Keir Starmer denies ‘sneaking out’ Labour U-turn on pledge for gender self-ID

abour leader Sir Keir Starmer has denied that he tried to “sneak” out his party’s U-turn on its pledge to allow self-identification for transgender people.

Shadow women and equalities secretary Anneliese Dodds wrote in The Guardian last week that a Labour government would “modernise, simplify and reform” the gender recognition process.

It marks a change in position from the party, which had previously pledged to allow transgender people to change their gender without undergoing a medical process.

The new stance also exposes a fresh split between Scottish Labour, which has backed self-ID for trans people, and the central party.

He also dismissed a suggestion that he would “be stumped over the question” of how to define a woman.

“Firstly, a woman is an adult female so that’s cleared that one up,” he said.

“We want to modernise the legislation… we don’t think that self-identification is the right way forward,” Sir Keir said.

Source: Keir Starmer denies ‘sneaking out’ Labour U-turn on pledge for gender self-ID

Why biological sex matters – New Statesman – Richard Dawkins

As a biologist, the only strongly discontinuous binary I can think of has weirdly become violently controversial. It is sex: male vs female. You can be cancelled, vilified, even physically threatened if you dare to suggest that an adult human must be either man or woman. But it is true; for once, the discontinuous mind is right. And the tyranny comes from the other direction, as that brave hero JK Rowling could testify.

Sex is a true binary. It all started with the evolution of anisogamy – sexual reproduction where the gametes are of two discontinuous sizes: macrogametes or eggs, and microgametes or sperm. The difference is huge. You could pack 15,000 sperm into one human egg. When two individuals jointly invest in a baby, and one invests 15,000 times as much as the other, you might say that she (see how pronouns creep in unannounced) has made a greater commitment to the partnership.

Females have two Xs, males one X and one Y. Any mammal with a Y chromosome will develop as a male.

In mammals, including humans, there are occasional intersexes. Babies can be born with ambiguous genitalia. These cases are rare. The highest estimate, 1.7 per cent of the population, comes from the US biologist Anne Fausto-Sterling. But she inflated her estimate hugely by including Klinefelter and Turner syndromes, neither of which are true intersexes. Klinefelter individuals have an extra X chromosome (XXY) but their Y chromosome ensures that they are obvious males, producing microgametes, albeit from reduced testes. Turner individuals are unambiguous females with no Y chromosome and only one (functioning) X chromosome. They have a vagina and uterus, and their ovaries, if any, are non-functional. Obviously, Klinefelter (always male) and Turner (always female) individuals must be eliminated from counts of intersexes, in which case Fausto-Sterling’s estimate shrinks from 1.7 per cent to less than 0.02 per cent. Genuine intersexes are way too rare to challenge the statement that sex is binary. There are two sexes in mammals, and that’s that.

But what about gender? What is gender, and how many genders are there? It is now fashionable to use “gender” for what we might call fictive sex: a person’s “gender” is the sex to which they feel that they belong, as opposed to their biological sex. In this meaning, “genders” have proliferated wildly. When I last heard, there were 83. But that was yesterday. What does “gender” actually mean?

Your genes and chromosomes may determine your sex, but your gender is whatever floats your boat: “I was assigned male at birth, but I identify as a woman.” Finally, the wheel turns full circle, and self-identification has now gone so far as to usurp even “sex”. A “woman” is defined as anyone who chooses to call herself a woman, and never mind if she has a penis and a hairy chest. And of course this entitles her to enter women’s changing rooms and athletic competitions. Why should she not? She is, after all, a woman, is she not? Deny it and you are a transphobic bigot.

Many of us know people who choose to identify with the sex opposite to their biological reality. It is polite and friendly to call them by the name and pronouns that they prefer. They have a right to that respect and sympathy. Their militantly vocal supporters do not have a right to commandeer our words and impose idiosyncratic redefinitions on the rest of us. You have a right to your private lexicon, but you are not entitled to insist that we change our language to suit your whim. And you absolutely have no right to bully and intimidate those who follow common usage and biological reality in their usage of “woman” as honoured descriptor for half the population. A woman is an adult human female, free of Y chromosomes.

Source: Why biological sex matters – New Statesman

U-Penn women swimmers had to undress next to ‘6-foot-4 biological male’ Lia Thomas ’18 times a week’ and were told to get ‘reeducated’ when they complained: Congress hears in bombshell testimony | Daily Mail Online

One of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas‘ former teammates at the University of Pennsylvania has bashed the school for making female athletes undress beside the 6-foot-4 biological male ’18 times a week.’

Paula Scanlan, a former NCAA Division I swimmer, told lawmakers that university officials refused to hear complaints from the women athletes and instead said they should be ‘reeducated’.

‘My teammates and I were forced to undress in the presence of Lia, a 6-foot-4 tall, biological male, with fully intact male genitalia, 18 times per week,’ Scanlan told the committee.

‘Some girls opted to change in bathroom stalls and others used the family bathroom to avoid this.’

Source: U-Penn women swimmers had to undress next to ‘6-foot-4 biological male’ Lia Thomas ’18 times a week’ and were told to get ‘reeducated’ when they complained: Congress hears in bombshell testimony | Daily Mail Online

Women of CDCR Speak Out Against Being Forced to Live with Dana Rivers, Man Who Murdered Entire Lesbian Family — Women’s Liberation Front

The women of Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF) are speaking out about being housed with Dana Rivers, thanks to SB 132. Dana Rivers, formerly known as David Warfield, is a man who slaughtered an entire family in one of the most violent anti-lesbian hate crimes our country has seen this century. Even prior to his crimes, he spent decades harassing and terrifying women — all while claiming to be one.

Tomiekia is among four women, represented by WoLF, who are suing the state of California over SB 132. The lawsuit, Chandler v. CDR, aims to overturn the law which went into effect in 2021. Under this bill, men can transfer to women’s facilities even if they do not claim to have a female “gender identity;” they can also identify as “non-binary,” “gender-fluid,” or similar. Men who transfer into women’s prisons are not required to take hormones or have surgery; in fact, most of them retain their penises.

Source: Women of CDCR Speak Out Against Being Forced to Live with Dana Rivers, Man Who Murdered Entire Lesbian Family — Women’s Liberation Front

Global swimming plans world first transgender event

International swimming bosses are preparing to take the plunge and push ahead with a world-first event for elite transgender competitors.

The details of where and when the test event will take place remain top secret, at least for now, because World Aquatics, the global governing body for the swimming, knows just how politically divisive the issue is.
However, highly-placed sources have told this masthead that the sport’s leaders have made the decision to proceed with a test event later in 2023.
Officials have said they wanted to create a column for competitors to compete regardless of their sex, their legal gender or their gender identity but sources said they don’t know how many competitors will actually enter and show up at the test event.
British swimmer Sharron Davies, one of the most vocal critics of transgender athletes competing in women’s events, is on record saying she supports the idea of an open category.
She has just published a book: ‘ Unfair Play: The Battle For Women’s Sport ‘, in which she wrote in favour of the proposal.
“An ‘open’ category is the way forward. It’s the only way to ensure that boundaries are respected and female athletes get the same level of fair play as their male counterparts. Yet everyone is included.

Source: Global swimming plans world first transgender event

Football Australia worker applied for DVO against activist Kirralie Smith

In March, Sophie Moore, who is employed by FA as its national member protection manager, applied to a local court for the order that would have banned Kirralie Smith from attempting “engagement with any persons in football other than Football Australia legal representation”.

Ms Smith, who runs the anti-trans activist group Binary, had been running a campaign through her website encouraging supporters to “email message directly to the leaders of Football NSW, FA and Football Mid North Coast and let them know, there’s no place for biological males in women’s sport”.

The application for an apprehended personal violence order was sought under the state’s Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007.

The application, which was to be heard in April, was later withdrawn by Ms Moore.

Source: Dailytelegraph.com.au | Subscribe to The Daily Telegraph for exclusive stories

EXCLUSIVE: Trans surgery nightmares revealed: 81% endure pain in the five years after gender-change procedures, more than half say having sex is painful – and a third are left incontinent, survey shows | Daily Mail Online

One of the first studies into the side effects of transgender surgeries has revealed alarmingly high rates of post-op pain, aching during intercourse, and bladder problems, raising troubling questions for this new frontier of medicine.

A huge majority – 81 percent – of those who had surgery on their genitals in the past five years said they endured pain simply from moving around in the weeks and months after going under the knife.

Researchers from the University of Florida and Brooks Rehabilitation, a health non-profit, showed that more than half of trans surgery patients endured pain during sex, and nearly a third could not control their bladders.

Dr Alexandra Hill, a UF expert on pelvic problems, described trans patients being surprised by their protracted recoveries, which in some cases lasted longer than the 6-8 weeks they expected.

Likewise, many male-to-female transitioners who get a neo-vagina created are surprised to discover that they have to insert a ‘dilator’ into their canal for up to an hour each day after surgery.

Without using a dilator, which resembles a sex toy, the neo-vagina can gradually shorten in depth, said Dr Hill. Some trans women must use them for the rest of their lives.

Gender reassignment surgeries can stop recipients from being able to derive any sort of sexual pleasure as an adult, if the surgeries take place before patients’ genitals have fully-formed.

Republicans have sought to ban gender-affirming drugs and surgeries for children and even some adults in about 20 states this year.

Source: EXCLUSIVE: Trans surgery nightmares revealed: 81% endure pain in the five years after gender-change procedures, more than half say having sex is painful – and a third are left incontinent, survey shows | Daily Mail Online

Black lesbian Harvard law grad is CENSORED by blogging site Medium for ‘hateful’ post saying transgender women should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports | Daily Mail Online

Monica Harris said that she had her post removed less than 24 hours after posting it on Medium for ‘violating community rules’.

Source: Black lesbian Harvard law grad is CENSORED by blogging site Medium for ‘hateful’ post saying transgender women should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports | Daily Mail Online

EXCLUSIVE: Texas woman seeks $1M from doctors who put her on testosterone at age 17 and left her ‘nipples peeling off’ from botched trans op, saying they should have treated her depression instead | Daily Mail Online

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT

A young Texas woman is suing the doctors who put her on testosterone at age 17 and botched her double breast removal the next year, saying they should have treated her for depression and anxiety instead.

Soren Aldaco, 21, says she was confused, autistic, depressed and anxious when doctors in Fort Worth and Austin encouraged her to become a boy, take cross-sex hormones and later have both breasts removed.

In her 29-page complaint, she says doctors acted more like ‘ideologues’, pushing her to transition, not discussing alternatives, and ‘irreversibly disfiguring and disabling’ her with a shoddy mastectomy.

That operation left her ‘nipples literally peeling off of her chest,’ and she will not be able to breastfeed and may be infertile, it is claimed. The hormone shots left her with a damaged vagina and other problems.

She joins a growing list of young people who undergo irreversible trans medical procedures, but who regret them and sue the doctors and therapists who they say fast-tracked them onto drugs and surgery.

Source: EXCLUSIVE: Texas woman seeks $1M from doctors who put her on testosterone at age 17 and left her ‘nipples peeling off’ from botched trans op, saying they should have treated her depression instead | Daily Mail Online