Transgender issues in the law, politics, sport, and the impact on children
How should police record a rape where the culprit has male genitalia? The answer might appear to be straightforward: a man is responsible. Yet in Scotland, where the SNP’s obsession with avoiding offence appears to trump reality, things could soon be more complicated.
The Law Commission report on hate crime, published on Monday, included a welcome relief for some of us involved in the battle of ideas over sex and gender. The Commission held that a blanket restriction on the expression of gender-critical views would likely be in breach of Articles 9 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Dr Adrian Harrop, a 31-year-old GP, has been suspended from practising medicine for a month. Harrop, a so-called trans-ally, had conducted a personal crusade online, supposedly to protect trans rights. But woe betide anyone who happened to disagree with him.
Eddie Redmayne was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in The Danish Girl, but now he is having second thoughts about the role he took on. Redmayne played the part of Lili Elbe, a Danish illustrator who is remembered as one of the first recipients of gender reassignment surgery. Highly experimental at the time, the procedure eventually led to Elbe’s death, aged only 48.
November 20th is TDoR, the Transgender Day of Remembrance. If transgenderism is a postmodern quasi-religion, then today is its most holy day. Across the country, people will huddle around lighted candles to remember people that they never knew. There will be solemn words and readings of lists of foreign names. Plymouth University even advertise an hour-long “Service”.
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.
Debbie Hayton