The Trans Agenda #14 Badenoch at it again, BBC notice waiting lists + more
News you need, the perspective you won't find anywhere else. The trans community's guide to UK news, media and politics and our place in it.
The Trans Agenda #14
[21 March 2024]
Welcome to The Trans Agenda, a newsletter that will arrive in your inbox Monday to Friday if you are subscribed. You can also read it on Substack and on Trans Writes.
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
Black trans woman fatally shot in Houston.
Kemi Badenoch guts self-ID countries from GRA.
Two arrested in Russia's first LGBTQ+ extremism case.
BBC finally notice length of trans NHS waiting lists.
Tory MP likens trans acceptance to saying ‘two plus two equals five’.
LGBTQIA+ campaign Include Mx urges American Express UK to stop excluding non-binary customers in UK.
Louisiana Republicans eye anti-trans 'bathroom bill' targeting schools, public buildings.
Republicans are assaulting LGBTQ+ rights. It’s costing them at the polls.
Georgia GOP senators hijack bill for culture war on trans treatment, sex ed and bathroom access.
Vaughan Gething becomes Wales First Minister.
Leo Varadkar resignation: No early general election, says Michaél Martin.
Reform launch their 6 point plan ahead of the election after BBC apologise for calling them ‘far right’.
Reform candidate calls for British people of colour to be deported.
Why are you giving attention to Reform?
Labour continue to impersonate Tories.
News of the World publisher ‘gave false evidence’ over missing Rebekah Brooks hard drive, claimants say.
Today’s papers.
Any other business.
Recommended reading.
plus more…
Can I ask you a favour? I guess I’m going to anyway, so not sure why I asked! Could you share this edition of The Trans Agenda with three friends, via WhatsApp, text, email, whatever you like? Each new subscriber helps loads, free or paid! Just send the link to anyone you think might be interested as it would help a lot. Thank you!
NEWS & POLITICS
Kemi Badenoch guts self-ID countries from GRA [rya.nc]
Kemi Badenoch has pushed through a list of countries that the UK will no longer recognise under the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA), including parts of Australia and half of the USA. Yes, just parts and half. Under the act, there is a foreign recognition provision for those with the approved documentation in order to aid their application in the UK, should they need it. Badenoch has just gutted the countries on that list.
You might be wondering how this is going to work. I don’t suppose Badenoch really cares about any of that too much, nor has she looked at the practicalities of any of it. She knows this is all, ultimately, more about the headlines and seeming to score a ‘win’ against the evil transes. What it does do, however, is scare some people she doesn’t like.
It is also very likely that this, at least in part, is in response to a legal case brought by a non-binary person from California. You can read more about that in the link above and I’d recommend that you do.
The countries/states/territories are: United States (California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming), Australia (Northern Territory, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria), Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Moldova, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, and Uruguay.
Badenoch claims it is to stop abuse of the process, an unevidenced claim to try and hide the fact she is targeting places with self-ID and she doesn’t like self-ID because she’s a bigot. Indeed, if the UK accept self-ID changes from other countries, how can they argue it’s harmful for UK trans people to self-ID?
It’s also worth noting that a number of the countries on that list don’t issue GRCs like the UK. Rather, they just change the person’s documents and that’s that. Everybody gets on with their lives and nothing happens.
Tory MP likens trans acceptance to saying ‘two plus two equals five’ [Pink News]
During a debate on LGBTQ+ content in sex and relationships education [Trans Agenda 12], Tory MP Nick Fletcher equated teaching trans acceptance to teaching incorrect maths. They really aren’t the sharpest knives in the drawer. He suggested such teachings could mislead children, likening it to a scenario where society accepts "two plus two equals five," showing he hasn’t got the slightest clue what he is talking about, yet still he continues to talk.
LGBTQIA+ campaign Include Mx urges American Express UK to stop excluding non-binary customers in UK [press release]
American Express is under pressure to include the gender-neutral title 'Mx' in its UK application process. Currently, it requires new customers to select from traditional titles, offering wider options only post-approval. Tom Pashby of Include Mx has started a petition demanding inclusivity, highlighting Amex's contradictory stance on LGBTQIA+ commitment.
Pashby said: “Amex talks a lot about its commitment to inclusivity and points to its internal staff network for LGBTQIA+ people. But it’s signalling that it doesn’t want non-binary people to use its services by forcing customers into choosing a binary gendered title on its application form. It’s time to stop excluding non-binary and to include Mx.”
Labour’s Thatcher praise mocked in House of Commons
After Rachel Reeves and David Lammy praised Margaret Thatcher on Tuesday (something Keir Starmer did a few months back), the SNP’s Stephen Flynn used it as an opportunity to poke fun at both Labour and the Tories during PMQs on Wednesday. His first question asked Rishi Sunak who he thought would be the best ‘born-again Thatcherite’ from the Labour front bench to replace him as leader of the Conservatives. You can watch Flynn ask his question here.
Labour continue to impersonate Tories [Politico Playbook]
“Despite branding the Rwanda scheme a “gimmick” that won’t work, a Labour administration would not seek to bring back any migrants the government manages to deport there before the next election, a spokesperson for Keir Starmer told reporters.”
Doreen Lawrence, Labour’s adviser on race relations, complained to MPs and peers that Keir Starmer was not listening to her [The Times]
Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon, Labour's race relations adviser and mother of Stephen Lawrence, expressed frustration with Sir Keir Starmer [The Times like to remind people he’s a ‘Sir’] for not listening to her concerns, particularly regarding the party's engagement with Black and minority ethnic voters. She highlighted issues with "gatekeepers" and the party's approach to diversity.
Reform launch their six-point plan ahead of the election after BBC apologise for calling them ‘far right’ [Reform][Trans Agenda 13]
They are, as written in their announcement:
Declare National Security threat
Leave ECHR
Zero illegals will resettle in the UK
New Dept. of Immigration staffed by believers
Offshore processing centres in British Overseas Territories
Pick up and take back to France
In the last 24 hours alone, one of their recent candidates was spotted sending racist messages, another talking about David Icke, while yet another complaining about chemtrails, vaccines, 5G, while also being racist. Ginny Heathcote Ball, the first in that list, seems to have been removed as a candidate. Another mentioned here has resigned. The Byline Times article just linked to details more. These are deeply unserious yet dangerous people.
Why are you giving attention to Reform?
There are many who think Reform should just be ignored and, while I’d like to be able to do that, as long as they are being platformed by publications and TV channels with a reach I can only dream about, they need to be watched. The Conservatives are on course for such a hammering at the next election there is a very real chance that a large portion of their vote will go to Reform, giving them a voice in parliament. As such, I believe it is on all of us to keep highlighting who they are and what they represent. The most recent poll, for the ‘Red Wall’ seat of Redfield and Wilton has the Tories on 24% and Reform on 16%.
MEDIA & TODAY’S PAPERS
Media
BBC finally notice length of trans NHS waiting lists [BBC]
The BBC has published a story on the ‘years-long wait’ trans people face on NHS waiting lists, billing it as an exclusive despite trans people doing this sort of reporting for nearly as long as they have to wait for care. Still, at least we should be grateful it’s not their usual output when it comes to trans people.
They also report that “NHS England said it planned to launch a review into adult gender services,” which, under this government, should ring alarm bells.
The figures they provide, acquired through FOIs seem on the low side by quite some distance, while waits are blamed on a “shortage of surgeons and specialist staff”. Sure.
News of the World publisher ‘gave false evidence’ over missing Rebekah Brooks hard drive, claimants say [Press Gazette]
News Group Newspapers (NGN), the publisher behind the now-defunct News of the World, is accused of giving false evidence regarding the disappearance of former chief executive Rebekah Brooks' hard drive amid phone hacking allegations. Prince Harry and others are suing NGN for unlawful information gathering. The High Court heard claims that the hard drive was deliberately destroyed to hide wrongdoing. NGN contests these claims as unnecessary and the case, including 45 separate claims against NGN, continues with a trial expected in January.
Today’s papers
Daily Mail
Another day, another Gender Critical Sex Realist being silenced with a double-page spread in a national newspaper. This article also features the usual suspects; Maya Forstater, Sex Matters, Kathleen Stock, Jo Phoenix, the Free Speech Union, and the EHRC, in a winning game of bigot bingo.
![Laura’s research revealed female academics are bullied into silence over their views on gender. Now, in the ultimate bitter irony, she’s been silenced and ousted too Daily Mail21 Mar 2024By Jill Foster EARLIER this month, Dr Laura Favaro popped into her office at Bournemouth University, where she lectures in social sciences, and was told she had some personal post. Her heart sank: nervous that the handwritten envelopes might contain hate mail. ‘My first thought was “Oh no” but as I began to read, I realised they were lovely cards of support,’ says Laura, 42, who lives near the university with her partner and two young sons. ‘One woman said: “You’re brave and admirable and many women are outraged on your behalf.” ‘The other sent me a donation for my legal case. I was so touched. I tweeted about them, saying I will put them under my pillow and hopefully they will help me sleep better.’ Sleep is something Laura hasn’t had much of recently. Eighteen months ago, she became the latest female academic to be targeted by trans rights activists who demanded she be sacked from her then-job at City, University of London. Among those responsible for the vicious online abuse were senior colleagues in higher education, including one female professor who had previously tweeted: ‘I have no qualms in silencing people who need to hush the f*** up. In fact, I’ve put the slog in to be able to do just that.’ Laura sought support against the bullying from the university but none was forthcoming and instead she felt ostracised. The university confiscated her post-doctorate work which had taken many months of painstaking research. Last March, she lost her job. Her ‘crime’? Ironically, it was publishing research into the ‘gender wars’, which found that the silencing, discrimination and harassment of female academics was endemic in British universities. Now Laura is taking City to an employment tribunal for claims including unfair dismissal, direct discrimination, harassment and victimisation. The stress of the last year and a half has, at times, been unbearable. ‘I’d vomit with anxiety and wake up in the middle of the night drenched with sweat,’ she says. ‘I’d be sitting with my sons reading them a bedtime story and suddenly I’d feel tears streaming down my face and I’d be shaking. What I am most sad about is that I’ve lost so much precious time with my children.’ Like Professor Kathleen Stock, who was hounded from the University of Sussex, and Professor Jo Phoenix, who won her case against the Open University in January, Laura believes that her gender critical beliefs (that there are only two sexes — male and female) are at the root of why she was targeted. ‘I know that if I did believe in gender identity theory [the belief that men and women can ‘identify’ into the opposite sex], my career in academia would be thriving,’ she says. ‘But I don’t and so this is how they treat women like me.’ It was very different four years ago, when Laura — who was born in Spain — was offered the job of her dreams at City’s Gender and Sexualities Research Centre, which she had helped set up as a PhD student. ‘I haven’t known a life without feminism,’ she explains. ‘My mother was a teacher who had helped bring in anti- sexism approaches to education.’ THE family spent time in the UK when Laura was younger and after leaving school she studied dance, then sociology, in Leeds. But it was in 2015, as a fully-funded PhD student at City University, that she noticed ‘something strange’. ‘I was interviewing editors of women’s magazines who were telling me that these publications were feminist,’ she says. ‘ To illustrate this, they would point to how much they were covering the topic of transgender, in particular men who identify as women like Caitlyn Jenner (formerly Bruce Jenner). ‘It didn’t make sense to me. First, these men were being prioritised over women. Jenner even won Glamour’s Woman of The Year Award! ‘Also, all I could see were old stereotypes of womanhood — wearing dresses, make-up or heels — rather than the reality of our biology. I couldn’t find any feminism in this. ‘I went to the academic literature and was surprised by the absence of critical discussion. ‘What was going on?’ With the support of City she put together an application for funding to study the transgender debate but was unsuccessful. Around this time she got pregnant with her first son and she and her partner — a former tennis player — returned to Spain. But in 2019, by which time her second son had arrived, the university got back in touch to offer her a position to conduct her project. ‘It was a dream come true — I had been offered the chance to go back to an institution that had been so supportive of me during my PhD,’ says Laura. ‘Not only was I coming back to my intellectual home but also to friends.’ Laura returned to City in March 2020. She started her research but early on realised her line managers held views that seemed very pro gender identity ideology. ‘I remember showing them examples of abuse online towards gender critical women involving incitements to kill, decapitate, rape or punch them and my line managers would imply that the violence was on both sides,’ she says. ‘But the evidence didn’t show that. I went into this research with my eyes open and with a definite willingness to have my mind changed.’ LAURA approached 50 academics in gender studies — from senior professors to early career researchers — to interview them about how ‘ the gender wars’ had affected them. It became obvious to her that something incredibly disturbing was happening in higher education. ‘What struck me early on was the climate of fear,’ she says. ‘One professor described her working life as a feminist academic as a “continuum of hell”. More junior colleagues kept their “mouths shut” fearing their careers would not survive the “horrible backlash”. ‘Even those female academics who were in some agreement with the gender identity side described feeling depressed, alienated, and, most of all, “terrified”. They avoided the subject at all costs because they had seen how this had led to so many women being ostracised, harassed and threatened with violence. ‘Some were comparing the current situation at universities to “authoritarian regimes” and the “Thought Police”, and these well-respected scholars were stopping their genderrelated research and teaching.’ She recalls one ‘ exceptionally bright scholar’ crying as she told Laura: ‘I don’t want to lose my job. I don’t want to put my kids at risk. And I don’t have extreme views.’ Even some academics who supported gender ideology thanked Laura for the opportunity to have an ‘honest conversation’. These academics admitted to silencing gender critical colleagues and students. Concerned by what she was finding, Laura decided to survey more than 600 academics — with funding from The British Academy — about the gender wars, working conditions and censorship at universities. Additionally, the Equality and Human Rights Commission asked her to produce a report of her findings. ‘But the more evidence I presented to my line managers at City, the more it seemed they didn’t want to interact with me,’ she recalls. Was there ever a point she felt she should back off from such a controversial topic to save her own career? She shakes her head. ‘I felt that I was recording something important, producing a record of a shameful historical moment, so I had to keep going,’ she says. In September 2022 she published her findings in the Times Higher Education supplement under the headline: ‘Researchers wounded in academia’s gender wars.’ Inevitably there was a savage response on social media. ‘I was expecting a backlash — to be called transphobic,’ she says. ‘ But the fact that the critics went for my integrity as a researcher was really painful. They called me “unethical”. ‘They accused me — again, falsely — of naming one of the anonymised participants, and lied about some of my methods. ‘One particularly hurtful tweet was saying that if I could do this to academics, imagine what I’d do to children.’ At this point Laura’s voice cracks and she breaks down in tears. ‘I was at home when this was happening all over Twitter [now called X] and I was horrified. ‘I hoped that my line managers at City would protect me. Instead, all I got was a brief email from them saying: “This has obviously become an institutionally sensitive issue and I’m sure we’ll be in touch over the next few days.” ‘That was it. I felt isolated and frightened. One work colleague who identifies as a transgender woman described my article on Twitter as “an attack on trans people”, and condemned City for allowing the research to take place. Others were demanding the retraction of my article, and of my research findings. ‘There were tweets calling for the end of my career. City investigated a formal complaint and found no evidence of ethical wrongdoing on my part.’ Amid the uproar, some of the academics who had contributed wanted to remove themselves from Laura’s research and the university attempted to persuade her to delete these interviews. ‘I pushed back, calling it Orwellian — you can’t allow people to withdraw from studies just because they don’t like the results — that would be the end of academia,’ she says, as the tears come again. ‘I was also put under pressure to return my British Academy grant.’ Laura was told by senior management that City considered her research data ‘dangerous’, and the university wanted to return her grant because it gave her ‘authority’. She says she was also told things would have been different if she believed that ‘trans women are women’. IT ALL took its toll: Laura was signed off sick twice with anxiety and depression. ‘It was incredibly stressful,’ she says. In March 2023, the university ordered Laura to return her interviews and survey, and to delete all her copies. A few days later, she was made redundant. ‘The university said there was no more funding for my research,’ she says. ‘But I had a permanent contract which said that, if this happened, then they would look for alternative employment for me. I offered to teach. But I was made redundant. I was very scared. We had no money.’ She adds: ‘Just weeks later, City advertised for six full-time positions within the same department.’ The Free Speech Union, which had been supporting Laura, introduced her to solicitor Peter Daly, who had helped Sex Matters founder Maya Forstater win her case after she lost her job with a think-tank for saying people could not change their biological sex. With his help, Laura has regained access to part of her research data, and is preparing to take City to an Employment Tribunal on five counts, including the fact they failed to support her and victimised her because of her beliefs. She has managed to raise £90,000 for her legal costs through crowdfunding but needs another £20,000. ‘The support means everything to me,’ she says. City denies there is antipathy towards people with gender critical beliefs. Laura believes otherwise. ‘At one point all students and staff were called to “report directly to security” if they saw stickers on campus that were “designed to undermine trans people and their rights,” ’ she says. ‘I asked what these so- called “hate stickers” were and they included stickers which simply had the words: “Woman: Adult Human Female” on them. Any student placing one of these stickers would be subjected to disciplinary procedures. ‘So, my case is not just about me stopping the persecution of women who have well-founded concerns about gender identity theory. It is about recovering universities as spaces of open, respectful and evidence-based debate. ’ A spokesperson for City, University of London, said: ‘We are unable to comment on employment matters relating to individual members of staff. We can, however, say that we refute the allegations made against us and reject the context in which they are presented.’ They added: ‘At City, we have a legal obligation to protect freedom of expression that we take very seriously. We uphold academic freedom of enquiry in our education and research and are committed to ensuring that free and open-minded discussion can take place.’ ■ TO donate to Laura’s legal funds visit crowdjustice.com/case/academicfreedomforfeminists/ Article Name:Laura’s research revealed female academics are bullied into silence over their views on gender. Now, in the ultimate bitter irony, she’s been silenced and ousted too Publication:Daily Mail Author:By Jill Foster Start Page:24 End Page:24](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcdf07f04-bbdc-49b3-9923-7092f20dae86_1124x708.png "Laura’s research revealed female academics are bullied into silence over their views on gender. Now, in the ultimate bitter irony, she’s been silenced and ousted too Daily Mail21 Mar 2024By Jill Foster EARLIER this month, Dr Laura Favaro popped into her office at Bournemouth University, where she lectures in social sciences, and was told she had some personal post. Her heart sank: nervous that the handwritten envelopes might contain hate mail. ‘My first thought was “Oh no” but as I began to read, I realised they were lovely cards of support,’ says Laura, 42, who lives near the university with her partner and two young sons. ‘One woman said: “You’re brave and admirable and many women are outraged on your behalf.” ‘The other sent me a donation for my legal case. I was so touched. I tweeted about them, saying I will put them under my pillow and hopefully they will help me sleep better.’ Sleep is something Laura hasn’t had much of recently. Eighteen months ago, she became the latest female academic to be targeted by trans rights activists who demanded she be sacked from her then-job at City, University of London. Among those responsible for the vicious online abuse were senior colleagues in higher education, including one female professor who had previously tweeted: ‘I have no qualms in silencing people who need to hush the f*** up. In fact, I’ve put the slog in to be able to do just that.’ Laura sought support against the bullying from the university but none was forthcoming and instead she felt ostracised. The university confiscated her post-doctorate work which had taken many months of painstaking research. Last March, she lost her job. Her ‘crime’? Ironically, it was publishing research into the ‘gender wars’, which found that the silencing, discrimination and harassment of female academics was endemic in British universities. Now Laura is taking City to an employment tribunal for claims including unfair dismissal, direct discrimination, harassment and victimisation. The stress of the last year and a half has, at times, been unbearable. ‘I’d vomit with anxiety and wake up in the middle of the night drenched with sweat,’ she says. ‘I’d be sitting with my sons reading them a bedtime story and suddenly I’d feel tears streaming down my face and I’d be shaking. What I am most sad about is that I’ve lost so much precious time with my children.’ Like Professor Kathleen Stock, who was hounded from the University of Sussex, and Professor Jo Phoenix, who won her case against the Open University in January, Laura believes that her gender critical beliefs (that there are only two sexes — male and female) are at the root of why she was targeted. ‘I know that if I did believe in gender identity theory [the belief that men and women can ‘identify’ into the opposite sex], my career in academia would be thriving,’ she says. ‘But I don’t and so this is how they treat women like me.’ It was very different four years ago, when Laura — who was born in Spain — was offered the job of her dreams at City’s Gender and Sexualities Research Centre, which she had helped set up as a PhD student. ‘I haven’t known a life without feminism,’ she explains. ‘My mother was a teacher who had helped bring in anti- sexism approaches to education.’ THE family spent time in the UK when Laura was younger and after leaving school she studied dance, then sociology, in Leeds. But it was in 2015, as a fully-funded PhD student at City University, that she noticed ‘something strange’. ‘I was interviewing editors of women’s magazines who were telling me that these publications were feminist,’ she says. ‘ To illustrate this, they would point to how much they were covering the topic of transgender, in particular men who identify as women like Caitlyn Jenner (formerly Bruce Jenner). ‘It didn’t make sense to me. First, these men were being prioritised over women. Jenner even won Glamour’s Woman of The Year Award! ‘Also, all I could see were old stereotypes of womanhood — wearing dresses, make-up or heels — rather than the reality of our biology. I couldn’t find any feminism in this. ‘I went to the academic literature and was surprised by the absence of critical discussion. ‘What was going on?’ With the support of City she put together an application for funding to study the transgender debate but was unsuccessful. Around this time she got pregnant with her first son and she and her partner — a former tennis player — returned to Spain. But in 2019, by which time her second son had arrived, the university got back in touch to offer her a position to conduct her project. ‘It was a dream come true — I had been offered the chance to go back to an institution that had been so supportive of me during my PhD,’ says Laura. ‘Not only was I coming back to my intellectual home but also to friends.’ Laura returned to City in March 2020. She started her research but early on realised her line managers held views that seemed very pro gender identity ideology. ‘I remember showing them examples of abuse online towards gender critical women involving incitements to kill, decapitate, rape or punch them and my line managers would imply that the violence was on both sides,’ she says. ‘But the evidence didn’t show that. I went into this research with my eyes open and with a definite willingness to have my mind changed.’ LAURA approached 50 academics in gender studies — from senior professors to early career researchers — to interview them about how ‘ the gender wars’ had affected them. It became obvious to her that something incredibly disturbing was happening in higher education. ‘What struck me early on was the climate of fear,’ she says. ‘One professor described her working life as a feminist academic as a “continuum of hell”. More junior colleagues kept their “mouths shut” fearing their careers would not survive the “horrible backlash”. ‘Even those female academics who were in some agreement with the gender identity side described feeling depressed, alienated, and, most of all, “terrified”. They avoided the subject at all costs because they had seen how this had led to so many women being ostracised, harassed and threatened with violence. ‘Some were comparing the current situation at universities to “authoritarian regimes” and the “Thought Police”, and these well-respected scholars were stopping their genderrelated research and teaching.’ She recalls one ‘ exceptionally bright scholar’ crying as she told Laura: ‘I don’t want to lose my job. I don’t want to put my kids at risk. And I don’t have extreme views.’ Even some academics who supported gender ideology thanked Laura for the opportunity to have an ‘honest conversation’. These academics admitted to silencing gender critical colleagues and students. Concerned by what she was finding, Laura decided to survey more than 600 academics — with funding from The British Academy — about the gender wars, working conditions and censorship at universities. Additionally, the Equality and Human Rights Commission asked her to produce a report of her findings. ‘But the more evidence I presented to my line managers at City, the more it seemed they didn’t want to interact with me,’ she recalls. Was there ever a point she felt she should back off from such a controversial topic to save her own career? She shakes her head. ‘I felt that I was recording something important, producing a record of a shameful historical moment, so I had to keep going,’ she says. In September 2022 she published her findings in the Times Higher Education supplement under the headline: ‘Researchers wounded in academia’s gender wars.’ Inevitably there was a savage response on social media. ‘I was expecting a backlash — to be called transphobic,’ she says. ‘ But the fact that the critics went for my integrity as a researcher was really painful. They called me “unethical”. ‘They accused me — again, falsely — of naming one of the anonymised participants, and lied about some of my methods. ‘One particularly hurtful tweet was saying that if I could do this to academics, imagine what I’d do to children.’ At this point Laura’s voice cracks and she breaks down in tears. ‘I was at home when this was happening all over Twitter [now called X] and I was horrified. ‘I hoped that my line managers at City would protect me. Instead, all I got was a brief email from them saying: “This has obviously become an institutionally sensitive issue and I’m sure we’ll be in touch over the next few days.” ‘That was it. I felt isolated and frightened. One work colleague who identifies as a transgender woman described my article on Twitter as “an attack on trans people”, and condemned City for allowing the research to take place. Others were demanding the retraction of my article, and of my research findings. ‘There were tweets calling for the end of my career. City investigated a formal complaint and found no evidence of ethical wrongdoing on my part.’ Amid the uproar, some of the academics who had contributed wanted to remove themselves from Laura’s research and the university attempted to persuade her to delete these interviews. ‘I pushed back, calling it Orwellian — you can’t allow people to withdraw from studies just because they don’t like the results — that would be the end of academia,’ she says, as the tears come again. ‘I was also put under pressure to return my British Academy grant.’ Laura was told by senior management that City considered her research data ‘dangerous’, and the university wanted to return her grant because it gave her ‘authority’. She says she was also told things would have been different if she believed that ‘trans women are women’. IT ALL took its toll: Laura was signed off sick twice with anxiety and depression. ‘It was incredibly stressful,’ she says. In March 2023, the university ordered Laura to return her interviews and survey, and to delete all her copies. A few days later, she was made redundant. ‘The university said there was no more funding for my research,’ she says. ‘But I had a permanent contract which said that, if this happened, then they would look for alternative employment for me. I offered to teach. But I was made redundant. I was very scared. We had no money.’ She adds: ‘Just weeks later, City advertised for six full-time positions within the same department.’ The Free Speech Union, which had been supporting Laura, introduced her to solicitor Peter Daly, who had helped Sex Matters founder Maya Forstater win her case after she lost her job with a think-tank for saying people could not change their biological sex. With his help, Laura has regained access to part of her research data, and is preparing to take City to an Employment Tribunal on five counts, including the fact they failed to support her and victimised her because of her beliefs. She has managed to raise £90,000 for her legal costs through crowdfunding but needs another £20,000. ‘The support means everything to me,’ she says. City denies there is antipathy towards people with gender critical beliefs. Laura believes otherwise. ‘At one point all students and staff were called to “report directly to security” if they saw stickers on campus that were “designed to undermine trans people and their rights,” ’ she says. ‘I asked what these so- called “hate stickers” were and they included stickers which simply had the words: “Woman: Adult Human Female” on them. Any student placing one of these stickers would be subjected to disciplinary procedures. ‘So, my case is not just about me stopping the persecution of women who have well-founded concerns about gender identity theory. It is about recovering universities as spaces of open, respectful and evidence-based debate. ’ A spokesperson for City, University of London, said: ‘We are unable to comment on employment matters relating to individual members of staff. We can, however, say that we refute the allegations made against us and reject the context in which they are presented.’ They added: ‘At City, we have a legal obligation to protect freedom of expression that we take very seriously. We uphold academic freedom of enquiry in our education and research and are committed to ensuring that free and open-minded discussion can take place.’ ■ TO donate to Laura’s legal funds visit crowdjustice.com/case/academicfreedomforfeminists/ Article Name:Laura’s research revealed female academics are bullied into silence over their views on gender. Now, in the ultimate bitter irony, she’s been silenced and ousted too Publication:Daily Mail Author:By Jill Foster Start Page:24 End Page:24")
Daily Telegraph
Police Scotland has been accused of targeting the author JK Rowling by inventing a fictional character called “Jo” who thinks that sex is binary and calls for transgender people to be sent to gas chambers. For Women Scotland are quoted.
![Western civilisation is being driven to oblivion by false prophets of ‘diversity’ The woke revolutionaries reject real equality in favour of a permanent revolution against fairness and merit The Daily Telegraph21 Mar 2024ALLISTER HEATH FOLLOW Allister Heath on Twitter @Allisterheath read More at telegraph.co.uk/ opinion If you still believe that not everything should be about race and gender, I have bad news. Our side has been routed. While the Tories were asleep at the wheel, a new generation of woke activists seized control of most of our institutions, fomenting grievance, division and discord, undermining our economy, trashing our culture and costing the taxpayer millions. The “diversity, equity, inclusion” (DEI) movement is the wokerati’s provisional wing, the vehicle by which critical race theory, trans extremism and other post-modern garbage is taking over our lives. Many companies, as well as the public sector, have embraced DEI, wrongly believing that it demonstrates their anti-racism, and have tasked HR departments with indoctrinating employees in its precepts. Their efforts were condemned by Kemi Badenoch in an excellent article this week. DEI has failed to achieve any tangible benefits, but the waste of money is the least of our problems. Like other far-left political projects, DEI is at once staggeringly low-grade and deeply Orwellian, perverting the meaning of words to bamboozle. If it sought to combat genuine racism, as the concept is commonly understood, I would be an enthusiastic supporter. I crave a world where race is irrelevant, and enthusiastically subscribe to Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” vision, where he hoped that his children “will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character”. Such a nation – meritocratic, fair, peaceful, prosperous, democratic and colour-blind – is what every Western polity should aspire to become. But it is not what the woke revolutionaries are working towards. They reject King’s vision as naive at best, or complicit at worst: for them, racism is inherent to Western society, intrinsic to a world of “patriarchal” families, private ownership, free enterprise, the rule of law and free speech. It cannot not exist. Facts demonstrating that we are becoming more tolerant, marrying people of different races at record rates, or that many ethnic minorities earn more, on average, than white people are brushed away: to the woke stormtroopers, racism is axiomatically omnipresent. By definition, no progress can ever be made, society is just as racist as it ever was. Woke campaigners believe such pathologies are intractable features of Western nations – but not of those in other parts of the world – even when nobody actively discriminates against anybody. Studying and working hard is deemed to be a new opiate of the masses: social mobility is impossible for members of “oppressed” groups. Racism, to these semantically challenged activists, is an invisible power structure that can only be smashed via total revolution, by overthrowing capitalism, the “imperialist” international system and by imposing a gender revolution. DEI is one tool to achieve that, by transforming institutions from within and brainwashing employees. DEI is only interested in racial or gender diversity. It doesn’t really care about poverty, class or geography. It loathes diversity of thought; it preaches an imbecilic groupthink that can never be questioned. It denies the scientific method. Its more extreme North American proponents occasionally even reject the idea that 2+2=4, claiming it implies “covert white supremacy”, the sort of lunacy that would have made even the Soviet pseudo-agronomist Trofim Lysenko blush. The woke demand performative adherence to dogma, even when it is evidently contrary to reality, hence “Gays for Palestine” chanting pro-hamas and pro-houthi slogans, even though both terror organisations are brutally homophobic, whereas Tel Aviv celebrates gay pride. Eliminating objective reality is every tyrant’s dream: citizens can no longer judge the validity of what they are being told. Woke ideology encourages vicious discrimination against groups it deems to be oppressors – white heterosexual “cis” men, gender-critical women and the “white adjacent”. DEI, as practised on US campuses in particular, is terrifyingly anti-semitic, deeming Jews to be an oppressor group and Israel a settler colonial state. Other successful minorities – such as Asian Americans – are falling foul of DEI and suing universities for discrimination; where American leads, Britain surely follows. Crucially, woke advocates believe in “equity”, not “equality”. They don’t think individuals should be treated equally before the law, don’t support equality of opportunity, fail to endorse the presumption of innocence and don’t truly believe in individual rights. Modern civilisation embraces Bonaparte’s famous maxim “la carrière est ouverte aux talents [ jobs are open to the talented], without distinction of birth or fortune”. Instead, DEI advocates group “justice” that is at once unjust and inequitable, based on confiscation and redistribution. People don’t matter, only aggregate statistics. Individual merit counts for nought: DEI judges people solely on their membership of a tribe based on racial or sexual characteristics. This is a reversal of centuries of Western progress towards individual dignity, a rejection of Enlightenment ideals and a readoption of pre-modern group politics. DEI is horrifically exclusionary, seeking to cancel anybody who fails to pretend to agree: it embraces the permanent inquisition, the auto-da-fé, excommunication and (metaphorically) burning heretics at the stake. Staff are “encouraged” to take the knee, to wear special lanyards, to share pronouns. Employees are divided into “allies” and “adversaries”, with the “good” in-group pitted against the “bad” out-group. “Micro-aggressors” are denounced. Companies are being turned into arms of the Left, no longer focused on the profit motive but on achieving politicised aims. The Civil Service, having jettisoned impartiality, promotes controversial ideas, spending a fortune on useless schemes. Why hasn’t Rishi Sunak acted? This catastrophe has unfolded over 14 years of Conservative government, and Keir Starmer will double down on the woke revolution. The Tories, now and in Opposition, should go to war with DEI. They should enforce a prohibition on all forms of discrimination, including against white men. They should ban and eliminate all DEI jobs across the public sector and in every university, museum and state-funded organisation. They should legislate against woke capital to protect for-profit capitalism. But for now, prepare for everything to get worse before it gets better. Crucially, the ideologues believe in ‘equity’, not ‘equality’. They don’t think individuals should be treated equally and don’t truly believe in individual rights Article Name:Western civilisation is being driven to oblivion by false prophets of ‘diversity’ Publication:The Daily Telegraph Author:ALLISTER HEATH FOLLOW Allister Heath on Twitter @Allisterheath read More at telegraph.co.uk/ opinion Start Page:14 End Page:14](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fda4f9747-f656-42e8-8c80-bef2b6a2b8e7_553x456.png "Western civilisation is being driven to oblivion by false prophets of ‘diversity’ The woke revolutionaries reject real equality in favour of a permanent revolution against fairness and merit The Daily Telegraph21 Mar 2024ALLISTER HEATH FOLLOW Allister Heath on Twitter @Allisterheath read More at telegraph.co.uk/ opinion If you still believe that not everything should be about race and gender, I have bad news. Our side has been routed. While the Tories were asleep at the wheel, a new generation of woke activists seized control of most of our institutions, fomenting grievance, division and discord, undermining our economy, trashing our culture and costing the taxpayer millions. The “diversity, equity, inclusion” (DEI) movement is the wokerati’s provisional wing, the vehicle by which critical race theory, trans extremism and other post-modern garbage is taking over our lives. Many companies, as well as the public sector, have embraced DEI, wrongly believing that it demonstrates their anti-racism, and have tasked HR departments with indoctrinating employees in its precepts. Their efforts were condemned by Kemi Badenoch in an excellent article this week. DEI has failed to achieve any tangible benefits, but the waste of money is the least of our problems. Like other far-left political projects, DEI is at once staggeringly low-grade and deeply Orwellian, perverting the meaning of words to bamboozle. If it sought to combat genuine racism, as the concept is commonly understood, I would be an enthusiastic supporter. I crave a world where race is irrelevant, and enthusiastically subscribe to Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” vision, where he hoped that his children “will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character”. Such a nation – meritocratic, fair, peaceful, prosperous, democratic and colour-blind – is what every Western polity should aspire to become. But it is not what the woke revolutionaries are working towards. They reject King’s vision as naive at best, or complicit at worst: for them, racism is inherent to Western society, intrinsic to a world of “patriarchal” families, private ownership, free enterprise, the rule of law and free speech. It cannot not exist. Facts demonstrating that we are becoming more tolerant, marrying people of different races at record rates, or that many ethnic minorities earn more, on average, than white people are brushed away: to the woke stormtroopers, racism is axiomatically omnipresent. By definition, no progress can ever be made, society is just as racist as it ever was. Woke campaigners believe such pathologies are intractable features of Western nations – but not of those in other parts of the world – even when nobody actively discriminates against anybody. Studying and working hard is deemed to be a new opiate of the masses: social mobility is impossible for members of “oppressed” groups. Racism, to these semantically challenged activists, is an invisible power structure that can only be smashed via total revolution, by overthrowing capitalism, the “imperialist” international system and by imposing a gender revolution. DEI is one tool to achieve that, by transforming institutions from within and brainwashing employees. DEI is only interested in racial or gender diversity. It doesn’t really care about poverty, class or geography. It loathes diversity of thought; it preaches an imbecilic groupthink that can never be questioned. It denies the scientific method. Its more extreme North American proponents occasionally even reject the idea that 2+2=4, claiming it implies “covert white supremacy”, the sort of lunacy that would have made even the Soviet pseudo-agronomist Trofim Lysenko blush. The woke demand performative adherence to dogma, even when it is evidently contrary to reality, hence “Gays for Palestine” chanting pro-hamas and pro-houthi slogans, even though both terror organisations are brutally homophobic, whereas Tel Aviv celebrates gay pride. Eliminating objective reality is every tyrant’s dream: citizens can no longer judge the validity of what they are being told. Woke ideology encourages vicious discrimination against groups it deems to be oppressors – white heterosexual “cis” men, gender-critical women and the “white adjacent”. DEI, as practised on US campuses in particular, is terrifyingly anti-semitic, deeming Jews to be an oppressor group and Israel a settler colonial state. Other successful minorities – such as Asian Americans – are falling foul of DEI and suing universities for discrimination; where American leads, Britain surely follows. Crucially, woke advocates believe in “equity”, not “equality”. They don’t think individuals should be treated equally before the law, don’t support equality of opportunity, fail to endorse the presumption of innocence and don’t truly believe in individual rights. Modern civilisation embraces Bonaparte’s famous maxim “la carrière est ouverte aux talents [ jobs are open to the talented], without distinction of birth or fortune”. Instead, DEI advocates group “justice” that is at once unjust and inequitable, based on confiscation and redistribution. People don’t matter, only aggregate statistics. Individual merit counts for nought: DEI judges people solely on their membership of a tribe based on racial or sexual characteristics. This is a reversal of centuries of Western progress towards individual dignity, a rejection of Enlightenment ideals and a readoption of pre-modern group politics. DEI is horrifically exclusionary, seeking to cancel anybody who fails to pretend to agree: it embraces the permanent inquisition, the auto-da-fé, excommunication and (metaphorically) burning heretics at the stake. Staff are “encouraged” to take the knee, to wear special lanyards, to share pronouns. Employees are divided into “allies” and “adversaries”, with the “good” in-group pitted against the “bad” out-group. “Micro-aggressors” are denounced. Companies are being turned into arms of the Left, no longer focused on the profit motive but on achieving politicised aims. The Civil Service, having jettisoned impartiality, promotes controversial ideas, spending a fortune on useless schemes. Why hasn’t Rishi Sunak acted? This catastrophe has unfolded over 14 years of Conservative government, and Keir Starmer will double down on the woke revolution. The Tories, now and in Opposition, should go to war with DEI. They should enforce a prohibition on all forms of discrimination, including against white men. They should ban and eliminate all DEI jobs across the public sector and in every university, museum and state-funded organisation. They should legislate against woke capital to protect for-profit capitalism. But for now, prepare for everything to get worse before it gets better. Crucially, the ideologues believe in ‘equity’, not ‘equality’. They don’t think individuals should be treated equally and don’t truly believe in individual rights Article Name:Western civilisation is being driven to oblivion by false prophets of ‘diversity’ Publication:The Daily Telegraph Author:ALLISTER HEATH FOLLOW Allister Heath on Twitter @Allisterheath read More at telegraph.co.uk/ opinion Start Page:14 End Page:14")
The Spectator
Borrowing the idea from Julie Bindel, who loves to pose with tape across her mouth, The Spectator use it for their cover of their latest edition. I guess they are trying to imply that JK Rowling has been silenced. At this point, most trans people would be happy if she’d just take a week off.
TODAY IN…
HOUSE OF COMMONS
Nothing that fits the concerns of this newsletter.
WESTMINSTER HALL
1.30pm General debate: Easter, Christian culture and heritage led by Nick Fletcher, Tory MP for Don Valley.
HOUSE OF LORDS
Oral questions on:
The impact of ending the Household Support Fund on children's bed poverty.
Improving the enforcement of national minimum wage legislation.
Implementing Lord Etherton’s recommendations on financial redress in the LGBT veterans independent review.
Debate on countries that use sporting events to “sportswash” their human rights record, and the role of sporting bodies in aiding this practice.
COMMITTEES
Nothing that fits the concerns of this newsletter.
AROUND THE WORLD
Black trans woman fatally shot in Houston [Hoodline]
Houston police are investigating the fatal shooting of a 36-year-old trans woman on Country Creek Drive, occurring around 1.10am Saturday. Witnesses saw a man shoot her from a white Chevrolet Malibu LT before fleeing. The suspect remains unidentified and at large, with police asking for public assistance and information.
Two arrested in Russia's first LGBTQ+ ‘extremism’ case [BBC]
In Russia's first LGBTQ+ ‘extremism’ case, two employees from an Orenburg club were arrested for alleged involvement in an "extremist organisation" after Russia declared the "international LGBT movement" extremist. Facing 10 years in jail, this case marks a significant crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights.
Louisiana Republicans eye anti-trans 'bathroom bill' targeting schools, public buildings [Gambit]
Louisiana Republicans, led by Rep. Roger Wilder III, are advancing a 'bathroom bill' that restricts trans students' restroom use in public schools and facilities, aligning restrooms with biological sex. This is part of a series of anti-LGBTQ measures in a state with rising school hate crimes against LGBTQ individuals, amidst a political shift lacking strong LGBTQ allies.
Republicans are assaulting LGBTQ+ rights. It’s costing them at the polls [Detroit Free Press]
The Republican focus on anti-LGBTQ+ policies and rhetoric, particularly against trans rights, may be backfiring electorally. New polling suggests a majority of swing voters disapprove of anti-trans policies, favouring candidates who support trans rights.
Georgia GOP senators hijack bill for culture war on trans treatment, sex ed and bathroom access [Georgia Recorder]
Initially aimed at improving mental health resources for student athletes, a Georgia bill was drastically altered by GOP senators to include anti-trans measures. Now, it restricts trans students' bathroom access, bans their participation in girls' sports, mandates parental notifications for library checkouts, and limits sex education before sixth grade. But hey, they’re ‘just protecting children’, right?
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Vaughan Gething becomes Wales First Minister
Labour's Vaughan Gething has been elected as Wales' new First Minister, succeeding Mark Drakeford.
Leo Varadkar resignation: No early general election, says Michaél Martin [Irish News]
Tánaiste Micheál Martin has stated that Leo Varadkar's resignation as Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader will not lead to an early general election. Despite being surprised by Varadkar's decision, Martin praised the strong personal relationship between coalition leaders and emphasised the government's commitment to continue serving a full term, addressing pressing issues like housing, education, and health.
Rubiales in trouble again [Sport Witness]
Luis Rubiales is in a spot of bother again. The man who came to the world’s attention for grabbing Spanish World Cup winner Jenni Hermoso and kissing her without her consent live on TV as the world watched, had his house raided by the Civil Guard and Europol in regards to suspected corruption. He has not yet been arrested as he is conveniently out of the country in the Dominican Republic.
COMING UP
Today is World Down Syndrome Day.
9.30am - The latest Department for Work and Pensions stats on households below average income, school absences for the 2022/23 academic period, and council tax data for 2024/25 will drop.
12pm - The Bank of England will make an announcement on interests rates after the drop inflation reported on Wednesday morning. It is expected to keep them where they are. Reports in the papers this morning expect the next cut in interest rates to come no earlier than June.
Greenpeace activists who protested at Rishi Sunak’s house are in court in York.
Keir Starmer will be on The Sun’s new Youtube channel from 8pm with Harry Cole.
RECOMMENDED READING
NHS England’s plan to stop providing puberty blockers to trans teenagers will only force people to get them via illicit means, argues Vic Parsons. [Novara Media]
RECOMMENDED WATCHING
TRANSWRITES YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED
Sex Matters Director Helen Joyce reads porn of teenagers for “research”, by Gemma Stone.
Understanding the “WPATH Files” debate, by Lee Hurley.
Why are people accusing JK Rowling of Holocaust denial? By Gemma Stone.
What does Liz Truss’s anti-trans bill actually say? By Lee Hurley.
JK Rowling will be arrested, finally, by Gemma Stone.
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