This day in Herstory: Lydia Ernestine Becker, born February 24, 1827 (died July 18, 1890), was a leader in the early British suffrage movement, as well as an amateur scientist with interests in biology and astronomy. She established Manchester as a centre for the suffrage movement and with Richard Pankhurst she arranged for the first woman to vote in a British election and a court case was unsuccessfully brought to exploit the precedent. Becker is also remembered for founding and publishing the Women's Suffrage Journal between 1870 and 1890. (more)
Washington State Tells Teachers To Hide Student Gender Transitions From Parents
One teacher broke down as she described the policy.
From The Daily Wire (USA)
By Mairead Elordi
Feb 24, 2022
A policy in Washington state requires teachers to conceal students’ gender transitions from their parents unless the student gives the green light for their parents to know.
The effects of the policy on children are starting to show, but teachers essentially have their hands tied, according to a teacher in Washington state who spoke with The Daily Wire and requested anonymity out of fear of being fired.
The policy comes down from the state’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), the main agency overseeing public education in Washington state.
In a section called “Communicating with Families” in OSPI’s “Gender-Inclusive Schools” guidelines, the agency warns that, “sometimes, transgender students may not want their families to know that they are transgender or that they use a different name, pronouns, and gender designation at school.”
“Often, this is because they are concerned about a lack of familial acceptance,” which could impact “their safety and wellbeing at home,” the agency adds.
Because of this, teachers may not tell the student’s parents about their transgender status unless they get permission from the student to share that information, directs the agency’s Civil Rights Guidelines. … read full article
Fair Play for Women loses census appeal
It suits the trans lobby to have no accurate sex-based data
From The Critic (UK)
By Helen Saxby
Feb 24, 2022
Feminist campaign group Fair Play for Women have just lost their case on appeal at the Court of Session over the question of whether some people should be allowed to provide false information in answer to the sex question on the Scottish census.
So, what’s in it for trans people, being allowed to lie on the census?
It’s understandable that you may wish to hide a trans identity in public, if walking down the street you are worried about adverse reaction, just as gay and lesbian people might feel unsafe in a particular environment. It’s even understandable at work, where peer reaction hasn’t quite caught up with equality law and you fear discrimination. Concealing aspects of your identity when expedient to do so is not the same as lying: to a certain extent we all do it, it eases social interactions.
Accurate sex-disaggregated statistics are necessary to address inequality for women
Lying in the census though, that’s just lying. Information gathered by the census is anonymous, it is not made public, there is nothing to link the statistics gathered with you personally. Moreover, as reiterated in the Court of Session yesterday, the census does not have anything to do with conferring, removing or qualifying rights. It just gathers facts, and if a male answers “female” to the sex question, that is false information. … read full article
Male Serial Killer Transferred To Washington Women's Prison
From REDUXX (USA)
By Anna Slatz
Feb 24, 2022
A violent male serial killer who murdered three women is currently being housed at the Washington Correctional Center for Women after securing a transfer under self-identification laws.
Donna Rebecca Perry, born Douglas Robert Perry, murdered three prostituted women in a four-month timeframe in 1990.
Yolanda Sapp, 26, Nicki Lowe, 34, and Kathleen Brisbois, 38, were all murdered with a gun and their naked bodies were found disposed near the Spokane River.
Kathleen Brisbois [L], Nicki Lowe [C], Yolanda Sapp [R]
Perry avoided suspicion following the heinous murders, and fled to Thailand in 2000 to undergo gender reassignment surgeries, after which he successfully concealed his identity for years.
It wasn't until a 2012 DNA test following a conviction for illegal firearms possession that Perry was forensically connected to all three women's murders.
During the trial proceedings, prosecutors contended that Perry had only undergone his gender changes to avoid suspicion for the murders and shirk justice. This was in part fueled by the fact Perry referred to his "male" and "female" identities in separate contexts, accusing his "male" side of having committed the crimes while his "female" identity was innocent of them.
Perry was ultimately found guilty in 2017 after a lengthy trial, and given three life sentences without the possibility of parole. Media coverage during Perry's sentencing uniformly referred to him as a "woman" and by "she/her" pronouns.
Some news reports also suggested that males who transition experience a "downturn in violence" after identifying as a woman – a claim that was debunked by a peer-reviewed long-term study published by Swedish researchers in 2011 which found that trans-identified males who underwent a full surgical transition "retained a male pattern regarding criminality."
While Perry was only convicted of the three murders, he claims to have killed nine prostituted women total. In 1998, during a prison stint for an unrelated charge, Perry allegedly told a fellow inmate that he wanted to kill prostitutes "because [he] couldn't breed and the women had the ability to have children [but] they were wasting it being "pond scum."' … read full article (and SUPPORT REDUXX!)
Story ARC: The money behind a plot to push gender ideology into Canadian classrooms
From Gender Dissent (Canada)
by Eva Kurilova
Feb 24, 2022
In the 2019 TEACH Magazine Special Issue: Out of the Closet and into the Classroom, an article titled "SOGI: Getting the Terminology Right" informs readers that experts say teachers must be open to using terms like gender-fluid, two-spirit, trans, and cisgender in the classroom.
Just who are the experts that think the classroom is the place to introduce these ideas to children? They aren't educators, but rather activists from a private, Vancouver-based foundation called the ARC Foundation, whose main project is to implement sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) education throughout the country.
The ARC Foundation is partly funded by private interests and partly by taxpayer dollars. CRA records indicate that the foundation reported over $600,000 in private donations and just over $350,000 from other registered charities from 2016 to 2020, as well as more than one million dollars in provincial funding from 2017 to 2020. In 2020 alone, the ARC Foundation reported total revenue of $765,719.
The ARC Foundation's sole program, SOGI 1 2 3, has made its way into all 60 BC school districts and six school districts in Alberta. The program is well on its way to expanding into all of Alberta, and the foundation has its sights set on the rest of Canada as well. … read full article
Now all of Whitehall is told to ditch Stonewall amid row over charity's divisive diversity scheme
Number of departments signed up to controversial £5,000-a-year programme
It gives advice on how to create inclusive environment for LGBT staff members
Stonewall then ranks organisations on how well they treat their LGBT workers
But some departments withdrew over fears charity advises rewrite of policies
House of Lords pulled out of the scheme, following the BBC and Cabinet Office
From The Daily Mail (UK)
By Daniel Martin
Feb 24, 2022
Minister will be told to withdraw their departments from Stonewall’s diversity scheme, it has emerged.
A number of departments have signed up to the controversial £5,000-a-year programme to receive advice on how to create an inclusive environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans staff.
The charity then ranks organisations on how well they are deemed to treat their LGBT workers.
But some departments have withdrawn from the ‘diversity champions programme’ over fears that the charity advises members to rewrite their policies to reflect its agenda on trans rights.
This month it emerged the House of Lords has pulled out of the scheme, following the BBC and the Cabinet Office. … read full article
NHS trust tells gender-critical boss not to apply for senior role
From The Times (UK)
By Lucy Bannerman
Feb 25, 2022
The NHS Trust that runs a controversial gender identity clinic for the young is facing accusations of discrimination after a potential candidate who believes there are only two sexes was told not to apply for senior leadership roles.
The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust runs GIDS, the UK’s main clinic for young people who identify as transgender, referring children as young as ten for experimental hormone treatment.
It promised to bring in outside expertise to improve the service after it was rated “inadequate” last year by inspectors, who raised significant concerns over clinical practice, safeguarding and governance.
The trust recently advertised for a chairman and two non-executive directors. However, when Kate Grimes, a retired hospital CEO, expressed interest in applying, and asked an external recruiter whether the trust would consider hiring people who, like her, “believe that there are only two sexes and that sex is immutable”, she was told not to “waste time” because the trust did not wish to hire anyone with gender-critical views.
Dr Melanie West, from Gatenby Sanderson, the recruitment firm, replied in an email: “I have to say that your view on sex being immutable is not a view point that the trust would wish any of their non-executives to hold and as such I would not recommend that you waste time making an application for this — it will be one of the questions I will be asking candidates at first stage interview.” … read full article
Dear Editors of Time Magazine:
From Parents with Inconvenient Truths about Trans (PITT) (USA)
Feb 24, 2022
Dear Editors:
I expect a story in Time magazine to help me understand multiple sides of an issue, so I can develop an informed opinion. The February 16 story, Pediatricians Who Serve Trans Youth Face Increasing Harassment. Lifesaving Care Could Be on the Line, was an advocacy piece rather than a news story.
My child has identified as transgender for five years; this compelled me to research the area of transgender medicine extensively. I was alarmed to find that the medical care provided to many children and young people with gender dysphoria is careless, risky, and not evidence-based.
Under the current informed consent and affirmative models of transgender care, many young people receive no true assessment before embarking on medical treatments, and end up transitioning inappropriately. Two gender clinicians have recently acknowledged as much, and have started to speak out as whistle-blowers.
Transitioning inappropriately would be of no concern except that the drugs and surgeries used to affirm gender carry substantial risks and permanent side effects including sterility, life-long loss of sexual function, quadruple the risk of heart disease, double the rate of blood clots and strokes, incontinence, and loss of reproductive organs, to name just a few of the severe effects that are possible. These side effects are known, and experts have been attempting to bring them to the public’s attention for years.
In your story, Dr. Morissa Ladinsky, a pediatric gender specialist, says that puberty blockers are “simply a pause button” and are reversible and safe. It appears, the reporter saw no need to check the accuracy of that statement.
Professor Carl Heneghan, Editor in Chief of the British Medical Journal and director of the Centre of Evidence Based Medicine at Oxford, along with Professor Tom Jefferson, a clinical epidemiologist, have completed an independent analysis of recent research on transgender medical interventions. Heneghan says, “The quality of evidence in this area is terrible.” Regarding the evidence available on the safety of puberty blockers, he says, “You can tell very little apart from they give you the intended effects of suppressing and blocking puberty.”
According to Eli Coleman, a psychologist who heads the human-sexuality program at the University of Minnesota Medical School quoted in The New Yorker, “We still don’t know the subtle or potential long-term effects (of puberty blockers) on brain function or bone development. Many people recognize it’s not a benign treatment.”
The FDA is currently conducting a review of nervous system and psychiatric events as well as deadly seizures among pediatric patients using GnRH agonists including one of the most common puberty blockers, Lupron. Over 10,000 adverse event reports in relation to Lupron usage have been filed with the FDA. According to Kaiser Health News, “…thousands of women have joined Facebook groups or internet forums in recent years claiming that Lupron ruined their lives or left them crippled.” Complaints include osteoporosis, degenerative disk disease, and deteriorating joints.
Asking only gender clinicians about the safety and efficacy of gender treatments is akin to asking only Purdue Pharma about the safety and efficacy of opioids. As Upton Sinclair said, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on not understanding it.” … read full article (and SUBSCRIBE to PITT)
Noho Tūturu, Noho Tangata/ Stay Real, Stay Human
From The 11th Hour (USA)
By Michelle Uriarau
Feb 24, 2022
Michelle Uriarau is a member of Mana Wāhine Kōrero, a group of NZ Māori women and allies. She discusses here the connections between what is being called "transgender" and transhumanism, which is part of the fourth industrial revolution.
"When New Zealand passed its so-called conversion practices coercion bill in February 2022 they in fact legalized the disassociation and dismemberment of children's bodies and with it, their evolutionary capacity. When they passed the Self-ID amendment in December 2021 they legalized identity fraud. In essence, what both these bills have done," states Michelle, "has kickstarted a shift from a human-centered society to the idea that a non-human-centered society is possible in law."
Michelle calls on feminists and others to start thinking beyond the borders of the current discussions on gender and to connect the dots to the larger picture of the exponential growth of disruptive technologies. Our humanity literally depends on us doing so. … read full article
Greg Abbott Is Right On 'Trans Kids'.
Stopped clocks are right twice a day. Abbott's declaration that transitioning children is child abuse is the right thing to do for LGB people. Here's why.
From Pseudonymous Reporting (USA)
By Sue Donym
Feb 24, 2022
If you asked me about sentences I would one day write, ‘Greg Abbott Is Right’ would not be at the top of the list. Me, agree with a Texas Republican? Never. Except now, apparently. I am guessing that soon Hell will freeze over and the Detroit Lions will manage to win a play-off game.
Putin declared war on the Ukraine, but today’s other top story is that Abbott, governor of Texas, has ordered via a letter endorsing a legal opinion issued by his Attorney General, Bill Paxton, that anyone transitioning their kids in the state of Texas be investigated for child abuse. This has caused apocalyptic bloviating across the woke Twittersphere. According to them, Greg Abbott is about to persecute thousands of a vulnerable minority, because he is evil, and ‘trans kids are vulnerable’, and of course, the traditional four-hundred tweet length threads comparing the villainy of the day to Hitler all feature in the criticism.
A typical example of this new genre in bloviating is this Guardian article (yes, I am aware the Guardian is low-hanging fruit):
Trans rights groups have expressed outrage and fear after the Texas state attorney general Ken Paxton called gender-affirming surgeries and medical care “child abuse” and state governor Greg Abbott ordered the Texas department of family and protective services (DFPS) to conduct an investigation into such practices.
Abbott said: “There is no doubt that these procedures are ‘abuse’ under Texas law, and thus must be halted. [DFPS] has a responsibility to act accordingly. I’ll do everything I can to protect against those who take advantage of and harm young Texans.”
While the attorney general’s opinion has no legal bearing, rights groups argue it will spread fear and misinformation and Abbott’s move has prompted an outpouring of condemnation – as well as celebratory statements from some social conservatives.
“No court here in Texas or anywhere in the country has ever found that gender-affirming care can be considered child abuse,” said the American Civli[sic] Liberties Union of Texas in a statement “The opinion released by Paxton cites highly partisan, outdated, and inaccurate information that ignores the consensus of every major medical association and the evidence-based and peer-reviewed standards of care.”
Of course, as is my way, I’m going to deconstruct the last quote. Because it is a lie. A big fat lie, the Fat Albert of bullshit. The ACLU is right - no court has yet found that child transition is child abuse. However, Paxton’s opinion isn’t saying anything transgender advocates and the transition practitioners themselves aren’t saying. He’s just taking it to its logical conclusions.
Paxton’s opinion, which you can read here, essentially concludes that transitioning children is child abuse because it effectively sterilizes children who have no capacity to consent to such a drastic outcome, and effectively violates the child’s Fourteenth Amendment rights to procreate. That ‘gender-affirming’ surgeries, hormone treatments, and puberty blockers sterilize children isn’t up for debate. It’s a fact. If you remove gonads, or prevent them from developing in a human, that human cannot procreate. That is basic biology. Major medical associations once also endorsed lobotomies and leeches - they are not infallible, nor is transgender medicine approaching any sort of ‘consensus’. … read full article (and SUBSCRIBE to Pseudonymous Reporting)