News you need, the perspective you won’t find anywhere else. The trans community’s guide to UK news, media and politics and our place in it.

The Trans Agenda

[5 January 2025]

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UK & IRELAND NEWS

GP practice stops trans healthcare, sparking protests [Nottingham Post]

  • A Nottinghamshire GP practice, Jubilee Park Medical Partnership, has ceased providing trans healthcare, including hormone replacement therapy, citing funding and contract limitations. The decision has left patients fearing “crippling” consequences, including mental health problems and potential forced detransitions. They have not stopped the same treatments for cis patients.

    Dozens protested outside Park House Medical Centre in Carlton, with organisers condemning the move as discriminatory.

Trans teens ‘begged Wes Streeting not to ban puberty blockers’ weeks before ban [Metro]

  • Weeks before the UK government imposed an indefinite ban on puberty blockers for transgender teens, families and young people pleaded with Health Secretary Wes Streeting to reconsider, warning of severe harm. During a meeting in October, trans teens described their struggles, with some stating the ban left them feeling hopeless. He didn’t care. Streeting’s decision, based on made-up concerns cited by the Cass Review, has been condemned by parents, activists and experts around the globe as politically driven and discriminatory.

Compromised equalities watchdog investigates Labour stance on single-sex spaces

  • The captured EHRC is scrutinising transgender policies across hundreds of public bodies after Labour dismissed calls to change the Equality Act to discriminate against trans people. Anti-trans activist, Baroness Falkner, EHRC chair, has requested further details from ministers, aiming to ‘assess’ whether the Equality Act is being correctly applied.

    Concerns were manufactured after reports suggested that many organisations were interpreting guidance to allow access based on self-identified gender rather than biological sex, which is the correct interpretation. While Labour downplayed these concerns as “confusion or lack of awareness,” the EHRC plans to use the findings to refine its statutory Code of Practice as they continue to attack trans people under the guise of ‘equality’.

    Falkner is only in position because Labour have not yet replaced her after her contract expired at the end of 2024, but, given their approach to trans people in general, they have someone both expendable and deniable to do their work for them. How fortunate.

Trans remembrance flags to be flown at government buildings [Scottish government]

  • The Scottish government has introduced new guidance that will allow transgender flags to be flown on Transgender Day of Remembrance (20 November) to honour victims of anti-trans violence. If government buildings have a single flagpole, the transgender flag will replace the Saltire; otherwise, both flags will be displayed.

    The government also reaffirmed its support for LGBT Youth Scotland (LGBTYS) which has been targeted by the right wing media. Equalities minister Kaukab Stewart highlighted the importance of supporting LGBTQI+ people amid rising hate attacks.

Councillor quits Labour over puberty drugs ban

  • Exeter councillor Zoe Hughes has left Labour, criticising its indefinite ban on puberty blockers for under-18s, calling it harmful to the transgender community.

Oxford Literary Festival to platform anti-trans activists unchallenged during [Oxford Literary Festival]

  • Anti-trans, cis het, court declared non-expert Helen Joyce will be interviewed by anti-trans political lesbian Julie Bindel at the Oxford Literary Festival, prompting outrage and withdrawals by others scheduled to feature. The event, entitled, “Trans: Gender Identity and the New Battle for Women’s Rights,” is farcically listed as one of six LGBTQ+ events and has sold out. No trans person will feature in any of the other events.

    ”I’ve just withdrawn from my panel at the OLF. Joyce is an absolutely chilling character: on record as saying that ‘every one of those [trans] people is a huge problem to a sane world’,” wrote Noreen Masud, who had been due to be on a panel. “People can say whatever the fuck they want with no expertise, I guess, with catastrophic consequences for the most vulnerable and marginalised, I suppose: but I don’t have to be part of it and neither do you.”

Bible guidance claims scripture is pro-trans and includes queer characters [Telegraph, 26 December]

  • An Anglican campaign group claims the Bible affirms trans and queer identities, highlighting eunuchs, the Samaritan woman, and Deborah as examples. Their guidance, hosted on the website LGBT Faith UK, argues that scripture includes non-cisgender individuals and promotes inclusivity. Though not an official Church of England position, the material has sparked anger from the Telegraph and the cult.

Richard Dawkins quits atheism organisation after anti-trans article removed

  • Richard Dawkins has resigned from the board of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), throwing a strop on his way out the door.

    In an article on the organisation’s website, Kat Grant asked, ‘What is a woman’, before saying that “any attempt to define womanhood on biological terms is inadequate” and that “a woman is whoever she says she is”.

    This did not go down well with Dawkins and two other cis male ‘feminists’ – Jerry Coyne and Richard Pinker, with the former writing an article implying that he knows what a woman is better than everybody else. That article was then removed and an apology issued for publishing it, at which point, Dawkins threw his latest tantrum.

    The word ‘hysterical’ was uttered. Coyne, meanwhile, wrote another piece for ‘Why Evolution is True’ crying about his article being removed.

NHS resource on male menopause attacked

  • A factsheet on “male menopause,” published by NHS Blood and Transplant, has been attacked by anti-trans activists for using inclusive language, addressing men’s health needs, and not mentioning women.

    The resource, aimed at supporting individuals experiencing symptoms associated with declining testosterone levels, emphasises a healthy diet and self-care measures. While court-pronounced non-expert Helen Joyce dismissed the term “male menopause” as misleading or “made-up,” the factsheet acknowledges the slower decline in male hormone levels compared to menopause in women and seeks to normalise discussions about physical and emotional health.

    The NHS defended the resource as general wellbeing advice, highlighting its purpose in promoting health awareness and inclusivity while Joyce moaned it this leaflet for men didn’t mention women.

AROUND THE WORLD

Transgender person shot dead in Ghazipur, India [Hindustan Times ]

  • Varanasi: A 25-year-old transgender person, identified as Ganga Kinnar from Barhapur village, was fatally shot by an unidentified assailant near Chochakpur turn in Ghazipur’s Nandganj area on Sunday. The assailant, riding a bike, fired four rounds before fleeing the scene, according to eyewitnesses. The incident occurred while the victim was visiting Nandganj market, police confirmed. An investigation is underway to identify and apprehend the suspect.

Couple die by suicide over son’s decision to marry trans partner [DT Next]

  • Nandyal, India: A middle-aged couple in Nandyal district, Andhra Pradesh, reportedly died by suicide after their son expressed his intent to marry his trans partner. Subba Rayudu (45) and Saraswati (38) took their lives following conflicts with their son, Sunil Kumar (24), who had been in a relationship with his partner for three years. Police official P Srinivas Reddy confirmed that the couple opposed Kumar’s decision, leading to frequent arguments.

Howard government considered restricting transgender marriage rights, papers reveal [Guardian Australia]

  • Cabinet papers from 2004, uncovered by The Guardian Australia, show the Howard government considered amending Australia’s Marriage Act to restrict marriage eligibility based on gender at birth. While the amendment ultimately defined marriage as between a man and a woman, explicitly excluding same-sex unions, it stopped short of targeting transgender or intersex people.

    The proposal arose amid ‘concerns’ about same-sex adoptions and overseas marriages, with advice suggesting birth-gender criteria could prevent transgender people from marrying. However, the cabinet decided against it, citing potential legal and social ‘complications’. John Howard later stated he did not recall seriously considering the birth-gender proposal.

Russian LGBTQ+ community faces escalating fear under new laws

  • The LGBTQ+ community in Russia faces heightened persecution after new laws expanded restrictions on LGBTQ+ expression, outlawed activism, and banned gender-affirming care. A Supreme Court ruling in 2023 deemed the LGBTQ+ movement “extremist,” exposing individuals to criminal charges and fostering an atmosphere of terror. Raids on gay bars and arrests for displaying LGBTQ+ symbols have driven the community underground, with many fleeing abroad. Those remaining struggle with harassment, limited access to medical care, and increasing violence. Activists say the laws aim to intimidate and isolate, leaving an already vulnerable population marginalised and fearful.

SPORT

USA Today challenges trans ban in golf [USA Today]

  • An article in USA Today (27 December 2024) challenges the LPGA and USGA’s ban on transgender women golfers, stating that the decision lacks scientific backing. While the organisations claim to have relied on expert advice, they provided no evidence, and researchers highlight the absence of studies specific to transgender women in golf. Most available research misuses comparisons with cisgender men or sedentary cisgender women, offering no reliable conclusions. Experts argue that such bans not only lack factual support but also hinder the ability to conduct meaningful, sport-specific research, perpetuating discrimination similar to historical biases against women in sports.

    Science not there to ban transgender women USA TODAY US Edition27 Dec 2024Nancy Armour Columnist WILLIAM PURNELL/GETTY IMAGES When the LPGA and U.S. Golf Association announced a new policy that effectively bans transgender women, they said they were doing so on the advice of medical experts as well as research that shows going through male puberty would give transgender women a competitive advantage in golf. Yet neither organization would provide details on the experts or the science, and two researchers who specialize in studies of transgender athletes said there has been no such study involving golfers. Nor, several researchers say, is there any reliable study showing that transgender women have a clear competitive advantage. “There’s nothing we can see in the reviewed literature, nothing reliable that would suggest there‘s an unfair advantage so far,” said Debra Kriger, who as a research associate at E-Alliance was part of the team that reviewed available data and literature on the participation of transgender women in sport for the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport. In fact, most studies used to claim transgender women have competitive advantages in sports are based on the performances of cisgender men, which is not an appropriate comparison. Or compare the performance of transgender women athletes with that of cisgender women who are “sedentary,” or not athletes. Also not an appropriate comparison. One of the few studies that did compare transgender women athletes with cisgender women athletes found transgender women had lower lung capacity and cardiovascular function, possibly putting them at a disadvantage. “Transgender women, athletes in particular, are very, very different from cisgender male athletes,” said Blair Hamilton, one of the researchers on the study, which was published in April in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. “That’s one of the big takeaways we found from the research we did. They need to be studied as their own, unique cohort.” The problem is there aren’t enough transgender athletes to do robust, longterm studies. And bans like those by the LPGA and USGA will only make it harder to do the research that will allow participation decisions to be made on facts and data rather than fear and demonization. “There’s not that much data there,” said D.J. Oberlin, an assistant professor and exercise physiologist at Lehman College who last year published a paper reviewing the available science on transgender participation in sports. Said Hamilton, who is a research associate at Manchester Metropolitan University, “The more these policies shut us down, the less chance there is to actually find the correct answer to this.” The transgender population is minuscule, just 0.6% of Americans 13 and older, according to a 2022 study by the Williams Institute, a UCLA Law think tank. And contrary to what some politicians and right-wing influencers would have you believe, the number of transgender athletes is even lower. NCAA president Charlie Baker said last week there are “less than 10” transgender athletes out of 510,000 collegiate athletes. There has been one openly transgender woman at the Olympics, despite their participation being allowed since 2004. There are no openly transgender women in the WNBA, NWSL, LPGA or WTA. But transgender people, athletes in particular, are increasingly the target of the right wing, with widespread ignorance and bad faith arguments often being used to marginalize them. Transgender women athletes are characterized by opponents as men, when research shows they are not. Even before hormone therapy, transgender women have lower lean body mass and strength, according to that Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport report, published in 2022. Those appear to be further reduced with hormone therapy, said Kriger, now assistant manager of Co-curricular, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at the University of Toronto Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education. Said Hamilton, “A lot of people who want to push bans look at transgender women (and say), ‘They have bigger skeletons, so they have more muscle mass.’ If you look at transgender women athletes, they’re actually weaker than cisgender athletes. They actually have less muscle mass to power.” The effect of prior exposure to testosterone in transgender women is often presumed, too, equated with the effects of doping, according to the CCES report. But that, it said, is a “false biological equivalency.” Or the performances by cisgender men are used as predictors for transgender women. “Many of the claims about the benefits of testosterone in athletics have gone unchecked since they are often taken for granted in biological research papers and do not include citations,” the CCES report said. When the International Women’s Forum, a conservative group hostile to transgender women, sent a letter to Tour officials in August signed by 275 current and former players, it cited performance statistics of cisgender men to argue cisgender women would be at a disadvantage against transgender women. Neither the LPGA nor USGA would say if that letter was used in crafting the new gender policy, announced earlier this month. The LPGA said it consulted “experts across diverse fields, including medicine, science, sports physiology, golf performance and gender policy law, alongside feedback from a broad array of stakeholders.” The USGA said it had “consulted with a range of experts in transgender medicine and sports science” and was “confident that we received the benefit of objective, scientific research from independent, unbiased experts.” But Hamilton and Oberlin said there is no study that has compared the performance of transgender women golfers who’ve done gender affirming hormone therapy with cisgender women golfers. With the LPGA and USGA refusing to provide evidence to the contrary, the only conclusion can be that the assumptions they are making about transgender women are just that: Assumptions. “I suspect that they did consult people,” Oberlin said. “I don’t know how thoroughly they looked across everybody or if they just went to one or two people who were probably going to agree with them.” Kriger said one of the things that jumped out to the research team behind the CCES report was the lack of clarity in what gives any athlete a performance advantage. Is it hormones? Is it height? Is it limb length? There’s simply no way to make sweeping generalizations, Kriger said. Not from a factual basis, anyway. “It’s such a mystery as to what makes performance peak,” she said. “To link that back to specific biomarkers, it seems from the review, is a bit of a doomed project. There hasn’t been something yet that’s popped up that this is the biomarker that can distinguish gender or can distinguish performance. “It seems,” she added, “it would be likely it would be more of a mix.” The bans on transgender athletes are an extension of what has long been a policing of women’s bodies and attempts to keep women out of sports. Women were banned from running the Boston Marathon until 1972 because they were not believed to be “physiologically capable.” Women ski jumpers were not allowed at the Olympics until 2014 for fear their uteruses would fall out. Women were forced to undergo genital checks in the 1960s, with one humiliating method dubbed “the nude parade” because it required athletes to walk past doctors without underwear on. This was eventually replaced by genetic screening. Only after scientific evidence to the contrary, and doses of common sense, were these ridiculous ideas abandoned. Who’s to say bans of transgender athletes won’t be looked at the same way in the future? But without more studies, preferably sport-specific research, no one will be able to say for sure. Until then, Hamilton and the other authors of the BJSM study cautioned sports organizations against imposing bans and excluding transgender athletes. “If you’re so confident about your position, why not just let us do our work?” Hamilton said. “Let transgender athletes compete right now, let us test them. If we find out there is an advantage, we’ll report that.” Article Name:Science not there to ban transgender women Publication:USA TODAY US Edition Author:Nancy Armour Columnist Start Page:5C End Page:5C

New research suggests trans athletes may face physical disadvantages

  • A study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, funded by the International Olympic Committee, indicates that transgender athletes may have physical disadvantages compared to cisgender peers. Researchers assessed performance metrics such as strength, lung function, and body composition across cisgender and transgender athletes actively engaged in sports. Findings revealed trans women had reduced lower-body strength and lung function compared to cisgender women, potentially affecting athletic performance. The study urges caution against blanket bans on trans athletes, advocating for sport-specific research to inform fairer eligibility rules.

    You can read the full study here.

Texas sues NCAA over transgender athletes in women’s sports

  • Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against the NCAA, seeking to block transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports. The lawsuit, filed in Lubbock, claims the NCAA violates the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by allegedly misleading fans about women’s sports. The suit demands either an injunction against participation in events involving Texas programs or a rebranding of events as “co-ed” if transgender athletes compete. This follows President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to ban transgender athletes from competition.

    The NCAA maintains its policy, first established in 2010, allows transgender athletes to compete after meeting specific testosterone suppression requirements, aligned with national and international governing bodies. NCAA President Charlie Baker recently noted fewer than 10 transgender athletes currently compete across its 19,000 teams. The NCAA has declined to comment on pending litigation.

Famed transgender dancer has shows cancelled in China. Some fear a wider crackdown [CNN]

  • Chinese transgender dancer and choreographer Jin Xing, celebrated for her groundbreaking career and advocacy, faces a wave of cancelled performances across China, sparking fears of an intensifying crackdown on LGBTQ+ representation under Xi Jinping’s increasingly authoritarian rule. Despite decades of success and state accolades, shows by her dance troupe were recently called off without explanation, raising concerns among the LGBTQ+ community about escalating ideological control. Jin’s prominence had symbolised hope for trans acceptance in China, but these developments highlight the growing dangers faced by the community amid restrictive policies.

MEDIA

Cornish Guardian print a trans voice

Report has become a focus for hate and discrimination Cornish Guardian (St. Austell & Fowey)1 Jan 2025 ✒ I READ with hope in my heart about Labour’s plans to introduce stricter guidelines on child safety. This is long overdue, but why has it become a two-tier system of children with a right to be protected and children with no right to protection? Since the publication of the Cass Report hate crime and abuse towards the transgender and non-binary communities have increased. This report, discredited by university bodies, ill-researched and hastily thrown together, is being hailed by certain people as a victory over the transgender community. Those wielding it with the most venom are known as TERFS (trans-exclusionary radical feminists) and those ❝❝ This is a dark and pernicious sickness being used to subvert feminine ideology in power who have a prejudice against transgender people. People like myself have always been transgender. We don’t reach a certain age and suddenly we are ‘trans’. Transgender adults have been transgender children. The life of a young transgender person, without understanding, help and medical intervention, is pure hell. I know this well, and it is a miracle I have made it this far. [Health Secretary] Wes Streeting, a man hated in my community, is all for denying puberty blockers for transidentifying children. When we look into the face of this prejudice, it is aimed not solely at the transgender and non-binary communities but at destroying a way of being and the femininity, nurture and understanding that underpins the way of life for anyone wishing to recognise the feminine qualities in themselves. This is a dark and pernicious sickness being used to subvert feminine ideology in a world which needs this quality more than ever to survive. The main focus is on transgender women/girls and not transgender men/boys. Transgender women are demonised and transgender men infantalised. In society, masculinity is a given. Men Article Name:Report has become a focus for hate and discrimination Publication:Cornish Guardian (St. Austell & Fowey) Start Page:16 End Page:16
Report has become a focus for hate and discrimination – Cornish Guardian (St. Austell & Fowey)1 Jan 2025

The Observer journalist Carole Cadwalladr has had her contract “cancelled” by The Guardian following its controversial sale to Tortoise Media.

Michael Deacon turns on drag queens [Telegraph]

  • After writing four anti-trans articles in the space of a week in the run-up to Christmas, all of which the Telegraph gleefully printed, Michael Deacon has now turned on drag queens as he realises how much money he can make attacking queer people.

    When will the BBC end its obsession with drag queens? The Daily Telegraph2 Jan 2025 What percentage of the UK population are drag queens? Sadly, the most recent census doesn’t provide an official figure. Judging by the vast and ever-growing volume of coverage that the BBC devotes to them, however, I’d guess it must be at least 50 per cent. These days, you can hardly visit any BBC television channel or web page without being confronted by the sight of a man in drag. Just last week, the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special was won by a drag queen, while the festive edition of Blankety Blank featured a drag queen panellist. Shortly before Christmas, the BBC launched both Smoggie Queens (a sitcom about drag queens) and Ginger’s House (a series in which a former winner of the drag queen talent show RuPaul’s Drag Race UK – another BBC staple – invites guests to discuss “the whys and wherefores of the world of UK drag”). Nowhere is the BBC’s fixation more obvious, however, than on its news website. Its journalists seize every opportunity to pump out sympathetic stories about drag queens – no matter how banal those stories may be. Among their many headlines from 2024 were “Empty Colchester shop set for ‘drag school’ transformation”, “South Shields drag artist opens up about struggle with diabetes”, and “London Marathon: make-up artist hopes to be fastest drag queen”. If such stories were about any other group of people, would they really merit such breathless coverage from the national news broadcaster? I may be wrong, but I don’t recall the BBC news team ever running headlines such as “Dinner lady opens up about struggle with diabetes”, or “London Marathon: KPMG employee hopes to be fastest accountant”. To be clear: I’ve got nothing against drag queens, per se. I merely wish the BBC would explain the reason behind its feverish obsession with them. It’s not as if drag is a new phenomenon. Yet the BBC treats it as if it is and its bosses seem determined to foist their odd enthusiasm on the rest of us. Before you know it, there will be drag queens presenting Songs of Praise and Blue Peter. It’s only a matter of time. Article Name:When will the BBC end its obsession with drag queens? Publication:The Daily Telegraph Start Page:7 End Page:7

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

Russian man arrested for running LGBTQ+ travel agency found dead [Independent]

  • Andrei Kotov, director of the Russian LGBTQ+ travel agency Men Travel, was found dead in a Moscow detention centre, reportedly by suicide, after being arrested on charges of “organising extremist activity.” Rights group OVD-Info reported allegations that Kotov was beaten and subjected to electric shocks during his arrest. This comes amid Russia’s intensified crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights, including a Supreme Court ruling designating the “international LGBT movement” as extremist.

Birmingham LGBTQ+ church members ‘cut off’ after sexual assault complaints [Guardian]

  • The Guardian were not the only publication to make this look as if the LGBTQ+ members were the ones doing the assaulting.

Birmingham LGBTQ+ church members ‘cut off’ after sexual assault complaints The Guardian24 Dec 2024Jessica Murray Midlands correspondent The Methodist church in Birmingham has been accused of silencing and cutting off members of an LGBTQ+ congregation after they reported a senior member of the group for alleged sexual assault. A man was arrested last month after a number of former members of the congregation at Inclusive Gathering Birmingham (IGB) alleged they had been subjected to inappropriate touching, groping and harassment during church services and social gatherings. They say their repeated complaints about the individual, who held a senior role within IGB, were not always dealt with correctly. Birmingham Methodist church denied the allegations and said: “Complainants’ concerns were taken seriously and investigated thoroughly by district safeguarding officers from January 2024, who took appropriate action to safeguard the church community at each stage in response to the information they were provided at the time.” Established in 2017, IGB describes itself as “a diverse, justice-seeking, LGBTQIA+ affirming church” in Birmingham’s gay village, and is part of the Birmingham Methodist district. Matthew Lloyd, an advocate for the alleged victims and a former member of the congregation, claimed IGB initially told complainants that their allegations were considered to be a “misunderstanding”. He called for an apology from IGB, the Birmingham Methodist district and the national Methodist church for this being allowed to happen. He said IGB “attracted many LGBTQ+ Christians who had suffered spiritual abuse at the hands of their previous churches”, and that the church had failed to show it understood this congregation. Those reporting allegations said their claims were sometimes not documented or reported to the Birmingham Methodist district safeguarding team and they had been systematically excluded from church activities, creating a sense of “alienation and vulnerability”. They said they had been removed from online noticeboards and told to delete contacts made through the church for data protection purposes. “We were blocked on everything, taken out of groups – they effectively cut us off and silenced us,” one alleged victim said. Birmingham Methodist church said: “No one was removed from information channels or volunteer positions prior to 28 April when church worship gatherings were paused.” The alleged perpetrator had been removed from their role and a safeguarding investigation that concluded in June found “no ongoing risk in relation to the original allegation”. A number of alleged victims have called for the investigation to be reopened and independently reviewed. The Birmingham Methodist district said a safeguarding concern was first brought to the attention of the IGB leadership in late 2023, followed by further complaints to the district, as IGB’s oversight body, in January. “Swift action was then taken by IGB and district leaders to ensure the safety of the community,” the church said. “With risk removed, a five-month safeguarding investigation followed. However, beyond the initial concern, multiple further allegations could not be corroborated or were found to be inaccurate and therefore dismissed.” It added: “Multiple opportunities to respond were offered to the whole IGB community, and all those put forward as witnesses were specifically contacted and invited to make statements … [We] urged everyone to contact police directly if they feel they had been a victim of a crime.” IGB had not yet reconvened public gatherings “due to the distress and damage this situation has caused”, the church said, and it was “committed to supporting IGB’s pastor and community members as they take the time and space they need to process, heal and rebuild”. Article Name:Birmingham LGBTQ+ church members ‘cut off’ after sexual assault complaints Publication:The Guardian Author:Jessica Murray Midlands correspondent Start Page:17 End Page:17

Russia fines partygoers for ‘looking too gay’ following nightclub raid [Telegraph]

Russia fines partygoers for ‘looking too gay’ following nightclub raid The Daily Telegraph2 Jan 2025By Daniel Hardaker RUSSIA fined at least seven people for “looking too gay” after a police raid on a nightclub in Tula in February, an analysis of court records by an independent Russian media outlet showed. At least eight people were detained during the operation, which videos show was carried out by men in military-style uniforms and helmets. Police charged the detainees with “trying to arouse interest in non-traditional sexual relations”, which has been a crime in Russia for a decade although it is usually directed at those publishing PRO-LGBT material not for those wearing “unmanly” clothing.

WHAT’S ON IN PARLIAMENT

Tuesday, 7 January

  • House of Lords, 2.30pm+, Oral Questions, Restricting the impact of foreign-owned social media companies upon UK democratic politics and public order. More here.

Wednesday, 8 January

  • House of Commons, 12pm, Prime Minister’s Questions

  • 🚨House of Lords, 3pm, Oral Questions, Single-sex provision for NHS staff and patients, tabled by the anti-trans Baroness Fox. More here

Thursday, 9 January

  • House of Commons, 9.30am+, General debate, Tackling violence against women and girls. More here.

THIS WEEK

Monday, 6 January

  • Report: Resolution Foundation report on child poverty

  • Arrest warrant expires for impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol

  • Trial begins for former French President Nicolas Sarkozy over alleged campaign funds from Muammar Gaddafi

Thursday, 9 January

  • Report: MPs’ expenses

  • Report: NHS key services performance data, including waiting times

  • Report: NHS staff earnings

  • State funeral for former US president Jimmy Carter

  • Lebanese parliament meets to elect new president.

  • Court hearing for Russell Brand on speeding charge

Friday, 10 January

  • Reform UK South East conference

  • US Supreme Court hearing in TikTok challenge to ban/divestment order

  • Nicolas Maduro begins new term as Venezuelan President

Saturday, 11 January

  • Reform UK North West conference

  • Germany’s SPD and AfD hold party conferences

Sunday, 12 January

  • Croatia presidential election runoff

  • Parliamentary elections in Comoros

MUST READ

My doctor emailed me back, by Abigail Thorn [Trans Writes]

  • In a powerful critique, Abigail Thorn examines the NHS trans healthcare pathway, describing it as rooted in a pathologising ideology that denies trans people bodily autonomy. Thorn discusses her rejection of an NHS proposal to help communicate upcoming changes, arguing that the system’s framework remains fundamentally discriminatory. She advocates for a shift to informed consent-based care, outlines systemic failures, and calls for structural reform to depathologise transition care. Thorn also points to the emergence of a global trans rights movement as a sign of hope for the future.

THE PAPERS

December stats

  • In December, there were a total of 94 articles about trans people in the Guardian/Observer, Mail, Times and, of course Telegraph.

    The latter accounted for 57% of those articles, publishing 54 in 31 days. The Times was next with 19, followed by the Mail with 16 and the Guardian with five.

    May 2024 was the first full month I tracked and, since that date there were a total of 713 articles in 261 days. That works out at almost three a day – every single day.

2025

  • As the last week on 2024 ticked over into a new year, there were 12 published with six in the first week of 2025.

    The Guardian/Observer haven’t published an article on trans people since 18 December (Sonia Sodha’s last Observer column on trans people was at the start of August) while the Times have ‘only’ had three since Christmas.

    As usual, the Telegraph leads the way. Over the past two weeks, they had 14 articles, with three of those on Boxing Day alone. The Mail had seven.

Maya Forstater’s Christmas

  • What do you do when you are obsessed with trans people but it’s the holiday season and your friends and family, if you have any left, all want to talk about something else? Well, you spend it on the phone to your journalist mates at the Mail and Telegraph. At least, that’s what Maya Forstater seems to have done over the most recent holiday period. You can see more on that below.

Quoted or mentioned this week:

  • Martina Navratilova on an LGBTQ+ charity in Norwich [Telegraph, 26 December]

  • Maya Forstater wanting trans people who don’t reveal they are trans to potential sexual partners to be convicted of a crime [Telegraph, 26 December]

  • Maya Forstater comparing those same trans people to a men raping their wives [Times, 27 December].

  • Maya Forstater on trans officers being allowed to strip search people [Telegraph, 27 December]

  • Helen Joyce on male menopause [Telegraph, 28 December]

  • Maya Forstater on police warrant cards [Daily Mail, 1 January]

  • JK Rowling saying there are no trans kids [Daily Mail, 30 December, Telegraph, 31 December]

How many GCs got a byline? 2 – Kathleen Stock [Times, 28 December, ‘We’re not ready for the voodoo of deepfakes‘], Julie Bindel [Telegraph, 31 December, attacking Joanne Harris for using trigger warnings in her books, Kathleen Stock [Sunday Times, 5 January, standing in for Hadley Freeman, Stock slabbers about Meghan Markle’s new Netflix show].

How many trans people were quoted or got a byline? LOL

Spotted or know something you think I should include in the Trans Agenda?

THE PAPERS Monday 23 December – Sunday 4 January

23 Monday Total: 1

The Guardian [0]
The Times [0]
Daily Mail [0]
Telegraph [1]
Transgender drugs The Daily Telegraph23 Dec 2024 Labour has been justifiably criticised for a litany of policy blunders since taking office in July. But one decision that was manifestly the right one was Wes Streeting’s announcement of an indefinite ban on puberty blockers in the NHS. He said a temporary prohibition introduced by the Tories would be made permanent, albeit with a review after 2027. The move follows the publication of the report by Dr Hilary Cass, a leading paediatrician, which found that puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones had been offered to children despite a serious lack of evidence about their long-term impact. Cass concluded that most young people complaining of gender-related distress may be suffering from the impact of family breakdown, barriers to participation in school life or social activities, and bullying. The harm is compounded by the “exceptional toxicity” of the debate around the gender issue with professionals vilified and afraid to discuss their views openly. The NHS stopped the routine prescription of puberty blocker drugs earlier this year. Yet astonishingly there are Labour MPS who are trying to reverse the Health Secretary’s decision. Kate Osborne, the MP for Jarrow and Gateshead East, called the policy “an attack on the trans community”. LGBT+ Labour, the party’s official group for LGBT people, published an open letter to Mr Streeting saying puberty blockers “represent an important medication” in treating gender dysphoria. It is almost impossible for the vast majority of rational people to get their collective heads around these fatuous and dangerous arguments. This is about protecting children, not scapegoating a “community” that arguably does not even exist in such a form. How can any MP possibly support the continuation of this practice? Their constituents should take note. Article Name:Transgender drugs Publication:The Daily Telegraph Start Page:15 End Page:15

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To the Left-wing loons who haven’t got the puberty blockers memo: it’s over The Daily Telegraph24 Dec 2024Celia Walden Activists outside Wes Streeting’s Ilford constituency office last week At a Royal Society of Medicine conference on cosmetic surgery last month, I listened to an expert in psychology list the sectors of society that were not, statistically, any happier after various aesthetic changes had been made. That young trans people were on the list surprised no one. There were no scandalised faces in that lecture theatre, or yelps of: “You can’t say that!” Medical professionals don’t get scandalised by inconvenient truths, for one thing. And, of course, this particular truth is no longer inconvenient. We’re living in newly enlightened, post-Cass Report times. Unlike two or three years ago, it’s actually incredibly hard to find any individual who will stand up today and say: “I think medical experimentation on children is a great idea!” For that reason, I’m curious to know the identities of the Labour MPs who have written to Wes Streeting, asking him to rethink his ban on puberty blockers. The Health Secretary announced last week that his temporary ban on the prescription of pubertysuppressing hormones would become permanent and reviewed no earlier than 2027. According to reports at the weekend, Streeting is now facing a backlash not just, predictably, from the LGBT+ activists and other campaign groups who have been staging protests outside his constituency office in Ilford all week, but his own party. We know that one of the MPs to hit out at the policy is Kate Osborne, MP for Jarrow and Gateshead East. Osborne has been vocal about the issue in the past, describing the ban (with the usual virtue signaller’s cut ’n’ paste terms) as “an attack on the trans community” and stating – bafflingly – that she is “hugely disappointed” with the decision to stop giving children life-changing drugs because it “removes the clinical expertise from medical decision making”. Osborne seems to have missed the memo here. In fact, she and her fellow dissenters seem to have missed a bunch of memos. Possibly a whole year’s worth. It was, after all, back in April that Dr Hilary Cass submitted her clear-eyed 400-page report to NHS England, summarising that “for most young people, a medical pathway” was not the best way to deal with gender-related issues and stressing that there was “no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress.” Given Dr Cass is a worldrenowned paediatrician, some people might say that her findings put the “clinical expertise” back into “medical decision making”; that her serene and meticulously researched conclusion (our children have been “let down” by a failure to base gender care on evidence-based research) should probably be listened to. On balance, I’d certainly trust Dr Cass’s views over – oh, I don’t know – those of a bunch of agenda-driven gender zealots from the disgraced and defunct Tavistock clinic. I’m assuming Osborne and Co know about the Tavistock, but maybe they’ve been so blinkered by their own virtue-signalling that they’ve missed that too. I hope for their sakes that all the letter writers have been living under a large rock, because if you were aware that the UK’s only child gender clinic, the Tavistock, was shut down after a series of horrifying revelations – including allegations that it was pushing children as young as 10 into taking life-altering drugs and ignoring evidence that 97.5 per cent of children seeking sex changes had autism, depression or other conditions – why would you still be stamping your foot? “We demand medical experimentation on children!” If you knew about the lawsuits and had heard the testimonies of young victims like Keira Bell, how could you still be waving your placard? “It’s a child’s right to be treated like a guinea pig!” Let Bell tell you the reality of what that feels like: “The consequences of what happened to me have been profound: possible infertility, loss of my breasts and inability to breastfeed, atrophied genitals, a permanently changed voice, facial hair.” Now do you really still believe Streeting’s got this all wrong? That Dr Cass has got this all wrong, along with every scientist and child psychologist she interviewed along the way? I’m not sure why I’m appealing to these people’s common sense – I might as well appeal to a black hole. On Sunday night, Trump announced that “on day one” of his presidency he would “sign executive orders to end child sexual mutilation”, thereby following in the UK’s footsteps. We shouldn’t feel proud – we went further than so many others in the wrong direction – but we must stand strong. This is not about trans people but children, and never again allowing ourselves to forget the most sacred rule of medicine: first, do no harm. I’d trust Dr Hilary Cass’s views over those of a bunch of agenda-driven gender zealots Article Name:To the Left-wing loons who haven’t got the puberty blockers memo: it’s over Publication:The Daily Telegraph Author:Celia Walden Start Page:7 End Page:7
Sturgeon trying to rewrite history on gender self-id, says Rowling The Daily Telegraph24 Dec 2024By Daniel Sanderson SCOTTISH CORRESPONDENT JK ROWLING led a feminist backlash against Nicola Sturgeon yesterday after she was accused of “rewriting history” over the gender self-id law controversy. The Harry Potter author said the former Scottish first minister was trying to invent a “worthy adversary” to blame for the public opposition that her gender bill provoked. Instead, Ms Sturgeon was refusing to accept that the backlash had been driven by normal women who were outraged over her plans, Ms Rowling said. It followed a series of Scottish women’s groups signing a joint letter urging Ms Sturgeon to name the “forces” she recently claimed had “muscled in” on the trans debate in Scotland as part of an agenda to “push back rights generally”. In a round of media interviews, she raised eyebrows by claiming there was no “massive public opposition” to her law until it passed. At the time it was seen as one of the most controversial pieces of legislation in Holyrood’s history and it provoked an unprecedented SNP rebellion. Ms Sturgeon’s self-id law would have allowed any Scot aged 16 and over to change their legal sex simply by signing a declaration, but it was blocked by the UK Government. Responding to the letter calling on Ms Sturgeon to name the “forces” she was referring to, Ms Rowling said: “Her ego requires her signature bill to have been opposed by something she considers a worthy adversary, rather than members of the public who don’t want cross-dressing men running rape crisis centres.” She suggested that someone buy Ms Sturgeon the book The Women Who Wouldn’t Wheesht for Christmas, a series of essays about the grassroots opposition to the self-id law, which Ms Rowling contributed to. The letter to Ms Sturgeon was signed by seven feminist groups including For Women Scotland, which is awaiting a ruling from Supreme Court judges about the legal impact of gender recognition certificates (GRCS), which the self-id law would have made widely available to Scots. In the legal case, Scottish Government lawyers undermined assurances Ms Sturgeon and other SNP ministers gave while their Bill was being scrutinised at Holyrood. They accepted that GRCS changed a person’s sex for the purposes of the Equality Act and bestowed significant new rights on those who hold them, whereas previously the law had been presented as bringing about a minor bureaucratic change. The letter to Ms Sturgeon urged her to “move away from dropping broad hints” and to present evidence to back up her claims. “If you believe that there are groups or individuals with an agenda to ‘push back rights generally’ who are ‘muscling in’ on Scottish politics, you have a duty to state who or what you believe they are, and how you believe they are operating in Scotland, as precisely as possible,” it said. In a series of interviews last week, Ms Sturgeon drew comparisons between the acrimonious nature of rows over trans rights and the more civilised debate over gay marriage legislation, which passed a decade ago in Scotland. The Scottish Tories accused Ms Sturgeon of attempting to rewrite history. A spokesman for Ms Sturgeon declined to comment. Article Name:Sturgeon trying to rewrite history on gender self-id, says Rowling Publication:The Daily Telegraph Author:By Daniel Sanderson SCOTTISH CORRESPONDENT Start Page:9 End Page:9

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Trans loophole is a ‘get-out-of-jail-free card for predators’ Daily Mail26 Dec 2024By Martin Beckford Policy Editor PROSECUTORS have been accused of giving predators a ‘get-out-ofjail-free card’ in cases of ‘sex by deception’ by allowing them to claim that they are transgender. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has published new guidance on the ‘highly sensitive’ crime – where someone tricks an unsuspecting partner into sleeping with them by pretending to be a different sex. It makes clear that the victim is considered to not have given consent to intimate contact at the time if they were unaware of the other person’s birth sex, meaning that rape or sexual assault charges may be brought. But the guidance also sets out a long list of reasons why transgender people may choose to keep their birth sex hidden, which campaigners fear could be exploited by predators to avoid being prosecuted. It says that ‘many people who have transitioned may not regard themselves as trans, but simply as a man or a woman’, while young people in particular may see their ‘gender identity’ as ‘fluid’ and ‘may identify as a man and a women or neither’. Last night Maya Forstater of the women’s rights charity Sex Matters, said that lesbians in particular face problems with biological men on dating websites identifying as female, and that the CPS guidelines ‘suggests people may avoid a conviction for sexual assault based on deception if they say they are transgender’. She added: ‘A person who fails to be clear and honest about their sex when seeking a sexual relationship is behaving in a way that is at a minimum creepy and may, at worst, be engaging in assault. ‘If there is a complaint of rape or sexual assault by deception, this guidance offers the suspect a ‘Sexual assault by deception’ get-out-of-jail-free card – namely declaring they are trans. This approach is not grounded in law and shows no recognition of ordinary standards of consent to intimate contact or sexual relations.’ Last year, Blade Silvano was jailed for ten years for sexual assault after Cambridge Crown Court heard she spent two years pretending to be a man to dupe her female partner, using a blindfold and sex toy when they were intimate. The new CPS guidance states: ‘A person whose gender identity isn’t the same as their sex may express their gender through their speech, dress, gestures, mannerisms etc, without this being a fabrication, a performance or a deception.’ It says some trans people ‘may be wary of revealing their birth sex due to social stigma, transphobia or safety considerations’ while others may not ‘openly identify as trans... for fear of a family or relationship breakdown, losing employment, or exclusion from a close-knit community or a place of worship’. The guidance also states ‘some may think it necessary to conceal their sex’ to meet the condition of living in their new identity for two years before they can obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate and have their gender change legally recognised. Siobhan Blake, chief crown prosecutor and national lead for rape and serious sexual offences, said: ‘This is a highly sensitive area of law. It is important our guidance provides prosecutors with the knowledge they need to make decisions in the rare cases where deception as to sex may have occurred.’ The CPS also stresses ‘the guidance does not intend to suggest that most such offences are committed by trans or non-binary persons’. Article Name:Trans loophole is a ‘get-out-of-jail-free card for predators’ Publication:Daily Mail Author:By Martin Beckford Policy Editor Start Page:8 End Page:8
Equalities chiefs look at Labour refusal to tighten laws on same-sex spaces Daily Mail26 Dec 2024By Policy Editor BRITAIN’S equalities watchdog has intervened after Labour insisted that tightening the law to protect single-sex spaces would be unnecessary. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has demanded to see the transgender policies of hundreds of public bodies after concerns about them were dismissed by ministers. Baroness Falkner, chairman of the EHRC, said it would examine these and decide whether the Equality Act – which allows organisations to restrict access to women-only spaces such as bathrooms to those born female – is being followed correctly. Her comments came after the Office for Equality and Opportunity last week brushed aside fears many public bodies are allowing people to access services based on their self-identified gender rather than their biological sex. It said it had found a few examples where the guidance was not being interpreted correctly, after members of the public raised concerns about 404 organisations. However, it claimed this was simply down to ‘confusion or a lack of awareness’. In response, Lady Falkner wrote to equalities minister Anneliese Dodds, thanking her for sending the EHRC 42 cases where the Equality Act 2010 was identified to have been misinterpreted. She added: ‘We would find it helpful to see the remaining 362 examples submitted to you. ‘This would enable us to form a better judgment of the overall picture of compliance with the Act and guidance, inform the development of the statutory Code of Practice and our broader regulatory activity, and have confidence that the Act, on the whole, is being applied correctly.’
Telegraph [3]
Navratilova criticises LGBT group for ‘child indoctrination’ The Daily Telegraph26 Dec 2024By Daily Telegraph Reporter Martina Navratilova, who is openly gay, has been an open critic of some elements of gender ideology MARTINA NAVRATILOVA has condemned an LGBT group over its drop-in sessions for children aged 13 and under. The nine-time Wimbledon singles champion criticised the Norwich-based LGBTQ+ Project, which works with Norfolk and Waveney schools, sharing a post on X that criticised the charity’s involvement with Acle Academy. The original post, by a user called Gay Not Queer, said children were “being indoctrinated by their own teachers”. In another post shared by Navratilova, the user included a poster from Norfolk LGBT+ Project promoting a “drop-in session” for an under-13 LGBTQ+ youth group. The post said: “This group provides a safe, supportive space for LGBTQ+ chil- dren under 13 years old and those questioning their sexuality or gender identity. All the red flags.” Sharing the message with her followers, Navratilova added: “Just leave kids be kids!” Navratilova has been a prominent campaigner for gay rights for decades and a critic of some elements of gender ideology. She opposed the inclusion of men who identify as women in women’s sport and criticised the idea that transwomen can be considered lesbians. Acle Academy Secondary invited Norfolk LGBT+ Project, which has an under-13s LGBT Youth Club, to take part in its Pride Month celebrations. In one post Navratilova shared, which showed pictures of Norfolk children, some holding the trans flag, Gay Not Queer wrote: “Acle Academy Secondary invited in Norfolk LGBT+ Project, who have an under-13s LGBTQ+ Youth Club, for Pride Month, 2024. Look at how young these children are, being indoctrinated by teachers.” She also shared a third post by Gay Not Queer featuring a picture of a pamphlet by the organisation entitled “binding, packing, tucking and padding”, which gives advice on how trans-identifying people can change the appearance of their body to match their gender identity. The practices have caused controversy their own with Dr Hilary Cass, the former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics, in her review of trans children’s services for the NHS calling chest-binding “painful, and potentially harmful”. The post said: “This ‘all-age groups’ charity put out booklets on modern-day child torture.” The LGBTQ+ Project, a registered charity, was established in 2007 to provide mental health and wellbeing support for LGBT people of all ages. It describes itself as “the only dedicated health and wellbeing service in the county” and says it is “committed to providing early intervention and prevention support, education, and information to individuals of all age groups in Norfolk and Waveney”. The charity’s work with schools includes helping set up LGBT groups, which it says can reduce isolation, connect students with similar experiences, provide support and create “a safe space” to gain confidence and selfesteem. The project said it had “no comment” to make on the tweets or Navratilova’s remark. Critics have previously accused Navratilova of transphobia for her views on trans issues. However, she has said she is “all for trans rights on a civil level”. Article Name:Navratilova criticises LGBT group for ‘child indoctrination’ Publication:The Daily Telegraph Author:By Daily Telegraph Reporter Start Page:11 End Page:11
Bible is pro-trans and has queer characters, church group claims The Daily Telegraph26 Dec 2024By Craig Simpson THE Bible is pro-transgender, according to guidance promoted by an Anglican campaign group. It claims that “not everyone in the Bible is cisgender” – their gender at birth – and says that biblical stories contain “some clear queer characters”. This argument rests on the treatment of eunuchs in scripture and women taking part in apparently masculine activities in the Bible. The guidance is contained in resources hosted on the website LGBT Faith UK. A link to the document states: “The Bible affirms trans, intersex and queer people.” The text begins by stating: “Not everyone in the Bible is cisgender. Nor is everyone in the Bible biologically or anatomically male or female. “In the Bible, the clearest example of this are eunuchs, who can be seen as the biblical ‘ancestors’ of trans people.” The guidance states that in chapter eight of Acts, an angel is sent to instruct one of the early evangelists to go and seek an Ethiopian eunuch, who he finds reading scripture. Philip, the evangelist, delivers the Christian messages to the Eunuch, and subsequently baptises him. The guidance states that this shows that the eunuch could be “a full member [of the church] without having to be totally male or totally female. God called him just as he was”. The resources further claim that Jesus’s encounter with a Samaritan woman in John hints that she is “intersex” and also shows that Christ “affirms” her identity. It adds that while “finding queer characters in the Bible” can be difficult, “looking at queer in terms of gender performance shows some clear ‘Not everyone in the Bible is cisgender. Nor is everyone biologically male or female’ queer characters”. The example given is the female judge Deborah, who despite being female leads the Israelites into battle, a “very male thing for a woman to do”. On the same site it is stated that the Bible “affirms gays and lesbians” and “affirms bisexuals”. The website LGBTQ Faith UK supports the lobby group Changing Attitude. It has lobbied Church of England bishops for “radical inclusion” of sexual orientations and gender identities. The pressure group was founded by Colin Coward, a retired Anglican priest, and wants to bring about a “radical transformation of the patriarchal, heteronormative, white, western privileged culture of the Church of England”. It wants the church to become one that “embraces unconditionally lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer people”. The group lobbied bishops extensively as the Church sought to consult on issues of sexuality and gender as part of a process titled Living in Love and Faith. It was hoped that responses to this process could push bishops to adopt a new “radical” stance ahead of the 2023 Synod. Ann Reddecliffe, the campaigner who wrote the guidance, was also a representative for Inclusive Churches. The educational charity lobbies for greater inclusion and has hundreds of churches registered with it. The guidance material states that it is taken from a book called LGBTQ Welcome by Ms Reddecliffe, but admits that it is not the official position of the Church. In 2018, the church said the Affirmation of Baptism service should be adapted to make transgender people feel more welcome. Article Name:Bible is pro-trans and has queer characters, church group claims Publication:The Daily Telegraph Author:By Craig Simpson Start Page:11 End Page:11
Transgender people hiding their biological sex from partners may not be a crime, says CPS The Daily Telegraph26 Dec 2024By Daniel Martin deputy political editor TRANSGENDER people who hide their biological sex from romantic partners may not be committing a crime, prosecutors have said. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has updated its guidance for the crime of sex by deception, which includes where someone tricks a partner into sleeping with them by pretending to be a different sex. Critics said it could give a “get out of jail free card” for predators to escape rape charges by claiming they are trans. The document makes it clear that rape or sexual assault charges may be brought if a victim was not aware of the suspect’s birth sex and therefore did not consent. But it also sets out a long list of reasons why transgender people may keep their birth sex hidden. Campaigners fear this could be exploited by men to avoid being prosecuted. The guidance stated: “Many people who have transitioned may not regard themselves as trans, but simply as a man or a woman. Young people, in particular, may see their ‘gender identity’ as ‘fluid’ and ‘may identify as a man and a women or neither’.” It also said others may not “openly identify as trans” in the workplace “for fear of a family or relationship breakdown, losing employment, or exclusion from a close-knit community or a place of worship”. Maya Forstater, co-founder of women’s rights group Sex Matters, said: “[The guidance] still suggests people may avoid a conviction for sexual assault based on deception if they say they are trans. A person who fails to be honest about their sex when seeking a sexual relationship is behaving in a way that is at a minimum creepy and, at worst, be engaging in deception and assault. Siobhan Blake, national lead for rape and serious sexual offences at the CPS, said: “It is important our guidance gives prosecutors the knowledge they need to make decisions in rare cases where deception as to sex may have occurred.” Article Name:Transgender people hiding their biological sex from partners may not be a crime, says CPS Publication:The Daily Telegraph Author:By Daniel Martin deputy political editor Start Page:12 End Page:12

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Failure to tell sexual partner about gender history ‘not always a crime’ Jonathan Ames - Legal Editor Someone failing to reveal to a sexual partner that they are transgender is not always a criminal offence, prosecutors have been told. Decisions on whether to prosecute in alleged cases of deception must be taken on a case-by-case basis, officials said, describing the way that trans or non-binary people express gender as “complex”. To assist prosecutors in England and Wales, the Crown Prosecution Service has reviewed its guidance on the offence of “deception as to sex”. Gender-critical campaigners argued that the updated guidance had no basis in law and would put some women in danger. In the guidance, CPS officials noted that lying about birth sex “may be relevant” to claims about whether consent to sexual activity had been legitimately obtained. They went on to say, however, that “many people who have transitioned may not regard themselves as trans, but simply as a man or a woman”. The guidance noted that gender identity “can be fluid and/or emergent”, especially for younger people, “who may be exploring the nature of their identity and/or sexuality, or for non-binary people, who may identify as a man and a woman or neither”. It added that people whose gender identity is not the same as their birth sex “may express their gender through their speech, dress, gestures, mannerisms ... without this being a fabrication, a performance or a deception”. The guidance also emphasised the importance of prosecutors recognising that “non-trans people may also have a multitude of ways to express themselves, even if their gender identity is the same as their sex”. Existing statute and case law in these cases stipulates that if it is proven that consent was obtained by a deliberate deception then it is “vitiated”, or invalidated. Lawyers have said that under existing law, a sexual partner’s biological sex is fundamental to the capacity of a person to agree to sexual activity. Therefore, deliberately deceiving a sexual partner about biological sex is capable of vitiating consent. The most significant case regarding deception came in 2013 when three senior judges heard an appeal by Justine McNally, who, when she was 17, had deceived a younger woman into thinking that she was male. The pair had sex, with McNally using a fake penis. The Court of Appeal ruled that “the sexual nature of the acts is, on any common sense view, different where the complainant is deliberately deceived by a defendant into believing that the latter is a male”. McNally’s conviction for sexual assault was upheld. Responding to the latest CPS guidance, Sex Matters, a women’s rights campaign group, said that the “approach is not grounded in law and shows no recognition of ordinary standards of consent to intimate contact or sexual relations ... sex by deception cases are rare, but lesbians face men identifying as lesbians on dating websites identifying as ‘female’.” Maya Forstater, the group’s founder, said that the CPS guidance “proceeds from the assumption that a suspect’s gender identity can make it reasonable for that suspect to believe that the deceived sexual partner was still consenting”. She added: “No matter how sincerely such a belief may be held, it is not reasonable. It is no more reasonable than a man’s sincere belief that his wife consents to sex at all times.” Lesbian Labour, a group that campaigns “within” the Labour Party, said that “lesbians in particular face problems with biological men on dating websites identifying as female”.
Police sued over policy on strip-search Nadeem Badshah British Transport Police is being sued by women’s rights campaigners over guidance that allows transgender officers to strip-search women. The force is facing legal action from the organisation Sex Matters over the policy, under which staff identifying as female may intimately search women provided the officers have a gender recognition certificate. Campaigners wrote to Lucy D’Orsi, the BTP chief constable, last month calling for the advice to be removed, arguing that it breaches human rights. However, it remains in place. Similar national policing guidance was temporarily withdrawn in January after the Conservative government raised concerns about women’s safety. The National Police Chiefs’ Council said at the time that it was conducting a “thorough” review of its guidance on searches conducted by transgender officers and forces have been advised to revert to their own policies on strip-searches. The original policy had been implemented by the majority of police forces across the country, according to a report by the Women’s Rights Network. The guidance says that officers can search people of the same sex as “either their birth certificate or GRC [gender recognition certificate]”. Those who are over 18 and have “lived in their affirmed gender for more than two years” can apply for a GRC to legally recognise their gender. A spokesman for the force said: “British Transport Police can confirm that a civil claim has been received and a judicial review is under way.”
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Police force sued over allowing trans officers to strip-search women The Daily Telegraph27 Dec 2024By Conor Stringer Senior reporter WOMEN’S rights campaigners are suing the British Transport Police (BTP) over guidance that allows transgender officers to strip-search women. The policy, revealed by The Telegraph, allows male staff identifying as female to intimately search women so long as they have a gender recognition certificate (GRC). A backlash earlier this year saw similar national policing guidance temporarily withdrawn after the Conservative government raised concerns about women’s safety. Campaigners wrote to Chief Constable Lucy D’orsi last month calling for the advice to be removed on the basis that it breaches human rights. But the force refused and now faces a ‘Every woman who travels on trains is at risk of being subjected to humiliating treatment’ lengthy legal battle with activists who say the guidance means women risk being subjected to “undignified and humiliating treatment”. Maya Forstater, chief executive of human rights charity Sex Matters, which is suing the force, said: “Sex Matters is seeking urgent permission for a judicial review to halt British Transport Police’s heinous practice of allowing male officers with a Gender Recognition Certificate to strip-search female detainees. “This policy means every woman who travels on trains around the UK is at risk of being subjected to undignified and humiliating treatment, which is a breach of her human rights. “The law on searching is supposed to protect people from being searched by members of the opposite sex. But British Transport Police is taking the Kafkaesque approach of saying that if a male person with a government-issued piece of paper searches a woman, that search is ‘being done by a female’. “We are bringing this case to ensure that no woman in the UK has to suffer this degrading treatment, and to protect female officers from being forced to search male suspects who decide to declare themselves ‘women’.” The guidance says officers can search people of the same sex as “either their birth certificate or GRC” in BTP jurisdiction. People over 18 years old and have lived their acquired gender for more than two years can apply for a GRC to legally recognise their gender and these can be bought online for £5. Withdrew similar guidance after outcry. After an outcry in January, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) withdrew similar guidance permitting biological males identifying as female to intimately search women. The NPCC said it was conducting a thorough review of its guidance on searches conducted by transgender officers. “In the meantime, forces have been advised to revert to their own policies on strip-searches,” the body said. The policy had been implemented by the majority of police forces across the country, according to a report by the Women’s Rights Network (WRN). Chris Philp, then policing minister, said transgender officers should be stopped from conducting strip-searches on suspects of the opposite sex unless ‘BTP is saying that if a male with a piece of paper searches a woman, it is ‘being done by a female’ they had changed their legal gender. Sex Matters penned a letter before claim, also known as a letter before action, as opposition mounted over the BTP policy. But the force rejected the claim that the guidance “exposes women to a particular risk of behaviour”. The BTP wrote: “As has been outlined previously, Parliament has imposed stringent safeguards in respect of the ability of an individual to obtain a GRC. It is not enough simply that a man identifies themselves as a female to obtain one.” A spokesman for the BTP said: “British Transport Police can confirm that a civil claim has been received and a judicial review is underway. We cannot comment further at this time due to pending legal proceedings.” Article Name:Police force sued over allowing trans officers to strip-search women Publication:The Daily Telegraph Author:By Conor Stringer Senior reporter Start Page:6 End Page:6

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NHS quango releases ‘male menopause’ factsheet The Daily Telegraph - Saturday28 Dec 2024 Nasa’s Parker Solar Probe was designed to fly into the Sun’s outer atmosphere, to help scientists learn more about the star at the centre of our solar system Blood website accused of spreading misinformation after offering diet advice for ‘made-up condition’ Michael Searles HealtH Correspondent AN NHS quango issued “male menopause” dietary advice despite the condition not being clinically recognised. A “factsheet” for men going through the male menopause on the NHS Blood and Transplant website issues advice on what sufferers should eat. The advice has been published despite the “male menopause”, also known as andropause, not being clinically recognised by the NHS. The factsheet is found on a page dedicated to the menopause, which does not use the word “woman” once and makes reference to “people” seven times. It claims that the male condition “normally starts in the mid-40s early 50s” with symptoms including depression, weight gain and mood swings. It says a healthy diet is among the self-help measures men can take to reduce symptoms, and recommends foods to increase testosterone levels as well as those to avoid. “A good diet according to diet nutrition Clinic Be and Nutrition in Andropause Neolife, could help improve testosterone production,” it reads. It tells men to “try and include” calcium, zinc, omega 3 and vitamins D and E, which can be found in foods such as low fat dairy, meats, nuts, fish, green leafy vegetables and mushrooms. But it warns to avoid “soy products – such as tofu, soy milk and miso – as they may cause a drop in testosterone levels”. It says these are high in phytoestrogens, which “mimic the effects of oestrogen in your body by altering hormone levels and potentially reducing testosterone”. The document similarly advises against all mint including spearmint and peppermint, liquorice root that “has been shown to significantly decrease testosterone levels in both men and women” and vegetable oil, because it is “high in polyunsaturated fat, which has been associated with decreased testosterone”. Dr Louise Irvine, the co-chairman of the Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender, said the information on male menopause was “misleading and wrong in many places”. “It is interesting that the advice on ‘male menopause’ or ‘andropause’ uses the word ‘men’ repeatedly – why the difference?” she said. “If a man experiences severe symptoms he should seek advice from his GP, otherwise the best way to promote one’s wellbeing as a man into old age is to follow basic advice on healthy eating, not smoking, not drinking excessively and… exercise.” Helen Joyce, the director of advocacy at charity Sex Matters, said: “Historically, health conditions that only women suffer from have been treated less seriously and overlooked by medical researchers. How can this be fixed when NHS leaders are apparently too squeamish even to name us?” She said the “andropause” was a “made-up term based on a false analogy between the gradual falling off of male hormone levels over the decades, and the step-change women experience in their mid-40s”. “No NHS body should be peddling healthcare misinformation,” she added. The site also includes a “self andropause symptom checklist”, which suggests the symptoms of male menopause, include depression, loss of sex drive, erectile dysfunction, mood swings, irritability, weight gain, lack of energy and insomnia. The symptoms are the same as late-onset hypogonadism where testosterone levels decrease. The NHS acknowledges the term male menopause is “misleading” because it suggests hormone levels fall in men as rapidly as they do in women, when the decrease is in fact much slower. Despite this, the factsheet says it “can be a very challenging time as men find it difficult to talk about their bodies”. A spokesman for NHS Blood and Transplant said: “The advice we provide internally for all our staff is intended for general wellbeing purposes, not as clinical guidance. “We regularly review our content to ensure it remains aligned with broader health advice and best practices.” Article Name:NHS quango releases ‘male menopause’ factsheet Publication:The Daily Telegraph - Saturday Start Page:11 End Page:11

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30 Monday Total: 2

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Daily Mail [1]
JK Rowling: No child is born in the wrong body Daily Mail30 Dec 2024By Noor Qurashi J K ROWLING has come under fire again after stating there are ‘no trans kids’ and that people cannot be born in the wrong body. Ms Rowling has been the focus of controversy over the past few years for her views on women’s rights and transgender issues. And in a post on X, the Harry Potter author appeared to go a step further, suggesting transgender children did not exist. She was responding to a critic who accused her of ‘hateful focus on trans kids’. Ms Rowling said: ‘There are no trans kids. No child is “born in the wrong body”. ‘There are only adults like you, prepared to sacrifice the health of minors to bolster your belief in an ideology that will end up wreaking more harm than lobot ‘There are no trans kids’ omies and false memory syndrome combined.’ The post elicited an array of comments, most of them supportive of the 59-year-old. One person said ‘JK is a hero’, while another added ‘you ARE using your immense power for good’. This came after the user who had initially criticised Ms Rowling said they wished she would use her ‘immense power for good’. Ms Rowling has criticised the term ‘people who menstruate’ and said the use of words such as ‘cis’ – describing people who are not transgender – was ‘ideological language’. In August this year, she described Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who previously failed to meet gender eligibility criteria, as a ‘male who knows he’s protected by a misogynist sporting establishment’. Article Name:JK Rowling: No child is born in the wrong body Publication:Daily Mail Author:By Noor Qurashi Start Page:4 End Page:4
Telegraph [1]
Year when standing up for women’s sport really mattered If 2024 taught us anything it is that biological reality must be restored and fairness must take precedence over inclusion – in every instance The Daily Telegraph30 Dec 2024By Oliver Brown CHIEF SPORTS WRITER Battleground: Esra Yildiz Kahraman makes a defiant ‘XX’ gesture after her semi-final defeat by Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting at Paris 2024 (above); Imane Khelif celebrates her Olympic gold medal (right); South African DSD athlete Caster Semenya (top left), and American trans swimmer Lia Thomas (top right) The most stirring sporting gesture of 2024 arose not in victory but defeat. With hands in the air, index fingers crossed and a double-tap motion, the “XX” protest was born. Bulgarian boxer Svetlana Staneva was t he first to perform it at the Paris Olympics, anguished at losing to an opponent whose sex tests had, according to the sport’s world governing body, uncovered the presence of XY chromosomes, the male pattern. Esra Yildiz Kahraman, a Turkish fighter dealt the same one-sided beating by Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, followed suit 48 hours later. “I am XX,” their message read. “I am a woman.” It was a reality that their rulemakers had forgotten to respect. Years of acquiescing to ideologues had brought us to this point, where the International Olympic Committee casually allowed women to be smashed in the face by fighters whom it could not even guarantee were genetically female. The functionaries in Lausanne had fair warning. In 2022 and 2023, both Lin and Algeria’s Imane Khelif had been deemed ineligible for the female category at global championships, with the World Boxing Association declaring they had “competitive advantages”. But the IOC, in hock to a fallacy that womanhood was reducible to a passport detail, let it slide. The ensuing outrage was the scandal that sport needed to have. At last, the consequences of a craven surrender to the cult of self-id were fleshed out for a worldwide audience, with female athletes suffering not just rank unfairness but disregard for their safety in the most perilous sport of all. If you were in any doubt as to where a blurring of the boundaries between XX and XY could lead in boxing, Khelif and Lin won every round of every fight en route to Olympic golds. Two moments struck me as especially revealing. The first was the near-universal shudder at seeing Angela Carini forced to withdraw after only 46 seconds of her bout with Khelif, with the distraught Italian claiming she had “feared for her life” and that she had “never been punched so hard”. A message I posted that day on X, highlighting the IOC’S cowardice, was viewed more than 15 million times. Reem Alsalem, a figure conditioned to be diplomatic as the United Nations’ special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, replied: “Carini rightly followed her instincts and prioritised her safety – but she and other female athletes should not have been exposed to this physical and psychological violence based on their sex.” A second instructive episode came after the Olympic flame had been extinguished. While on holiday in France, I became aware that Laura Woods, who had just finished presenting the Games for Discovery, was receiving terrible online abuse. Her offence? To have written “Great article Oli” in response to an inside story I had filed on the boxing debacle. For this, she was inundated with death threats to her unborn child. Give or take the odd personal attack, I escaped the same toxic pile-on. It laid bare the ingrained misogyny of those self-styled “progressives” agitating for biological males to enter female sport. Yet again, they directed their worst slurs not at a man, but at a woman who had dared raise her head above the parapet. While these iniquities are far from over, the landscape has shifted over the past five months. An IOC presidential election has been called, kindling hope that the tone-deaf Thomas Bach could be replaced in March by Lord Coe, a figure whose nine years in charge of World Athletics indicate a sincere commitment to stand up for the integrity of women’s sport. Where the IOC showed gutless leadership in Paris, accusing critics of stoking a “culture war”, Coe reacted decisively when all three podium places in the women’s 800metres at Rio 2016 were filled by athletes with differences in sexual development. He set in motion a policy that prevented any DSD runner from racing as a woman without undergoing at least two years’ testosterone suppression. Even this approach is imperfect. One common misconception is that Caster Semenya, the 800m champion, whose victory would prove a trigger for Coe’s rules rethink, simply has abnormally high levels of testosterone. But a Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling in 2019 delivers a stark truth: that Semenya’s condition of 46XY 5-alpha reductase deficiency means the South African has the circulating testosterone of a man. The clue is in the letters XY. This helps illuminate the uproar over Khelif and Lin. Given their chromosomes are said by the IBA to be XY, any female boxer facing them is left exposed to the full spectrum of performance disparities between the sexes. And when academic literature establishes the average man punches 2.6 times harder than a woman, these mismatches are not just irresponsible, but potentially lethal. The defining saga of Paris 2024 has left a long shadow. For Carini, there has been one happy postscript, in that she won the Italian title this month. Khelif has tried to brazen out the furore, accepting a cover shoot for Vogue Arabia and third place in the Associated Press “female athlete of the year” vote. The 25-yearold was even due to appear at the Oxford Union, until a forensic letter by Mara Yamauchi – asking why her alma mater was resisting inviting any one of hundreds of female Olympic champions whose sex was not disputed – brought its abrupt cancellation. Khelif is also still threatening to sue Elon Musk and JK Rowling for cyber harassment. Surely, if you are intent on telling the world you are a woman, a quicker and more costeffective strategy is to take the cheek swab that can remove any doubt. By degrees, women are demonstrating that they will not accept spineless cop-outs on this issue any longer. Five female university volleyball teams in the United States have forfeited matches in protest at San Jose State fielding Blaire Fleming, a biological male. In golf, an outcry at Hailey Davidson chasing a women’s main tour card just a few years after winning a scholarship to play against men has prompted the Ladies Professional Golf Association to ban anybody who has experienced male puberty from teeing it up in the women’s game. The Lawn Tennis Association introduced a similar policy this month, although you wish it could have avoided such daft language as “assigned male at birth”. Sports are belatedly seeing the light, recognising the shambles they have created by pandering to activists rather than upholding the rights of half the population. Some, sadly, continue to stumble in the darkness. Take cricket, which had a golden chance to set out an unequivocally pro-women position but instead resorted to a ludicrous fudge, imposing a ban on male-to-female transgender players at elite women’s level but leaving the grass roots as a free-for-all. Consider the subtext: one group is considered worthy of fairness and safety while the rest are not. The England and Wales Cricket Board has since been deluged with complaints. With a turning of the tide, the waters are lapping at football’s gates, too. Do not underestimate the anger stirred by Telegraph Sport’s story of how a 17-year-old girl was treated for asking a “bearded” opposing player: “Are you a man?” Within days, hundreds of women were assembling at Wembley to make their feelings plain. The Football Association should have taken one look at this and revised its ridiculous policy of permitting those born male to compete in female-only events. Instead, the girl had to submit to a hearing by a national serious case panel, which banned her for six games. The ring-fencing of women’s sport exclusively for women is not, contrary to what transgender-rights militants would have you believe, some right-wing crusade. It is rooted solely in a quest for a level playing field. The immutable variance in the capabilities of men’s and women’s bodies determines that sports are separated by sex for fundamental reasons. Sports are not there to be used as the latest testing ground for queer theory, the body of scholarly writing that contests the validity of conventional boundaries. Here sex boundaries exist to ensure both women’s dignity and the sanctity of competition. Just ask the female swimmers who watched helplessly in 2022 as Lia Thomas went from being the 554th-ranked man in the United States to winning a national collegiate title for women. And who had to share the same changing rooms. “There’s a 6ft 4in biological male towering over everyone else, starting to undress,” said Riley Gaines, now a prominent campaigner in the pushback. “I walked out of there thinking, ‘Am I missing something? Why are people in authority not talking about how this is wrong?’” You can bet people are talking about it now. The debate even turned into a crucial battleground in this year’s race for the US presidency. In a dissection of the myriad reasons for Donald Trump’s victory, Gretchen Carlson, a former Miss America and national TV anchor, said: “You saw a lot of signs across the nation saying ‘Save Girls’ Sports’. I think the whole transgender issue was undersold as to how it resonated with Trump followers and the Trump base. That was a huge thing.” This goes beyond Trump disciples, though. In fact, it transcends political barriers altogether. Martina Navratilova, one of the most potent pro-women voices as a nine-time Wimbledon champion, was a Kamala Harris supporter. Rosie Duffield, who said in the House of Commons that “our rights to free speech, safe spaces, fairness in sport, even the words we use to describe our own bodies, are all under threat”, was a Labour MP until her discontent with Sir Keir Starmer led her to quit the party in September. Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, acknowledged that Khelif’s battering of Carini had been an “incredibly uncomfortable watch”. Stronger words could be found for the spectacle of Valentina Petrillo, a father-oftwo who was still running as a man at the age of 45, lining up at the Paralympics in the 200 and 400m for visually impaired women. If you still seek evidence of male advantage, how many sprinters do you suppose make their debuts on such a stage at 51? “This was a dream I had since I was a little girl,” said the Italian, having never been a little girl to begin with. Even after taking the places of two women, Lorraine Gomes de Aguiar, of Brazil, and Spain’s Nagore Folgado, Petrillo was oblivious to the travesty of it all, mocking anyone opposing the athlete’s attempts to access female-only dressing quarters by saying: “You do realise I cannot even see?” If I have a single abiding hope for 2025, it is that Coe, should he be entrusted with the keys to the IOC, can restore the significance of biological reality in sport. I trust he will honour his “non-negotiable” promise to do so and put a stop to preposterous pronouncements by men such as Andrew Parsons, president of the International Paralympic Committee, who said of the Petrillo controversy: “Transgender athletes are breaking barriers everywhere.” All that they are breaking, when it comes to women’s sport, are boundaries that should be sacrosanct. One other wish is that men with huge platforms in sport find the courage to speak up. Gary Lineker, soliciting ideas last month for his Rest Is Football podcast, was asked an entirely reasonable question by Navratilova about whether he thought “males who identify otherwise” should be able to play football on women’s teams. Never normally shy of venturing beyond his brief, he stayed silent. It should not hurt him, after women have done all the heavy lifting, to voice an opinion. But a fear prevails that anyone who does so will be condemned as insufficiently “inclusive”. That logic has had its day, frankly. For if this tumultuous sporting year teaches us anything, it is that fairness must take precedence over inclusion – every time. Article Name:Year when standing up for women’s sport really mattered Publication:The Daily Telegraph Author:By Oliver Brown CHIEF SPORTS WRITER Start Page:10 End Page:10

31 Tuesday Total: 4

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Two thirds of trans women prisoners are sex offenders Daily Mail31 Dec 2024By Sam Merriman Social Affairs Correspondent ALMOST two thirds of transgender women in prisons who are still legally recognised as men have been convicted of sex offences, official figures show. This rate – 62 per cent – is far higher than that of the male prison population as a whole. Some 151 of the 245 legally male trans women in jail at the end of March 2024 were sex offenders, according to data revealed in response to a written parliamentary question. In comparison, 17 per cent of men in prison in England and Wales are sex offenders. A rule change in 2023 meant trans women with male genitalia, ‘Case sparked public outrage’ or those convicted of violent or sexual offences, were no longer allowed to be held in women’s jails. Exemptions can still be considered by ministers in ‘exceptional circumstances’. The rule change followed high profile cases including that of Isla Bryson, who began identifying as a trans woman while awaiting trial for two rapes. In February 2023, Bryson was convicted of two rapes and jailed for eight years. She was first sent to the all-female Cornton Vale prison in Scotland before being transferred to a male prison after the case sparked public outrage. The data on sex offenders in prison showed a similar but less extreme difference between trans men and women. Five or fewer of the 50 trans men prisoners who reported their legal gender as female were sex offenders – up to 10 per cent. In comparison, about 2 per cent of women in prison in England and Wales have sex offence convictions. Separate data from the Ministry of Justice showed that there were 295 prisoners who identified as transgender and did not have a gender recognition certificate (GRC) – an increase of 9.7 per cent from 2023. Of these, 245 identified as trans but reported their legal gender as male, an increase of 8.9 per cent from 2023. Meanwhile, there were 50 prisoners who identified as trans but reported their legal gender as female, an increase of 13.6 per cent from 2023. This data also reveals there were ten prisoners that had been issued with a full GRC – meaning they have legally changed their gender under the Gender Recognition Act. These prisoners were not included in the figures on trans sex offenders in jail. A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: ‘Well over 90 per cent of transgender women in custody are held in the men’s estate and those who’ve been convicted of sexual or violent offences – and/or who retain male genitalia – cannot be held in a women’s prison unless in truly exceptional circumstances.’ Article Name:Two thirds of trans women prisoners are sex offenders Publication:Daily Mail Author:By Sam Merriman Social Affairs Correspondent Start Page:12 End Page:12
Telegraph [2]
Rowling claims ‘no child is born in wrong body’ in latest row over transgender issues The Daily Telegraph31 Dec 2024By Tom Mcardle JK ROWLING has said that “no child is born in the wrong body” in her latest intervention on transgender issues. The Harry Potter author said there were “no trans kids”, and only adults believing in “an ideology that will end up wreaking more harm than lobotomies”. She was responding to a critic who said they wished she would use her “immense power for good” and labelled her “hateful focus” on transgender children as “hurtful and unnecessary”. In response, the 59-year-old writer posted on X: “There are no trans kids. No child is ‘born in the wrong body’. “There are only adults like you, prepared to sacrifice the health of minors to bolster your belief in an ideology that will end up wreaking more harm than lobotomies and false memory syndrome combined.” One user replied in agreement, claiming that children’s parents were the problem. However, Rowling responded that was “not always” the case, and claimed children were also watching Tiktok videos “of surgeons selling the idea that bodies can be modified like Lego”. She continued: “Schools affirm kids’ trans identities behind parents’ backs. “Many parents are struggling to protect kids from a zeitgeist telling them that anxieties about puberty, sexuality and growing up can be fixed by lifelong reliance on Big Pharma and by doctors who make Frankenstein look ethical,” she said. Rowling has been criticised for her staunch views on gender identity and ‘[It is] an ideology that will end up wreaking more harm than lobotomies’ allowing trans women into women-only spaces and competing in women’s sport – but has previously denied accusations of transphobia. Her views have put her at the centre of controversy surrounding discussion on women’s rights and transgender issues in the past few years, although this appears to be the furthest she has gone. Earlier this month, she appeared to criticise a “mad” ruling by Ipso, the press watchdog, against The Spectator following a complaint from a trans author over an article calling her a “man who claims to be a woman”. Rowling said that no publication should be forced to “assert a lie”. The author has previously claimed that she decided to speak about transgender issues because she believes she is witnessing “the greatest assault of my lifetime” on women’s rights. Rowling was branded “transphobic” by activists in 2020 and shunned by some actors from the Harry Potter films. Despite criticism, Warner Bros, the studio that made the films, recently defended her “right to express her personal views” ahead of casting for the planned Harry Potter series, which is set to premiere in 2026. Article Name:Rowling claims ‘no child is born in wrong body’ in latest row over transgender issues Publication:The Daily Telegraph Author:By Tom Mcardle Start Page:7 End Page:7
Dawkins quits ‘atheism board’ in trans row Author accuses Freedom From Religion Foundation of caving in to ‘hysterical squeals’ of cancel culture The Daily Telegraph31 Dec 2024By Cameron Henderson US reporter RICHARD DAWKINS has resigned from an atheism foundation over its “imposition” of a “new religion” of transgenderism. Prof Dawkins, the eminent evolutionary biologist and atheist, stepped down from the board of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) on Saturday after it censored an article supporting the belief that gender is biological. Prof Dawkins accused the group of caving to the “hysterical squeals” of cancel culture after it deleted the article from its website, saying it was a “mistake” to have published it. His resignation followed that of two other prominent scientists, Jerry Coyne and Steven Pinker, who accused the foundation of imposing an ideology with the “dogma, blasphemy, and heretics” of a religion. The scientists’ resignations come after a FFRF website published a piece last month by Kat Grant, entitled What is a Woman, which argued that “any attempt to define womanhood on biological terms is inadequate” and that “a woman is whoever she says she is”. In response, Prof Coyne, a fellow board member, penned an article called Biology is not Bigotry, in which he defended “the biological definition of ‘woman’ based on gamete type” – or reproductive cells. However, the FFRF later took down the article and released a statement apologising for the “distress” it had caused. “Despite our best efforts to champion reason and equality, mistakes can happen, and this incident is a reminder of the importance of constant reflection and growth,” Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-presidents, wrote. “Publishing this post was an error of judgment, and we have decided to remove it as it does not reflect our values and principles. We regret any distress caused by this post and are committed to ensuring it doesn’t happen again.” Following the decision, Prof Coyne accused the group of peddling a “quasi-religious” ideology. “That is a censorious behavior I cannot abide,” he wrote in an email. “I was simply promoting a biological rather than a psychological definition of sex, and I do not understand why you would consider that ‘distressing’ and also an attempt to hurt LGBTQIA+ people, which I would never do. “The gender ideology which caused you to take down my article is itself quasi-religious, having many aspects of religions and cults, including dogma, blasphemy, belief in what is palpably untrue... apostasy, and a tendency to ignore science when it contradicts a preferred ideology.” Prof Pinker, the Canadian psychologist, announced his resignation, stating that the FFRF was “no longer a defender of freedom from religion but the imposer of a new religion, complete with dogma, blasphemy, and heretics”. Prof Dawkins described publishing Grant’s “silly and unscientific” article as a “minor error of judgment”, but that the decision to remove Prof Coyne’s rebuttal was “an act of unseemly panic”. He continued: “Moreover, to summarily take it down without even informing the author of your intention was an act of lamentable discourtesy to a member of your own advisory board.” The FFRF has been approached for comment. Article Name:Dawkins quits ‘atheism board’ in trans row Publication:The Daily Telegraph Author:By Cameron Henderson US reporter Start Page:12 End Page:12

1 Wednesday Total: 2

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Police let trans officers carry warrant cards with their different genders Daily Mail1 Jan 2025By Andrew Levy POLICE forces are allowing trans officers to carry multiple warrant cards depending on the gender they choose on a given day. At least 11 forces in England and Wales use the policy – blasted as dangerous by women’s groups. Trans officers can receive two warrant cards, or more if they are ‘gender fluid’. Police use warrant cards to identify themselves and they must be shown before using powers including stop and search. Two thirds of forces also let biological male trans officers and civilian staff use women’s showers, toilets and changing rooms, ‘A violation of women’s dignity’ according to a Freedom of Information request by the Daily Mail. MPs and campaigners last night said the policies threaten women’s safety and could breach the rights of police staff, suspects and victims. Eleven of the 47 forces quizzed said they allow trans officers to carry multiple warrant cards. And 28 said they let trans staff use the facilities of the gender with which they identify. Five forces did not respond. Maya Forstater, executive director of charity Sex Matters, warned: ‘Allowing any man – whatever he calls himself and whatever he is wearing – to walk into women’s showers, changing rooms and toilets, or to search, including strip search, women is a violation of women’s dignity and an abuse of power. ‘Female police officers, suspects and victims should be given respect and protected from abuse, but instead police forces are using them as props to validate trans-identifying male officers. Police forces carrying out these policies are engaging in state-sponsored harassment and sexual assault.’ Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘Biological males should under no circumstances be using female facilities – in police stations or anywhere else. The government must review this approach and put the safety of women first.’ The Mail asked all 43 forces of England and Wales about their policies, as well as Police Scotland, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), British Transport Police and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary. Those already allowing biologically male trans officers to use women’s facilities include Thames Valley Police, Essex, Leicestershire, Avon and Somerset, Dyfed Powys, Merseyside and Police Scotland. Thames Valley – which claims its policies are not ‘formal’ – is among the 11 forces that allow officers to carry ‘multiple’ warrant cards, as are Norfolk, Cheshire and Leicestershire. Others such as Bedfordshire and Essex say they allow two warrant cards. Essex’s policy states that during early transition ‘there may be a need… to have two warrant cards, so that any offduty incidents whilst living in acquired gender, do not result in the staff member having to “out” themselves when proving identity’. One card displays the individual’s force number and surname only, while the other has their force number and full name. Seven forces including the Met, West Midlands Police and Cumbria said they were reviewing their trans policies or creating a ‘framework’, while seven including North Wales, Hampshire, Northumbria and Lancashire said they had ‘no policy’. Northamptonshire, Surrey, North Yorkshire, British Transport Police and the PSNI didn’t answer the information request. Norfolk’s policy appears in a document called Trans Equality at Work (Officers and Staff). It states: ‘All trans individuals are entitled to use the toilet, shower and changing facilities appropriate to their gender identity. Where this does not fit a binary definition of gender, the individual is able to choose where they feel most comfortable.’ Retired police superintendent Cathy Larkman, national policing lead for the Women’s Rights Network, described the policies as ‘misogyny writ large’. ‘Police chiefs care more about slavish adherence to gender ideology than the privacy, dignity and safety of their own officers and staff. That is utterly shameful,’ she added. A Met spokesman said: ‘At present there is no formal policy in place for transgender and gender diverse staff and officers.’ A College of Policing spokesman said: ‘All employers, including policing, are required to comply with the Equality Act, and equality legislation set by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.’ A National Police Chiefs’ Council spokesman said: ‘Forces are all operationally independent so any policies would be prepared locally.’ Article Name:Police let trans officers carry warrant cards with their different genders Publication:Daily Mail Author:By Andrew Levy Start Page:6 End Page:6
Telegraph [1]
Trans women prisoners sex offender data shock The Daily Telegraph1 Jan 2025 Almost two thirds of transgender prisoners who identify as female are convicted sex offenders, new data has revealed. Out of the 245 trans women inmates, who are legally recognised as male, a total of 151, or 62 per cent, had committed at least one sexual offence. Official figures showed that the number of prisoners who identify as transgender but do not have a gender recognition certificate rose by almost 10 per cent to 295 in 2024. New rules mean that trans prisoners who identify as women but have male genitalia or those convicted of violent sexual offences cannot be held in female jails, unless there are exceptional circumstances. Article Name:Trans women prisoners sex offender data shock Publication:The Daily Telegraph Start Page:2 End Page:2

2 Thursday Total: 3

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The Times [1]
Trans officers given different warrant cards James Beal - Social Affairs Editor Police forces are giving transgender officers different warrant cards for their different gender identities. At least 11 forces use the policy, freedom of information responses show. Some trans officers receive two warrant cards, or more if they are “gender fluid”. Two thirds of forces let male staff who identify as women use women’s showers, lavatories and changing rooms. Norfolk police say that “where [their gender identity] does not fit a binary definition of gender, the individual is able to choose [facilities] where they feel most comfortable”. Maya Forstater, of Sex Matters, said: “This is a scandal waiting to happen. Female police officers, suspects and victims should be given respect and protected from abuse, but instead forces are using them as props to validate trans-identifying male officers.” The College of Policing said: “All employers, including policing, are required to comply with the Equality Act.”
Daily Mail [1]
DIDN’T Daily Mail2 Jan 2025 we gendercritical women warn that transgender women who still have male genitals pose a risk? Almost two-thirds of such people in prison are serving sentences for sex offences – a rate far higher than the male prison population as a whole. Article Name:DIDN’T Publication:Daily Mail Start Page:37 End Page:37
Dame Jenni Murray
Telegraph [1]
Trans police allowed to pick warrant card to suit Twenty-eight forces permit staff to access facilities of the gender with which they identify The Daily Telegraph2 Jan 2025By Steve Bird TRANS police officers are being allowed to carry multiple warrant cards depending on the gender they choose, a series of Freedom of Information requests have revealed. Two thirds of police forces were also found to let trans officers who are biologically male use women’s showers, lavatories and changing rooms. Women’s rights campaigners and MPS have criticised the move claiming the policies pose a threat to females. Eleven of the 47 constabularies questioned say they allow trans officers to carry multiple warrant cards, including one if they are “gender fluid”. Meanwhile, 28 forces say they let trans staff use the facilities of the gender with which they identify. ‘Female police officers, suspects and victims should be given respect and protected’ Five forces failed to respond. Police use warrant cards to identify themselves formally as law enforcement officers. The identification document must be produced when police use a variety of powers, including stop and search. Maya Forstater, the executive director of the charity Sex Matters, told the Daily Mail: “Allowing any man – whatever he calls himself and whatever he is wearing – to walk into women’s showers, changing rooms and toilets, or to search, including strip-search, women is a violation of women’s dignity and an abuse of power. “Female police officers, suspects and victims should be given respect and protected from abuse, but instead police forces are using them as props to validate trans-identifying male officers. “Police forces carrying out these policies are engaging in state-sponsored harassment and sexual assault.” Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, added: “Biological males should under no circumstances be using female facilities – in police stations or anywhere else. “The Government must review this approach and put the safety of women first.” The newspaper contacted all 43 forces in England and Wales, as well as Police Scotland, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), British Transport Police and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary. Thames Valley Police, Essex, Leicestershire, Avon and Somerset, Dyfed Powys, Merseyside and Police Scotland already allow biologically male trans officers to use women’s facilities. Thames Valley is among the 11 forces that allow officers to carry multiple warrant cards, as are Norfolk, Cheshire and Leicestershire. Others such as Bedfordshire and Essex say they allow two warrant cards. Essex’s policy outlines how during early transition “there may be a need to have two warrant cards, so that any offduty incidents while living in acquired gender, do not result in the staff member having to ‘out’ themselves when proving identity”. Seven other forces – including the Met, West Midlands Police and Cumbria – said they were reviewing their trans policies. Seven other forces – including North Wales, Hampshire, Northumbria and Lancashire – said they had no such policy. Northamptonshire, Surrey, North Yorkshire, British Transport Police and the PSNI failed to respond to the Freedom of Information request. Norfolk’s policy is outlined in a document called Trans Equality at Work (Officers and Staff). It says: “All trans individuals are entitled to use the toilet, shower and changing facilities appropriate to their gender identity. “Where this does not fit a binary definition of gender, the individual is able to choose where they feel most comfortable. A College of Policing spokesman said: “All employers, including policing, are required to comply with the Equality Act, and equality legislation set by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.” A National Police Chiefs’ Council spokesman said that each force is “operationally independent”, so policies are prepared “locally”. Article Name:Trans police allowed to pick warrant card to suit Publication:The Daily Telegraph Author:By Steve Bird Start Page:10 End Page:10

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4 Saturday Total: 1

The Guardian [0]
The Times [0]
Daily Mail [0]
Telegraph [1]
Councillor quits Labour over puberty drugs ban The Daily Telegraph - Saturday4 Jan 2025 A Labour councillor has quit the party over its support for banning puberty blockers. Zoe Hughes, of Exeter city council, said the commitment for an indefinite ban on the drugs for under-18s harms the transgender community. Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, said in December that a temporary ban on puberty blockers would be made indefinite. Hughes told the BBC that “we have let the LGBT+ community down and I want no part of it”. The Labour Party said it put the welfare of children first. A spokesman said the Commission on Human Medicines found that prescribing the drugs to children “represents an unacceptable safety risk”. Article Name:Councillor quits Labour over puberty drugs ban Publication:The Daily Telegraph - Saturday Start Page:2 End Page:2

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