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Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 6h

Yes it’s very weird - the Times and Indy coverage was much more clear, the BBC completely buried the trans rights dimension. When you compare the pieces side by side it’s very stark

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Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 8h

Probably not due to diplomatic rules - but if he told her to her face long before the guidance to be careful and she ignored him I think that’s in the public interest!

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Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 8h

It’s very interesting because she had a meeting with the commissioner earlier this year, presumably about this very issue, after which he published his first statement of concern.

I’m really curious if there’s any way via FOI we can get some info as to what was discussed?

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Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 8h

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

European human rights watchdog triggers row with Government over warnings

Michael O’Flaherty published letters raising concerns over the treatment of transgender people and policing protests in the UK.

www.independent.co.uk

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Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 8h

So we knew on a level it was always going to be this, but we’ve now got 100% confirmation, it will be absolute segregation a la the draft code.

Commission chairwoman Baroness Kishwer Falkner said: “The Equality Act 2010 provides for services and facilities to be single-sex where this is necessary and proportionate.

“By definition, this means that members of the opposite biological sex must be excluded. Our code will advise service providers on how they can do this sensitively and in accordance with the law, while ensuring that no-one is left without any access to services such as public toilets.”

She said transgender people remain protected from discrimination by the Equality Act 2010 under the protected characteristic of gender reassignment.

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Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 8h

ECHR as in European Convention of Human Rights, specifically article 8

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Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 10h

They could probably get away with a lot more if they didn’t feel they need to go and look straight down the camera and tell a chunk of their voters their lazy/terrorists/faggots/horrid foreigners (delete as appropriate)

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Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 10h

This is one of the oddest things about the current Labour leadership- I reckon they could have reasonably fought back on their left flank quite easily.

They are so Labour Right brained, they can’t help but stomp and shout when it’s just…. Pissing off their base for little benefit

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Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 11h

Deport them all immediately

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Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 11h

Can’t a brave civil servant leak it just in time to put the boot in? I realise she will probably lose anyway, but it would still be funny

Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 12h

It's no surprise that the Equality and Human Rights Commission's formal guidance on interpreting the ruling is being sat on for now. a/ it's the remit of Bridget Phillipson, who isn't currently keen to upset Labour members; b/ whatever you do, it will be a *massive* can of worms.

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Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 12h

I do think this is actively malign tbh: www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

(Not attacking you btw but I can see people will strongly disagree over where they draw the line)

Sunak refuses to apologise to Brianna Ghey’s father over PMQs trans jibe

PM says it is ‘sad and wrong’ to link his comment about transgender people to case of murdered teenager

www.theguardian.com

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Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 12h

She has form on this…. www.bbc.com/news/article...

'Unacceptable' to question Supreme Court gender ruling, says justice secretary

Shabana Mahmood said judges at the UK's highest court had provided "legal clarity".

www.bbc.com

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Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 13h

She loves to use weasel words - she described there being a “gap in the law” regarding the “cumulative effects” of protests.

No Shabana, that’s just the democratic right to protest!

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Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 13h

Shabana Mahmood is a disgrace and her appointment as Home Secretary is a danger to all our rights.

The fact that the is the one alongside Streeting who the Labour Right are pushing as the next PM indicates a real moral bankruptcy.

flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 13h

The Sensible Moderates, ladies and gentlemen

Geri Scott C @Geri_E_L_Scott
X.com
This has gone down *badly* with some in govt, amid push to reform the ECHR from the inside.
Shabana Mahmood especially is said to take a
"dim view" of arguments made and her allies say issue of trans rights after the Supreme Court's judgement is "beyond reproach".
Govt source says "it doesn't help sustain public confidence in the European Convention when the Council is seen to intervene in domestic politics and national security".
Steven Swinford • @Steven_Swinford • 5h
Breaking:
The government's treatment of trans people in the
UK could breach the European Convention on Human Rights, Europe's human right...

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Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 13h

Does anyone actually believe Sonia’s being anything other than nakedly ideological herself here?

What “expertise” or “knowledge” does she have other than vomiting our reactionary bollocks in her weekly columns?

Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 14h

If that was the justification for this case then that is a very good sign.

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Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 14h

Interesting - and an eminently sensible approach. I think this sort of thing is exactly what many people miss about the trans experience. I don’t think every transphobic really think trans women are the same as cis men - they may have that intellectual belief, but their irl behaviour says different

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Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 14h

Possibly - or it could have been different people doing different things and then Royal Mail dealt with both incidents badly. Or I could have started as straightforward misogyny and then become transphobic when her trans status was discovered.

The article doesn’t make it very clear

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Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 14h

Oh yes don’t worry I didn’t think so! I meant it as a more generally point - the essentialist feminists and the misogynists share the same view ie patriarchy is biological.

A view which I disdain from both camps

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Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 14h

Yes it’s a weird case because she won for discrimination for both gender reassignment and perceived sex as a woman. Not sure how that works exactly

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Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 14h

The issue with this is previous cases of this kind takes about 7 years to reach a final ruling… ie Christine Goodwin actually filed her case in 1995, and the law then wasn’t changed until 2004.

So the best legal hope to squash the EHRC guidance would be in domestic courts if possible

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Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 14h

It’s one of the strangest things I’ve always found about some men claiming feminism “hates men”.

As a feminist who rejects sex essentialism, I think I respect men more because I don’t assume that having a certain level of testosterone means you are unable to stop yourself hurting other people!

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Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 15h

My father in law posted about Zack Polanski in my in laws WhatsApp group - he’s really broken containment 😭

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Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 15h

That’s also a complete misrepresentation of the policy. Heroin and crack cocaine would be provided in a highly regulated medical setting, rather than criminalising addicts.

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Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 16h

Legal question - do you have a view on the likelihood of the EHRC guidance getting struck down via domestic courts as in breach of HRA? (Assuming the guidance matches the interim update broadly speaking)

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