Katherine Alejandra CrossAs I feared, the Westminster government has gone ahead and done the dumbest, cruelest thing possible. It seems inevitable that this will go to the courts, but it's just so depressing thinking about how we got here, how a road paved with lies, innuendo, and hatred of trans people has led to this constitutional crisis.
The opponents of the bill have, in the classic manner of bigots, linked trans people to sexual predators. The cleverest of them insisted they were not slandering trans people but only expressing "worry about predatory men *pretending* to be trans"--while, of course, continuing to cement a semantic link between predation and trans existence by saying so.
But they could never answer one critical question: why would a trans identity be so uniquely irresistible to a cis male predator?
One of the deepest insults of this entire "debate" has been the fact that we're forced to entertain this scenario--one so absurd it falls apart under a moment's scrutiny. That a man who wants to commit sex crimes would submit to what would still be a bureaucratic process leaving a long paper trail and a real life test and possible physical changes... just to do something they could do *without* doing any of that.
No one can explain what the GRR's value-add is for criminals.
Instead, we have to be subjected to the continual, Sisyphean indignity of having to answer for this scenario, to treat it as a "legitimate concern," that must somehow be "addressed" by accepting second-class citizenship.
And, at any rate, a moment's peek on social media makes clear that the PR-ready "we support trans people, we just have concerns about Bad Men" nonsense is sincerely believed by precisely no one. Opponents of the GRR simply hate us and want us eliminated, full stop.
I can't pretend to know what happens next in the coming constitutional fight. But it is worth stopping to reflect on the fact that the Conservatives and their armies of allies in the British media hate trans people so much that they were willing to *provoke* this unprecedented battle.
It's sobering. But it also shows the sheer irrationality of the brain worms produced by transphobia.
The Tories hate trans people so much they're going to Leeroy Jenkins the Union.
Sofia ☭🇧🇷☭@Quinnae_Moon were you the person who dug up that old case of the trans man who inherited a British aristocratic title? Do you think this has any connection to that?
@sofiav That wasn't me, no!
@Quinnae_Moon oh...but you know the case I'm talking about, right? I'm still interested to hear your thoughts
@sofiav Well, I don't know how much bearing it has on current events. It's a fascinating story. (Link here, for anyone else interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Ewan_Forbes,_11th_Baronet)
But I think that for the current British establishment, the sense of disgust and retribution has more to do with the recent trans rights movement and its unabashed criticism of the British media. Trans people became a threat to the unquestioned authority of the existing elite and had to be punished.
@Quinnae_Moon it's just so bizarre that transphobia became such a cornerstone of British media in the first place, and I remember when the articles about the Forbes case came out people were theorizing that it might be the reason?
@sofiav There are a lot of theories. Mine is that it really kicked off after the backlash to Observer columnist Julie Burchill's transphobia back in 2011-2012. It was a shock and an offence to the very clubby British media establishment, who then made attacking trans people a core value as an act of revenge for daring to stand up to them. Add in the far-right gender panic that surged in 2016, which went semi-mainstream, and the result was... well, this.
@Quinnae_Moon that makes sense, too
As an aside, Helen Joyce used to be the Brazil correspondent for the Economist so I followed her on Twitter for a while, and I'm pretty sure she started posting transphobia shortly after moving back to the UK, sometime between 2014-16? So that lines up with your theory as well. I unfollowed her after the first couple of shitty posts, but I guess it must have paid off for her to make it a career 💀
Elisheva Meira ✡︎ 🌈@Quinnae_Moon
It might look like that from a trans perspective in another country but the Tories WANT the battle with ScotGov⤵️ . Added bonus to them that they get to hurt trans people in the process but the drivers are undermining ScotGov, asserting their dominance over Scotland and preventing us from leaving, along with our energy and water resources they need.
With the Tories, always ask what their scandal du jour is distracting attention from, like ripping up workers' protections and rights.
It might look like that from a trans perspective in another country but the Tories WANT the battle with ScotGov⤵️ . Added bonus to them that they get to hurt trans people in the process but the drivers are undermining ScotGov, asserting their dominance over Scotland and preventing us from leaving, along with our energy and water resources they need.
With the Tories, always ask what their scandal du jour is distracting attention from, like ripping up workers' protections and rights.
@Quinnae_Moon
* From above, the Tories don't seem to see how their continual battles against Scotland and ScotGov are making the case for independence. Their sense of entitlement runs as deep as their incompetence.
Trying to make it make sense in normal terms is futile. Better to think of it in terms of an abusive and controlling marriage which Scotland hasn't managed to get itself out of yet.
And yes, it sucks trans people are being hurt because the Tories want to f--- over Scotland.
* From above, the Tories don't seem to see how their continual battles against Scotland and ScotGov are making the case for independence. Their sense of entitlement runs as deep as their incompetence.
Trying to make it make sense in normal terms is futile. Better to think of it in terms of an abusive and controlling marriage which Scotland hasn't managed to get itself out of yet.
And yes, it sucks trans people are being hurt because the Tories want to f--- over Scotland.
Ali@Quinnae_Moon Yes, but [insert convoluted conspiracy with mental health insults] to explain our existence.
Ecosaurian 🏴 
I agree with you. This is standard right-wing misinformation tactics.
Say something outrageous that makes people notice. Get others to repeat it.
It doesn't matter it wasn't true or even credible, if enough celebrities, journalists or influencers say it then they must be telling the truth.
ChuffMeister@Quinnae_Moon given that women also commit sexual assault and violence against women and that ‘even one offence’ is too many! It seems to me the only solution to satisfy these right wing extremists and their ‘centralist- liberal’ apologists is to also ban all women from women’s spaces?
Seem the logical conclusion to these bullshit arguments and fits nicely to the misogynistic ‘men must protect women’ agenda underlying the fallacious presstitution.
Seem the logical conclusion to these bullshit arguments and fits nicely to the misogynistic ‘men must protect women’ agenda underlying the fallacious presstitution.
@Quinnae_Moon now on Fox News: men urgently needed to step up, all women need brave men willing to follow them around at all times particularly in dangerous places like toilets.
Fox won’t rest until each & every women has a strong man there at all times by her side keeping her safe (free virtue checks conducted by selected Fox-Friends members of the clergy!)
Women need to know there’s a man watching them constantly -overseeing each and every action to keep them safe (ly oppressed)
Fox won’t rest until each & every women has a strong man there at all times by her side keeping her safe (free virtue checks conducted by selected Fox-Friends members of the clergy!)
Women need to know there’s a man watching them constantly -overseeing each and every action to keep them safe (ly oppressed)
Gretchen Anderson@Quinnae_Moon let’s find *one* man pretending to be trans and then maybe let’s find 10 of them and then maybe we can have a conversation that still wouldn’t make this resistance ok
AvonLovesBlake@Quinnae_Moon Ugh. I am so sick of the rhetoric around predatory men pretending to be trans. On the rare occasions when cis men have actually assaulted women in women's toilets, they didn't pretend to be trans, they just looked for toilets at times/places where the toilets were mostly deserted, with few witnesses around to help or call for help.
There is absolutely no justification for using the real life actions of a few predatory cis men to persecute trans women.
Eric LawtonEspecially since your colleagues will protect you for years if you join the police or clergy
Eric Lawton (@[email protected])
"The police keep us safe" In this case, an elite cop carried out more than 71 offences over 17 years, despite force being told *repeatedly* of allegations Elite UK Metropolitan police officer David Carrick revealed to be a serial rapist. #DefundThePolice https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jan/16/metropolitan-police-officer-david-carrick-revealed-as-serial-rapist
Kiwiana 🦣@Quinnae_Moon surely any man wanting to get away with being a sexual predator would be better off joining the police?
kflanagan@Quinnae_Moon Until I went on to see the actual link, I thought you were talking about the US House of Reps. Seems that stupid and cruel are rampant among legislators.
Wren Birdie"Conservatives and their armies of allies in the British media hate trans people so much that they were willing to *provoke* this unprecedented battle."
I think what you said above can apply to the #ReichWingParty of conservatives here in the U.S.
They hate us so much they are willing to test the boundaries of rights granted in our federal Constitution.
And I just don't understand why. What is it that trans citizens have done that is SO heinous as to warrant this.
hammancheez@Quinnae_Moon stonewall all over again
NLAWScametovisit@Quinnae_Moon time to take back all those trident missiles we lent yall
Tor Kingdon@Quinnae_Moon oh, gawd
Jeanette Marsh@Quinnae_Moon oh heck that’s disappointing
We're Not In Kansas AnymoreWhat are they afraid of?
@Style17strings Change? God? Themselves? Trans girl thirst traps? Goddess only knows.