Physics teacher and trade unionist.
One in five teachers is uncomfortable discussing LGBT+ issues with pupils. As a teacher from the LGBT community, my ears pricked up yesterday when youth charity Just Like Us published the results of a poll of 6,179 primary and secondary school teachers.
The International Olympic Committee have just* released a new framework for transgender and intersex inclusion in sports. The old Olympic guidelines from 2015 allowed Laurel Hubbard, a transgender weightlifter, to compete with women in Tokyo and were clearly not fit for purpose – even the IOC admitted that. But this new document is arguably even worse.
Which toilets should transwomen use? Transsexuals have used women’s facilities for decades – without problems, or so we are told – but appeals to history provide poor support to arguments. Even asking the question provokes strong emotions, but we need answers if we hope to defuse what has become a febrile territorial dispute over women’s spaces.
Mermaids is arguably the most influential charity focusing on transgender rights in the UK. It claims to have been supporting transgender, non-binary and gender-diverse children, young people, and their families since 1995, and has been at the forefront of key policy changes affecting transgender people in this country. Today, however, the charity is distinctly evangelistic.
Rox Middleton, Liam Shaw and Joel Hellewell were right to identify “human sexual biology” as an “important feature of our species” in their contribution to the sex and gender debate (Morning Star October 27, 2021). But they failed to persuade me that gender theory was the route to liberation.
The question was direct and to the point, ‘Are you one of them blokes?’
With those six short words, I was the victim of blatant transphobia.
Transgender high days and holy days are coming thick and fast. Today* marks ‘International Pronouns Day 2021’. The organisers tell us that the third Wednesday of October is the day to, ‘make respecting, sharing, and educating about personal pronouns commonplace.’
Essere contro l’ideologia trans non significa affatto odiare le persone trans o essere transescludenti, come strillano i queer. Tutt’altro. Come le donne, anche le persone transessuali non traggono alcun vantaggio dalla trans-ideology.
Are we reversing out of the scientific enlightenment? The frenzied scenes from Sussex University this week suggest that we might be. This should worry everyone. When a professor of philosophy is hounded by a mob for supposedly having the wrong opinions, the age of reason is in danger.
What is a witch? How do we spot witches? And how might we drum up the courage to talk to a witch? Cambridge Students’ Union Women’s Campaign has the answers.
Debbie Hayton