#Good Law project

[dduane]

For people's attention

Via old colleague Cheryl Morgan: this warning.

(For reasons unclear to me, I seem unable to simply use the Tumblr link-to-post option here. So, please see below for the meat of Cheryl's message:)

One of the things that has protected trans rights in the UK over the past couple of years is that the Tories are too busy, and too cowardly, to actually repeal the Gender Recognition Act, even though many of their MPs very much want to get that done. The anti-trans lobby is unhappy about this, and is therefore taking matters into its own hands by taking legal action. Very soon, their case will reach the Supreme Court. Should they win, the consequences for trans people in the UK (and equality law more generally) will be catastrophic. The Gender Recognition Act says, unambiguously:

Where a full gender recognition certificate is issued to a person, the person’s gender becomes for all purposes the acquired gender (so that, if the acquired gender is the male gender, the person’s sex becomes that of a man and, if it is the female gender, the person’s sex becomes that of a woman).

However, as I understand it, the argument that will be put before the Supreme Court is that allowing a trans woman to be treated as a woman is, de facto, discrimination against cisgender women, and therefore illegal under the Equality Act. As the Equality Act is a more recent piece of legislation, its provisions should supercede those of the GRA. Hopefully it is obvious that, should this claim succeed, it will open the doors to equivalent claims such as, “letting Black people into my whites-only pub is discrimination against white people,” and “building a wheelchair ramp is discrimination against able-bodied people.” Thankfully such claims are less likely to pass the Supreme Court. But the chances of this getting through are very high. And if it does, not only will the GRA be rendered useless, it will create a climate of fear in businesses all around the country. Because it will be possible for a business (or school, local authority, etc.) to be sued for discrimination if they inadvertently allow a trans woman to be treated as a woman. This will lead to a lot of proactive bans being issued at places like public toilets, gyms, clothing stores and so on. Most of the people caught by this will be gender-nonconforming cisgender women, because despite what the anti-trans lobby claims, they can’t always tell, and neither can anyone else.

...And once you've been stopped going into a women's room because you don't look (pretty) woman enough... well.

Another writer has been funding the less humane side of this argument. The people funding the humane side are short of funds to assist them making the less toxic side of the case.

Please help if you can.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Sophie Perry at PinkNews:

The documents leaked by the Good Law Project and reported by QueerAF state that young people and their families who use “unregulated” and “overseas providers” for gender-affirming care should cease doing so, or they may face safeguarding referrals. Speaking with QueerAF, Jo Maugham KC – executive director of the Good Law Project – said: “It’s reasonable to describe this as an attempt to force people to detransition.” The document, which the Good Law Project states does not bear the name of any NHS professional, asks providers of mental health support to children and young people (CYP) to invite those on the national waiting list for gender services for a face-to-face appointment.

[...] Furthermore, at the assessment stage, the providers have been asked to follow recommendations of the Cass Review and advise children not to take puberty blockers or gender-affirming hormones obtained via routes without “appropriate care”. Whilst it is not stated what “appropriate care” refers to, the “overseas” routes being advised against. If a trans young person disregards such advice and a provider considers that this “puts the child/young person at increased risk, then a safeguarding referral may also be appropriate in line with standard safeguarding approaches”.

In essence, if a trans young person seeks private gender-affirming care and their parents support them, they could be referred to local authorities. [...\ In a statement provided to QueerAF following the publication of its report, a spokesperson for the NHS said that this process is about putting in place an “enhanced mental health support offer for all children and young people under 18 on the waiting list for specialist gender services, or who are awaiting their first appointment with the new services.”

England continues its not-so-sterling reputation as “TERF Island”, as trans kids in England could be forced to detransition following the Cass Review, per a leaked proposal from NHS England.

[tweetingukpolitics]

[dkettchen]

The court rejected the first attempt at sueing the NHS over the waiting lists, they’re now trying to appeal that decision to hopefully get a different result and they’re less than £1.5k away from their goal needed to do that!

[teslafactory]

the abruptness...

[anyoneknowwhatbrexitmeans]

“Good Law Project can reveal that fast-track contracts handed out to Tory connections were 80% more expensive than other suppliers.”

[convertgrapeling]

I gave a decent chunk of money to the Good Law Project a couple of years back and I definitely regret it now. At the time, I was really angry about the court judgment that prevented trans people under 16 from being able to receive medical intervention, and I probably would have donated to Satan himself if he promised to do something about it.

That ruling got overturned but it doesn't change the fact that it still takes years to access gender services in the NHS, making it all but useless to most people under 16 anyway. So they went to court with that and lost, because people don't understand how backwards the "diagnosing and treating dysphoria" model for UK services is and because people somehow think that funding problems are just a fact of life.

And since I made that donation, the Good Law Project has announced that it refuses to take a position on sex worker rights because it doesn't want to alienate potential donors. They've also worked with Jess Philips, who has done more to harm trans people than to help anyone. I should have given the money to a trans mutual aid group instead and I hope sharing this might dissuade anyone else from chucking their money towards a liberal charity out of desperation and to think about where that money can do the most good.

[tweetingukpolitics]

[hxhhasmysoul]

kenjaku never did anything wrong. they are a feminist icon, have you seen a single working mother like them? so dedicated to their work* and their hobbies** and their favourite child*** . before kenny became the single mother of the millenium they were the best wife, each and every time them and jin got together and tried to build a little vessel****. and brief as it were, mother was the best boyfriend to their soulmate takaba.

[minniiaa]

Lawlu soulmate AU where soulmates are a rarity. Law doesn’t believe in soulmates but when he turns 18 he gets a soulmate tattoo and years pass without him finding the person.

He meets Luffy and suddenly realizes it’s him and they sleep together out of pure instinct but he rejects him right after because Law stubbornly believes anyone who becomes his family will die. Problem is if you reject your soulmate you get extremely ill so the harder he fights the sicker he gets.

Meanwhile, Luffy can’t understand why Law won’t love him even though they’re soulmates and he loved him from the moment he saw him and even though he accepts him he has to suffer his illness through their bond and can’t do anything about it.