is a frightening new version of homophobia pervading the U.S., disguised as, of all things, "LGBTQ" activism. For adult gay people like me, it's clear that this activism does not advance our equality, but in fact compromises our ability to live peacefully in society. In fact, it is threatening our very existence.
I first became aware of this new homophobia in the summer of 2017, when I interned at a major LGBTQ-rights organization. That January, I had enrolled at Columbia University to complete my undergraduate degree, a goal I had been postponing for over a decade. After volunteering for Maryland's marriage equality campaign and a subsequent transgender rights legislation campaign, my aspiration was to become a social justice writer and activist. … continue reading
Biological Sex Isn't up for Debate
From The Journal (USA)
By Armstrong Williams
April 21, 2022
Regardless of what the mainstream media and Democrats might want you to think, no one can change their biological sex, regardless of the hormones or surgical procedures that they might undertake to attempt to do so. We are at a moment in time where up is down and down is up, and it's a dangerous precedent if we allow it to foment itself as a cultural norm and standard. If I were to die today and someone dug up my bones hundreds of years from now, they would know through well-defined science that my remains are those of a male. The same applies for women, and yet now we're seeing a movement from a very small but vocal community attempting to convince the entire nation otherwise. Unfortunately, we're slowly falling for it.
If a grown person who has gone through the hormonal ups and downs of puberty and is of sane mind wants to permanently alter themselves, that's their business, and, frankly, I couldn't care less, as long as their personal choices don't infringe on my civil liberties. However, this fringe group of people is trying to force everyone to change their gender norms -- norms that have been defined by years of science and civilization -- to make some feel better about themselves. We must all object to such coercion. … continue reading
Olympic legend Dawn Fraser joins trans sports debate and says Emma McKeon is right about unfairness while suggesting a bold solution - as banned athlete denies having a biological advantage
Dawn Fraser is latest to throw support behind excluding transgender athletes
Swimming icon said it 'wasn't fair' to have trans women compete against females
She suggested letting transgender athletes compete against each other instead
Emma McKeon said she wouldn't want to race against 'biologically male' athlete
Emily Seebohm said male-born women had a genetic advantage over women
Trans athlete Hannah Mouncey believes the opinions based on 'misinformation'
From Daily Mail (UK)
By SAM MCPHEE
April 21, 2022
Australian swimming icon Dawn Fraser is the latest to add her name to a growing chorus of athletes speaking out against transgender athletes competing in women's sports.
The four-time Olympic gold medal winner said she agreed with decorated champion Emma McKeon that biological men shouldn't be allowed to race against women.
Fraser, who defended her 100-metre freestyle crown at three-consecutive Games, instead suggested giving transgender athletes their own competitions.
'Why don't transgender people compete against each other. That would solve all the problems?'
However, transgender footballer Hannah Mouncey, who was not allowed to enter the AFLW draft in 2017, said the debate was misguided and driven by misinformation.
She claimed trans women don't have an advantage as they lose a significant amount of strength when they transition from male to female. … continue reading
Why is the LGB Alliance film having its funding cut?
The charity is being hounded in the courts by TRAs, but cash is still making its way to the “Family Sex Show”
From The Critic (UK)
By Josephine Bartosch
April 21, 2022
It doesn’t matter what the LGB Alliance do, the organisation could set-up a sanctuary for orphaned Ukrainian kittens and they’d be accused of farming their furry pelts to sell to Satan. From baseless accusations that they’re funded by evangelical Christians in the US, to smears that they’re in the pocket of Russian oligarchs, the charity’s detractors are determined to make them pay for daring to represent lesbian, gay and bisexual people but not those who identify as trans.
So much mud has been flung at the LGB Alliance, including by politicians, that some has stuck. Yesterday, a decision by London Community Foundation (LCF) to withdraw funding from the charity made this clear. For most of the day LGB Alliance was trending on Twitter as the vicious “be kind” brigade of woke activists crowed about having succeeded in getting the grant pulled. … continue reading
The hipsters should know some taboos still matter
From The Times (UK)
By Janice Turner
April 20, 2022
To today’s young activists it must feel like all the big sexual taboos are already broken. Among difficult-to-discuss subjects until about the mid-1990s were abortion, same-sex attraction, periods and female desire. Now they pop up in everyday conversation and no one blinks.
So where are the new frontiers? The answer for some campaigners is sex education. Yet given that today’s parents are pretty chill about answering bathroom questions such as “why do I have a willy and Mummy doesn’t?”, what new ground is left to break?
How about getting small children to watch naked adults talk about sex. That’s what The Family Sex Show, aimed at parents and over-fives, proposed. When the production by ThisEgg, funded by the Arts Council, was booked by theatres from Norwich to Bristol, many queried whether exposing children to naked strangers violated their personal boundaries, in effect grooming them for sexual abuse. … continue reading (web page archive)
Dear Parent: Do you really know what's best for my son?
From Parents with Inconvenient Truths about Trans (PITT) (USA)
April 21, 2022
Dear Parent,
I’m so thrilled that you asked about continuing our conversation about the medical decisions we have made for our child and your very relevant opinions about said decisions. I am confident that you came away from our meeting knowing that, despite our obvious ignorance and bigotry, we are decent-enough people and maybe capable of being enlightened by a “well-informed” educator such as yourself.
After all, you’ve had at least five interactions with my child in the past four months since our kids became… friends? What does one call a relationship where, with your approval, your daughter purchased estrogen made by a “bathtub brewer” who concocts his mixtures in what is surely a sterile environment in his home and sells it online to anyone willing to pay, and then injected it into my son? I know your highest priority is to keep my son safe. I mean, not safe from illegal, unregulated substances that will sterilize my child within 4 months, but safe from meddling, backward parents like us. As you said, isn’t it better, given that my 15-year-old kid is dead-set on starting hormones, that he do so in your home? … continue reading
Progressivism, Inc. dropout
From Writing behavior by Eliza Mondegreen (Canada)
Eliza Mondegreen
April 21, 2022
I read Michael Lind’s Tablet piece on the end of progressive intellectual life with great interest:
Meanwhile, in one area of public policy or politics after another, Progressivism Inc. has shut down debate on the center left through its interlocking networks of program officers, nonprofit functionaries, and editors and writers, all of whom can move with more or less ease between these roles during their careers as bureaucratic functionaries whose salaries are ultimately paid by America’s richest families and individuals. The result is a spectacularly well-funded NGO-sphere whose intellectual depth and breadth are contracting all the time.
Welcome to my old world. I don't miss it. If I had been more pliable, I suppose I'd have kept my cushy job (what I'd have done with my independent judgment, I don't know...). … continue reading
Prominent transgender soldier says she REGRETS playing in a women's cricket competition: 'It was a probably a mistake on my part'
A transgender cricketer said she regrets playing women's cricket as a female
The political commentator said in 'hindsight' it was not fair for her to compete
She said her past as a male had an unfair advantage over female-born cricketers
From Daily Mail (UK)
By JADE HOBMAN
April 21, 2022
Cate McGregor, one of Australia's most high profile transgender women, says she now regrets playing women's cricket after transitioning because she acknowledges she had inherent physical advantages through being born male.
McGregor, who had an illustrious career in the army and is now a political and social commentator, told Ben Fordham on 2GB that it was not fair of her to compete against women.
'I've seen it from both sides, I did play some female sport for a time in Services Cricket,' McGregor said on Thursday. … continue reading
Leave Gay Kids Alone
Why don't they ask me if I'd rather have a lesbian daughter or an indoctrinated, chemically altered, amputated and medically assigned son?
From MamaOfLesbian’s Newsletter
By MamaOfLesbian
April 21, 2022
Since my daughter’s early adolescence it was very apparent to me that she might be a lesbian. She showed me that this was also very apparent to her when she came out to me in a fun, creative and jovial manner representative of her upbeat personality. With a light in her eyes and an extra skip in her step, she requested an array of buttons, blankets, Tshirts and hoodies as tributes to her budding Lesbian pride, which I was happy to help her purchase. She was content, and her sexuality was something we did not feel the need to discuss at length nor was it a topic that overpowered our home or the people in it. Life simply rolled along with no changes to be made and no political battles to be fought. Upon entering high school, my child was a confidently decorated, stable and happy gay teenager. … continue reading