LGB Alliance Cymru has responded to several consultations and written to policy makers.
Stonewall finally wants to talk
Iain Anderson is Stonewall’s new Chair of Trustees. This morning he made his first public appearance, on the BBC. Laura Kuenssberg asked him about engaging with women who are ‘gender critical’. She, quite correctly, told him that questions about about the trans rights debate with many people feeling unfairly silenced.
We are delighted that Laura put him on the spot. It’s not just women though. We want Mr Anderson to know that Stonewall has damaged and betrayed its historical, core constituency: lesbians, gay men and bisexuals.
In our view he should start with meeting Bev Jackson and Kate Harris, the women who founded LGB Alliance UK: women who have taken enormous vilification for standing up for sex-based rights and who have been attacked relentlessly by Stonewall’s supporters.
We’ve written to him to say so. And we will be sharing this post to Twitter of course. Feel free to add your voice.
If Stonewall has finally seen that it must have a debate, let’s make sure its new Chair actually talks to people who believe in the reality of sex. It will not be enough to talk to their cronies in various well-funded women’s organisations: they must talk to those of us who have seen the emperor is well and truly stripped.
To the Chair of Stonewall 301022
Call to Ministers following group litigation against Tavistock Clinic announced
Today an influential international law firm announced group litigation against the discredited Tavistock Clinic. Young people presenting with gender dysphoria in Wales are referred to the London clinic, so it matters for us too. We want Welsh Government to rethink its approach to gender identity services, and consult with integrity and transparency on how such services should be provided here.
We wrote to Mick Antoniw, Counsel General, and Eluned Morgan, Minister for Health, to say so. Our email was blocked. So here it is.
Dear Counsel General and Minister for Health,
Re: Gender Identity Services in Wales
We are writing to you together as we believe this matter is important for both your portfolios, with profound implications for young people, lesbians and gay men, and good governance in Wales.
You may be aware that the international law firm Pogust Godhead has today announced that it is pursuing a group litigation order against the Tavistock and Portman Clinic. It is not yet clear how many families or individuals will take part in the action, or whether any are Welsh. The announcement does demonstrate, however, the conviction that there are major concerns about the legality of services for young people presenting with gender dysphoria as practiced at that clinic.
This action follows the recent announcement that the clinic will be closing due to its unsafe practices. We urge you to note that this is the clear finding of the Interim Cass Review, which states
A fundamentally different service model is needed which is more in line with other paediatric provision, to provide timely and appropriate care for children and young people needing support around their gender identity. This must include support for any other clinical presentations that they may have.
Although some activists have sought to argue the closure is to enable expansion of the services, it is obvious that NHS England and Dr Cass, along with many other clinicians, regard the entire model as unsafe.
This legal action follows the Keira Bell Judicial Review, which found a deeply worrying lack of research evidence underpinning the clinical model involved, in which a high proportion of young people are offered puberty blockers, and 98% of those go on to take wrong-sex hormones, both of which have long term, woefully under-studied physical and mental impacts.
We have written to Welsh Government expressing our concerns about the ‘affirmation model’ promoted by Tavistock, the Gender Identity Service in Wales and activist groups close to policy development. For example, we wrote specific letters to the then Minister for Health and Counsel General on 6 November 2020 and again (cc Counsel General) on 1 December 2020, and we provided a full response on the Action Plan last year. Despite our frequent attempts to meet and be engaged in consultation, we have been rebuffed.
Welsh Government cannot say it has not been warned of the concerns many people in Wales have about your approach.
We have pointed out that:
- Clinicians have reported that in some cases, parents would clearly prefer a trans child to a lesbian or gay one. In such situations, progressing to social, hormonal or surgical transition is obviously ‘transing away the gay’ – a form of conversion therapy;
- The growing number of detransitioners who are lesbian, gay or bisexual reporting that appropriate support for other challenges (trauma, autism etc) would have enabled them to avoid deeply harmful medical interventions;
- The profound homophobia implicit both in the promotion of gender stereotypes and the dismissal of any lesbians, gay men or bisexuals who challenge the current orthodoxy.
It is essential that rather than rushing to ‘affirm’ the alleged dysphoria, clinicians are required to properly examine the individual, and have the resources to do so. In our response to the LGBTQ+ Action Plan, we urged Welsh Government to improve the funding for CAMHS, for this very reason.
We urge you, and through you the whole of Welsh Government, to undertake a thorough and transparent consideration of Welsh Gender Identity Services in the light of the closure of the Tavistock and today’s announcement. In doing so we very much hope you will properly evaluate:
- global, growing clinical concerns about the affirmation model;
- the legality of decisions to persist with such a clinical approach given the major risks both ofmedical harm and legal challenge to such decisions;
- the need to consult widely, including with groups such as ours who are seeing the wrong being done in the name of misplaced ‘kindness’, which is directly hurting the young people of our communities.
We remain committed to dialogue with Welsh Government on this and other matters affecting lesbians, gay men and bisexuals in Wales. We very much hope to hear from you and gain the opportunity for a discussion.
Yours sincerely, Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual Alliance Cymru
WELSH GOVERNMENT: UNKIND, OPAQUE, HOMOPHOBIC AND WRONG
Yesterday, 21 June 2022, Hannah Blythyn, the Deputy Minister for Social Partnership, gave an update on the Welsh Government’s proposed ‘LGBTQ+ Action Plan. Below is our Statement on what she said.
The so-called ‘LGBTQ+ Action Plan’ came in for plenty of criticism. We published our response, setting out both what we welcomed and our many concerns. Welsh government has not published replies to the consultation. Nor have they bothered to acknowledge the issues we raised. Even the most basic definitions have not been provided, a guarantee of bad law to follow.
Have Welsh Government, Labour and Plaid Cymru been living in a fantasy world the last few months? The escalating harassment by activists, increasing concerns from clinicians, the clear evidence accepted by sports’ governing bodies, the growing concerns of parents and teachers are all ignored. Hannah Blythyn needs to stop blithering and recognise reality, before it is too late.
We call on Welsh Government to #CanThePlan.
Those pesky sharps again
We received an anodyne reply from Gwent Police to our enquiry about sharps behind posters. We wanted to know more about the evidence behind the way their statements appear to implicate both an individual woman and women generally in this nonsense.
Their reply is a brush off. So we’ve written again and submitted a lengthy Freedom of Information Request. The letter has lots of detail of case numbers etc. TL:DR your letters and statements don’t add up so we are still digging.
NOT JUST THE SCOTS
The Scottish Parliament has been considering very significant amendments to the Gender Recognition regime. They have pressed ahead despite the growing evidence of detransitioners, the changing position of clinicians around the world and the great disquiet expressed by many members of the public.
Their consultation is closing now. LGBAC has made a quick submission. We believe it affects everyone in the UK, not least by the complexity of acquired rights it creates for people who (shock) move around, and by the unwelcome example it sets of adherence to the unevidenced, damaging gender-extremist ideology.
Much of the questionnaire is very straightforward. In the space for other comments, we have said:
SelfID undermines the rights, boundaries, dignity and self-determination of same-sex attracted people. We have already seen many assaults on lesbians and gay men stating that our sexual orientation is inherently bigoted. As one of our members said: ‘when I came out, saying you hadn’t found the right man yet was standard prejudice. Now I’m told to suck girl dick and it’s supposed to be progressive.’ This is nonsense.
Scottish Government seems to think this is just administration. It isn’t. It alters a fundamental element of the law in ways prejudicial to rights dependent on the reality of biological sex. We know many people will be writing to you about sex and women’s rights. We want you to know that it also insults and damages homosexuals.
It is already very difficult throughout the UK for lesbians to organise (socially, politically, service-based) without the intrusion of men. This Bill will make that even harder. It is already the case that gay men are left out of their own history, whether of the epidemic or publications, in favour of an amorphous genderism which denies and belittles their experience. Your proposals, based on a self-harming and dangerous, unevidenced and anachronistic ideology, take us backwards, not forwards.
Withdraw this bill, consult honestly and with those most negatively affected, and start again.
If you have responded, that is fantastic. If not, watch this space!
LGB Alliance Cymru sets out safety risks with affirmation
Our statement on this issue is below, and our letter to Ministers attached. We add that it has proved extremely difficult to directly contact Ministers at all. What are they avoiding?
Grassroots campaign group Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual Alliance has responded to the recent Welsh Government statements on conversion therapy. They have welcomed the commitment to a ban on attempts to change sexual orientation.
The campaigners urge caution before promoting a blanket ban on conversion therapy for ‘gender identity’, arguing that such an approach could outlaw talking therapies intended to ensure young people are not taking irreversible steps which won’t really help them in the long run. Instead, they point to changes in Scandinavia and America, leading countries in this field, where clinicians are no longer promoting hormones and other interventions for youngsters. LGBAC also quote the interim Cass Review commissioned by UK Government which expresses the same concerns.
LGBAC has called on the Social Justice Minister Hannah Blythyn and Health Minister, Eluned Morgan, to discuss the matters with them before rushing ahead without the evidence they say such a legal change would require.
MORE ON POLICING
We are delighted all charges against Jen Swayne have been dropped. The whole episode demonstrated, yet again, the people – particularly women – speaking up about the reality of patriarchy and homophobia are disregarded or worse by law enforcement and policy makers.
Police & Crime Commissioners (who are elected by us) and Chief Constables have not responded to our concerns about the ways they police our communities. We were outraged by Gwent Police’s comments on the charges made, as reported by the BBC (https://bbc.in/3Emn1WI). We complained about the coverage, and also wrote to Jeff Cuthbert, PCC for Gwent and Chief Constable Pam Kelly.
If they care about policing by consent and trust from our communities, we would love to hear from them.
You can read our full letter athttps://bit.ly/3uOIXXl. We have asked Gwent Police
- to release the details of all such reports [about sharps behind stickers] received in full;
- to confirm that in fact, no such sharps were observed at any time, by any officer or any employee of the local authority;
- again, that you meet with us to discuss these issues, and in particular how our communities can have trust in your approach to policing.
Response to Welsh Government’s LGBTQ+ Action Plan
Our response to the consultation on the Welsh Government’s LGBTQ+ Action Plan is the most comprehensive statement of our concerns and ambitions. You can read it here:
We also held a rally at the Senedd and ran a webinar on the implications.
Police and Crime Commissioners and Chief Constables
We have also recently written to all the Police and Crime Commissioners and Chief Constables of the four Welsh police forces, because we are deeply concerned at the assaults on free speech, the degradation of policing by consent and the failure to monitor sex or sexual orientation. It is a shame on those forces that we have not had any response. Our letter is here:
On Conversion Therapy
The UK Government has proposed a ban on conversion therapy. We of course welcome the principle of such a ban but we are deeply concerned that as drafted the proposals will penalise any therapist exploring gender dysphoria with patients, especially vulnerable young people. We do not accept that ‘affirmation’ is the only or even the best response to people presenting with dysphoria, based on the evidence of detranstioners and evolving clinical practice in Scandinavia and the USA.
Our social media comments and formal response to UK Government are here:
We have also contributed to policy development in health, sport, funding and standards in public life. All this correspondence is either already published on relevant websites or available from us on request.