Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on Major doubts.
I’m starting to think that Willyboy is really stupid enough to think that because something exists as a matter of law it is, ipso facto, illegal to deny it. [Francis Boyle]
I’m not so sure; I don’t think he would have seen this coming, and not because of stupidity or for having been blinded by his narcissism. Given how much the police had become the enforcers of trans ideology, Willoughby would have been justified in expecting the police to continue harassing and arresting those who resist and speak out against trans demands, or more accurately, those who defend women’s rights, particularly women themselves. We’ve certainly seen plenty of stories of police abuse in the name of trans “rights” from policing tweets and ribbons, limericks and stickers that said nothing different than what Rowling did.
Perhaps the tide is turning, and Willoughby chose the moment after the high water mark of trans influence to lodge his complaint. Or maybe, as I speculated above, Rowling was just too strong to target. But since the police have made it clear (in this instance at least) that calling a man a man, and referring to him as “he” and “him” is not a crime, all police persecution of anyone else doing the same thing should stop. It’s not a court decision but it is a precedent. It also shows that, in the eyes of this police department, in this instance, whatever documentation Willoughby has declaring him to be female, it does not turn him into one; he remains a man. This shouldn’t be news, but it is. Given the police’s eagerness to pursue gender heretics who refused to bow to Stonewall Law, this is huge.
I wonder if the department in question thought through the fact that they were unilaterally opening up this big new can of worms that’s going to effect policing itself. Feminists and other critics of gender ideology in the UK can now point to this police decision to protect themselves against police targeting and harassment. Considering how widespread the surrender of police services to the demands of trans activism is (along with the police’s own apparent internally motivated enthusiasm for GC witch hunts), it will be interesting and informative to see how this de facto change in policy plays out across the country.
I’m guessing this standard will not be applied evenly or consistently; some departments seem to be more “trans zealous” than others. Will they follow Northumbria’s lead? While the police’s taking up the position of trans “enforcers” seems to have been centrally devised and organized, the beginning of its abandonment of this Holy mission, as it has happened, surprisingly, in the Willoughby/Rowling case, might be a good deal more ad hoc and piecemeal, until government guidance steps in decisively. Will trans activists recognize the police response to this incident for the potential sea change it very well might be, if it were to be applied across the board? A woman has said “No,” and has gone unpunished; the police have declared that she did not break the law. Calling a man a man is now no longer a hate crime, not even a “non-crime hate incident.” How will they let this stand?
Now if the police took the next step and actually started citing trans activists for launching frivolous complaints of “misgendering” that waste police time and resources, that would be great. Mustn’t be greedy though; we should be happy with one miracle at a time.
