#uk politics

[pothead-paisan]

did y’all see JKRs tweet today with a link to the UK Communist Party’s statement against the Scottish gender recognition bill? Thank god there are still some official leftist groups whose brains and moral scruples remain intact...

Here’s an excerpt from the summarizing bullet points at the end of the party’s statement: 

The Communist Party is the only political party with a coherent political analysis of sex and gender. Gender as an ideological construct should not be confused or conflated with the material reality of biological sex. Gender is the vehicle through which misogyny is enacted and normalised. Gender identity ideology is well-suited to the needs of the capitalist class, focusing as it does on individual as opposed to collective rights, enabling and supporting the super-exploitation of women.

For these reasons, the Communist Party rejects gender self-ID as the basis for sex-based entitlements in law to women’s single-sex rights, spaces and facilities. The Party will continue to oppose any proposed legislation – whether at Scottish, Welsh or British level – that seeks to enact such a provision.

We call for ‘sex’ as a protected characteristic under the 2010 Equality Act to be defined as ‘biological sex’.

[tunglo]

In some zany reality swap verse, this would be Anakin whining about the epic unfairness of it all. In this one it’s just your typical Tory local election candidate on social media...

[northern-punk-lad]

Experts in what being wrong

[lesbiansandgayssupporttheminers]

[spaceyqueer]

it's trans day of visibility and I used to post selfies of myself on trans day of visibility, but while my face is still probably easy to find I'm not going to share my face today because even if you can see the image of me, the reality of my life right now is that I and many other trans people are invisible. our concerns are invisible, our pain is invisible, our struggles are invisible, while cis people who actively discriminate against us get every camera facing them.

I was referred to the NHS gender identity services in early 2017. I was on the waiting list for gender affirming care until September 2021, which is when I received my first appointment close to five years after I was first referred. After my first appointment, which was an assessment (of which you have to have two, usually, before you receive any medical treatment). I was then booked in for my second appointment with a psychologist in January 2022, but was never actually sent the appointment email (and since this was during the lockdown period, all apointmnets were online) thus I missed the appointment. I called on the day and I called multiple times afterwards before I was finally told that since I'd missed the appointment I would have to wait for when they could fit me in. This turned out to be another six months later, in July 2022, nearly a year after my first appointment. During this appointment, I expressed an interest in hormone therapy and was encouraged away from it and instead got an appointment with a speech therapist. Except, yet again, I never got the appointment email, despite me checking multiple times that they had both my correct home address and my correct email, which they did. Another appointment missed, without even a hint it ever existed. I contacted them, and got told I would have a new one, as well as an appointment with the psychologist from before. I finally got a new appointment with speech therapy in February this year, and an appointment with a different psychologist. That means over a span of about a year and a half I've had a grand total of four appointments. And I've just been confirmed that if I want testosterone, the earliest they'll be able to get any support for me, pending blood tests, is November. Which will be over two years since I initially got off the waiting list.

I'm lucky. My sister, who is also trans, was referred to a brand new gender identity clinic by the NHS and informed she was off the waiting list, expecting her first appointment only to then be left in limbo, as she was told she would be waiting for her first appointment indefinitely. We have no explanation as to why, only guesses that the clinic wasn't fully prepared for the waiting list they received as other people were referred to the sudden new availability. Meanwhile, other trans people I know have been denied referrals, denied hormones, or been waiting so long their mental health declined severely. A few have lost their lives to the long wait, caught in limbo. All this while our government talks about the 'concern' for trans children, and Rishi Sunak publicly agrees with outing trans children to their parents, irrespective of how dangerous it is because 'keeping parents in the dark' is obviously much worse then exposing children to potential abuse, homelessness, conversion therapy (which is still legal in the UK for trans people) or even death. All of this without consulting trans children at all. Pop-culture figures like J K Rowling talk about how women are being neglected as a result of trans rights, while conveniently ignoring the high rates of transphobic and misogynistic hate crimes directed at trans women. 'TERF' Island is a recurring joke about the UK but I find it harder and harder to laugh, even at my own expense

I am 'lucky'. My family (mostly) supports me, I have had appointments with the gender services, and pass enough as a cis woman (despite that making me very uncomfortable, as a non-binary person) that I don't get much harassment on a regular basis. And yet I am still invisible. My coworkers talk about their criticisms of 'trans ideology'. 'Friends' have made jokes about bottom surgery, and how I'd be attractive if I did have it. I've had to ask HR for more training on trans folks, because we've faced abuse from the public for our company being supportive of trans people. I long for a day when this is better. And perhaps on this day I should be sharing a happy story but I couldn't. I really couldn't, and I apologise for that.

I am invisible, and with that I am safe, but I hope for a day when we are visible AND safe.

[feminismisstillahatemovement]

Good article about a very interesting turn of events: the Communist Party of Britain(!) has come out against gender self-ID, correctly recognizing that the trans ideology is, far from any revolutionary counterculture, in reality the politics of all big business and the status quo.

[jakeperalta]

hello people in england this is a reminder that there are local elections coming up soon on 4th may!!

I know councils don't feel very interesting or important compared to central government but they really do make so many decisions that impact our daily lives (also this election acts as a bit of a popularity test ahead of the next general election, with the tories currently predicted to lose a load of seats!)

put in your postcode here to check whether there's an election in your area

if you're not already registered to vote at your current address, you can register here until 17th april

you will need to take ID to be able to vote!! this is the first election requiring voter ID (more info here)

[lost-carcosa]

[pavlovadiplomacy]

[scallopsandmash]

Sans sweep was so powerful the residual shockwaves accidentally killed the fucking queen

An Update:

Also, happy Antifa mob anniversary

[thelxiepia]

go OFF queen

[northern-punk-lad]

The “oh I don’t care if fascism takes over I’ll just move to another country” is such a white abled person take prove me wrong

[lesbiansandgayssupporttheminers]

Starmer's apparently said he supports conservative plans to put refugees in camps.

You know, bad anarchist that I am, I'd really thought about voting in the next GE, maybe even tactically.

But what is the point when they really are all evil.

The only way we fight any of this is by organising among ourselves.

[ayeforscotland]

[ageofgeek]

the special relationship is as strong as ever, lads

[hammyletto]

its me scotland im the ireland speaking to you inside your brain listen to me scotland leave the uk we don’t need it—