The Trans Agenda #7

[12 March 2024]

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Publications known for taking an anti-trans stance are and will be referenced and linked. Often, these are the most comprehensive sources for these stories because of their obsession with trans people. I give a summary for those stories so you can make the choice if you want to click the link or seek out more information elsewhere.

TL;DR

  • The government’s consultation on its dangerous trans guidance for schools closes at midnight.
  • Four teenagers charged over alleged transphobic assault in which an 18-year-old woman was stabbed.
  • Keir Starmer agrees trans women should be banned from women’s sport.
  • Liz Truss publishes her anti-trans private member’s bill.
  • Bomb threats in Maine legislature follow bills on trans care.
  • New study finds that only 1% of trans teens detransition.
  • Belfast News Letter gives transphobia a go.
  • Decline in UK regional daily print newspaper circulations.
  • Increase in women entering sports journalism.
  • Biggest Tory donor said looking at Diane Abbott makes you ‘want to hate all black women’.
  • Over 20 anti-LGBTQ+ bills fail in West Virginia.
  • Lady Gaga condemns abuse aimed at Dylan Mulvaney: ‘This isn’t backlash. It’s hatred’
  • plus quite a bit more…

NEWS & POLITICS

Four teenagers charged over alleged transphobic assault in which an 18-year-old woman was stabbed [Metropolitan Police]

  • Detectives have charged four individuals in connection with a suspected transphobic attack in Harrow. Summer Betts-Ramsey, 19, faces charges of attempted murder and carrying an offensive weapon, with her court appearance scheduled for March 12 at the Old Bailey. Additionally, a 16-year-old girl has been charged with grievous bodily harm with intent, robbery, and possession of cannabis, and is set to appear at the same court. Two 17-year-old boys are also facing charges of grievous bodily harm with intent, with one additionally accused of disclosing sexual images and threatening the victim with a knife. They are both expected to appear at the Old Bailey on April 5. The charges stem from an incident on Masons Avenue, HA3, which resulted in an 18-year-old girl stabbed; she has thankfully been released from the hospital following treatment.

The government’s consultation on its dangerous trans guidance for schools closes at midnight

Keir Starmer agrees trans women should be banned from women’s sport [Telegraph]

  • Keir Starmer believes that ‘common sense’ has to prevail in the ‘debate’ over trans women in sport as he backed sports organisations, who have banned trans women, to continue ignoring the science. Speaking as he announced Labour’s plans to get more girls active, Starmer said he was ‘supportive’ of ensuring trans girls aren’t allowed to be part of that.“I think the important thing is that the sports governing bodies take a lead on this,” Starmer said. “And they are doing that, and we’re supportive of what they’re doing, particularly in elite sport. So, that’s where the decision should be taken. They’ve taken a number of decisions. And, in the end, common sense has to prevail in terms of safety and integrity of sport.””Common sense” is following the actual science. “Common sense” is equal pay and opportunities. “Common sense” is kicking abusers out of sport. But they don’t talk about these things that directly impact thousands of women. They’d rather focus on a couple of trans people because that’s easy to ‘sort out’ and requires you to do nothing more than be a science-denying asshole.

    Starmer is doing a lot of TV rounds today, starting with Lorraine this morning. Lorraine, one of the nicest people on the planet, has been one of the strongest pro-trans voices in the UK media, so we can hope she asks him about it in ways others won’t. Yes folks, that’s where the UK is now – Lorraine Kelly is a more serious journalist than most who claim the title.

Liz Truss publishes her private member’s bill [Liz Truss][UK Parliament]

  • As I covered in yesterday’s Trans Agenda, Liz Truss went to America and came back loaded with her new Culture Wars Grift pack. She has now published her bill, which aims to mandate bias against trans people in UK law. It is slated to be heard on Friday but could get bumped. It has close to a 0% chance of passing.The “Health and Equality Acts (Amendment) Bill,” introduced by Truss and supported by a number of MPs (listed below), aims to regulate various aspects concerning children and gender identity. Here’s a detailed summary:
    1. Children with Gender Dysphoria:
      • It amends the Health and Care Act 2022 by introducing a new offence for health care professionals who prescribe, administer, or supply medicinal products to children under 18 as part of treatment for gender dysphoria to either delay puberty or affirm the child’s perceived gender inconsistent with their biological sex.
      • Health professionals found guilty could face imprisonment, fines, or both. Defences include treatments that began before the bill’s enactment or were clinically necessary due to prior unsupervised medication use by the child.
    2. Preventing the Recognition of Gender Inconsistency in Children:
      • Public authorities in England are prohibited from recognizing children’s gender inconsistent with their biological sex. This includes language use, access to sex-specific services, and other forms of recognition.
      • The Secretary of State can direct public authorities on compliance, which they must follow.
    3. Provision of Services: Definition of “Sex”:
      • The Equality Act 2010 is amended to define “sex” based on biological characteristics present at birth. This impacts the legal recognition of individuals as male or female, affecting services and rights under the act.
    4. Final Provisions:
      • Details the territorial extent of each section and the enactment timeline, specifying that the bill applies differently across the UK regions and is effective two months post-approval.

    The bill represents a significant legislative attempt to restrict the recognition and treatment of trans children and to redefine “sex” in legal terms, impacting the provision of services and public authority practices in England and, in some parts, the wider UK. It is practically identical to the bills being pushed by Republicans in the States.

    And how do they define ‘sex’? “For the purposes of this Act, “sex” in relation to a person means the classification of that person as either male or female based on the organisation of the person’s body for a specific reproductive role, as indicated by the person’s sex chromosomes, naturally occurring sex hormones, and internal and external genitalia present at birth.”

    The MPs who have supported the bill are: Priti Patel, Ian Paisley, Dame Jackie Doyle-Price, Dr Caroline Johnson, Nick Fletcher, Miriam Cates, Ben Bradley, Tom Hunt, Robin Millar, Andrew Lewer, Marco Longhi.

New study finds that only 1% of trans teens detransition [LGBTQ Nation] [JMA Pediatrics]

  • Another study, this time published in JAMA Pediatrics, refutes claims by anti-transgender activists that detransitioning is common among trans youth who receive gender-affirming care. Researchers in Australia found that only 1% of trans teens who began medical treatment later detransitioned. Most of those who re-identified with their assigned sex did so during initial clinic assessments, and reasons for their change remain unclear. This study, along with others, shows what trans people themselves know – that detransition rates are very low, in fact, lower than just about any other medical procedure you can think of. Anti-transgender activists frequently use detransition narratives to oppose access to gender-affirming care, even when they have to ship the same two people around the globe to make their point that it is an ‘epidemic’. They cite flawed and discredited studies to support the claim that a high percentage of trans youth detransition, contributing to an intentionally misleading picture which trans people are then silenced from correcting in any meaningful way.

Lee Anderson displays his snowflake credentials again

  • Snowflake MP and GB News host Lee Anderson, who once voted against his own views because people laughed at him, gave a speech when defecting to Reform on Monday. At the start of it, after barely uttering a few words, he once again felt the pain of being mocked and demanded to know ‘who’s laughing?’ as he talked of his ‘soul-searching’ before ditching the Tories. Anderson has been on quite the journey. Starting his life in politics with the Labour Party, where he was kicked out for being racist about Travellers, he then joined the Tories. There, he found himself suspended for refusing to apologise after being racist about Sadiq Khan. Anderson, you might remember, was also the Tory MP who said that the governing party would use attacks against trans people as an election strategy.Despite previously backing a motion that would require MPs who change parties to call a by-election, Anderson will not call a by-election. As such, he hands Reform their first elected MP. Some Tories are said to be furious with Anderson for knifing them in the back when he promised not to. “It was a mistake to give him a role as deputy chairman of the party,” one Conservative MP told Politico Playbook PM. “It gave him more credibility than he deserved. The belief that a boorish pub bore is the authentic voice of the red wall is condescending and wrong.” Meanwhile, it is also rumoured that ‘up to nine’ Tory MPs are in talks with Reform over a similar move.As a result of his defection to Reform, The Express report that the working class, red wall whisperer has been kicked out of the exclusive Carlton Club. Only Tory supporters are allowed to be members of the private club. which comes at a cost of £1,700-per-annum.

    Reform came an embarrassing 6th in the recent Rochdale by-election, yet the majority of the political reporters in the UK’s media felt this was a story they all needed to cover. If only the Greens could get so much attention…

Anti-trans MPs push Sunak to move further right [Politico]

  • Miriam Cates and Danny Kruger of the New Conservatives wing of the party are warning that “only a reformed, renewed and truly conservative” Tory party can give them a chance of winning the next election, which is not true. They have no hope of winning, whatever they do. The New Conservatives group is backed by the Legantum Group who are major investors in GB News.

Biggest Tory donor said looking at Diane Abbott makes you ‘want to hate all black women’ [Guardian]

  • Frank Hester, who has donated £10m to the Tories over the past five years, also said “and I don’t hate all Black women at all, but I think she should be shot. [The executive] and Diane Abbott need to be shot. She’s stupid … If we can get [the executive] being unprofessional we can get her sacked. It’s not as good as her dying. It would be much better if she died. She’s consuming resource. She’s eating food that other people could eat. You know?””

MEDIA

Belfast News Letter try transphobia out [News Letter]

  • The Belfast News Letter is the oldest English-language publication in the world that is still published, and that shows with some of its coverage. Historically, they align with protestants/unionists in the north of Ireland, who fall on the right, so are ripe for transphobia and culture wars nonsense. The only problem is, they aren’t very good at it, as their latest efforts show.Over the past few days journalist Adam Kula (more on him in upcoming issues but I will mention now that actual feminist organisations in NI have already had issues with him) has tackled the ‘problems’ of library books for kids questioning their gender or sexuality in Northern Ireland and a “Split in feminist movement over transgender ideology once again on show in Belfast on International Women’s Day weekend.” The ‘split’ there is that GCs are not welcome. They also aren’t part of any ‘feminist movement’ recognised by the overwhelming majority feminist organisations themselves.In both articles, Kula refers to ‘transgenderism’ and, to be honest, his piece on libraries is one of the worst things I’ve read. It’s the sort of thing my 8-year-old niece would throw together if I gave her some information that she didn’t understand at all. Actually, that’s probably unfair on her. His articles are the type of pearl-clutching we have become accustomed from the cis het culture warriors as he cries about a book called ‘Introducing Teddy: A Story About Being Yourself’, which explores themes of self-acceptance and understanding gender identity from a youthful perspective. Perhaps if Kula could find some acceptance of himself and whatever issue he seems to have going on, he wouldn’t feel the need to persecute others he clearly doesn’t understand.

Regional ABCs: Print decline for UK dailies averaged 19% in second half of 2023 [Press Gazette]

  • The latest ABC figures reveal a significant decline in the circulation of UK regional daily print newspapers, averaging a 19% drop year-on-year in the latter half of 2023. Additionally, the 401 non-daily publications monitored saw their circulations decrease by an average of 16% from January to December 2023 compared to the previous year. These statistics encompass paid print copies, subscriptions, and relevant free copies and digital editions.

IPSO does nothing yet again [Press Gazette]

  • IPSO has cleared The Telegraph following its dissemination of allegations that Hamas executed infants on October 7th. Similarly, The Sun was exonerated by the regulatory body for its coverage of the same incident earlier in the previous month.

NCTJ sees rise in women in sports journalism [NCTJ]

  • In 2021/2022, 7% of students registering were women, which rose to 14% in 2022/23 and 20% in 2023/24. It is now targeting 25%.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and the Daily Mail owner held talks about a potential joint takeover of the Telegraph alongside the UAE-backed RedBird IMI, led by former CNN man, Jeff Zucker, giving the investment fund a smaller stake in the title [Bloomberg]

  • The other option on the table is from Paul Marshall, owner of GB News.

Miriam Margolyes says she ‘worries about’ adult Harry Potter fans: ‘They should be over it by now’ [Pinks News]

TODAY’S PAPERS

The Times

  • Are of course running with Keir Starmer’s comments about trans women in sports in their online edition.

The Telegraph

  • Sir Keir Starmer has finally woken up on transgender debate – biological sex is what matters [Oliver Brown, who clearly doesn’t pay attention because it’s been clear where Starmer stands on this issue for a long time now.]
  • I fully expected this story to make it on to the front of the Daily Telegraph, and teh editorial above to be inside, but they had nothing in a rare day of no trans coverage for the paper.

The Daily Mail

  • I fully expected this story to make it on to the front page of the Daily Telegraph, and the editorial above to be inside, but they had nothing in a rare day of no trans coverage for the paper. It was, however, the front page of their sports section:
    Starmer backs sport trans ban Labour leader supportive of protecting female categories Common sense over safety and integrity ‘has to prevail’ The Daily Telegraph12 Mar 2024By Ben Rumsby SPORT INVESTIGATIONS REPORTER No contest: US swimmer Lia Thomas sparked an outcry by winning a women’s national college title Sir Keir Starmer has backed the banning of transgender women from women’s sport – after previously refusing to do so publicly. The Labour leader said he was “supportive” of moves to protect the female category of sporting competitions and that “common sense has to prevail in terms of safety and integrity of sport”. Starmer had previously refused to state whether trans women such as Lia Thomas should be allowed to compete in women’s sport amid accusations from Harry Potter author JK Rowling that his party could “no longer be counted on to defend women’s rights”. But following warnings last year that Labour’s plans to update the Gender Recognition Act to introduce self-declaration for trans people would cost it the next general election, Starmer’s public stance on the issue has shifted dramatically. Speaking after announcing his party’s plans to get more girls active during a visit to a school in his Holborn and St Pancras constituency, Starmer told Telegraph Sport: “The important thing is that the sports governing bodies take a lead on this. And they are doing that, and we’re supportive of what they’re doing, particularly in elite sport. So, that’s where the decision should be taken. They’ve taken a number of decisions. And, in the end, common sense has to prevail in terms of safety and integrity of sport.” Starmer’s comments come almost two years after he declined to say whether Thomas, the swimmer at the centre of one of sport’s biggest trans storms, should be allowed to swim in the Olympics. The row over Thomas and the revelation that cyclist Emily Bridges was aiming to take part in the Commonwealth Games led the Government to tell the UK’S sports governing bodies to ban trans women from women’s sport. Since then, swimming, cycling and athletics have fallen into line but football is yet to follow suit and will be summoned by ministers to explain why. We can now shelve, definitively, the fallacy that pushing back against trans ideology in sport represents a right-wing crusade. Only last month, The Guardian was playing this particular card, asking in its headline: “Why have right-wingers made even parkrun a battleground for trans people?” How inconvenient for this school of thought, then, that the latest sceptic of the trans cult happens to be none other than the Labour leader. After much vacillating, Sir Keir Starmer has finally alighted on the side of fairness for women, recognising that protection of the female category depends, ultimately, on an acceptance that biological sex is immutable. “Common sense must prevail,” he says. Tempting as it is to shout “Hallelujah” at that comment, it is also apt to ask Sir Keir: “Where have you been?” The debate about the profound injustice of allowing biological males to compete in women’s events has not materialised out of a clear blue sky. It has been raging, out in the open, across the entire four-year span of his leadership. Since 2020, Telegraph Sport has reported extensively on the medals and prizes won by biologically male runners, cyclists, rowers and swimmers, documenting the cowardice of the governing bodies that sat back and let it continue, comfortable in the presumption they were being “progressive”. And what did Starmer, in common with politicians of most stripes, say during that time? Nothing. Indeed, it is instructive to replay an LBC interview he conducted in 2022, where he was invited to decry the system that allowed American swimmer Lia Thomas to go from being the 554th-ranked male in the men’s 200-yard freestyle to a national collegiate champion in the equivalent women’s race. “I think it’s for the sporting bodies to decide,” he deflected. “There are all sorts of difficult questions.” It was a cop-out of an answer, which he could have avoided by recalling what the Sports Councils Equality Group had stated a few months earlier. It declared, essentially, that inclusion and fairness could not be balanced in any “gender-affected sport where there is meaningful competition”. This applied, in other words, to any sports that had a women’s category. As such, all major sports faced a choice: either they kept women’s events for women, or kowtowed to noisy activists by letting in biological men so long as they completed a token degree of testosterone suppression. In a period of upside-down logic, most chose the second option. After all, they could hide behind the words of the International Olympic Committee’s own medical director, Dr Richard Budgett, who said at the Tokyo Games: “The important thing to remember is that trans women are women.” Except it was a contention that alienated the vast majority of women. In 2022, France’s Marion Clignet took a survey to cycling’s global headquarters in Switzerland to show 92 per cent of female riders “did not agree with trans athletes racing in the women’s peloton”. And so, by increments, the damage has had to be undone, with the three major Olympic sports of athletics, swimming and cycling all performing reverse ferrets to prioritise fairness above the seductive gospel of inclusion at all costs. “We’re supportive of what they’re doing,” Starmer says, “particularly in elite sport.” Good to know. But there are still question marks over his conviction in this area of policy. In 2021, he claimed it was “not right” to say that only women had a cervix. There is substance to the view that he is now embracing the common-sense approach only because an election is due. He can hardly be oblivious to the evidence that siding with hard-line trans ideologues is not, to put it mildly, a vote-winner. Last year, a survey by Sex Matters indicated that fewer than one in three people in Britain believed that men identifying as women should be permitted in women’s sports, changing rooms or bathrooms. Although sports spent years spouting the trendy mantras of self-id, the numbers illustrate that the wider implications of such a policy are unpalatable to the electorate. Starmer’s remarks this week were far from perfect. What to make, for example, of his “particularly in elite sport” caveat? This sounded suspiciously like a retread of Lord Coe’s mistaken assertion in January that sport’s transgender controversy was “only at elite level”. Women cannot, at any level or in any realm, be deployed as unwitting pawns in enabling a man’s pursuit of affirmation as female. But in one sense, Starmer’s intervention is to be welcomed, in that it negates once and for all the notion that women’s fight for fairness is a party-political issue. Many at the heart of the battle are furious at lazy recent attempts to characterise them as right-wing. Mara Yamauchi, the former British marathon runner who has done so much to highlight the problems in parkrun’s self-id rules, reminded her critics last year that she had been centre-left all her life. The resistance of trans rhetoric in sport has only ever been about ensuring a level playing field for women. It is staggering it has taken Starmer four years, and a looming general election, to understand that.* Article Name:Starmer backs sport trans ban Publication:The Daily Telegraph Section:Sport Author:By Ben Rumsby SPORT INVESTIGATIONS REPORTER Start Page:12 End Page:12
    Starmer backs sport trans ban Labour leader supportive of protecting female categories Common sense over safety and integrity ‘has to prevail’ The Daily Telegraph12 Mar 2024By Ben Rumsby SPORT INVESTIGATIONS REPORTER No contest: US swimmer Lia Thomas sparked an outcry by winning a women’s national college title Sir Keir Starmer has backed the banning of transgender women from women’s sport – after previously refusing to do so publicly. The Labour leader said he was “supportive” of moves to protect the female category of sporting competitions and that “common sense has to prevail in terms of safety and integrity of sport”. Starmer had previously refused to state whether trans women such as Lia Thomas should be allowed to compete in women’s sport amid accusations from Harry Potter author JK Rowling that his party could “no longer be counted on to defend women’s rights”. But following warnings last year that Labour’s plans to update the Gender Recognition Act to introduce self-declaration for trans people would cost it the next general election, Starmer’s public stance on the issue has shifted dramatically. Speaking after announcing his party’s plans to get more girls active during a visit to a school in his Holborn and St Pancras constituency, Starmer told Telegraph Sport: “The important thing is that the sports governing bodies take a lead on this. And they are doing that, and we’re supportive of what they’re doing, particularly in elite sport. So, that’s where the decision should be taken. They’ve taken a number of decisions. And, in the end, common sense has to prevail in terms of safety and integrity of sport.” Starmer’s comments come almost two years after he declined to say whether Thomas, the swimmer at the centre of one of sport’s biggest trans storms, should be allowed to swim in the Olympics. The row over Thomas and the revelation that cyclist Emily Bridges was aiming to take part in the Commonwealth Games led the Government to tell the UK’S sports governing bodies to ban trans women from women’s sport. Since then, swimming, cycling and athletics have fallen into line but football is yet to follow suit and will be summoned by ministers to explain why. We can now shelve, definitively, the fallacy that pushing back against trans ideology in sport represents a right-wing crusade. Only last month, The Guardian was playing this particular card, asking in its headline: “Why have right-wingers made even parkrun a battleground for trans people?” How inconvenient for this school of thought, then, that the latest sceptic of the trans cult happens to be none other than the Labour leader. After much vacillating, Sir Keir Starmer has finally alighted on the side of fairness for women, recognising that protection of the female category depends, ultimately, on an acceptance that biological sex is immutable. “Common sense must prevail,” he says. Tempting as it is to shout “Hallelujah” at that comment, it is also apt to ask Sir Keir: “Where have you been?” The debate about the profound injustice of allowing biological males to compete in women’s events has not materialised out of a clear blue sky. It has been raging, out in the open, across the entire four-year span of his leadership. Since 2020, Telegraph Sport has reported extensively on the medals and prizes won by biologically male runners, cyclists, rowers and swimmers, documenting the cowardice of the governing bodies that sat back and let it continue, comfortable in the presumption they were being “progressive”. And what did Starmer, in common with politicians of most stripes, say during that time? Nothing. Indeed, it is instructive to replay an LBC interview he conducted in 2022, where he was invited to decry the system that allowed American swimmer Lia Thomas to go from being the 554th-ranked male in the men’s 200-yard freestyle to a national collegiate champion in the equivalent women’s race. “I think it’s for the sporting bodies to decide,” he deflected. “There are all sorts of difficult questions.” It was a cop-out of an answer, which he could have avoided by recalling what the Sports Councils Equality Group had stated a few months earlier. It declared, essentially, that inclusion and fairness could not be balanced in any “gender-affected sport where there is meaningful competition”. This applied, in other words, to any sports that had a women’s category. As such, all major sports faced a choice: either they kept women’s events for women, or kowtowed to noisy activists by letting in biological men so long as they completed a token degree of testosterone suppression. In a period of upside-down logic, most chose the second option. After all, they could hide behind the words of the International Olympic Committee’s own medical director, Dr Richard Budgett, who said at the Tokyo Games: “The important thing to remember is that trans women are women.” Except it was a contention that alienated the vast majority of women. In 2022, France’s Marion Clignet took a survey to cycling’s global headquarters in Switzerland to show 92 per cent of female riders “did not agree with trans athletes racing in the women’s peloton”. And so, by increments, the damage has had to be undone, with the three major Olympic sports of athletics, swimming and cycling all performing reverse ferrets to prioritise fairness above the seductive gospel of inclusion at all costs. “We’re supportive of what they’re doing,” Starmer says, “particularly in elite sport.” Good to know. But there are still question marks over his conviction in this area of policy. In 2021, he claimed it was “not right” to say that only women had a cervix. There is substance to the view that he is now embracing the common-sense approach only because an election is due. He can hardly be oblivious to the evidence that siding with hard-line trans ideologues is not, to put it mildly, a vote-winner. Last year, a survey by Sex Matters indicated that fewer than one in three people in Britain believed that men identifying as women should be permitted in women’s sports, changing rooms or bathrooms. Although sports spent years spouting the trendy mantras of self-id, the numbers illustrate that the wider implications of such a policy are unpalatable to the electorate. Starmer’s remarks this week were far from perfect. What to make, for example, of his “particularly in elite sport” caveat? This sounded suspiciously like a retread of Lord Coe’s mistaken assertion in January that sport’s transgender controversy was “only at elite level”. Women cannot, at any level or in any realm, be deployed as unwitting pawns in enabling a man’s pursuit of affirmation as female. But in one sense, Starmer’s intervention is to be welcomed, in that it negates once and for all the notion that women’s fight for fairness is a party-political issue. Many at the heart of the battle are furious at lazy recent attempts to characterise them as right-wing. Mara Yamauchi, the former British marathon runner who has done so much to highlight the problems in parkrun’s self-id rules, reminded her critics last year that she had been centre-left all her life. The resistance of trans rhetoric in sport has only ever been about ensuring a level playing field for women. It is staggering it has taken Starmer four years, and a looming general election, to understand that.* Article Name:Starmer backs sport trans ban Publication:The Daily Telegraph Section:Sport Author:By Ben Rumsby SPORT INVESTIGATIONS REPORTER Start Page:12 End Page:12

The Daily Mail

  • Similarly, the Daily Mail had no coverage of any trans stories. Nadine Dorries did mention the ‘powerful trans lobby’ in a short piece about Cheltenham but that was it.

This seems to happen when an actual news story breaks the day before. Expect things to be back to normal tomorrow.

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HOUSE OF COMMONS

  • Foreign Office questions at 11.30 am before the final session of debate on the budget.

WESTMINSTER HALL

  • Debates from 9.30 am on topics including compensation for women affected by state pension changes, led by DUP’s Jim Shannon, who once addressed a room full of nurses by saying ‘I do love a woman in uniform’. Dame Priti Patel will also lead a debate on ‘health and wellbeing in Essex’.

HOUSE OF LORDS

  • The third reading of the Rwanda deportation bill takes place before it heads back to the Commons, where Lords’ amendments will be debated. David Cameron will also face questions on foreign policy topics including increasing aid to Gaza.

SPORT

Golf tour boss defends decision to ban transgender athletes from women’s tour [Toronto Sun]

  • Stuart McKinnon, CEO of NXXT Golf Tour, has defended the discriminatory ban on trans athletes from the women’s professional tour, citing “competitive fairness,” without providing credible evidence to back up this assertion. McKinnon, however, stated that the decision was made after extensive consultations with stakeholders, including coaches, players, and scientists, to maintain physiological fairness in competitions. As we have learned from other sports that claim similar, this is rarely the care. In a statement dripping with GC-speak and a nod to the ‘“five daughters” he is the father of, he stressed that the choice was influenced by anonymous feedback from the tour’s female players. They “overwhelmingly” expressed a preference for competing against biological women, he said. That would certainly break from the norm. The majority of cis female athletes, in all sports, are trans-inclusive. However, they tend to be ignored by the cis men running the sports. It is only a very select few cis women who have an issue and it seems odd that golf would have an excessive amount of them. The policy change was announced on International Women’s Day as some sort of declaration of support for ‘real women’.Additional reading: Golfer Hailey Davidson slams decision to ban her from women’s tour: ‘bigotry will never win’ [Pink News]

Women’s roller derby league sues suburban New York county over ban on transgender female athletes [ktvz.com]

  • A women’s roller derby league is suing Nassau County, New York, challenging an executive order that bans trans women athletes from using county sports facilities. The lawsuit, initiated by the New York Civil Liberties Union, claims the order discriminates based on gender identity, violating state human rights and civil rights laws.

AROUND THE WORLD

Alberta proposes strictest trans youth healthcare rules in Canada [CBC]

  • Alberta’s government is proposing significant restrictions on medical treatments for transgender youth. These include banning top and bottom surgeries for minors under 18, and limiting access to puberty blockers and hormone therapy to those 16 and older with extensive approvals. This move makes Alberta an outlier in Canada, where medical organisations generally support gender-affirming care, and places it within the confected global ‘debate’ about the appropriate approach to such care.The government argues these restrictions are necessary to protect young people from irreversible decisions, while medical professionals counter that they will cause significant harm. They stress that these treatments are essential for the mental health of transgender youth, that the medications are well-understood, and that decisions are already made cautiously with individual needs in mind.What’s changing in Alberta?

    –Top and bottom surgery: While bottom surgery is already unavailable to minors in Alberta, the new rules would make top surgery unavailable as well. It is already extremely rare for minors in the province.

    –Puberty blockers and hormone therapy: Under the proposed changes, no one under 16 would be able to access these medications, even if they have already started treatment. Access would be available for those 16 and 17 with parental, physician, and psychologist approval.

Over 20 anti-LGBTQ+ bills die in West Virginia, as activists celebrate major victories [Erin Reed]

Bomb threats in Maine legislature follow bills on transgender care [USA Today]

  • The Maine state capitol and the offices of certain state lawmakers were evacuated following a series of bomb threats early on Friday. These threats are linked to the legislature’s consideration of bills related to healthcare for trans children. The threats coincide with a rise in extremist rhetoric and are part of a worrying trend as similar incidents have occurred earlier in the year. Influential social media accounts, such as Libs of TikTok, have been accused of amplifying the situation by publicising the names and details of those associated with pro-LGBTQ+ legislation. Among the legislators targeted were Anne Perry and Sen. Donna Bailey, proponents of a bill aimed at protecting doctors who provide gender-affirming care[see RECOMMENDED READING below for more on the Libs of TikTok connection]

New housing units for trans women expected in Colorado prison [NBC]

  • The Colorado Department of Corrections settled a lawsuit for $2.1 million, agreeing to create housing units to address safety and healthcare concerns for trans women inmates.

Support for LGBTQ+ people in US falls for first time since 2015 [Guardian US]

  • It’s almost as if relentless media attacks for the past 10 years might have some impact.

Lady Gaga condemns abuse aimed at Dylan Mulvaney: ‘This isn’t backlash. It’s hatred’ [Lady Gaga]

  • Posting on Instagram, Lady Gaga wrote, “It’s appalling to me that a post about National Women’s Day by Dylan Mulvaney and me would be met with such vitriol and hatred. When I see a newspaper reporting on hatred but calling it “backlash” I feel it is important to clarify that hatred is hatred, and this kind of hatred is violence. “Backlash” would imply that people who love or respect Dylan and me didn’t like something we did. This is not backlash. This is hatred.“But it is not surprising given the immense work that it’s obvious we still have to do as a society to make room for transgender lives to be cherished and upheld by all of us. I feel very protective in this moment, not only of Dylan, but of the trans community who continues to lead the way with their endless grace and inspiration in the face of constant degradation, intolerance, and physical, verbal, and mental violence. I certainly do not speak for this community, but I have something to say. I hope all women will come together to honor us ALL for International Women’s Day, and may we do that always until THE DAY that all women are celebrated equally. That all people are celebrated equally. A day where people of all gender identities are celebrated on whichever holiday speaks to them. Because people of all gender identities and races deserve peace and dignity.“May we all come together and be loving, accepting, warm, welcoming. May we all stand and honor the complexity and challenge of trans life—that we do not know, but can seek to understand and have compassion for. I love people too much to allow hatred to be referred to as “backlash.” People deserve better.”

The Heritage Foundation are pushing hard to ban TikTok [Heritage Foundation]

  • Conservative lobbying groups are divided on a bipartisan bill targeting TikTok, leading to conflicts within the community cult. Sad times. The Heritage Foundation and Americans for Prosperity support the bill, which could lead to TikTok being banned from US app stores unless its owner, ByteDance, divests. However, the Club for Growth and another conservative group, both linked financially to GOP donor Jeff Yass, oppose the bill. Kellyanne Conway, a former Trump adviser, has been lobbying against the TikTok ban on behalf of the Club for Growth. The bill has already passed through the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously. Trump has also reversed his position from his time as President, for reasons I am sure are perfectly legit, and is now opposed to a ban.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

Catfishing abuser admits girl’s manslaughter [BBC NI]

  • Alexander McCartney, a 25-year-old from County Armagh, has admitted to manslaughter following the suicide of a 12-year-old girl, who was one of over 60 victims in a significant catfishing case spanning from 2013 to 2019. The Belfast Crown Court has deferred sentencing until May to compile a detailed account of McCartney’s offences, which include blackmail, the creation and distribution of indecent photographs, and incitement of minors to engage in sexual acts. The investigation into McCartney began in 2018 after Scottish police were alerted to a girl being blackmailed on Snapchat, leading to his arrest and the discovery of thousands of exploitative images on his devices. Legal provisions in Northern Ireland now protect the identity of sexual offence victims for 25 years post-mortem. He has also pleaded guilty to 59 counts of blackmail, in total admitting 185 charges.

Home office considers inquiry into Manston asylum seeker allegations [Guardian]

  • The Home Office is considering a statutory inquiry into claims of assaults and mistreatment of asylum seekers at the Manston processing centre in Kent.

Tory MP calls for conscription for the unemployed [Telegraph]

  • Tory MP Richard Drax says that young people who refuse several jobs should be conscripted for two years.

Labour candidate sister of Reform founder’s partner

  • Veronica Oakeshott, an environmental communications professional, has been selected as the Labour candidate for the new Bicester and Woodstock seat. She is also the sister of journalist Isabel Oakeshott, who is the partner of Reform UK leader Richard Tice.

Haiti travel warning [Sky News]

  • The UK government has issued a travel warning for Haiti due to escalated gang violence and conflict, advising against all travel to the region. The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) indicated that their ability to provide assistance in Haiti is “severely limited”. Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry has now agreed to resign.

COMING UP

  • The government’s consultation on its dangerous transgender guidance for schools ends at midnight.
  • Summer Betts-Ramsey and an unnamed 16-year-old girl will be in the Old Bailey today after they were charged in connection with the alleged transphobic attack on an 18-year-old woman in Harrow at the end of February.
  • The recall petition to oust MP Scott Benton opens in Blackpool South. Benton is facing the petition because MPs approved a motion to suspend him from the Commons for 35 days due to a breach of Commons rules, which exceeds the 10-day threshold that triggers a recall petition. The suspension came after Benton, formerly a Conservative MP and now sitting as an independent, was found by an investigation to have offered to lobby on behalf of gambling investors, a violation highlighted by a Times investigation. Opponents have until 22 April to secure the 5,629 votes required to trigger a by-election.
  • International Development Committee Chair Sarah Champion and the International Justice Mission hold a roundtable about online sexual exploitation at 5pm.

TRANSWRITES YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED

RECOMMENDED READING

  • TIMELINE: The impact of Libs of TikTok told through the educators, health care providers, librarians, LGBTQ people, and institutions that have been harassed and violently threatened [Media Matters]

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