Categories
Events

History in the making

Yesterday, 3 February, we made LGB history.

We had a stand at the regular Living Well community event in the Waterfront Museum in Swansea. Organised by Swansea Council, each month has an extra ‘theme’ with relevant community groups invited to take part. This is ‘LGBTQ+’ History Month, so we went along. So far so ordinary – except that this is the very first time an Alliance group has been at a public event alongside the many organisations that claim to represent a grand alphabet of people combining sexual orientation with gender identity.

Categories
Events

Will Welsh Government implement the Cass Review? If not, why not?

Today, 15 April, Vaughan Gething meets with his Cabinet for the first time. We call on him to ensure discussion of the unfolding medical scandal of harmful hormones and lifetime, irreversible harm.

Will Welsh Government accept the recommendations of the Cass Review in full and ensure Wales NHS and Welsh Gender Services participate as equal partners with NHS England in the follow-up review of adult services? If not, why not?

Hundreds of young Welsh people have been referred to the Tavistock Clinic in London over the past decade, yet the Cass report appears to have gone unnoticed by the Welsh Government.  Their silence is astonishing. It seems that they do not even know how many children were involved, and NHS Wales does not know the outcomes of their experimental treatment.

 We hope that the publication of this major report sees the end of this major scandal which has been promoted so enthusiastically by the Welsh Government.

LGBAC letter to First Minister re Cass Review

 

Categories
Comment

It’s all about Independence

The authors must be anonymous to protect their income. The managers of this site know who they are.

Why, Nicola? Just why?

I don’t think the Gender Recognition legal changes in Scotland are really about gender (however you define it). It’s part of a bigger picture of nationalism, brinkmanship, and forced hands. ‘Gender Recognition Reform’ has been passed in Scotland; it will force the UK government to do one of two things. Either back off from Scottish law making – or shut it down.

This is made clear by the statement from the UK Minister for (among other things) Equality, Kemi Badenoch in her tweet after the Bill was passed at Holyrood. It is further amplified by the comment(from the Guardian of all places) that the antics in Edinburgh place ‘tensions around transgender rights into the constitutional arena.

If the UK Government does nothing, it will be seen to be tacitly approving Scottish independence. They will have to treat Scotland as a lawmaker in the same way they view Ireland, or Sweden. If they intervene as Badenoch suggests, they’ll be seen as wielding the hammer of English oppression – even though MSPs knew full well what they were doing when they passed laws which conflicted with the (non-devolved) Equality Act.

Law-making brinkmanship

The ultimate, avowed goal for the SNP and Nicola Sturgeon is independence. They don’t care who gets steamrollered along the way: prisoners, children, athletes, LGB people, women? Away with them all. From their standpoint,  either reaction from Westminster benefits Scottish independence., so it’s worth the row.

I don’t care about nationalism, at this point.  Vulnerable women, children and teenagers have been thrown under the bus in service of the ‘greater cause’ of Scottish independence. It’s law-making brinkmanship. Sturgeon couldn’t use housing, education or policing for this, because they are already devolved. Making real changes to people’s lives in those areas is costly and hard, and wouldn’t make Westminster look bad. But when it comes to ‘Gender Recognition’ – there, Scotland can still tug at the leash of UK Govt law making. And they say, ‘it’s just admin!’ What could be cheaper than admin?

Except it’s not. It really, really, isn’t ‘just admin’. If you can’t see the problem with housing male rapists in prison with female offenders – if you’ve never known a girl teenager with an eating disorder, autism or a history of sexual harassment/assault, and seen their unhappiness at being born a girl – if you’ve never known a gay boy who was so badly bullied that they wished they’d been born a girl – then you just need to look around you. The answer isn’t to let them change ‘gender’ without scrutiny, or safeguarding.

Nicola Sturgeon has been denied a second Indyref, for now. So Scottish Government are trying to push through unworkable GRA legal reforms, which will be impossible to implement across current government borders in the UK, in order to force the UK government’s hand.

And they don’t care who they hurt in the process. Victims were never their concern.

 

Categories
Comment

Homoffobia a niweidiau eraill yng Nghynllun Gweithredu LHDTC+ Llywodraeth Cymru

Y bwriad yma yw rhoi syniad i chi o’r math o sylwadau a roddwyd gan y rheiny a wnaeth ymateb i’r ymgynghoriad. Mae hyn yn bwysig nid yn unig er mwyn gwella deallusrwydd pobl o safbwynt y rheiny sy’n teimlo bod y Cynllun Gweithredu yn niweidiol, ond hefyd fel bod cofnod cyhoeddus o bryderon y cyhoedd petai’r Llywodraeth yn penderfynu anwybyddu lleisiau’r grwpiau dan warchae o ganlyniad i rym a dylanwad y grwpiau lobïo ar ein gwleidyddion.

‘… when emerging evidence shows that a large minority of girls now identifying as trans are also autistic… what safeguards exist to protect these children from making disastrous decisions at a young age?’

‘The high prevalence of PTSD, dysphoria, neuro-divergence, self-harming and eating disorders among people presenting with issues relating to sex and gender identity is completely ignored in the Action Plan.’

 O Orffennaf 2021 i Hydref 2021, cynhaliwyd ymgynhoriad gan Lywodraeth Cymru ar y Cynllun Gweithredu LHDTC+ arfaethedig. Os ewch chi i wefan y Llywodraeth, fe welwch y neges yma:

‘mae ymatebion i’r ymgynghoriad yn cael ei [sic] adolygu ar hyn o bryd. Bydd manylion am y canlyniad yn cael eu cyhoeddi yma maes o law’.

Gobeithiwn yn daer bod y broses o adolygu dal ar waith blwyddyn gron yn ddiweddarach yn golygu bod y llywodraeth wedi derbyn digon o ymatebion meddylgar, craff a dilys i orfodi iddynt ddeffro ac ail-ystyried cynnwys ac egwyddorion gwallus y cynllun. Wedi dweud hynny, rydym ymhell o fod yn hyderus o hyn.

‘It [the Action Plan] will cause significant conflict when people try to assert their sex-based rights as described in law. A perfect example of this can be found in the Introduction written by the First Minister, the Minister for Social Justice and the Deputy Minister for Social Partnership in the Easy Read version of the Plan. It says “protected characteristics includes race, age, gender, religion, disability and sex”. This is not accurate. ‘Gender’ is not a protected characteristic, whereas ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘transitioning’ are.’

 Mae’r un wybodaeth gamarweiniol parthed y Nodweddion Gwarchodedig yn cael ei defnyddio yn y ddogfen lawn hefyd. P’un ai bod y Llywodraeth yn camarwain y cyhoedd yn fwriadol neu yn dangos diffyg dealltwriaeth o’r gyfraith, mae’r ddau esboniad yr un mor ddamniol a’i gilydd.

‘The fact the Action Plan itself exhibits significant bias, totaling 121 references to ‘trans’ or ‘queer’ and only 50 references to ‘lesbian’, ‘gay’ and ‘bisexual altogether, supports the claims that LGB people are not equal beneficiaries of the Government’s Action Plan but would actually be significantly discriminated against by its implementation.’

Daw i Ni Ein Doe yn Ôl.

Basai’n resymol i feddwl ein bod ni fel grŵ o bobl LHD yn gryn gefnogol o unrhyw gynllun sydd yn datgan ymrwymiad cenedlaethol at ‘hyrwyddo cydraddoldeb LHDTC+’? Y broblem yw nid cynllun sy’n cefnogi pobl LHD sydd gennym yn y cynllwn hwn.

‘The priorities of LGB people are not always compatible with those of trans people as the latter seek to eliminate the importance of sex and sexual orientation in law. Creating just one Action Plan for people whose identity is sex-based/sexuality-based and those whose identity is based on gender identity exhibits a complete lack of understanding of the material problems faced by diverse groups by erroneously placing them under one umbrella.’

 ‘Any such Action Plan should state the correct definitions of ‘homosexual’, ‘gay’, ‘lesbian’ and ‘bisexual’ and make it absolutely clear that gender concepts play no part in these definitions.’

 Gan ystyried bod yr ymchwil prin sydd gennym yn awgrymu bod hyd at 80% o blant sy’n huniaethu â bod yn ‘traws’ yn debygol o fod yn lesbiaid neu hoywon ifainc mewn trallod, onid yw’r Llywodraeth yn peryglu dyfodol y plant yma wrth gynnig dim ond un math o therapi sy’n cadarnhau ac yn annog ymlymiad at hunaniaeth sy’n debygol o fod yn fyrhoedlog?

 ‘Affirmation as the sole type of therapy for gender questioning children and young people puts the Welsh Government at risk of operating a policy of state-sanctioned gay conversion therapy.’

Mae gwahardd amrediad eang o leisiau LHD fel rhan o bolisi sy’n bwriadu helpu plant a phobl ifanc sy’n ansicr o’u rhywioldeb yn beryglus tu hwnt. Does gan grwpiau lobïo LHDTC+ ddim hawl i siarad ar ran pobl LHD yn gyffredinol.

‘As a young, gender nonconforming child, ignorant of what being gay was, even fearful of it, I would’ve found the promises of gender ideology incredibly alluring. Affirmation therapy would’ve compounded my ignorance, setting me on a pathway of transition that would not have been the right path for me.’

 ‘I would like to end by commenting on the very obvious omission of detransitioners in the Welsh Government’s LGBT Action Plan. In light of the emerging evidence from detransitioners/desisters and clinicians, a government that is determined to push affirmation therapy as the only pathway for gender questioning youth must also make provision for those who seek to detransition and to be accountable to those for whom medical transition was not the correct pathway in life.’

Manifesto Grwpiau Lobïo Eithafol

Yr hyn sydd gennym yn y ddogfen ddrafft yw maniffesto ar gyfer athroniaeth Americanaidd sy’n mynnu bod hawliau ac anghenion aelodau eraill cymdeithas yn llai pwysig nag hunaniaeth anwadal, amhosib i’w diffinio, un grŵp arbennig. Does dim ystyriaeth o’r ffaith bod grwpiau lobïo yn gwthio athroniaeth neo-grefyddol ac homoffobig ar weddill y gymdeithas gyda sêl bendith a chefnogaeth y Llywodraeth yng Nghymru.

‘I believe the Action Plan will be damaging to LGB people. It not only promotes the use of the word ‘queer’ (on the basis of nothing more than some people, largely heterosexual people, have decided to ‘reclaim’ it), but also it promotes an ideology that believes that same-sex attraction is just a ‘genital preference’ that we need to ‘unlearn’.’

 ‘Who says the word ‘queer’ has been ‘reclaimed’? Heterosexual people?’

 ‘Queer’ is still a synonym for ‘not normal’ and we are expected to be ok with this? This is not inclusive language, it is cultural appropriation, colonisation and homophobia.’

To see this word [queer] proudly used by our own Government makes me feel that gay people and history are being erased, yet again, in order to accommodate heterosexual people’s prejudices.’

 ‘Oes rhaid i fi dderbyn cael fy ngalw’n ‘cwiar’ neu wynebu cyhyddiadau megis ‘trawsffobia’? Homoffbia yw hyn, yn union fel yr homoffobia wnes i ei wynebu fel person hoyw ifanc yng Nghymru trwy gydol yr 1980au.’

 Yn ôl disgyblion y grefydd newydd hon, does NEB – nid menywod, nid pobl hoyw, nid plant hyd yn oed – yn fwy bregus nac ychwaith yn wynebu fwy o berygl o ddydd i ddydd na’r grŵp ‘sanctaidd’ yma. Felly, mae eu hathroniaeth yn mynnu, rhaid dyrchafu eu dymuniadau nhw uwchlaw pob unigolyn a grŵp arall – serch y ffaith does dim tystiolaeth ddibynadwy i gefnogi eu daliadau o gwbl.

‘Mae’r Cynllun Gweithredu wedi’i ysgrifennu gyda dymuniadau pobl TC+ yn unig mewn golwg ac mae’n anwybyddu’r drwg a wneir i bobl LHD, menywod a phlant drwy ei weithredu.’

Pa Beth Yr Aethom Allan I’w Hennill?

Yr hyn sy’ fwya bisâr am ymlediad yr ideoloeg niweidiol hon, yw’r modd y mae hi wedi llwyddo argyhoeddi cynifer o bobl, sefydliadau cyhoeddus, elusennau a chwmnïau o bob math bod y mesurau diogelwch a’r hawliau cyfreithlon sydd eisoes gan grwpiau eraill yn israddol neu’n hollol ddibwys o gymharu â dymuniadau mwyfwy eithafol pobl traws a ‘cwiar’. Does DIM cydnabyddiaeth o bwrpas hawliau menywod, pobl hoyw neu blant yn hyn oll na chydnabyddiaeth o’r rhesymau y roddwyd yr hawliau gyfreithlon hynny iddynt yn y lle cyntaf. Mae e fel petai bod yr ideoleg wedi achosi amnesia torfol wrth i bobl amsugno ac ail-adrodd y catecismau disynnwyr sy’n rhan annatod a phwerus o’r athroniaeth anwyddonol hon. Yn awr, dyfarnir pobl hoyw yn gul eu barn ac yn rhagfarnllyd am iddynt wrthod pobl o’r rhyw gyferbyniol fel partneriaid rhamantus a/neu rywiol!

 Yr hyn y mae Cynllun Gweithredu LHDTC+ y Llywodraeth yn dangos yw bod ein cynrychiolwyr etholedig, y Llywodraeth etholedig yng Nghymru, wedi mabwysiadu’r credoau hyn heb unrhyw graffter neu wrthrychedd o gwbl.

‘LGB people need the Government to recognize the diversity of experience and belief in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans communities. This cannot happen when a so-called ‘Expert Panel’ is formed without proper, Nolan-compliant procedures. A FOI request reveals, the panel members were selected on the basis of their [pre-existing] compliance to a rigid set of ideas about ‘gender identity’.’

Mae’r llywodraeth wedi rhoi’r cyfrifoldeb o bennu gwerthoedd moesol y llywodraeth a’r wlad yn nwylo grwpiau lobïo oherwydd iddynt fethu’n llwyr i sicrhau amrediad eang o leisiau a safbwyntiau yn y broses o lunio’r Cynllun Gweithredu. Yn fyr, mae’r Llywodraeth wedi trosglwyddo’r cyfrifoldeb i bobl nas etholwyd gan unrhyw berson yng Nghymru, megis Stonewall, sydd wedi eu galluogi i weithredu eu hagenda ideolegol personol ar lefel cenedlaethol. Yn ogystal â hyn, mae’r grwpiau yma wedi llwyddo camarwain nifer fawr o bobl a sefydliadau (gan gynnwys y Llywodraeth, mae’n debyg) bod eu hagenda yn adlewyrchu’r gyfraith yn y DU!

‘In effect, the Welsh Government is adopting a neo-religious belief system that is not widely shared in society, namely that an individual can literally change their sex and that this alleged phenomenon actively trumps biological sex in the domain of rights in law. The lack of a properly evidenced and consulted-upon Equality Impact Assessment makes adoption of the recommendations vulnerable to judicial review. The Welsh Government has not followed its own guidelines in regard to Public Sector Equality Duty which, again, calls into question the Action Plan’s lawfulness.’

‘The Government’s impartiality and adherence to evidence must be clear in any proposal put out for public consultation. The Government should reject policy input from any lobbying group with which the Government has financial connections, such as Stonewall. Allowing lobbying organisations who receive large Government donations to provide training, policy advice and assessment of Government performance is clearly unacceptable and could expose the Government to accusations of corruption.’

Sgwn i faint o’r sylwadau anghyffyrddus niferus a dderbyniwyd gan y llywodraeth y byddan nhw yn ddigon dewr a thryloyw i gyhoeddi fel rhan o’r adroddiad ar yr ymateb i’r Cynllun Gweithredu? A pha effaith caiff yr ymatebion hyn ar y Cynllun Gweithredu terfynol ac ar fywydau pobl LHD yng Nghymru?

Amser a ddengys yn yr achos yma, ond un peth sy’n sicr: nid yw hawliau pobl LHD wedi dioddef y fath ymosodiad ers hugain mlynedd neu fwy. Yr hyn aethom allan i’w hennill oedd cydraddoldeb, ond mae ein hawliau fel pobl sydd ond yn teimlo atyniad rhamantus/rhywiol tuag at bobl o’r un RHYW dan warchae unwaith eto.

Hawl i fod, hawl i fyw, hawl i garu yr un rhyw!

 

Categories
Comment Events

LGBAC CONFERENCE 2022 -London, here we are!

 

Our member, who thoroughly enjoyed the conference, nonetheless needs to remain anonymous to protect themselves. The administrators of this site know who wrote this.

Getting in!

Held in a huge venue beside parliament square, this was a tourist delight for us out-of-London delegates.

First thing first: check security of entrance. Well sorted. Police watching over a motley crew of protestors – around 25 of them screaming and shouting about god knows what, with the obligatory hand-made signs, flags and face coverings. The entrance path to the venue safely on the other side of the building. Enough said about them.

Excitement filled the hall as delegates made their way to the first session of the morning. Entitled along the lines of the ‘New Intolerance’, speakers included Helen Joyce, Julie Bindel, Kathleen Stock and Sheree Benjamin.

Categories
Comment

CLOSE DOWN MERMAIDS

 

Close down Mermaids. Stop consulting with them. Remove them from the list of consultees, providers, experts and referrals. They should have no part in the landscape of Wales.

We call on the Welsh Government, the Children’s Commissioner for Wales and all those authorities talking to this discredited charity to remove them from their circles. We call on the Health and Education Ministers in particular to stop all association – and to remove resources which direct children, families, teachers and clinicians to this charity. We urge the Children’s Commissioner for Wales to join with her English equivalent in ensuring children’s rights are protected and that safeguarding is paramount

Basic safeguarding in recruitment.

The charity, which specialises in services for young people experiencing gender dysphoria (so-called ‘trans children’) is already being investigated by the Charity Commission. It seems the regulator is already concerned by their lax approach to safeguarding, not least providing harmful breast binders to girls without parental knowledge. Yesterday has seen yet another appalling disclosure: that their trustee, Dr Jacob Breslow, has a long record of promoting the acceptance of child abuse.

Dr Breslow vehemently argues that children are sexual agents and that it is society which is wrong for condemning sexual relationships between adults and children.

 

This LSE assistant professor stepped down from his role with Mermaids just last night, 3 October 2022, after a string of revelations about his interests. He has published many articles and given speeches on his research into ‘queering childhood’ and destigmatising ‘minor attracted people’. (ICYMI, the term ‘MAP’ is the gender-ideologues preferred term for paedophiles.)

Be aware, quoting his work involves some graphic language. In 2011, he gave a speech likening ‘cumming on a shoe’ to ‘cumming on or possibly even with a child’. His own WordPress blog describes his latest book as ‘explor[ing] … the queer life of children’s desires [and] the steadfastness of the gender binary.’ If you would like to see more evidence of his research position, there’s quite a bit of material at https://4w.pub/lecturer-claims-children-perverse/.

All well and good to explore the limits of Queer Theory, you might say. Maybe Dr Breslow is offering an illustration of the utter nonsense which follows when you pursue this no-boundaries, performative philosophy to its logical conclusions. Maybe he is. Should a person who upholds such beliefs about the sexual availability of children and the rights of child rapists be a trustee of a charity? A charity offering services to young people already confused and vulnerable about gender issues (by definition)? A charity already under fire for its approach to medicalisation?

Of course not.

Mermaids is now protesting they had no idea about his views? Either they’re lying or they are incredibly incompetent. Do they just accept any personable individual with an academic title and an interest in young people to join their board? Do they have no concept of basic safeguarding in recruitment?

The Charity Commission needs to know. Young people and families using Mermaids services need to know. Policy makers and legislators taking Mermaids’ advice need to know. And those of us traduced so often for challenging Mermaids have to know too.

Is Mark Drakeford willing to listen? Or Jeremy Miles and Eluned Morgan?

On 10 May this year, Laura Jones MS challenged the First Minister to explain his government’s position on the Cass review of the Tavistock Clinic. You can see the exchange at https://fb.watch/fXHZNesZeV/.

Mr Drakeford says the relevant government committee met with Dr Cass last March. He describes the Review as ‘one source of evidence amongst others’ and adds that Welsh Government are ‘asking for expressions of interest from those in the field for a Gender Identity Development Service in Wales…sensitive to the landscape of services [here]’.

Are Mermaids part of our landscape? Surely not, given all the hooha.

But of course they are. This is Wales, that progressive land where women must be silenced and lesbian or gay voices which don’t toe the Stonewall line cast into outer darkness. We know Mermaids have a lot of pull here. The new Relationship and Sexuality  Education (RSE) curriculum relies on resources provided by Agenda and Crush. Both provide clear links to Mermaids. (Of course neither Safe Schools Alliance nor Transgender Trendare listed despite their clear expertise in these matters.)

 

Any resource, any consultation, any invitation to design or deliver services which includes Mermaids should immediately be withdrawn and completely rethought

Surely this is evidence enough, First Minister? The ideology epitomised by Mermaids and perpetuated by Stonewall is *dangerous*. It exposes our young people to adults who think their bodies, their futures and their rights must be trampled under an extremist juggernaut.

Is a backlash coming?

Let us be very clear about another point.

Child abuse is one of the oldest slurs thrown at gay men. We utterly repudiate that prejudice. Child rape is absolutely disgusting, whoever perpetrates it – largely men trusted in family or professional circles.

The homophobic slur has always been unjustified. We know that most victims already know their abuser, so organisations which break into those circles and encourage secrets kept from responsible adults must be subject to extra scrutiny. Most abusers are male, and girls and disabled children are particularly at risk.

We are deeply concerned that in the rightful public anger at the behaviour of Mermaids and their safeguarding failures, that adult gay men will experience a homophobic backlash. We urge all those organisations concerned about this issue to oppose the revival of such prejudices which will do nothing to protect children.

And finally

We must also make clear that LGB Alliance Cymru is not a part of LGB Alliance UK, and we are not a charity. We are proud to bear the Alliance label and be part of that family. Bev Jackson, the amazing co-founder of LGBA, recently said on the stand that of course our two groups communicate, we share a lot of views, but we are not the same organisation. And as the revered founder of Pride, Fred Sargent, stated recently (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzR3Id6yeOc), there are now twenty such chapters across four continents.

This matters: we are free to speak out about this nonsense. It is an unfunny irony that Bev made that comment during a court case in which Mermaids is trying to strip LGBA of its hard won charity status. Yet it is clearer with every new revelation that it is Mermaids which is unfit for purpose.

Categories
Experiences

Burning currents of homophobia: Then and now

It’s funny. As a teenager and young man I was always adamant I would never end up living in the Welsh valleys. I grew up here and it always seemed boring, quiet, never anything going on. When I realised my sexual orientation there also saw the burning undercurrent of homophobia. I wanted to live somewhere much more exciting and much more accepting of gay people.

I started going to gay clubs in Cardiff when I was 16. I am sure I looked underage (and could never get into any other clubs) but I think it was just accepted and allowed that underage boys could come in. Of course, I wasn’t that naïve, and a friend of mine at college (a ‘sixth form’ college for those of you unfamiliar with the concept; it was not part of a school nor was there a uniform but you could take A-Levels there) had a harsh and cruel encounter with the darker side of this culture, when he woke up in a dark room above one of the clubs after a night out. He had been drugged and abused.

Categories
Events

Lesbian Reconnection

Places available

We are proud to be associated with the Lesbian Reconnection Programme run by WomenZone and primarily funded by Swansea Council. These events all take place in Swansea and the Gower, and are open to lesbians over 50 where spaces are available. The programme is evolving as women ask for additional activities and the budget allows, so contact womenszone@gmail.com for updates or to register your interest in events.

Categories
Events

The Lesbian Reconnection programme is live!

Last week I wrote about some research into the lesbian experience during the pandemic – and showed how little real information there is about our experiences. I promised some action.

Categories
Research

Lesbian experiences of the pandemic

It’s become a cliché. We’re all in the same storm, but not all in the same boat. We know that some people have made a lot of money out of Covid, while many have got much poorer. A few had parties while we missed our families, endured sickness and bereavement, learned, or did not, to live with loneliness.

I was interested to know about the specific experiences of lesbians – that class of humans constituted of adult human females sexually attracted to other adult human females. Experience in my networks suggested that there might be some trends that were exaggerated in our community and I wondered if anyone had taken a rigorous look.

Not so much.