KD Smith
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kd-smith.bsky.social
KD Smith
@kd-smith.bsky.social
5.5K followers 760 following 4.4K posts
I love animals, knitting, gardening, clean air, chick peas, photography and tractors.

Ancient feminist. She/Her.

Was once a cat, or maybe a mouse?

Instablock Covid-deniers and bigots.

Capybaras forever!

https://campsite.bio/wild_strawberry
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kd-smith.bsky.social
This is a good summary of the outcome, from the article below.

The only claims upheld related to the nurse's employer failing to follow correct procedures and in a timely fashion, which amounted to a form of harassment.

ajustsociety.substack.com/p/when-the-l...
What the Tribunal Actually Found It’s crucial to be clear about what succeeded and what failed: What failed (dismissed entirely): - Direct sex discrimination claim - Indirect sex discrimination claim - Victimisation claim - All claims against the trans doctor personally What succeeded (harassment against the employer only): - Failure to respond to the initial complaint within a reasonable time (should have been around 2 weeks) - Taking too long to investigate (should have been completed within 6 months) - Including reference to unrelated allegations in the investigation - Giving an ambiguous instruction not to discuss the case Critical finding about the claimant’s own conduct: The tribunal also found that some of Peggie’s behaviour amounted to harassment of the trans doctor. While the tribunal recognised her gender critical beliefs are protected, they found she had manifested those beliefs in ways that were impermissible - creating a hostile environment for her colleague. This is not a simple “gender critical beliefs won” story. Both parties were found to have engaged in harassment. The difference is that Peggie’s harassment was about how she treated another person, while the employer’s harassment was about how long things took.
December 9, 2025 at 8:09 PM
kd-smith.bsky.social
I'm older than you and they're right. Starmer has been the worst PM in my lifetime.

His Government is introducing harmful policies that would have been beyond the pale even for previous Tory Governments. And he's laying perfect groundwork for an overtly fascist regime next time.

And this:
Amended from a US meme. Stick figure on left is labelled "visibly marginalized person" and is saying, "I'm being harmed by Starmer's Labour policies now." The stick figure on right is labelled, "Starmer Stan," and saying, "I just fantasized about Reform killing you."
December 8, 2025 at 11:54 AM
kd-smith.bsky.social
...Note how US and UK trans-hostile activists draw on earlier racist and homophobic moral panics, and repurposed the "protecting women" tactic used effectively by Phyllis Schafley's late 70s anti-feminist "STOP ERA" campaign.

And white evangelical lobby, "Alliance Defending Freedom" bankrolling it.
A key takeaway from the effective Campaign for Houston was messaging. Opponents had flipped a debate on legal protections to one on the safety of women and girls and resuscitated anxieties dating back to at least the early 19th century. In the ‘50s and ‘60s, amid the fight for racial desegregation, conservatives spread the false idea that Black men were rapists and Black women were apt to spread venereal disease. In a 1961 court case, the city of Memphis argued public welfare required the city to maintain separate facilities “for reasons of health, sanitation, and related factors.” Around the same time, police crackdowns on same-sex sexual activity in men’s rooms stoked fears of child predators hiding in toilet stalls. Officials sent out pamphlets and public service announcements warning kids to be on guard for sexual deviants in bathrooms. In the ‘70s, prominent conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly drew on those lingering fears in her fight against the Equal Rights Amendment, which would have guaranteed legal gender equality, telling the New York Times it would lead to coed bathrooms and “coed everything — whether you like it or not.” The women’s liberation movement, she added, was “an antifamily movement that is trying to make perversion acceptable as an alternative life-style.” Around the same time, Parker got her start as a gay and lesbian activist in college in the mid-1970s, and she went on to work for the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, a political action committee. The safety-in-bathrooms messaging was a hallmark of the Schlafly and ERA fight, she remembers now. “It truly was that the Equal Rights Amendment was going to drop all the barriers and women wouldn’t be safe,” she told The Barbed Wire, pointing out the irony of targeting one marginalized group under the guise of helping another. “Let’s discriminate by saying, ‘Let’s protect women.’” In essence, the Campaign for Houston transferred old fears to a small subset within the LGBTQ+ umbrella that many Americans knew little about. “Fewer than 30% of Americans actually know a trans person,” said Rob Todaro, communications director for the progressive think tank Data for Progress, “so that whole environment was ripe for a lot of fear mongering and misinformation to spread.” George, the Wake Forest professor who specializes in LGBTQ rights, agreed, noting that “once conservative groups debuted that argument, it really galvanized people and led to a widespread repeal of gender identity protections in cities and towns around the country.”
December 5, 2025 at 5:04 PM
kd-smith.bsky.social
Why is the Women's Institute's "solution" reminding me of the attitude of white organisers of the 1913 Women's March for Suffrage in Washington, DC?
While the women were rehearsing in Washington on the eve of the march in 1913, they got word that the national organizers advised them that their contingent was to be “entirely white;” black women were to march at the tail-end of the parade. In light of the past, this moment could be a historic inflection point. If segregation were allowed to stand in a march of this national—and symbolic—significance, it would signal that women’s suffrage would be more a boon to white supremacy than black empowerment. If “women got the vote in America,” warned the Chicago Defender, the nation’s leading black newspaper, “the colored race will suffer further ills in legislation.” Such an idea, unchallenged, would undermine black community support, squeezing black suffragists from both ends. With her voice trembling, a tearful Wells-Barnett told the delegation that “if they did not take a stand now in this great democratic parade then the colored women are lost.” When Grace Trout, the leader of the contingent, sided with the segregation order, Wells-Barnett, vowing to march with them or not at all, left the room. Includes an image of Ida B Wells and the Alpha Suffrage Club marching with the Illinois Delegation of Suffragists at the women's March on Washington, 5 March 1913 (from the Chicago Daily Tribune.) When the women began marching, Ida was nowhere to be seen—but then suddenly appeared out of the crowd to “calmly” take her place with the Illinois delegation. Two white suffragists, Belle Squire and Virginia Brooks, took positions on each side of her. Wells-Barnett “proudly marched with the … head Ladies of the Illinois delegation showing that no Color line existed in … the first national parade of the noble women who are in favor of equal suffrage …” remarked the Chicago Broad Ax, another black paper. Indeed, black women at large were reported to have ignored the segregation order and marched with their respective delegations. The Broad Ax gave special commendation to black Howard University student members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, led by Mary Church Terrell, another leading black suffragist, who marched in the Education Section of the parade.
December 3, 2025 at 1:37 PM
kd-smith.bsky.social
Fun fact: It wasn't trans people who called for a reform in the law to allow "self-ID."

It was recommended by the House of Commons
Women and Equalities Committee a decade ago! This was under a Tory Government as well.

publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/...
Paragraph 45 of "Transgender Equality," the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee First Report of Session 2015–16 (8 December 2015 - HC390.) "45. Within the current Parliament, the Government must bring forward proposals to update the Gender Recognition Act, in line with the principles of gender self-declaration that have been developed in other jurisdictions. In place of the present medicalised, quasi-judicial application process, an administrative process must be developed, centred on the wishes of the individual applicant, rather than on intensive analysis by doctors and lawyers."
December 2, 2025 at 11:43 PM
kd-smith.bsky.social
Sadly, a brace of accounts for the list - all praising The Herald newspaper giving the award "Public Campaign of the Year" to trans-hostile pressure group, For Women Scotland.
‪Tweets from 4 accounts praising the trans-hostile pressure group "For Women Scotland" winning the Herald (Scottish Newspaper) award for "Campaign of the Year." This was for winning a case in the UK Supreme Court, funded by JK Rowling, which is being used to revoke trans people's human rights. @sandhan.bsky.social‬ · 5h Brilliant news and so well deserved! Just look at all the rabid misogynists frothing at the mouth. ‪ ‪@gillfw.bsky.social‬ · 9h Congratulations @forwomen.scot ordinary grass roots women against the elite establishment. A campaign that should never have been necessary if Scottish Govmt, captured by well funded powerful lobbyists, hadn’t taken leave of its senses & given away without a care the hard won rights of women & girls. ‪ ‪@susanlynn01.bsky.social‬ · 12h Well deserved 👏 ‪@its-derek.bsky.social‬ · 14h Fantastic result, well done! Tweet from "The Herald" newspaper. The Herald ‪@heraldscotland.bsky.social‬ For Women Scotland wins Public Campaign or Campaigner of the Year at The Herald Scottish Politician of the Year Awards 2025, in association with ScottishPower www.heraldscotland.com/news... #politicianawards25 Beneath is an image of two middle aged white women with glasses cheering outside the Supreme Court, having won a case that has led to the revocation of trans people's human rights in the UK. It is captioned "Public Campaign or Campaigner of the Year - For Women Scotland."
November 22, 2025 at 1:18 AM
kd-smith.bsky.social
Alt text for the above:
Picture at the top is a line drawing showing People in dark suits and glasses taking away boxes marked "Childhood History" and "Data" while parents and young people are trying to stop them taking the information because they have not consented to it being taken. The Image is entitled "Data Pulling." The text under the image is as below: "Image two captures the NHS’s approach to data collection. GP practice patients refused consent for the ICB taking their private patient data. GP practice patients, adolescents and parents, added notes to their files formally refusing permission to share their data. The GP practice did not want to share this data, and refused for several months. The GP offered anonymised data – the ICB was not interested in anonymised data. The ICB and NHS England stated that consent was not necessary due to ‘patient safety concerns’ despite no evidence of harm. The ICB finally threatened to cancel WellBN’s whole NHS contract, closing down a GP surgery with 25,000 patients, if they didn’t hand over patient data. WellBN at this point folded and handed over all trans children’s data. Information commissioner office complaints have been submitted."
November 19, 2025 at 1:49 PM
kd-smith.bsky.social
This is an excellent but incredibly disturbing account of unethical actions and what can only be described as malpractice by Sussex ICB and NHS England, targeting young trans people and the only GP Practice that continued to provide evidenced treatment for them.

The illustrations are so apt.
November 19, 2025 at 1:44 PM
kd-smith.bsky.social
Appears she's been there at least 3 years. She's cited with this "how to" video on YouTube from November 2022, linked from the ICO website.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY98...
Partial screen shot of a YouTube video from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) dated November 4, 2022. "How to deal with Subject Access Requests." "The UK GDPR Guidance on the right of access is aimed at larger organisations, and this seminar will focus on some of the major...an opportunity to ask questions." Staff involved in its production: Caroline Callaghan, Senior Policy Officer (Regulatory Assurance) Rebecca Reilly-Cooper, Senior Policy Officer (Rgulatory Assurance) Martyn Boaler, Senior Case Officer (Regulatory Assurance)
November 19, 2025 at 10:48 AM
kd-smith.bsky.social
1980s Puerto Rican boy band "Menudo." Five Latino teenagers in white or pastel tops shown from the chest up and smiling at the camera.
November 14, 2025 at 3:50 PM
kd-smith.bsky.social
That pattern is nightmare fuel.

Quite a few I don't know - probably American?

But that they included far-right influencer, Chaya Raichik, AKA "Libs of Tik Tok" is "interesting." 😟
Partial entry from Wikipedia on "Libs of TikTok - Far-right and anti-LGBTQ Twitter/X account." "Libs of TikTok is the username of various anti-LGBTQ and far-right social-media accounts operated by Chaya Raichik, a former real estate agent. Raichik uses the accounts to repost content from left-wing and LGBTQ people on TikTok or other social-media platforms, often with mocking or derogatory commentary. With million… Wikipedia"
November 8, 2025 at 7:05 PM
kd-smith.bsky.social
Honestly, this guy! 😆
Skeet from @paddymalarkey.bsky.social, 5 minutes ago. "Exactly. What are you doing knitting. Tell me I'm wrong. Is Lorna Slater and Nicola Sturgeon in jobs? Drama queen."
November 2, 2025 at 7:49 PM
kd-smith.bsky.social
So, here's Paddy, calling a woman "hard work" and a "howl at the moon crackpot" for calling out misogyny and transphobia that continues to undermine the prospect of Scottish Independence.

Poor lad probably doesn't realise it's a picture of him!

Screencap for when cowardly custard blocks me! :)
Skeet from @paddymalarkey.bsky.social, 5 hours ago. Writing about the Scottish Green Party: "Of course, But in my opinion, they never read the room. Advance independence before you spend time on gender identity. It brought down Nicola Sturgeon and Lorna Slater imo." Skeet in response from kd-smith@bsky.social, 12 m ago. "No, Misogynists on the right wing of Yes undermined Sturgeon and Slater, and they'll scupper any future chance of independence unless they ditch the chauvinism. No point in an Independent Scotland as backwards as bigoted Brexit Britain. Commitment to universal human rights, equity, inclusion first." Skeet reply from :paddymalarky.bsky.social, 7.15 pm, November 2, 2025. "Oh jesus, this is hard work. Howl at the moon, crackpot. 1.5% of the population was adapted for that cost them there job."
November 2, 2025 at 7:34 PM
kd-smith.bsky.social
With Alt text.
Tweet from Camila (@camilapress) FULL REPORT: Colombian public media reports that a U.S. military strike on a boat on September 15 - the second attack on a vessel by the U.S. in the Caribbean that we're aware of - was a Colombian boat and was in Colombian territorial waters. At least one of the three victims extrajudicially killed in the strike was Colombian lifelong fisherman Alejandro Carranza. Alejandro's identity is conformed by his cousin. The Colombian boat was adrift and had its distress signal up due to an engine failure. Includes a screen shot from Colombian television of a reporter with the Chyron, "15 de Septiembre de 202 Lancha Fue Bombardeada." Posted 7.53 pm, 1 October 25 with 395K views.
October 19, 2025 at 5:13 PM
kd-smith.bsky.social
With Alt Text.
Letter from Mr John McManus, Head of External Affairs & Communications, UK Supreme Court, Parliament Square, London, SW1P 3BD www.supreme court.uk. Dated 8 October 2025. Dear Ms Robin Moira White, Thank you for your letter to Lord Reed of Allermuir, dated 15th September, and please accept my apologies for the delay in replying to you. Lord Reed has been away from the Court over the summer; now that he has read your letter, he has asked me, in my capacity as Head of External Affairs & Communications, to respond to you. Lord Hodge's interview with "The Times Scotland" journalist Magnus Linklater was predicated on the fact that Lord Hodge was the recipient of this year's "Lifetime Achievement Award" from the Scottish Legal Awards, which was sponsored by the newspaper. The Court agreed to the newspaper's usual request to interview the winner of the award, with the focus being on Lord Hodge's long career, ahead of his retirement at the end of 2025. The subsequent interview also covered several other topics, of which the appeal "For Women Scotland vs The Scottish Ministers" was just one. The Court very rarely agrees to interview requests for its justices, and when it does so, they are usually to mark significant events, and always conducted by members of the Press. With those factors in mind, the Court will not be able to agree to your request to interview Lord Hodge. Thank you again for getting in touch. Yours Sincerely, Mr John McManus.
October 13, 2025 at 6:21 PM
kd-smith.bsky.social
Um, no.
Tweet from: María Corina Machado (@MariaCorinaYA) "This recognition of the struggle of all Venezuelans is a boost to conclude our task: to conquer Freedom. We are on the threshold of victory and today, more than ever, we count on President Trump, the people of the United States, the peoples of Latin America, and the democratic nations of the world as our principal allies to achieve Freedom and democracy. I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!" 8:34 AM • 10/10/25
October 10, 2025 at 4:10 PM
kd-smith.bsky.social
Well, white women who protested racial integration in schools in the US during the 50s and 60s and Mom's for Liberty, the pressure group that got books about BIPOC and LGBT+ folks banned from schools and libraries recently also claimed to be standing for "their rights."

All cut from the same cloth.
Image from the US South in the late 1950s. A group of white women are standing either side of a chain link fence. two at the front are shouting and gesticulating. One sign held behind them says, "Save segregation, vote States Rights unpledged electors." A white boy beside them is holding a handwritten sign that says, "All I want for Christmas is a Clean White School." Image of the "Little Rock Nine" attempting to go to school after the end of segregation in the US. A black teenage woman carrying a school book and wearing dark glasses is at the front of the picture. Several young and older white women are immediately behind her. Two are shouting angrily at her.
October 9, 2025 at 12:52 PM
kd-smith.bsky.social
It's not "bigotry" to use derogatory terms towards individuals, groups or countries with more privilege and power than you or yours.

See also this popular patriotic American song from WW1.

HTH
Over There (Popular patriotic song from WW1.) Johnny, get your gun, get your gun, get your gun. Take it on the run, on the run, on the run. Hear them calling you and me, Every Son of Liberty. Hurry right away, no delay, go today. Make your daddy glad to have had such a lad. Tell your sweetheart not to pine, To be proud her boy's in line. Over there, over there, Send the word, send the word over there That the Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming, The drums rum-tumming everywhere. So prepare, say a prayer, Send the word, send the word to beware – We'll be over, we're coming over, And we won't come back till it's over, over there.
October 7, 2025 at 2:53 PM
kd-smith.bsky.social
Crap idea from a white guy who thinks he's clever who dismisses racism as it doesn't affect him.

Some Reform voters wise up when told the truth about Reform, some if shamed or shunned. Many won't change so not worth anyone's time.

Better to rally OTHER folk to vote for good people and policies.
Tweet from A.R. Moxon (@JuliusGoat) "Meet me in the middle, says the unjust man. You take a step toward him. He takes a step back. Meet me in the middle, says the unjust man." 11.05 am, 23 Jar 2019
September 30, 2025 at 6:42 PM
kd-smith.bsky.social
Well, in most movies, the US is portrayed as a democracy with a constitution that protects certain rights of people who live there - for example the 4th Amendment.

Some believe this is true.

But in reality, it seems to have become a lawless white supremacist, fascist authoritarian state. 😣
Excerpt from Wikipedia entry on the 4th Amendment to the US Constitution, here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution . "The Fourth Amendment (Amendment IV) to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. It prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and sets requirements for issuing warrants: warrants must be issued by a judge or magistrate, justified by probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and must particularly describe the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized (important or not)."
September 28, 2025 at 5:37 PM
kd-smith.bsky.social
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot...
Patriotic Alternative (PA) is a British far-right, fascist, neo-Nazi and white nationalist hate group which states that it has active branches nationwide. The Times described it in 2023 as "Britain's largest far-right white supremacist movement". Its stance has been variously described as Islamophobic, fascist and racist. According to Hope not Hate, splits, especially the 2023 creation of the Homeland Party, which has eclipsed it, have pushed PA into a decline.Nonetheless they credit PA with around 500 members as of April 2025. Political views Patriotic Alternative promotes a white nationalist ideology and aims to combat the "replacement and displacement" of white British people by migrants who "have no right to these lands". They support the deportation of people of "migrant descent" and would offer financially incentivised repatriation for "those of immigrant descent who have obtained British passports". Patriotic Alternative opposes all immigration unless immigrants have a shared cultural and ethnic background or can prove British ancestry. According to Hope not Hate, members of Patriotic Alternative have supported political violence, the white genocide conspiracy theory, and Holocaust denial. They have targeted the LGBT community as being a danger to young children. Patriotic Alternative opposes Black Lives Matter and has displayed White Lives Matter banners around the UK, including on the top of Mam Tor, a hill in Derbyshire. Hope not Hate say that the group generally admires Vladimir Putin's Russia for its "illiberalism, anti-Westernism and authoritarianism".The group also includes a "cohort of anti-vaxxers".
September 28, 2025 at 2:02 PM
kd-smith.bsky.social
They're looking in the wrong place.

It's in Kinghorn, Fife, Scotland.
Kinghorn Parish Church's charity shop and coffee shop in the High Street, Kinghorn, Fife Scotland. It has now been renamed, "Faith, Hope and Charity Shop" for some reason.
September 26, 2025 at 9:43 PM
kd-smith.bsky.social
A painting of a bright coloured bird is next to the words, "I do not want whatever the fuck this is." from @effinbirds.
September 25, 2025 at 4:15 PM
kd-smith.bsky.social
Quark from Star Trek Deep Space Nine, an alien Ferengi, says "Females."
September 21, 2025 at 12:05 PM
kd-smith.bsky.social
This seems covered by Policy Note 20 - e.g. Perp thinks she's cis and spouts sexist abuse while committing a crime against her? It's still "aggravation of an offence by prejudice" due to sex.

But if a perp does the same thing to a woman they know is trans? Not a hate crime.😕

Hate Crimes Act...
Policy Note Section of "Draft SSI to Add the Characteristic of Sex to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021" found online here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/draft-ssi-add-sex-characteristic-hate-crime-public-order-scotland-act-2021/documents/ 20. It should also be noted that the statutory aggravation applies in relation to the perpetrator’s perception of the victim’s identity, irrespective of the victim’s actual identity. As such, in the same way that the sexual orientation aggravation would apply where a victim is targeted by a perpetrator who assumes them to be e.g. gay or bisexual regardless of their actual sexual orientation, the aggravation concerning the characteristic of sex would apply to someone who directs e.g. misogynistic abuse at anyone whom the perpetrator has assumed to be female.
September 9, 2025 at 9:12 PM