This is not in any news stories yet, as far as I can see.

BREAKING: Alison Teal, the Green Party’s candidate for Sheffield Central, has been suspended from the party. The former councillor, who was selected to run for parliament in the next election, was given a no-fault suspension over social media posts opponents say were transphobic. pic.twitter.com/57Xh8vqywA

— The Tribune (@sheffieldtrib) November 22, 2022

But of course by “transphobic” they mean knowing that men are not women.

It is the latest twist in an ongoing row over Teal’s place in the Sheffield Green Party, who are bitterly divided over her gender-critical views. In October, five councillors announced they would not campaign for her in the next election in an

… Read the rest

Arwa Mahdawi is a little behind the curve on the Colorado shooter.

On the eve of the Transgender Day of Remembrance, a gunman opened fire in an LGBTQ+ nightclub, killing five people and injuring at least 25 in what is widely thought to have been a hate crime.

One, it’s not an LGBTQ+ nightclub, it’s a gay bar. Its owners call it a gay bar. Two, the gunman’s lawyers are saying he’s “nonbinary” so that makes him part of the mythical “LGBTQ+” so how you gonna deal with that?

Over the past year there has been an escalation in dangerously dehumanising anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric. The idea that LGBTQ+ people are “groomers” and paedophiles has become a mainstream conservative talking

… Read the rest

The Denver Post:

The person suspected of killing five and wounding 18 after opening fire in a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs is nonbinary, their defense attorney wrote in court filings Tuesday.

Uproar in court!

Notice the punctilious “their defense attorney” – on the one hand homophobic mass murderer but on the other hand nonbinareeeeeeee, must get them there pronouns right.

Joseph Archambault and Michael Bowman, the state public defenders for suspect Anderson Lee Aldrich, filed a slew of motions Tuesday and included a footnote about Aldrich’s identity.

“Anderson Aldrich is nonbinary,” the footnote states. “They use they/them pronouns, and for the purposes of all formal filings, will be addressed as Mx. Aldrich.”

Now what? How will they all … Read the rest

Listen, if makers of menstrual products can’t insult women who can? What kind of country is this, anyway? Can’t you bitches take a joke? It was funny. You’re funny. You’re a joke, so are we supposed to pretend you’re not?

Tampax has been accused of “sexualising women” after posting a controversial tweet that has gone viral and led to calls to boycott the company.

The US arm of the sanitary hygiene brand posted on Monday: “You’re in their DMs. We’re in them. We are not the same.”

The tweet spoofs the classic internet meme that reads, “You are in their direct messages”, meaning to approach someone romantically, with the follow-up remark of “I am…”.

Romantically? You mean sexually.

Tampax

… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Screechy Monkey on Both sides.

In hockey (and other sports too, of course), there’s a well-established and documented tendency for referees to try to “even up” the penalties called during a game. So if the home team has taken three penalties in a row, barring an absolute murder on the ice the next one is going to be called on the visitors.

I was explaining this to a neophyte fan one time, and he asked “but what if one team is just dirtier than the other?”

And yeah, that’s the problem, isn’t it? There’s no reason to assume that two teams are equally likely to commit fouls, but the referees act as if that were … Read the rest

About that dog’s breakfast at the Scottish Parliament…

25 years ago I joined the team putting the law in place to establish the Scottish Parliament, and then I led the team putting in place the arrangements for the first elections. At the time, it felt like the privilege of my life.

— Lucy HunterBlackburn (@LucyHunterB) November 22, 2022

There were bright spots – some MSPs trying to salvage something like a decent process from the ashes of one which has burnt to the ground the ambitions of the many people who campaigned for Holyrood exist.

— Lucy HunterBlackburn (@LucyHunterB) November 22, 2022

Whatever sort of victory the government achieves here, it won't be a moral one.

Or one for the

… Read the rest

Gender reform bill moves on to final stage of Holyrood scrutiny

THE reform of gender recognition policy in Scotland has moved on to the final stage of parliamentary scrutiny before becoming law.

By “reform” they mean removing all obstacles that could slow down men who want to call themselves women and take everything that belongs to women. Here you go, brothers, full speed ahead!

Today, MSPs debated amendments made at Stage 2 of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill in a marathon committee meeting at the Scottish Parliament.

The bill aims to make it easier for transgender people to legally change the sex on their birth certificate and removes the need for a diagnosis of gender dysphoria by a doctor

… Read the rest

This is just news media gossip, but then news media gossip does matter, because we get our news from the news media, so we want to know which ones have good sense and which ones don’t.

I spent four years covering the Trump WH and two years covering the Biden WH. What’s fascinating is that they both lie, albeit in v different ways. Trump team was shameless, whereas Biden team is too cute by half. https://t.co/AphB967gHE

— Ashley Parker (@AshleyRParker) November 22, 2022

There are approximately 7 million replies all saying are you seriously comparing Trump’s record of lies with your not being invited to Biden’s granddaughter’s wedding???

Parker is a Senior National Political Correspondent for the Washington Post.… Read the rest

Suzanne Moore wonders where the armbands for women in Qatar might be.

Women’s rights are not much of a fashionable cause these days and are mentioned often as an afterthought.

If they’re mentioned at all. Mostly people are too busy calling us Karens and terfs to mention our rights.

This is particularly evident in Qatar, where footballers and commentators are struggling to make righteous statements about the tiny but hugely rich country they are in. The agonising around wearing a rainbow flag armband seems to me a substitution for real thought. Obviously, it is terrible to stage the tournament in a place where homosexuality is illegal and even punishable by death, but identity politics flails against the reality of choosing

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Another woman hauled up before the police for not genuflecting to trans ideology.

https://twitter.com/drlouisejmoody/status/1594988244768276480

Meanwhile the “kill all the terfs” gang continues merrily on its way.… Read the rest

Glasgow Times reports:

Two people who have gone through gender reassignment treatment and later regretted it – sometimes referred to as detransitioners – are due to speak to MSPs at a meeting in the Scottish Parliament.

…

Sinead Watson, a 31-year-old woman from Glasgow, and Ritchie Herron, a 35-year-old man from Newcastle, will share their views on the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill.

…

The stage one vote on the Bill led to nine SNP MSPs breaking with the whip to abstain or vote against the legislation, as well as the resignation of minister Ash Regan from the Scottish Government.

The Bill aims to make it easier for transgender people to be legally recognised as their preferred gender.

Which … Read the rest

A brand from the burning:

https://twitter.com/ejrosetta/status/1595060392031657984 https://twitter.com/ejrosetta/status/1595060877765791744 https://twitter.com/ejrosetta/status/1595062526944976901

Shame on everyone who has thrown her to the wolves, she concludes.

https://twitter.com/ejrosetta/status/1595071714790150146

NO in thunder.

Well done.… Read the rest

Baroness Nicholson has written a letter about that You are being monitored email. It’s good stuff. I especially like “awash with transgender-dominated staff groupings demanding ‘trans allyship’ in as official a manner as they can manage, while suggesting that anyone who demurs is a bigot or worse.” Exactly so, and it gets more suffocating and nauseating by the day.

Please tackle at your earliest convenience.… Read the rest

How can this circle ever be squared? Are they even trying?

https://twitter.com/Susanshox/status/1594600613060411392

If “trans people are entitled to use single sex facilities in accordance with their gender identity” then everyone else – 99% of people – is not. If men who call themselves trans are using women’s facilities then women can no longer use single sex facilities. Why do people who call themselves trans get more rights than everyone else?

I’ve never seen an answer to that question. I don’t see how an answer is possible.… Read the rest

The guy who stopped the shooter:

Richard M. Fierro said he was at a table in Club Q with his wife, daughter and friends on Saturday, watching a drag show, when the sudden flash of gunfire ripped across the nightclub. His instincts from four combat deployments as an Army officer in Iraq and Afghanistan instantly kicked in. Fight back, he told himself.

In an interview at his house, where his wife and daughter were still recovering from injuries, Mr. Fierro, 45, who left the Army in 2013 as a major, according to military records, described charging through the chaos at the club, tackling the gunman and beating him bloody with the gunman’s own gun.

…

When the shooting started,

… Read the rest

Digging right through the barrel:

Just when you think the bottom of the barrel has been scraped, Monty pushes it one step further. pic.twitter.com/Ecl5VnBsMv

— FeministRoar (@FeministRoar) November 21, 2022

https://twitter.com/katecra/status/1594755614277779460 … Read the rest

But this

never

happens.

https://twitter.com/i_heart__bikes/status/1594536306318532614 https://twitter.com/i_heart__bikes/status/1594536315420385280 https://twitter.com/i_heart__bikes/status/1594536324744216577 https://twitter.com/i_heart__bikes/status/1594536334898741249 https://twitter.com/i_heart__bikes/status/1594536344100909056… Read the rest

The Colorado Sun gives background on Club Q:

Matthew Haynes opened Club Q 21 years ago with the goal of making sure LGBTQ people in Colorado Springs had a long-lasting place to call home.

Except that’s not exactly how Matthew Haynes words it, at least not in this story.

Haynes says Club Q has always been a community center more than anything else.

“There have been so many happy stories from Club Q,” he told The Colorado Sun on Sunday morning. “People meeting and relationships being born. So many celebrations there. We’re a family of people more than a place to have a drink and dance and leave.”

…

Haynes, who is a co-owner of Club Q, said he

… Read the rest

Here’s a strange thing: Club Q in Colorado Springs describes itself as a gay or gay and lesbian adult bar, yet most of the headlines call it LGBTQ+. When did adding the TQ+ become absolutely mandatory with no exceptions? Why can’t lesbians and gay men organize and talk and agitate as lesbians and gay men? Why are they being forced to add trans people, when being trans is not the same thing as being lesbian or gay?

CNN: What we know about the suspect in the Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub shooting

NBC News: Live updates: Colorado LGBTQ nightclub shooting victims mourned as community pushes for answers

Washington Post: Shooting at popular LGBTQ club in Colorado Springs leave at least 5 … Read the rest

Trade union catastrophizing:

“It’s great to be able to be loud and proud – and I will continue to be loud and proud against homophobia and loud and very proud to be a trans ally, and I will ensure that UNISON always remains the best trade union for LGBT+ workers.”

That was the pledge from UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea this morning, when she addressed the union’s LGBT+ conference in Edinburgh, as she applauded the fact that being “loud and proud” was the event’s central theme.

Proud to be against homophobia and very proud to be a trans ally – there’s always that little extra that signals the category “trans” is the most urgent, the most in need of … Read the rest