JK Rowling responds after being reported to police over misgendering broadcaster

JK Rowling has said the “police are going to be very busy” amid accusations she misgendered a broadcaster.

In an interview with Byline TV, India Willoughby, 58, a trans woman and broadcaster, told journalist Caolan Robertson that she had reported the Harry Potter author to the police for calling her a man.

Following the release of the filmed interview, Rowling, 58, said that Willoughby appeared to have forgotten the Forstater ruling, which “established that gender critical views can be protected in law”.

On Sunday, the Harry Potter writer posted a criticism of trans women being allowed into women’s changing rooms on X and in the thread she spoke about Willoughby and said: “India didn’t become a woman. India is cosplaying a misogynistic male fantasy of what a woman is.”

In the interview with Byline TV, Willoughby said of the posts: “JK Rowling has definitely committed a crime.

“I’m legally a woman. She knows I’m a woman and she calls me a man.

“It’s a protected characteristic.

“And that is a breach of both the Equality Act and the Gender Recognition Act.

“She’s tweeted that out to 14 million followers.”

“And the equivalent of what JK Rowling said, calling a trans person a man deliberately… I am legally recognised as a woman and for JK Rowling to deliberately, and that is the key word, misgender me knowing who I am is grossly offensive.

“It is a hate crime and it should be treated just as somebody calling a black person the N-word or an Asian person the P-word.”

Rowling has claimed she was advised previously that she had a legal case against Willoughby for defamation and added that there is no law compelling her to refer to the TV personality as a woman.

Source: JK Rowling responds after being reported to police over misgendering broadcaster

Trans healthcare workers admitted some patients too young for treatment in leaked messages

Doctors delivering transgender healthcare have admitted some patients are too young or mentally ill to fully understand the consequences of treatment.

Messages leaked from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health revealed how medics acknowledged teenagers given puberty-blocking drugs did not always realise they could never have children.

Some members of the US group, who have helped guide NHS procedures in England and Scotland, claimed patients went ahead with surgery despite fears about their ability to fully provide informed consent.

Dan Metzger, a hormone specialist at a children’s hospital in Canada, told the meeting: “Most of the kids are nowhere in any kind of a brain space to really talk about it in a serious way.”

Experts even discussed how patients developed tumours or died from cancer linked to hormone treatment.

A doctor wrote: “I have one transition friend/colleague who, after about eight to 10 years of [testosterone] developed hepatocarcinoma [a form of liver cancer].

“To the best of my knowledge, it was linked to his hormone treatment… it was so advanced that he opted for palliative care and died a couple of months later.”

The gender therapist claimed they had only turned one person down for treatment in 15 years.

However, critics said the private messages contradict public assurances that so-called gender-affirming care is “medically necessary”.

Source: Trans healthcare workers admitted some patients too young for treatment in leaked messages

Nana bashed at Posie Parker rally upset at punishment handed to her young attacker – NZ Herald

Pensioner Judith Hobson has waited almost 12 months to confront the young man who punched her in the head repeatedly at a Posie Parker “free speech” rally in Auckland.

But Hobson, who asked for her identity be made public – unlike her attacker, aged 20 at the time of the attack – says that while the assault has affected her physically, the police and judicial process was mentally “kicking me in the guts daily”.

At the Auckland District Court yesterday, the accused, whose lawyer said suffers from ADHD and autism, was convicted of assaulting the grandmother and discharged without conviction. He was also granted permanent name suppression and ordered to pay $1000 reparation to Hobson.

“I hope his parents are proud of him. This is an absolute joke, and he’s a disgrace,” Hobson told the Herald.

“I am absolutely livid that he has walked out of the court with, in my opinion, virtually no consequences whatsoever. It’s no wonder victims don’t go to court, because they become victims all over again.”

Hobson said her team would also look into the way police handled her complaint.

Source: Nana bashed at Posie Parker rally upset at punishment handed to her young attacker – NZ Herald

Reem Alsalem on the biggest obstacles to ending violence against women – New Statesman

Reem Alsalem isn’t frightened of controversy. Central to fulfilling her brief as the UN’s special rapporteur on violence against women and girls is her insistence that sex and gender must not be conflated, and should be recorded in data. She also acknowledges that rights can clash – for example, those of women and of transgender people, both of whom are protected under the UK’s Equality Act.

Alsalem has made several high-profile interventions in this space, most recently branding the World Health Organisation’s attempt to draft guidelines on trans healthcare “one-sided”. She has also voiced deep concern over the detrimental impact that the changes put forward in Scotland’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill could have on women and girls.

A Jordanian national, Reem Alsalem was born in Cairo, Egypt. She studied at the city’s American University before graduating from Oxford with a master’s in human rights law. She speaks five languages. A career civil servant, for 17 years Alsalem worked around the globe with UNHCR, the UN refugee agency. Since 2016 she has been an independent consultant on gender issues and the rights of refugees and migrants.

It is perhaps because of this work that she recognises the importance of acknowledging biological sex.

“It’s clear that there’s very little reference to male violence against women and girls as a concept [in the UK],” Alsalem told me. “I think that is problematic because we continuously then dilute the phenomenon.” We must remember, she said, that the majority of the victims of sex-based violence are females and that its perpetrators are primarily male.

Her visit to the UK was filled with meetings with a variety of actors. In the Family Court, for instance, she wished to see the urgent prohibition of the use of “parental alienation” allegations in child custody cases (when one parent claims the other has deliberately “alienated” their children from them, an argument campaigners fear is often used by fathers accused of abuse to silence victims) and the end of the promotion of “contact at all costs”.

Alsalem’s insistence on recognising the difference between sex and gender has landed her in trouble. She has been on the receiving end of two open letters signed by NGOs and women’s groups, accusing of her being “anti-trans”, an allegation she forcefully rejects. “Why is it so problematic for women, girls, and also men, to say, ‘This is important; many of our needs emanate from being female, or male, and there are certain instances where it’s proportionate, legitimate and perfectly necessary to keep a space single sex’?” While “that doesn’t apply to everything in life”, it is important, Alsalem believes, for prisons, women’s shelters and sport.

Reem Alsalem is not afraid of involving herself in controversial subjects, including the gender transition process and conversion therapy. In her statement issued to the government after we met, she took the opportunity to warn policymakers that any law banning conversion therapy should be drafted extremely carefully. It “must take account of the fact that many young women who express a desire to ‘transition’ socially and/or medically may in fact be same-sex attracted, or experiencing other issues, such as neurodiversity or dealing with past trauma,” she wrote. “Legislation should never prevent these young women being supported holistically and should ensure transition does not become the only option it is acceptable to discuss with them.” As the UK and other countries continue to make legislation in this thorny territory, it will be fascinating to see what Alsalem says next.

Source: Reem Alsalem on the biggest obstacles to ending violence against women – New Statesman

UK: Trans-Identified Male Selected as UN Women Delegate Has History of Stealing Sister’s Underwear

A trans-identified male who works for a UK-based charity to provide “diversity training” has been selected as a UN Women UK delegate to work with the United Nations Commission on the status of Women — despite his troubling history of publicly discussing his enjoyment at stealing his sister’s underwear in his youth.

Martin ‘Katie’ Neeves, who offers professional employment gender identity training services, prompted outcry on X after announcing his appointment to a role for women’s representation, with some critics pointing out his past admission of a fetishistic motivation for identifying as transgender.

Neeves has claimed to be on “both ITV’s and the BBC’s lists of experts,” and has campaigned against women-only services and facilities.

Last September, Neeves was handed an Outstanding Female LGBTQIA+ Champion award, presented at the at the East and West Midlands Women’s Awards. According to its official website, the purpose of the Women’s Awards is “to raise awareness, recognize and honor the hard work and valuable contribution women of all cultures, communities, races, and beliefs, in all sectors make.”

In social media posts where Neeves shared the news, he also boasted about several other awards he’d received in the past twelve months.

“It’s been the most amazing year for me, as in the last 12 months I have won the British Diversity Awards Hero of the Year 2023, the Trans in the City Trans Community Champion Award 2022 and the This is Us Awards Training & Development Award 2023. Also, I was listed on the DIVA Power List 2023, I was a DIVA Awards Unsung Hero of the Year Finalist 2023 and I was named as a LinkedIn Top Voice as well as becoming a co-presenter of BBC Sounds series ‘Time for some LGBTea,’” Neeves wrote.

UN Women UK came under scrutiny from women’s rights groups and campaigners last month, after the news circulated that trans activist Munroe Bergdorf had been selected as a women’s delegate.

Bergdorf had previously been let go from a UK children’s charity over safeguarding concerns.

During the controversy, it was uncovered that Bergdorf had posed for a professional photographer’s portrait series on “sex workers.” His portrait depicted him in the nude, and revealed that he had intact male genitals.

Source: UK: Trans-Identified Male Selected as UN Women Delegate Has History of Stealing Sister’s Underwear

Transgender police officers will only be allowed to strip search suspects of the same biological sex under new government plans after concerns women’s safety was being compromised | UK | Daily Mail Online

Transgender police officers may no longer be allowed to strip search suspects of the opposite biological sex as the government orders a review.

Under the currently national policing guidance, police officers who were born male but identify as female can strip search women suspects if they have a gender recognition certificate.

Women’s groups were outraged when it emerged that most – 34 out of 43 – police forces in England and Wales either intended to or had implemented the controversial policy.

Source: Transgender police officers will only be allowed to strip search suspects of the same biological sex under new government plans after concerns women’s safety was being compromised | Daily Mail Online

AHRC Gender inquiry ‘not open to debate’ | The Australian

A national inquiry into transgender human rights has been branded a ‘serious misuse’ of taxpayer funds by experts concerned it fails to seek a balance with the rights of women and girls.

Specialists and lobby groups have also flagged a possible “bias” exhibited in the Australian Human Rights Commission’s ­inquiry because it restricts submissions to experts “in trans and gender diverse matters”.

Senior Queensland child psychiatrist Jillian Spencer said the inquiry fails to focus on how the rights of transgender people ­intersect with the rights of women and children.
“All they seem to want is for the transgender community to voice any bad experiences they’ve had, and they don’t want to look at the whole rights issue for the whole of the community,” she said.
In her submission to the inquiry, Dr Spencer said one of the greatest threats to Australians experiencing gender dysphoria was gender-affirming care.
Emeritus professor Bronwyn Winter suggested the inquiry exhibited a “bias” because it “explicitly talks about anti-trans mobilisation and restricts calls for submissions to certain groups”. She accused the AHRC of “pre-determining an outcome by saying there are these threats”.

Source: https://archive.is/2024.02.28-115952/https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/legal-affairs/ahrc-transgender-rights-inquiry-biased-waste-of-taxpayer-funds-experts/news-story/56437fc0babd289de85873bd895c24aa#selection-501.0-501.277