Rob Mullins
@robertmullins.bsky.social
Associate Professor, University of Queensland. My views are not the views of my employer.
Pinned
Rob Mullins
@robertmullins.bsky.social
· Jun 16
Does Nature Need Rights?
Abstract. Rights of nature (RoN) appear to provide a promising alternative to anthropocentric environmental rights. But do they meet the demands of transfo
academic.oup.com
My article "Does Nature Need Rights?" (coauthored with the wonderful Lulu Weis), forthcoming in the OJLS, is now available open access: academic.oup.com/ojls/advance...
Reposted by Rob Mullins
"everyone that lives here, along the river [has] gotta live off water and … without water, you know, we got nothing." - Fred Bennett, Barkandji ranger
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
Out here, the river is life. But right now, not even children will swim in it
For months, people in remote Indigenous communities have been reporting skin rashes after going in the water, and a report confirms something is wrong with the river.
www.abc.net.au
November 27, 2025 at 1:50 AM
"everyone that lives here, along the river [has] gotta live off water and … without water, you know, we got nothing." - Fred Bennett, Barkandji ranger
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
What gets me about both the reporting and the judge's language is that even supposing "gender ideology" is some sort of religious belief, you would be more respectful of someone's religious belief than this. "..born Robert Prevost but now identifying as 'Pope Leo'".
They keep fucking editing the article, but it's not any better. And this addition about why the judge referred to her as "them" is like a parody of impartiality
![An excerpt from the linked article that reads:
[The judge] explained that the prosecution used female pronouns to refer to the complainant during the trial, while Linehan's defence used male pronouns. The judge said she had chosen to refer to Brooks using "gender neutral pronouns and as 'the complainant'" in her ruling.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:umokacyt44veykd6qw5zokyi/bafkreifcuteahuy7btte3q77evxfatrh7ddbi676sw4squ6hrpshakcszm@jpeg)
November 25, 2025 at 9:04 PM
What gets me about both the reporting and the judge's language is that even supposing "gender ideology" is some sort of religious belief, you would be more respectful of someone's religious belief than this. "..born Robert Prevost but now identifying as 'Pope Leo'".
I'm going to repeat my request that any of my current or former colleagues in the UK think about being more outspoken about this.
I don’t like subtweeting people I consider online friends, but there is a subset of people who are very worried about the ongoing radicalisation of our political elite but won’t ever acknowledge the echoes with the radicalisation of their colleagues on trans rights
And few who are sympathetic to us, some who are friendly with me on here, will ever stick their head above the parapet
November 25, 2025 at 12:49 PM
I'm going to repeat my request that any of my current or former colleagues in the UK think about being more outspoken about this.
Reposted by Rob Mullins
Can anyone recommend any good autobiographies or edited collections featuring trans+ life writing?
November 23, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Can anyone recommend any good autobiographies or edited collections featuring trans+ life writing?
Reposted by Rob Mullins
despite everyone sort of knowing fed soc was affirmative action for asshole beliefs, there was still a lot of prestige attached to it. there was negative prestige attached to, say, critical legal studies.
November 22, 2025 at 6:59 PM
despite everyone sort of knowing fed soc was affirmative action for asshole beliefs, there was still a lot of prestige attached to it. there was negative prestige attached to, say, critical legal studies.
Reposted by Rob Mullins
I still can't quite believe they're going for this. They got a court to endorse the idea that the drafters of the GRA 2004 didn't understand their own drafting, and brought the idea of "biological sex" back from the dead. And they're using it to police toilets.
the ehrc leaked the draft guidance
answers "what if a business doesn't have space to create gender neutral toilets?"
then trans people just can't use the toilet there
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
answers "what if a business doesn't have space to create gender neutral toilets?"
then trans people just can't use the toilet there
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
November 20, 2025 at 12:36 PM
I still can't quite believe they're going for this. They got a court to endorse the idea that the drafters of the GRA 2004 didn't understand their own drafting, and brought the idea of "biological sex" back from the dead. And they're using it to police toilets.
I am still very confused by the argument that EHRC make against trans-inclusive services under Schedule 3 of the Act, but I've deleted my initial post because I don't want to mislead people. Jess makes a great contribution in reply.
Suppose a service is run on perception. A trans woman is denied entry on the basis that she is visibly trans. She sues for direct *sex* discrimination. On the EHRC reading she would succeed if she could show that any other "biological men" had used the service.
November 20, 2025 at 5:50 AM
I am still very confused by the argument that EHRC make against trans-inclusive services under Schedule 3 of the Act, but I've deleted my initial post because I don't want to mislead people. Jess makes a great contribution in reply.
Reposted by Rob Mullins
So. Have had a look at the long title and empowering provision for making regulations under the Medicines Act 1981 in re the puberty blockers decision with a view to judicial review prospects. & it's pretty hard to scope prospects for success at this stage, tbh. Short thread as to why & next steps.
November 19, 2025 at 7:35 PM
So. Have had a look at the long title and empowering provision for making regulations under the Medicines Act 1981 in re the puberty blockers decision with a view to judicial review prospects. & it's pretty hard to scope prospects for success at this stage, tbh. Short thread as to why & next steps.
Reposted by Rob Mullins
"Israeli soldiers . described a free-for-all in Gaza and a breakdown in norms and legal constraints, with civilians killed at the whim of individual officers"
“If you want to shoot without restraint, you can,” [says] Daniel, the commander of an [IDF] tank unit"
“If you want to shoot without restraint, you can,” [says] Daniel, the commander of an [IDF] tank unit"
November 10, 2025 at 12:28 PM
"Israeli soldiers . described a free-for-all in Gaza and a breakdown in norms and legal constraints, with civilians killed at the whim of individual officers"
“If you want to shoot without restraint, you can,” [says] Daniel, the commander of an [IDF] tank unit"
“If you want to shoot without restraint, you can,” [says] Daniel, the commander of an [IDF] tank unit"
I'm on my fourth or fifth listen of Double Infinity and I'm getting ready to fill out my apology form for sleeping on Big Thief yet again.
November 18, 2025 at 11:54 PM
I'm on my fourth or fifth listen of Double Infinity and I'm getting ready to fill out my apology form for sleeping on Big Thief yet again.
This is horrifying: www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
The horrific murders of Hannah Clarke and her children stunned Australia. Could they have been saved?
Exclusive: A two-year Guardian investigation reveals new details about the critical final weeks of Clarke’s life, casting doubt on the coroner’s finding that nothing more could have been done to preve...
www.theguardian.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:44 AM
This is horrifying: www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Reposted by Rob Mullins
Mark Bennett and Joe Tomlinson: Life Events and Administrative Justice ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/11/17/m...
Mark Bennett and Joe Tomlinson: Life Events and Administrative Justice
Administrative justice has traditionally been evaluated through the prism of categories constructed by the state, usually by reference to the functions it pursues—taxation, immigration, education, …
ukconstitutionallaw.org
November 17, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Mark Bennett and Joe Tomlinson: Life Events and Administrative Justice ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/11/17/m...
"Trans-exclusionary and “gender critical” takes are extremely prevalent in the British media. I therefore wrote with the assumption that many readers might not realise that such views are seen as fringe and extreme by the vast majority of feminists outside the UK (and by many within the UK too)."
This piece was greenlit and then killed by a British newspaper, so I’ve decided to publish myself instead.
Trans People Deserve Better.
"Gender critical" feminism doesn't help women but it does help the far right
open.substack.com/pub/wellread...
Trans People Deserve Better.
"Gender critical" feminism doesn't help women but it does help the far right
open.substack.com/pub/wellread...
Trans People Deserve Better
"Gender critical" feminism doesn't help women but it does help the far right
open.substack.com
November 17, 2025 at 11:06 AM
"Trans-exclusionary and “gender critical” takes are extremely prevalent in the British media. I therefore wrote with the assumption that many readers might not realise that such views are seen as fringe and extreme by the vast majority of feminists outside the UK (and by many within the UK too)."
I'm very grateful to Ashley for this detailed summary of the hearing in GLP v EHRC. Largely for my own edification, I'm going to try to summarise the basic issues raised in plain English. I'm going to try to be as neutral as possible.🧵
1/🧵 Day 2 of 2. Today at 10:30am, High Court in London, Court 1, before Mr Justice Swift, R (Good Law Project, on the application of) v Equality and Human Rights Commission, a rolled-up hearing for judicial review of EHRC’s “interim update”.
No live reporting, sorry.
No live reporting, sorry.
1/🧵 Today at 10:30am, High Court in London, Court 1, before Mr Justice Swift, R (Good Law Project, on the application of) v Equality and Human Rights Commission, a rolled-up hearing for judicial review of EHRC’s “interim update” (Day 1 of 2)
No live reporting, sorry.
No live reporting, sorry.
November 16, 2025 at 12:26 PM
I'm very grateful to Ashley for this detailed summary of the hearing in GLP v EHRC. Largely for my own edification, I'm going to try to summarise the basic issues raised in plain English. I'm going to try to be as neutral as possible.🧵
Reposted by Rob Mullins
34 years ago today
Bikini Kill – Kathleen Hanna and Kathi Wilcox – performed at St. Stephen’s in Washington, D.C., on November 16, 1991.
Photos: Brad Sigal
#punk #punks #punkrock #womenofpunk #bikinikill #kathleenhanna #kathiwilcox #history #punkrockhistory #otd
Bikini Kill – Kathleen Hanna and Kathi Wilcox – performed at St. Stephen’s in Washington, D.C., on November 16, 1991.
Photos: Brad Sigal
#punk #punks #punkrock #womenofpunk #bikinikill #kathleenhanna #kathiwilcox #history #punkrockhistory #otd
November 16, 2025 at 3:55 AM
34 years ago today
Bikini Kill – Kathleen Hanna and Kathi Wilcox – performed at St. Stephen’s in Washington, D.C., on November 16, 1991.
Photos: Brad Sigal
#punk #punks #punkrock #womenofpunk #bikinikill #kathleenhanna #kathiwilcox #history #punkrockhistory #otd
Bikini Kill – Kathleen Hanna and Kathi Wilcox – performed at St. Stephen’s in Washington, D.C., on November 16, 1991.
Photos: Brad Sigal
#punk #punks #punkrock #womenofpunk #bikinikill #kathleenhanna #kathiwilcox #history #punkrockhistory #otd
Reposted by Rob Mullins
the motorcycle guy larry summers' situationship was two-timing him with in 2017:
November 13, 2025 at 11:48 PM
the motorcycle guy larry summers' situationship was two-timing him with in 2017:
There is already a reply up on LinkedIn to Melanie Field saying that the Equality Act does confer protection on groups. But that's not her point, as I understand it. Her point is that the discrimination protections (and their exceptions) operate from the perspective of an individual claimant.
A really thorough analysis from Melanie Field. She helped draft the Equality Act so perhaps the SC should have consulted her before rewriting the law on a whim.
A careful, and compelling analysis, of how the Equality Act operates post the awful Supreme Court decision, from the woman who guided the Act through Parliament. www.linkedin.com/pulse/does-e...
November 14, 2025 at 4:05 AM
There is already a reply up on LinkedIn to Melanie Field saying that the Equality Act does confer protection on groups. But that's not her point, as I understand it. Her point is that the discrimination protections (and their exceptions) operate from the perspective of an individual claimant.
This article is the UK's current cultural moment in microcosm. I was mostly nodding along until I ran into the most jaw-droppingly transphobic passages I have read in a long time.
The WHAT? "The fashion for transgenderism – led not by journalists but by entertainers, dramatists and to a now forgotten extent by politicians of all the main parties"
The Prescott memo flunks the impartiality test | The Observer
observer.co.uk
November 13, 2025 at 12:17 PM
This article is the UK's current cultural moment in microcosm. I was mostly nodding along until I ran into the most jaw-droppingly transphobic passages I have read in a long time.
Reposted by Rob Mullins
These are some quite heartbreaking stories and, as Holly Greenberry-Pullen comments in the piece, really illustrates the perverse absurdity of deeming trans teens to young to even get blockers but being fine with intersex kids getting horrifically drastic full-on bodily surgery as *toddlers*.
‘I don’t want anyone to suffer like I did’: the intersex campaigners fighting to limit surgery on children
What should be done about the small proportion of babies born with genitals that are neither typically male nor typically female? Many of those affected believe parents and doctors are often too quick...
www.theguardian.com
November 12, 2025 at 6:17 AM
These are some quite heartbreaking stories and, as Holly Greenberry-Pullen comments in the piece, really illustrates the perverse absurdity of deeming trans teens to young to even get blockers but being fine with intersex kids getting horrifically drastic full-on bodily surgery as *toddlers*.
Reposted by Rob Mullins
Standing by the PM when he hid in a cupboard over a summer of far-right rallies, but turning on him to sabotage a sorely-needed course correction in the government’s economic policies
November 11, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Standing by the PM when he hid in a cupboard over a summer of far-right rallies, but turning on him to sabotage a sorely-needed course correction in the government’s economic policies
This is the real scandal. It's happening in real time, with the collaboration of the British establishment. You don't even have to be particularly attentive to see it.
I've been reading about this from an Australian perspective, and it seems very clear that a group of UK journalists, none of them with any apparent medical expertise, have collaborated with a medical old guard to press a false consensus against youth gender medicine.
Emily Maitlis admitting she worked at the bbc to try and get healthcare for trans people shut down
November 10, 2025 at 10:59 PM
This is the real scandal. It's happening in real time, with the collaboration of the British establishment. You don't even have to be particularly attentive to see it.
I've been reading about this from an Australian perspective, and it seems very clear that a group of UK journalists, none of them with any apparent medical expertise, have collaborated with a medical old guard to press a false consensus against youth gender medicine.
Emily Maitlis admitting she worked at the bbc to try and get healthcare for trans people shut down
November 10, 2025 at 10:52 PM
I've been reading about this from an Australian perspective, and it seems very clear that a group of UK journalists, none of them with any apparent medical expertise, have collaborated with a medical old guard to press a false consensus against youth gender medicine.
Reposted by Rob Mullins
Reviewed Sam Tanenhaus's William F. Buckley bio. insidestory.org.au/the-entertai...
The entertaining insurgent • Dominic Kelly
Conservative activist William F. Buckley cajoled America along the road to the Reagan revolution
insidestory.org.au
November 10, 2025 at 5:20 AM
Reviewed Sam Tanenhaus's William F. Buckley bio. insidestory.org.au/the-entertai...
Reposted by Rob Mullins
