What a mess. What a bloody awful mess. The 2021 Census – what a bloody awful mess.
For the first time ever, trans folk have the opportunity to say, “I am trans,” to help the government plan trans healthcare for the trans kids in the generations ahead, and it all looks like the opportunity is going to be ignored. The trans community is very split on how to answer the sex and gender question – the very question designed to help our cause!
And it is not like the Office for National Statistics (ONS) just created the question out of nowhere. The did not. They talked to the trans community at a considerable length. The problem lies not with the question but the “advice” given on how to answer the question.
Not difficult, one would have thought. Birth sex in one box, gender in another. Finished.
But no, the ONS failed to make it that easy and confused matters. And they were called out in court by Fair Play for Women yesterday, and technically, they were entirely within their rights to bring the case, the point they were raising was a fair point.
But her comes the “but” well, actually two buts.
Firstly, was it ever right to spend vast sums of money on an issue that most people did not know or care about – especially as there are many more important matters for women just now. I am immediately thinking of the domestic abuse charity RiseUK who have lost (due to a terrible injustice) five million pounds of funding. Women being let down by cases being brought in the High Court involving trans people. Lawyers, getting rich.
And secondly, do Fair Play for Women realise what they achieved?
Which is precisely nothing. Except of course advertise an issue, encouraging the trans community to do the exact opposite of what Fair Play for Women wanted to achieve. Sometimes it is just better to let sleeping dogs lie.
Why will the trans community not take any notice of the judge’s decision?
Simply because of who brought the case – Fair Play for Women.
With the marketing skills of a worm, both Fair Play for Women and Woman’s Place UK have badly messed up in the past.
They built a wall. They used sex as a weapon to ensure GRA reformGRA Reform Gender Recognition Reform Bill - Scotland https://www.gov.scot/news/gender-recognition-reform-bill/ Published 03 March 2022 09:34 Part of Equality and rights Simplifying how trans people apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate. See Also https://mermaidsuk.org.uk/mermaids-manifesto-for-gra-reform/ https://www.stonewall.org.uk/what-does-uk-government-announcement-gender-recognition-act-mean has not happened.
And things are very “personal” now – very personal indeed. If Fair Play for Women or WPUK says black – the trans camp will say white – and, of course, vice versa. It’s a two-way war.
Fair Play for Women and Woman’s Place UK may well not have set up wanting to create hate – but they certainly achieved that because they failed to think how important a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) is to trans people like me. They failed to think that there are over half a million trans folk in the UK, but less than one per cent has a GRC.
And it is not rocket science why. The whole procedure is corrupt, inhumane, degrading – not fit for purpose.
But in the guise of “protecting women and girls”, Fair Play for Women and Woman’s Place UK has significantly contributed to my (and others, of course) inability to my legal and human right of having a GRC.
That’s why there is the slogan “trans rights are human rights.”
And yes, I could apply for a GRC, and almost certainly it will be awarded – but that means I would have to prostitute myself to comply with a procedure that I entirely disagree with and have campaigned vigorously to have updated.
And I will not do it.
So yes, Fair Play for Women and Woman’s Place UK – things are personal. YOU created an enemy!
You should have reached out and said, “hey trans woman – you have a problem; let’s help you out. With just 5000 Gender Recognition Certificates being issued over 16 plus years, there is clearly an issue. We are not too keen on the Self-ID idea, but what can we do to achieve your human right?”
But no, you built the wall.
But did they? Because a few days after I wrote this blog (yes, this text is being added on the 14th of March and being added in italics & indented) – I am being told the women organisations did reach out and the trans side would not talk. As I was not an activist at that time perhaps this blog is not totally accurate or fair.
And at first, pebbles were being thrown at each other over the wall, and those pebbles (over the years) have grown to stones, bricks, and now court cases.
What a bloody awful mess.
