Since emigrating from the US 20 years ago, I have watched the UK absorb only the worst ideas from my country of origin. The Brits could encourage a better snow removal culture, make ice in soft drinks standard, or adopt robust funding for women’s sports at the collegiate level. Instead, they choose to import our absolute bullshit, such as manipulation of the courts by unscrupulous billionaires who want to shit on vulnerable minority groups. Here’s today’s manifestation of this horseshit: a specious, weaselly and unanimous decision by the UK’s Supreme Court ruling that the only valid “women” are “biological women,” and that trans women with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) are . . . some other thing.
This court case was brought by a group called For Women Scotland, which is supported by Harry Potter creator (and notorious transphobe) J.K. Rowling. She is crowing over on X about all the HR manuals that will have to be “pulped” in the wake of this decision. Suffice it to say: fuck her and the broom she rode in on, and fuck the UK Supreme Court.
But what does this mean for trans women in the UK? Legal analysis that isn’t mealy-mouthed bothsiderism is difficult to come by, but one thing is clear: no actual transgender people or organisations were consulted in the court case. Just “gender-critical” organisations.
Jolyon Maugham leads the Good Law Project, which is pro-trans. He posted a thread that’s worth clicking through to read the whole of, but this stood out to me:
The Supreme Court accepted the submissions of the GC orgs before it that bringing trans people with a GRC within the definition of man or women would create absurdities. But it refused to hear from anyone pointing out the absurdities of excluding them – that’s why trans representation matters.
— Jolyon Maugham (@jolyonmaugham.bsky.social) April 16, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Writing for QueerAF, journalist Jess O’Thomson pulls out some of the more worrying impacts of this decision. First, there’s the fact that transgender people with GRCs can now be excluded from single-sex spaces, such as bathrooms, locker rooms, clubs, and prisons. Transgender women also cannot make equal pay claims in the workplace, in spite of the fact that they are also subject to pay gaps like their cisgender counterparts—in 2023, US-based news site The 19th reported that trans women earn 60 cents for every dollar earned by the average American worker. Transgender men can, but on the basis of their being “biological women” rather than their being trans.
The ruling also uses very biased language when discussing the issues. From O’Thomson:
At one point, the judgment explicitly refers to a trans woman as ‘a man who identifies as a woman’.
In its analysis of the Equality Act 2010, the Court placed great emphasis on certain provisions, claiming that a definition of sex which included trans people holding a gender recognition certificate would be inconsistent. One element the Court relied on to make this argument was that of pregnancy. The Equality Act 2010 refers frequently to pregnant women, but because trans women cannot get pregnant, but some trans men can, by referring to ‘women’, it says Parliament must have intended ‘woman’ to mean ‘biological female’, as only ‘biological females’ can become pregnant.
The Court also emphasises the idea that to include trans women within women as a class would render it a “heterogenous” grouping, rather than the “distinct” group of biological women and girls with “their shared biology leading to shared disadvantage and discrimination faced by them as a distinct group”.
In a stark illustration of how transgender rights affect all of us, the ruling also defines what a lesbian is. Again, from O’Thomson:
The Court concludes that a lesbian “must be a [AFAB] female who is sexually oriented towards (or attracted to) [AFAB] females”. The Court concludes that female here cannot include trans women, as the “concept of sexual orientation” would be “rendered meaningless”, and in its opinion, wrongly affect the composition of lesbians as a group.
The Court claims this would lead to an “inevitable loss of autonomy and dignity for lesbians”. It points to evidence from gender-critical groups like the LGB Alliance and The Lesbian Project to make this argument. They claim the inclusion of trans women is having a ‘chilling effect on lesbians’ to associate in lesbian-only spaces. The vast majority of lesbians reject this claim.
I couldn’t immediately find whether the Court made a similar judgement about the definition of gay men (she said, with hopefully obvious irony).
US-based transgender people and allies are seeing this with deep alarm, given that the US Supreme Court could issue a similar ruling in the pending U.S. vs. Skrmetti case:
The UK supreme court has gutted the legal recognition of trans people. They also recognized the concept of sex based rights which is just absurd. There’s no such thing as sex based rights. There is the right to be free from discrimination on the basis of sex.
www.cbsnews.com/news/uk-supr…
— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) April 16, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Now, while the meddling by a billionaire seems very US-coded, I do want to clarify that the UK’s virulent transphobia problem is home-grown. Unlike a lot of the trans hate in the US, it’s not really based in any kind of religious motivation. Most of the famous transphobes are self-described former leftists (TV writer Graham Linehan, former New Statesman editor Helen Lewis, former Guardian gossip columnist Hadley Freeman) who have decided trans identity is corrosive to “true” feminism and must be eradicated. They cite the usual bugbears: male rapists adopting female identity to make raping more convenient; threats to women’s sports (which, again, the UK is abysmal at supporting below the Olympic level), etc. and so on. And the Starmer government, particularly its awful health minister Wes Streeting, has gone along with this.
The fight for the right to live as oneself continues, but it’s a dark day over here. Legal organisations are considering whether there’s a case to be brought in the European Court of Human Rights, to which the UK is still a party, but short of a sea change in the UK elite’s attitudes toward transgender people, this will get worse before it gets better.
Statement by Translucent providing some context…
Written by a lawyer with decades of experience in this area.
— Natacha (@natacha.bsky.social) April 16, 2025 at 10:35 AM
UK-based allies can find a list of charities and organisations to support here at the Good Law Project. GLAAD has a similar list for those of you in the US. Do consider donating to the Trevor Project, which counts actor Daniel Radcliffe among its most visible supporters. He became famous playing Harry Potter, of course.
Love and solidarity to all our trans and LGBTQ+ friends here and everywhere.
Fighting Them Where They Are
scav
mmm, It’ll be interesting to watch this work through as all the non-purely xx women are outed and officially classed as not-women because they’re often clearly not men either. The whole spectrum of Androgen insensitivity syndrome results will prove a wonderful hairball for the genes is all there is absolutists.
Belafon
One of my classmates put that up on Facebook as if it’s a good thing and I asked what happens when a woman born with XY or XXY chromosomes gets challenged, or any other of a host of things that biology does that don’t fit into neat categories.
Delicate Butterfly
I was watching a porno yesterday that started by showing a cute woman with nice breasts but as the video progressed through various home repair scenarios, it was revealed that the woman had a quite healthy looking penis.
Did continuing to watch that video mean that I am gay? (I was assigned female at birth.)
Old Man Shadow
The inability of arseholes to just leave people the fuck alone is really infuriating me.
What someone else is does not affect me in the slightest.
Oh, you don’t understand or like transpeople? Well, first, fuck you. Second, mind your own fucking business and it won’t be a problem for you that they exist, you arsehole.
Gretchen
@Belafon: They just refuse to believe that that happens. I saw questioning like that in some Southern legislature where they were trying to pass a law like that, and was asked what about intersex people. The guy had obviously never heard of intersex, kept asking the questioner to clarify. She’d say, there are intersex people, what about them? He fell back on « but in the Bible there are only two sexes ». Someone that ignorant shouldn’t be able to make laws about other people, but they do.
MazeDancer
Threw away all my Harry Potter books long ago.
It feels like the “women” who rabidly pursue this hate have some sort of personal doubt, derangement, or hang-up.
First woman I ever met who I knew was transgender – because she told me so – was closer to the beginning of her transition. She was wealthy. Had spent her life knowing she wan’t living her truth. Married. Had kids.
We were in the ladies room and, as women do ,we were discussing personal things. And I said to her that I knew women. From 7th grade onward had spent 10 years in all female schools. And she was clearly a woman to me.
She had the essential core feeling. No, she didn’t look as “feminine” as she was going to. But she was still all girl.
Steve LaBonne
Sickening. WTF is wrong with so many people.
Betty Cracker
Thanks for posting this. I saw a brief notice about the ruling on Bluesky and was unsure of the implications.
lowtechcyclist
@Old Man Shadow:
Seconded.
scav
@Gretchen: In the bible, they talk of the four corners of the earth too. Globes are woke libtard!
UncleEbeneezer
My first exposure to how rampant Transphobia is in our society was in back in the days of FreeThoughtBlogs, an atheist/skeptics site that was spawned by PZ Myers blog. The first major schism in the community was over Elevatorgate, when Rebecca Watson had the audacity to ask fans not to act creepy towards women at 2 am in isolated elevators. Misogynist dudes lost their freaking minds over that. And then a couple years later, Ophelia Benson posted some TERFy bullshit that got a lot of pushback from several queer and Trans members of the community. I learned a ton about the science involved, the bullshit myths and misconceptions and the lived experiences of Trans/NB People. But wow, the hate and vitriol of so many of the assholes was downright astonishing. Sadly, the whole affair feels now like a really bad omen for Trump, Musk, JK Rowlings, TERF-ism and everything we are seeing now.
satby
Eddie Izzard talked about the increased acceptance of trans individuals in 2023. I expect she will be speaking out about this. She ran for MP a couple of years ago and lost, but I doubt that was the end of her political ambition.
Sister Golden Bear
Thank you. I was going to posting about it earlier, but wanted to respect the “no doom news” request for an earlier thread.
On this side of the Pond, yesterday the HHS launched a snitch form online to report trans-affirming health care providers—including in instances that do not violate the law.
It would shame, a damn shame if the snitch form was spammed with memes and copies of The Bee Movie script, like similar snitch forms have been in the past.
Baud
Can’t Parliament fix this, and is there a desire to?
Eolirin
@Baud: Probably, and I doubt it.
Sister Golden Bear
In sort of not-doom-news, Planned Parenthood AZ just announced they’re resuming providing trans healthcare after a backlash that it was “pausing” such care.
Unfortunately, we’re likely to see more instances of this as the Trump administration threatens funding of any healthcare provider that provides trans healthcare. And it won’t be just for trans healthcare for children, the Trump administration is already starting to target trans healthcare for adults (paging David Anderson).
I’ll note that trans people who’ve had their testes or ovaries removed face long-term health problems if they cannot have hormone replacements — just like cisgender people in similar circumstances. I’m sure the transphobic will consider this a feature, not a bug.
billtheXVIII
I’m looking for the actual opinion but haven’t been able to find it – anyone have a link ? TIA –
Eolirin
@Sister Golden Bear: Not that I’m telling you anything you don’t already know, but they won’t stop with denying care, they want genocide.
Sister Golden Bear
@Eolirin: Yeah, I’m fully expecting them to have SSA declare us legally dead, and/or ship us off to El Salvador.
WeimarGerman
@Belafon: From BlueSky but cant locate a link: which biological marker? Chromosomes, hormones or gonads?
Bill Arnold
@MazeDancer:
Yep. Minds are, at a coarse level, gendered. (And usually, this aspect is immutable.)
Most people cannot [smell; tr: sense] other minds, but they should at least be self-aware enough to observe the gender of their own mind.
Those UK judges are broken people (or bigots, or both); perhaps they are p-zombies. :-)
Jeffg166
One rarely hears about trans men. On some level the right seem to be OK with the anti trans women haters.
Then there are the intersex people. Where do they land in this?
Peale
I’m sure the LGB ONLY types in the community will be lauding this. In the US they are fewer than in the UK where they haven’t had to deal with the religious right. But, hey, its not like its in the news over there that there won’t be a trade deal with the US unless the UK scraps its protections for LGBT people to be in line with the US. Do they really think that Labor by going after T isn’t also going to stop there to get its post Brexit trade deal with the US done?
Sasha
I really wish J.K. Rowling would give up her transphobia hobby and reembrace her true calling — hating on fascists.
Bill Arnold
@Sister Golden Bear:
This is a job for automation using Large Language Models. (Seriously.)
sixthdoctor
@billtheXVIII: I believe this is it: https://supremecourt.uk/uploads/uksc_2024_0042_judgment_aea6c48cee.pdf
mm
This is great news. Women’s rights still matter, including the right to say no to men without any exceptions.
Scuffletuffle
@scav: Time to let my facial hair have its day, I guess, just to give these folks something to worry about.
The Very Reverend Crimson Fire of Compassion
@Gretchen: Wrong about that, too. Jesus identifies a whole taxonomy of people outside the husband/wife paradigm in Matthew 19:10-12, the chapter that contains the “Male and female created He them.” line. He makes it clear that second-Temple Judaism’s ideas about gender don’t map onto those peoples’ experience, and warns his disciples not to assume that everything he teaches applies to everyone.
Scuffletuffle
@Delicate Butterfly: What is “home repair scenarios” code for…asking for a “friend.”
Peale
@Jeffg166: They all get reclassified as men. I mean, TERF is all about identifying who women are and keeping that category pure. But in its quest to keep the category pure, it has nothing to say about the intersex except for the assumption that with no place else to go, everyone who isn’t a “pure woman” is a man, since there’s no “other” category allowed.
eclare
@Gretchen:
I watched a short report about some stupid proposed law in TX, and the groups protesting included intersex people. Apologies that I don’t remember more details. What I do remember is someone saying that the percentage of people who are intersex is about the same percentage of people with red hair (IIRC around 2%). I found that interesting.
Eolirin
@Bill Arnold: It’s hardly immutable, at least in it’s meaning, given that gender is an ever shifting social construct, that’s meant different things in different times and places.
Those of us that are non binary really screw with the taxonomies.
But if you mean immutable in that the song of a person for lack of a better way of putting it, more or less stays the same… For most people, under most circumstances, sure. There’s been enough evidence of it happening that it’s not some universal truth though, it’s just rare.
Sister Golden Bear
Oh and yesterday AG Pam Bondi announced a civil lawsuit against Maine for “willfully” violating Title IX, the federal civil rights law against sex discrimination that the White House has said prohibits trans students from participating in girls’ and women’s sports.
They’re using the same twisted logic that the UK TERFs use, that the mere presence of trans girls/women in sports* is inherently discriminatory and that trans girls/women are inherently dangerous to cis girls/women. (No, they almost never mention trans/boys women.)
*A reminder there’s a less than 10 trans women athletes in the NCAA, and apparently only one trans girl athlete in the entire state of Maine
Belafon
@mm: Yes, but when you get the definition of men and women wrong, it leads to all sorts of problems.
Josie
@Old Man Shadow:
I totally agree. I am old and, for this reason, I did not know about gay people until I was in my junior year in college. My knowledge of trans people came even later. If anyone would have a problem with the idea, it should be me, but I don’t. I just think, as you say, that we should all mind our own business. People who look for reasons to hate others just don’t have enough to think about. They should all get a hobby or something. Or become aware of the “moat in their own eye.”
Sister Golden Bear
@Jeffg166:
The UK TERFs claim trans boys/men are simply deluded girls/women who’ve been “trans’d” due to social pressure and/or evil healthcare providers.
It’s notable that the handful (and I mean literally less than a half dozen) detransitioners they parade around as evidence of cis people being “trans’d” are all assigned female at birth. And that their stories of being railroaded into transition all bogus.
Generally, they don’t believe intersex people exist — despite intersex people being 1 in 2,000 births — or just ignore them altogether.
Sister Golden Bear
@Bill Arnold: There are tons of trans women in tech, just saying…
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@mm:
How exactly is this “great news”?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Sister Golden Bear:
One thing that concerns me, is that sooner or later they’re going to try to criminalize doing that kind of thing
Sister Golden Bear
@Jeffg166:
Also too, the fact that there’s this misogynistic difference in focus is proof that trans women are in fact women.
Belafon
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I suspect that it will lead to pie, but we’ll see.
UncleEbeneezer
Paging Toilet-Paper Patrol, we’ve got an asshole-cleanup on aisle “mm.”
Sister Golden Bear
@scav:
Every time sports organizations have done chromosome testing on women athletes, they’ve ended up quietly dropping it because too many cis women show “abnormalities.”
On a more practical level, anyone who doesn’t meet the TERFs narrow definition of what a properly feminine cis women looks/sounds/behave like is going to face discrimination.
A number of butch lesbians and other “masculine” women already get bathroom policed — to the point of being assaulted and/or having security/cops called on them.
prostratedragon
To start with, I for one could have done without Albert Spica (once played by Gambon) transitiong to a woman. Christ, what brutal language and thought!
NotMax
First Brexit, now Sexit.
Sister Golden Bear
@Peale:
They already are. Like the HomoCons here, they think they’ll be spared because they’re the respectable ones. <looking at you Andrew Sullivan>
Bill Arnold
@Eolirin:
Yes, that is what I mean. I’m not talking about the social construct(s).
(Gender fluidity is an exception, to be clear, but orthogonal to this discussion.)
Bill Arnold
@Sister Golden Bear:
Yep. And much of tech would collapse without them.
Delicate Butterfly
@Scuffletuffle: They centered for the most part on some supposedly malfunctioning plumbing in the laundry room and in the kitchen. That is a fairly well-worn trope within the genre, but I sort of wondered if the multiple plumbing issues were an oblique commentary on transgender issues. But that was not made explicit. Other things were sufficient explicit but that was not.
Origuy
What is it about having truckloads of money that makes people what to fuck up other people’s lives?
Sister Golden Bear
More fun fallout from the UK Supreme Court ruling:
By the court’s logic, if a cis lesbian has a trans woman as a partner, she forfeits any protections against discrimination based on her sexual orientation because the court has defined their relationship as a straight one.
But the ruling would protect straight trans men in relationships with a cis woman because they’re consider a “biological lesbians.”
Martin
@Origuy: Having money doesn’t make them want to fuck up other peoples lives, it just makes them more capable of doing it.
Remember, Rowling provided a multi-book defense of slavery.
Sister Golden Bear
Also too, the UK outlawed gender neutral bathrooms last year. Which means…. trans women can’t use public/business bathrooms because of their sex assigned at birth, and trans men would be barred because of their gender reassignment (i.e. their deep voice and facial hair may upset women).
These sorts of “urinary leash laws” — aka the bathroom bills — are intended to keep trans people out in public spaces. It’s worth noting that trans people have higher rates of UTIs related to having to hold it until they get home due to laws and/or the safety threat of using a restroom that matches their true gender. Ask me how I know.
me
@Sister Golden Bear: Sophie Wilson one of the original designers of the ARM architecture, pretty important especially in the UK.
Belafon
@me: And Lynn Conway
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Sister Golden Bear:
Would that even include “family restrooms”? I think that’s more of an American phenomenon though
Bupalos
@Delicate Butterfly: This is quality work.
Baud
@Delicate Butterfly:
Could just be too lazy to change the channel.
Tony Jay
@Baud:
Or tired out.
Delicate Butterfly
@Baud: Well, I didn’t have any control over that as my neighbor was the one in charge of the screen. (Our houses are kind of close together.).
Bupalos
@Delicate Butterfly: I feel like you’re drifting off the subject. We the people of the internet can’t help you with the questions you have about your sexual identity just based on the scant information you’ve provided here. Pretty much everyone has watched trans porn through their neighbors window and wondered about the hidden messages contained therein. That’s like saying “I have brown eyes, am I gay?”
But let me ask you this – how do you feel about the way the earth is being dangerously depopulated, and do you think the answer to that might be a huge rocket ship
I mean like a really REALLY big rocket ship. Bigger than Bezos’s little thing that’s filled with women.
Gin & Tonic
@Bupalos: I like the direction this is going. Kudos to both of you.
Delicate Butterfly
@Bupalos: I feel like this question is a trick because really big rocket ships look like really big penises.
Mr. Bemused Senior
Could we please have an open thread?
Lobo
@Sister Golden Bear:
American Exceptionalism means all the bad things will to others except me.
taumaturgo
The phrase “live and let live” embodies a philosophy of tolerance and coexistence. Here are some arguments for and against this concept:
### Pro Arguments:
1. **Promotes Tolerance**: Encourages individuals to accept and respect differing beliefs, lifestyles, and choices, fostering a more harmonious society.
2. **Reduces Conflict**: By advocating for non-interference in others’ lives, it can help minimize disputes and promote peaceful coexistence.
3. **Encourages Individual Freedom**: Supports the idea that individuals should have the autonomy to make their own choices without judgment or interference from others.
4. **Diversity and Pluralism**: Celebrates diversity, allowing for a variety of perspectives and ways of life, which can enrich communities and cultures.
5. **Focus on Common Goals**: Encourages people to focus on shared interests and goals rather than differences, promoting collaboration and understanding.
### Con Arguments:
1. **Moral Relativism**: Critics argue that “live and let live” can lead to moral relativism, where harmful behaviors are tolerated because they are part of someone else’s lifestyle.
2. **Inaction Against Injustice**: It may promote passivity in the face of injustice or discrimination, as individuals might refrain from intervening in situations where they should advocate for change.
3. **Lack of Accountability**: This philosophy can sometimes excuse harmful actions or behaviors, as individuals may feel they are not responsible for addressing the consequences of others’ choices.
4. **Cultural Conflicts**: In multicultural societies, differing values and beliefs can clash, and a strict adherence to “live and let live” may not provide adequate solutions to these conflicts.
5. **Potential for Exploitation**: Some may exploit the principle to justify harmful actions, arguing that they should be allowed to live as they choose, even if it negatively impacts others.
In summary, while “live and let live” promotes a vision of tolerance and coexistence, it also raises important questions about moral responsibility, justice, and the limits of individual freedom.
Courtesy of ChatGPT 4o
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Delicate Butterfly: Odd, I look at Bezos rocket ship and see a cigar.
Mr. Bemused Senior
Sometimes a rocket ship is just a
rocket shippublicity stunt.MazeDancer
@Sister Golden Bear:
Preach, Sister, preach.
So true.
People always looking for new ways second class women.
Bupalos
@Delicate Butterfly: I can’t stand how you liberals are always reading in to shit. I know that this will be a news flash for you, but sometimes a giant rocket that fights depopulation by seeding the stars with your DNA is just a giant rocket that fights depopulation by seeding the stars with your DNA.
Baud
If only female genitalia were more aerodynamic.
Hoodie
@Delicate Butterfly: More like big vibrators. They seem to have a similar effect for their owners.
Belafon
@Baud: They’re portals.
lowtechcyclist
@Sister Golden Bear:
We should use the form to report every God-bothering “crisis pregnancy center” we know of whose only goal is to talk women out of having abortions.
CarolPW
@Baud: There is a perfect glide path there, what more do you want?
scav
For their next clever trick, the judiciary will no doubt ponderously declare the legal value of pi to be 3.1 exactly for simplicity’s sake. Reality shall kneel before the law!
lowtechcyclist
@Jeffg166:
The wingnuts haven’t figured out yet how to make anyone scared of someone they claim is a woman dressed up as a man.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@scav: xkcd has it covered. [Extrapolation to the legal profession is left to the reader.]
Sister Golden Bear
@me: @Belafon:
And in the musical realm, Wendy Carlos, as well as Sandy Stone, who was instrumental in the rise of the “women’s music” scene of the 1970s. As in she was the sound engineer for Olivia Records and taught fellow members of her women’s collective both how to sound recording and how to make the equipment needed.
Unfortunately, Stone was forced to leave the collective after being specifically targeted by transphobe Janis Raymond’s “The Transsexual Empire: The Making of the She-Male.” While the collective supported her, Stone left due both threats to boycott Olivia Records and death threats against other members of the collective.
Sister Golden Bear
@lowtechcyclist:
That and because becoming a man is a step up in social status, the haters can understand why someone assigned female birth would want to do.
The fact that people assigned male at birth want to live as women absolutely blows their circuit breakers in so many ways. A lot of the hatred directed at trans women is both misogyny, and rage of 10,000 suns that we’re rejecting the our “predestined” role in the patriarchy. Plus more than a bit of incoherent fury that we dare live life by our own rules.
Sister Golden Bear
@Baud: We’re far more streamlined than dangling bits.
@Hoodie: I’m not saying Bezos’ rocket looks like a gigantic Hitachi Magic Wands, but I’m saying it doesn’t either.
kindness
The trans haters don’t seem to understand they’re about to get what they are demanding. Being that they can’t use Men’s bathrooms any more trans men with full beards will soon be frequenting Women’s restrooms. Oh to be able to videotape those encounters in a woman’s bathroom.
Splitting Image
@lowtechcyclist:
Oddly enough, that used to be by far the more threatening of the two.
Most of the history of the women’s movement is about the right of women to wear men’s (i.e. comfortable and durable) clothing. it wasn’t so very long ago that women were barred from wearing trousers or jeans in public or at work.
Sister Golden Bear
Speaking of how cis-gender women will be gender policed…. Walmart fires 6’4″ cisgender woman threatened by man who thought she was trans
Lyrebird
@Sister Golden Bear:
For crying out loud, the lengths people are willing to go to to trample on anyone outside of their imagined circle of righteousness. No gender-neutral bathrooms? So what about all the tiny restaurants, hair salons, whatever, that have just one customer restroom available?
This is the least important aspect of this,
I just don’t understand how they can look in a mirror and not be disgusted with their hypocritical scapegoating selves.
Already seconded but bears repeating again:
me
@Sister Golden Bear: Dont forget about Rebecca “Burger Becky” Heineman, a legend among Apple 2 game programmers.
WTFGhost
And how many times has this happened, in all of recorded human history?
And, since the assholes are constipated on *that* topic, let’s continue.
Assume that a man has pretended to be a woman, to rape more conveniently.
In what way would that cause a problem for prosecution? Does the law need to be specific that a man without a penis can rape a woman? If so, specify. Does the law need to be specific that testosterone needn’t be the dominant sex-linked hormone? Fine, say “someone with any, or no, sex-linked hormone dominant can rape.” Does the law deny the possibility that a woman can rape a woman? Fine, clear up that hideous misconception.
I think we should outlaw bushes. Lots of fictional rape stories happen when rapists jump out from behind bushes, and that means men are hiding behind bushes to make rape more convenient. (Boy will that make for some crude “shave your crotch, so no man is hiding behind your bush!” jokes.)
Knives too – lots of rapists use knives. And you could sharpen a fork too… or a spoon, a metal spoon makes a fine shiv, especially if you can sharpen it on concrete, so cutlery is off… gasp!
CONCRETE! A rapist can make a shiv out of metal and CONCRETE! We need to outlaw concrete!
WTFGhost
@kindness: The trans haters will have a bearded fellow with a vulva arrested for using the women’s room, or the men’s room. The first for creating a disturbance, the second for using the wrong bathroom. That’s the goal of bathroom bills – to put trans people in jail, to keep them aware that they are second class citizens, with only the rights the “real” (American assholes/UK arseholes) choose to give them, along with the large measure of crap that usually comes from said bodily region.
Lobo
Senthorun S. Raj @senthorun.bsky.social
This is your ongoing reminder that anti-migrant (“illegals”) and anti-trans politics (“gender ideology”) are current anchors of several authoritarian governments. People who tolerate, even selectively, such politics are facilitating the rise of fascism. This is why solidarity is key to oppose this.
Splitting Image
@WTFGhost:
Not as often as rapists have joined the clergy to make raping more convenient.
Matt McIrvin
@kindness: Well, no they won’t, because anyone who goes in there and doesn’t present as femme enough for the bathroom police, whether that’s a trans woman, a trans man or a cis woman, is going to be in big big trouble. It doesn’t really matter how they’re legally defined.
Recall that most of the targets of the anxiety over trans women in athletics are cis women.
kindness
@Matt McIrvin: I know a few trans folk. Both the men had breast reductions but didn’t surgically go farther. Both of them have full beards. By these laws, they’d be forced to using the women’s bathrooms which would certainly create a panic among these same usual suspects. Trans folk are (purposefully) in a no win situation.
Sister Golden Bear
Why would rapists pose as trans women, when rapists are treated far better than trans women are.
Paul in KY
@Delicate Butterfly: They can look like giant frisbees too.
Paul in KY
@Baud: If only…