Church of England: What is a woman? We can’t decide  | Daily Mail Online

  • A bishop said the church was had no ‘official definition’ of what a woman is
  • Rt Rev Robert Innes added the definition of a woman used to be ‘self-evident’
  • The stance comes despite Anglicanism still opposing same-sex weddings 
  • One campaigner said it was ‘shocking’ the church had given up the definition

Campaigner Maya Forstater said: ‘When the Government redefined women through the Gender Recognition Act, the Church of England could have stuck with its long-established understanding, which makes sense whether your starting point is biology or the Bible.

‘It is shocking that they so readily gave up the definition of man or woman for the state to amend, as if this fundamental truth did not matter.’

And Rev Angela Berners-Wilson, who in 1994 became the first woman ordained as an Anglican priest, told The Telegraph: ‘I’m not totally happy with it. I mean, I do think certain things like “men can’t have babies”, just to say the complete obvious thing.’

Source: Church of England: What is a woman? We can’t decide  | Daily Mail Online

Short note on the dangers of a political police force

The duty upon the police to be politically neutral.

This is set out in the Code of Ethics. Para 2.1 of the 2014 Code sets out the ‘policing principles’ – Accountability, Fairness, Honesty, Integrity, Leadership, Objectivity, Openness, Respect and Selflessness.

The specific prohibition is set out at para 6.5

Police officers must not take any active part in politics. This is intended to prevent you from placing yourself in a position where your impartiality may be questioned.

Examples of the police failing to remain politically neutral.

Sadly, the examples of this are legion. Many forces still remain ‘Stonewall Champions’ despite the ever growing concern about public bodies paying a campaigning lobby group to provide them with ‘advice’. Stonewall has variously campaigned for ‘self identification’ – the right for a man to declare he is a woman on his declaration alone – and an end to single sex spaces.

Social media is awash with examples of various police forces posting pictures of officers posing with ‘trans flags’, even riot shields painted in the ‘trans’ colours of pink and blue. Identifiable and senior serving officers publish on social media their support for the notion that the police should ‘love everyone’ and deal harshly with ‘hate’ – which appears often to be nothing more than people expressing scepticism that it is possible to change our biological sex.

We are not aware of any other group who are routinely and publicly celebrated by the police in this manner.

Police support for gender identity ideology is a political activity which directly conflicts with the Code of Ethics.

The politicisation of the police not only creates a perception of bias and partiality that has serious negative implications for public trust and confidence but leads to actual failures in operational decisions that put citizens at risk of harm.

A clear and recent example of this was the failure of policing by Avon and Somerset at a rally in Bristol on Sunday 19th June 2022 organised by ‘Standing for Women’, a group which asserts the immutability of biological sex as important for the safety and dignity of women and girls.

The police failed to maintain any distance between a group of largely middled aged women who had come to talk about their rights and a group of largely young men, dressed in black with full face coverings, who sought to violently intimidate the women meeting. It was only by luck that a major incident was avoided.

A further and very concerning example involves Jennifer Swayne, a disabled woman who was arrested and detained for 10 hours for ‘stickering’ in Newport in support of her ‘gender critical’ belief, while trans identified males who had placed various stickers calling for women to be shot if they did not ‘STFU’ (shut the fuck up) went uninvestigated and unchallenged.

Source: Short note on the dangers of a political police force

Call to remove the Statute of Limitations on Adoption Crimes – Adoptee Rights Australia

Adoptee Rights Australia (ARA) Inc. and their membership support the mothers of this nation in their decades long quest to achieve justice. We are aligned in their rightful request that all state jurisdictions remove the statute of limitations which prevent adopted adults and their mothers from accessing redress and compensatory mechanisms.  Numerous Australian state and … Continue reading “Call to remove the Statute of Limitations on Adoption Crimes”

According to ARA President, Peter Capomolla Moore:

“Many mothers took decades to comprehend or have still not come to comprehend what was done to them, the intergenerational loss of a child, grandchildren & great grandchildren, their child now adult who lost families, the intergenerational losses of their children and their children’s children forever.”

“Many Adoptees also take decades to realise the consequences of adoption on their lives, their identity and that of their children, etc. How many 18 year olds could possibly be informed enough of the ongoing effects of adoption on their lives to mount a successful legal challenge within three years?”

Adoption has caused the permanent life long rupture of hundreds of thousands of mother/newborn relationships, burdening generations of adopted Australians with the irreparable loss of intergenerational family connection.

Adopted people are over-represented in suicide, suicide attempts, alcoholism, substance abuse, homelessness, and incarceration.

Compensation and redress mechanisms are essential in providing survivors with validation and a sense of acknowledgement for the harms that were wrongfully inflicted on them.

By removing the statute of limitations, adoption survivors will finally be afforded the right to claim compensation for the harms inflicted by governments and former adoptive institutions. The opportunity for mothers and adopted adults to participate in truth telling before a court will provide an alignment with other survivor groups who have recently benefited from the removal of the statute of limitations.

Source: Call to remove the Statute of Limitations on Adoption Crimes – Adoptee Rights Australia

The ‘Feminist hero’ citing Supreme Court ruling to drive in T2 lane

At 34 weeks pregnant, Brandy Bottone was fined $US215 ($AUS314) for driving in a T2 lane by herself.

But it’s a penalty she is now fighting to be revoked, citing Roe v Wade’s recent overturning by the Supreme Court to claim that the finding means her unborn baby counted as another passenger.

Bottone was driving on a highway in Dallas on June 29 when she was stopped at a checkpoint, where she was asked by a sheriff’s deputy if she was the only person in the vehicle.

“No, there’s two of us,” Bottone said, and when the officer asked her where the other person was, she pointed to her belly.

Bottone, a Texas citizen, is due to appear in court on July 20, roughly the same time she is due to give birth.

Currently, Texas’ penal code recognises a foetus as a person. However, the Texas Transportation Code does not.

Image

Source: The ‘Feminist hero’ citing Supreme Court ruling to drive in T2 lane

Early onset puberty has increased since COVID-19 : NPR

Since COVID hit, some medical experts have reported a rise in the number of kids undergoing early onset puberty. For children who will develop periods, that’s earlier than age 8. In one study, scientists reported that across five pediatric centers in Italy, the number of early onset cases doubled between 2019 and 2020. In another, also in Italy, scientists observed upticks in medical centers in Florence and Rome.

Ayesha Rascoe talks to pediatrician Adiaha Spinks-Franklin, of Texas Children’s Hospital, about the risks of early onset puberty and its complicated relationship with COVID-19.

Source: Early onset puberty has increased since COVID-19 : NPR

Gender transition treatment minimum age lowered to 14-years-old | Salon.com

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health has declared that the minimum age for gender transition treatment can now be lowered to 14, which is two years younger than previously advised. Along with that decrease in the age requirement for hormone treatments, the association has also moved to lower the minimum age for some gender reassignment surgeries to between 15 or 17.

[ed: This article should be read in the context of the information presented in the video previously posted].

Source: Gender transition treatment minimum age lowered to 14-years-old | Salon.com

Wisconsin court: Sex trafficking can be defense for homicide | AP News

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A woman accused of killing a man can argue at trial that she was justified because he was sexually trafficking her, Wisconsin’s Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in a decision that could help define the limits of legal immunity for trafficking victims nationwide.

The justices ruled 4-3 that a 2008 state law that absolves trafficking victims of criminal liability for any offenses committed as a direct result of being trafficked extends to first-degree intentional homicide.

Nearly 40 states have passed laws that give trafficking victims at least some level of criminal immunity, according to Legal Action of Wisconsin, which provides legal help for low-income people.

Source: Wisconsin court: Sex trafficking can be defense for homicide | AP News

Clash between trans and women’s rights

The founder of a women’s only social networking app has found herself at the centre of a charged debate about the cross section of trans and women’s rights.

It’s a battle between advocates for trans rights – who have said trans people suffer from high rates of abuse and assault, and are already marginalised – and advocates and lawyers for women’s rights – who say sex discrimination laws allow for “special measures” to promote women’s equality and exclude men.

Ms Grover, the founder of the female-only social networking app Giggle, has been accused of discriminating against a trans woman after she denied her access to the platform.

Roxanne Tickle, the Lismorebased trans woman, filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission on January 20 this year. “The app provider appears to not recognise transgender women as female. I am legally permitted to identify as female,” her complaint stated.

The case was brought to the Federal Circuit Court, but was inexplicably dropped on Monday.

Ms Grover welcomed the news on Wednesday, but may consider action to prevent a similar case from being brought against her in the future.

Ms Grover, who is about to give birth to her first child, said all she ever wanted to do was create an online “safe” space dedicated to women.

Source: Subscribe to The Australian | Newspaper home delivery, website, iPad, iPhone & Android apps

An obstetrician has some specific questions regarding how to follow new anti-abortion laws | Later On

Natalie M. Gregory, MD, an obstetrician in South Carolina, asked some specific questions that illustrate the difficulties in following the new anti-abortion laws in her state. Via a Facebook post:

I hope that the legislators who drafted and voted for South Carolina’s anti-abortion law will individually respond, both publicly and to the doctor, to provide their answers to the very real questions she has asked. Unfortunately, however, I believe that they will ignore the questions and run from any reporter who conveys one of the questions. Those voting for the bill lack a sense of responsibility; they are interested in making a political statement and they care nothing about the real-world outcomes when their political fantasies are made real.

I imagine that if you pinned down one of the legislators and demanded an answer to these questions. he would say that he cannot answer because he is not a medical doctor and lacks the knowledge and experience to make such vital medical decisions — but of course he did make a vital medical decision when he voted to ban all abortions. – Update: It occurs to me that this is a good example of the Dunning-Kruger effect: legislators so ignorant of medical knowledge that they were supremely confident in making a (universal) medical decision, completely unaware of their ignorance. Requiring them to answer Dr. Gregory’s questions, on the record, might help them realize what they have done.

Source: An obstetrician has some specific questions regarding how to follow new anti-abortion laws | Later On