28 Mar 2022: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed House Bill-Parental Rights in Education
The bill builds on the Parents’ Bill of Rights, which was signed into law in Florida last year, and is part of the Parent focus on protecting parental rights in education.
The Bill passed into law in Florida on 28 March 2022, reinforces parents’ fundamental rights to make decisions regarding the upbringing of their children. It prohibits classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity from age 5 to 8 and prohibits instruction that is not age appropriate for children beyond that age and requires education authoritues to adopt procedures for notifying parents of any proposed change in services from a school regarding a child’s mental, emotional or physical health or well-being.
Governor Ron DeSantis statement
“Parents’ rights have been increasingly under assault around the nation, but in Florida we stand up for the rights of parents and the fundamental role they play in the education of their children. Parents have every right to be informed about services offered to their child at school, and should be protected from schools using classroom instruction to sexualize children as young as 5 years old.”
Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nuñez
“Parental Rights in Education empowers Florida’s parents and safeguards our children. This bill refuses to allow school boards and teachers unions the ability to hide information about students from their parents. In addition, it prohibits classroom discussion from age 5-8 on gender orientation and sexual identity. The bill has been maliciously maligned by those who prefer slogans and sound bites over substance and common sense. Florida will not back down to LBGTQ+ activists and WOKE corporations and politicians and their tired tactics that are steeped in hypocrisy. As a mother of three, I am committed to protecting the rights of parents.”
Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran
“Parents play the No1 role in a child’s life and I am thankful for the Governor, Legislature and so many parents who continue to stand up for parents’ rights to be the foremost authority involving their children. Greater parental involvement leads to a better quality of life for children and this important legislation helps ensure Florida’s educators collaborate with parents to ensure students are learning and flourishing, and I am thankful for the States’ commitment to all of Florida’s 2.9 million public school students.”
Senate President Wilton Simpson.
“Parents have a fundamental right to make decisions regarding the upbringing of their children, and schools should not be keeping important information from them. Children belong to families, not the state. Parents are not the enemy, they are a child’s first and best advocate. This legislation strengthens the Parents’ Bill of Rights Act, safeguarding the rights and responsibilities of parents to decide how best to raise their children.”
Speaker Chris Sprowls.
“The government should never take the place of a parent. We’re taking a firm stand in Florida for parents when we say instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation does not belong in the classroom where 5-8 year old children are learning. It should be up to the parent to decide if and when to introduce these sensitive topics. This shouldn’t be controversial, and a majority of Americans agree. Only LBGTQ fanatics think the classroom curriculum should include teaching little children about gender identity.”
Representative Joe Harding
“This bill is about protecting our children, empowering parents and ensuring they have the information they need to do their rightful job of raising their child.”
Senator Dennis Baxley
“Florida is ensuring Parental Rights are honored in our schools.
January Littlejohn, Parent
“I want to thank our Governor who has been steadfast in his leadership and his unwavering support for parental rights in our great state. When parents are excluded from critical decisions affecting their child’s health and well being at school, it sends the message to children that their parent’s input and authority are no longer important.”
Erin Lovely, Parent
“You never know how you will feel or react to something until it affects you or your family or your children, personally. Under this bill, it protects the fundamental rights of parents to make choices regarding the upbringing of their children and it prohibits classroom discussion about sexual orientation and gender identity in an inapproriate setting.”
Schoolteachers rule over parents rights in Scotland
The current debate over gender discussions in Scottish schools is driven, in part by seemingly endless revelations highlighting the SNP government, education authorities and teachers alleged abuse of their privileged positions in society through the compulsory imposition on children of the LGBTQ+ agenda.
Teachers are briefed to “create an environment that fosters the exploration of sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression.” actively undermining the traditional role of parents through the witholding of information on their children’s inclusion in LGBTQ+ clubs, and the tactics they use for identifying and recruiting them at an early age including tracking their internet use.
Advice is available to teachers on best practice for subverting parents, deflecting obstructive communities, and discussions of the principals of gender identity and sexual orientation and includes the provision of LGBTQ+ information and support to teenage club organisers who equip members with the confidence to answer questions resolving issues that might be raised by interfering parents who do not wish their child to be involved in such activities.
Anonymity is maintained since the retention of written membership records is discouraged and teachers routinely disguise the true nature and purpose of clubs by giving them names such as “Community Skills Club”, “Equality Club” etc.
Any indications of parental opposition “fighting-back” are defused by ensuring teenagers are briefed to first emphasise to their parents the negativity of bullying and its links to children who might be “different” before going on to highlight “gender identification” and the support of it which authority argues is the key to the success of the schools anti-bullying policies.
On occasion parents who continue with their objections are being asked to consider removing their children to private education.
The Scottish Government has said it legislates for the majority not the minority and LBGTQ+ policies will be retained and greatly expanded in Scottish schools.
Unknown to many parents the book “Gender Queer” is readily available for student consumption in Scottish schools. It tells a story of a child struggling with gender conformity through adolescence to adulthood and includes a number of graphics of LGBT sexual experiences.
Cartoons include descriptive situations such as “coming out,” discovering “auto androphilia” (defined as a female sexually aroused by the thought of having male genitalia), and bonding with friends over erotic gay fanfiction.
“Gender queer” is dictionary defined as “of, relating to, or being a person whose gender identity cannot be categorized as solely male or female.” and discussions of alternative gender identities like “genderqueer” a form of the mental illness “gender dysphoria” are increasingly prevalent in classrooms from kindergarden age.
But there is a growing public concern about school curriculums requiring such discussions and an ever increasing number of graphically explicit publications and parents are pressurising local authorities and the Scottish Government, (with little evidence of success) to forbid instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in primary schools.
The Clearances had repercussions for the British Army
In 1854 Britain declared war on Russia and all was not going well. Highland regiments, so conspicuous in the past, were now equally conspicuous by their absence. “Where are the Highlanders?” was asked.
The Duke of Sutherland hastily travelled from London to Dunrobin Castle and enquired why there were no Highland volunteers.
An elderly gentleman replied:
“Your Grace’s mother and predecessors applied to our fathers for men upon former occasions and our fathers responded to their call. They made us liberal promises, which neither them nor you performed. We are, we think, a little wiser than our fathers, and we estimate your promises of today at the value of theirs.”
“Besides you should bear in mind that your predecessors and yourself expelled us in a most cruel and unjust manner from the land which our fathers held in lien from your family.”
“I do assure your Grace that it is the prevailing opinion in this country, that should the Czar of Russia take possession of Dunrobin Castle and Stafford House next term, that we could not expect worse treatment at his hands than we have experienced at the hands of your family for the last 50 years.”
In Sutherland there were no volunteers. The young men who refused to volunteer called a public meeting stating:
“We have no country to fight for. You robbed us of our land and gave it to the sheep. Therefore, since you have preferred sheep to men, let sheep defend you.”
“we are resolved that there shall be no volunteers or recruits from Sutherland shire.”
“Yet we assert that we are as willing as our forefathers were to peril life and limb in defence of our Queen and country were our wrongs and long-enduring oppression redressed, wrongs which will be remembered in Sutherland by every true Highlander as long as grass grows and water runs.”
Paisley born in 1994 she was educated at Lourdes Secondary School, Glasgow, and the University of Glasgow, where she was awarded a first-class honours degree in Politics and Public Policy in June 2015.
Formerly a Labour Party supporter she said she was a “traditional socialist”, citing Tony Benn as her enduring political hero despite his opposition to Scottish independence.
A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been the MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South since 2015.
Her defeat of Douglas Alexander, a Labour MP and Shadow Foreign Secretary, was unexpected and entirely due to the collapse in popularity of the Labour Party in Scotland.
Worked in a local chippie before entering politics.
Only a few days after her election to parliament, on 1 July 2015, it was announced that she had been appointed to the Work and Pensions Select Committee.
She made her maiden speech on 14 July 2015 and criticised the Tory government’s approach to unemployment and the growing need for food banks. She said: “Food banks are not part of the Welfare State. They are a symbol that the welfare state is failing.” She also took the government to task over cuts to housing benefit and State Pension Inequality (WASPI).
In a 2016 interview, while expressing concern about displays of arrogance and sexism towards her from other MPs, she labelled Westminster an “old boys club totally excluded from reality”.
And in 2017, she considered not standing for a second term expressing her frustration that: “so little gets done and it is a pain to travel to and from London every week”.
But despite her lack of enthusiasm she decided to stand again at the 2017 general election. And in a controversial campaign she was heckled by protestors who were angry at the decision of the SNP Government to close the sick children’s ward at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in her constituency.
But she was re-elected albeit with a much reduced majority. She stood again in the 2019 general election and was elected.
She is a strong critic of the Tory government’s rollout of Universal Credit, maintaining that delays in payments have serious negative effects on claimants and she is critical of how loans must be paid back later.
She said in Parliament that the government was like a: “pious loan shark except that instead of coming through your front door they are coming after your mental health, your physical well-being, your stability, your sense of security that is what the experience is for all of our constituents. Plunging people into debt and hunger causes anxiety and distress and the eviction of families from their homes does not incentivise work.’
21 Jul 2018 Black admits to health issues
Elected MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South in 2015, and re-elected in June 2017 she said that the long hours, frequent travelling and stress of three years working as Paisley’s MP had taken its toll on her health and well-being and the pressure of being a public figure was something she was still adjusting to.
She said: “It’s absolutely horrendous. I hate it. But I will strive to help the people in my community who have fallen through the cracks. I have no desire to be famous or to be the face of something, or have a profile. I just want to do a good job. If that means shining a spotlight on something then I’ll do it but I don’t want it shone on me. The whole reason I’m in this job is to try and help the people I feel weren’t getting enough help before we were elected.”
On issues affecting her own personal life, she said: ” it is not something I plan to open the door on. I’ll talk to anyone about politics or whatever but my life’s my business. I suppose it’s the kind of thing where one day, maybe, but right now I’m an MP.
You only need to know what my political opinions are, you don’t need to know about my personal life. Asked about her decision to “come out”, she replied “I’ve never been in”.
Comment: But even allowing for the impact of stress which might be attributed to the foregoing, which incidentally can be applied to to all Scottish MPs, her attendance record at parliament is poor.
And her staff back in Glasgow are clearly also adversely affected by the stress their MP suffers from since she/they seem incapable of providing an acceptable level of services to her/their constituents.
Her/their letter response rates to constituent requests for assistance has been measured at just 27% in contrast her colleague Ronnie Cowan (Inverclyde) who achieved an 81% response rate, Ian Blackford 80%, Michael Weir 77%, and so on.
Attendance 2017- Mhairi Black 57.7% Ian Blackford 88.5% Kirsty Blackman 92.3% David Linden 91.0% Stewart McDonald 80.8% Joanna Cherry 89.7% Deidre Brock 85.9% Alan Brown 89.7%
18 Dec 2017: I need a life of my own
In an interview with the “Holyrood” magazine she said: “People need to recognise that I have a life of my own and I have responsibilities to the people in it.
They’ve looked after me and supported me because they recognise that I’m fighting a political battle that needs fought just now but no one has the energy to keep going forever.
I’m tired of sitting in constituency surgeries and despite what’s been said, I have been doing them from the very start having people coming to me with all these problems, and saying to me this is horrible, I can’t live, I can’t survive, it’s terrible, and I’m agreeing with them but when they ask me what I can do about it, I’m like, ‘well, we can raise it in parliament’.
I can press, I can twist arms but fundamentally, they [the UK Government] don’t need to give a thing.
21 Feb 2020: Black promotes the LBBTQ cause with a visit to a Primary School with drag act “Flowjob”
Flowjob was introduced to the children at Glencoats Primary in Paisley by Black, as “Flow” and read pupils a story in drag. After revelations in the press that Flojob’s social media profile contained sexually explicit material Education Secretary John Swinney said the “Flowjob” visit should not have happened.
Concerned parents and Renfrewshire Council apologised for the “concern the incident had caused”. Black took to social media later and accused concerned parents of “homophobia”.
25 Feb 2020: Black and an unfortunate incident at a Paisley primary school
What on earth is going on in my old home town of Paisley?
Mhairi Black, local MP and the SNP’s Scottish spokesperson at Westminster, is at the centre of an extraordinary row. She took a drag queen a character who travels under the name “Flowjob” apparently to read a story at a school in the town. Incredibly, the children were in Primary One, that is they are just starting out on the journey of life.
Those who have scrutinised Mr Flowjob’s online accounts tell me that they feature all manner of highly sexualised material. Saying that there is fury from parents and the wider community is putting it mildly. The Scottish media is reporting a tidal wave of outrage.
Black further inflamed the situation lashing out at critics, accusing them of homophobia.
The SNP’s top new spindoctor become embroiled after musing in a late-night tweet that he couldn’t see what the fuss is about when parents take their children to the pantomime featuring drag acts. Sometimes in Glasgow panto, I’m told, the Krankies are involved. Foote tweeted: “I could be wrong but do thousands of parents not voluntarily take their primary age kids along to see drag acts in pantomime every Christmas?” It turned out Foote could be wrong.
The following morning he clarified his position, stating: “In hindsight this tweet lacked the necessary qualification around some of the legitimate parental concerns about social media posts. I was attempting to make too broad a point.”
Attempting to make too broad a point. That’s one way of putting it. Recent convert to the cause of Scottish Independence and immediately appointed by Sturgeon, to the post of Party spin-doctor.
Foote, a former editor of The Daily Record, needs to watch out with the ever suspicious Nats. He is credited as one of the original authors of “The Vow” – the devolutionist pledge promising Scotland more powers to which Gordon Brown put his name in the final days of the 2014 referendum campaign when the Unionist side needed help.
The Vow was, it is said, literally drawn up on the back of a beermat by Foote and a Unionist associate. They then had it done up like a mock scroll and put on the front page of the tabloid Daily Record, to the fury of the Nats who saw it as a last minute attempt to hoodwink the voters.
This latest Paisley-rooted row follows the resignation of Gay MSP, Derek Mackay, over a sexting scandal. The disgraced Mackay used to run the local council and is MSP – still – for a seat which takes in part of Paisley.
What is happening to the place and its politicians? Paisley has actually been doing rather better with a long-running programme of regeneration. The SNP seems more interested in degeneration.
As a Paisley person, albeit one in exile, I am flabbergasted. One half of the town was until 2015 represented by the cerebral son of the manse Douglas Alexander for Labour. While I can imagine Douglas opting to take a Nobel Prize-winning economist in to tell Primary One pupils an improving story about income redistribution and regional policy, he would never for a second think it a remotely good idea to do what Black has done.
A seasoned observer of the Scottish scene says that Paisley’s other MSP George Adam, the straight-laced SNP chief whip (no jokes about whips here), will not like any of this either: “George is an old-fashioned guy who thinks the local electorate think the party should be getting on with the day job rather than the flowjob.”
But then perhaps some of the voters in my home town prefer the Black approach. Sufficient numbers of Paisley persons adore Black and they made her MP. The self-defined working class hero Black is actually from a nice part of Paisley, called Ralston, overlooking the golf course, incidentally. But this is rarely mentioned. (Iain Martin-reaction.life)
Flowjob
26 Feb 2022: Black under fire from feminist campaigners
Current 2004 GRA legislation requires a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria in order to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate. Labour MP Angela Eagle submitted a motion calling for the current act to be scrapped in favour of a self-identification system.
Speaking in a Commons debate Black pointed out that one to two per cent of the world’s population are born with sex characteristics that don’t match the binary of male and female. She Added: “People often think that we have male and female but the truth is that one to two percent of the global population is born intersex which means they represent characteristics of both sexes. To put that in perspective, one to two per cent of the population are ginger.
Also in the debate SNP MP Joanna Cherry said clashes over trans rights have become so toxic that MPs are “afraid” to debate the issue. she said: “I have received death and rape threats for raising concerns about calls for people to be able to obtain legal recognition more easily if they want to change gender and I have been vilified for speaking out about the impact reforms could have.
But if we lose clarity over what the words male and female mean it will make it more difficult to set and enforce clear and simple rules for female-only services and women’s sport. And women should not be expected to share their intimate spaces, such as public toilets, with men”. She added: “MPs are afraid to engage in this debate because of the potential backlash from campaigners”
But “For Women Scotland” blasted Black’s comments as ignorant and offensive and in a follow up Twitter post they said: “She recycles old, misinformed nonsense about “intersex” being as prevalent as red-heads. And she is clearly unaware that most people with differences in sex development (DSDs) are unambiguously male or female.
Standing on chairs in Parliament’s Sports and Social bar, a band of portly gentlemen are bellowing out Scottish folk songs. A young barmaid, only in her early twenties yet a seasoned veteran when it comes to turfing out unruly Westminster soaks, approaches a new SNP MP and politely asks him to pack it in. Words are exchanged. Multiple witnesses allege a drunken ‘f— you’ is uttered. Defeated, the barmaid retreats behind the bar to mocking male laughter. So upset is she by the incident, she will leave her job a few weeks later. ‘They’re only just getting started,’ sighs a Labour wag as he reaches for his coat. The conquering horde of Scots Nats have come to town and they are making themselves heard.
SW1 certainly expected the worst from the new SNP cohort. As the Glasgow East MP Natalie McGarry puts it, ‘They thought we would come down waving flags, with our faces painted blue and white.’ Yet those preconceptions were not without substance. An extraordinary, never-before-seen document written by disgruntled SNP aides — and passed to me while researching this article — reveals that even the party’s own employees have been horrified by their MPs’ behaviour for a while. In their own staff’s words, the Westminster group are described as ‘complete arseholes’ while Angus MacNeil is accused of being ‘arrogant, demanding and in general behaving like a five-year-old… [He] has some problems understanding why he is here, although the Sports and Social bar is extremely happy that he is.’
To find out whether the new intake are living up to their reputation, Westminster’s watering holes are the only place to begin. The Sports and Social is traditionally a Labour haunt, earning it the nickname ‘Sports and Socialist’. Just two weeks after polling day, to quote one Blairite boozehound, it had been ‘colonised’ by the Scots. Such are their imperial ambitions, SNP MPs confirm with almost embarrassed smiles their plans to have it officially renamed the ‘Rabbie Burns Bar’.
At kicking-out time, it’s over to the infamous Strangers’ Bar. A taxpayer-subsidised tot of Scotch here is just £2.55, yet despite the SNP’s arrival, the managers have not had cause to double their orders. ‘Most of them only drink champagne,’ claims my man behind the bar, only half-joking. His theory is that the £67,000-a-year MP’s salary is a considerable pay rise for many of his new punters, and that they are enjoying their newfound riches in style. This is an allegation heartily rebuffed by ‘real ale man’ and Midlothian MP Owen Thompson, who is having beer from his local Stewart brewery shipped in and put on tap.
Bubbly or ale in hand, the terrace is a place where MPs forget the adversarial nature of the chamber and, their inhibitions loosened, have a good gossip with politicians from other tribes. Not so the Nats, of whom one rival party hand complains they ‘all stand together in a huddle by themselves, not talking to anyone else’. A case of dour Scots? Natalie McGarry insists she has had ‘a good bit of conversation’ with ‘amenable’ Labour colleagues, but that while ‘some Tory MPs are unfailingly polite, some of them are stuck up their own bahookies.’ I barely have time to ask how one might spell that, before she is telling me what happens when the SNP stick to non-alcoholic beverages. ‘A cabinet minister came up to us,’ McGarry recalls, ‘and said “Fruit juice? I would have thought you Scots would have been on the booze.”’ In an example of Westminster Jockophobia, she claims the minister’s aide then turned to her boss and sneered: ‘Now they’re here we’ll have to start nailing things down.’
There are eight new SNP MPs under 30, and the younger generation have quickly taken over Westminster’s premier 3 a.m. dive: the Players Bar in the Charing Cross Theatre. When 20-year-old Mhairi Black is not wowing the House with her eloquence, she is impressing revellers on the dance floor. ‘A bit reserved early on, but that’s understandable,’ reports a fellow clubber. ‘She was dancing away with the rest of us by the end of the night.’ Black’s colleague Stuart Donaldson, the 23-year old MP for West Aberdeenshire, has meanwhile undergone something of a transformation. ‘He was the most socially awkward person here when he first turned up,’ laughs an admiring colleague. ‘Now you never see him without his harem of attractive blonde girls.’ He would not be the first Honourable Member to find the trappings of power have improved his success with women, but he might be one of the youngest.
After a night out, where do the SNP regiment go to lay their weary heads? ‘The last thing you want is folk swanning around Belgravia on the taxpayer,’ warns the highly rated Argyll and Bute MP Brendan O’Hara, adding without a hint of irony: ‘A lot of folk are in Pimlico.’ That would be the highly desirable central location dubbed the ‘second Belgravia’ by estate agents. O’Hara himself is taking advantage of gentrification: ‘I’m down in Elephant and Castle. I lived in London in the 1990s and it had an awful reputation. Someone said to me, “Look at Elephant and Castle,” and I thought, “Oh I don’t think so.” But what a transformation! What you could get in Glasgow for your IPSA [expenses] allowance here, well you could get anything you want. It’s remarkable.’
The ginger-bearded Owen Thompson is a Midlothian man at the weekend, but during the week he lives in Kensington. He tells me of his initial shock at being quoted a price of £350 a week for a high-end property in west London, but was chuffed to haggle £25 off the final price: ‘Doing my bit for the taxpayer.’ Early hopes for flat shares between laddish MPs petered out, leaving much of the new contingent dotted around Vauxhall and Kennington. ‘Almost everyone I know lives within walking distance of Parliament,’ explains O’Hara. A Tory source recounts recently bumping into the SNP deputy leader and relative Westminster veteran Stewart Hosie outside the Scot’s ultra-luxury apartment at Great Minster House, where a flat can fetch up to £6 million. ‘Even I can’t afford to live here,’ exclaimed the envious Tory, to which Hosie protested: ‘It’s a shoebox!’
Other than the cosy living arrangements, what has been the biggest surprise? ‘The food,’ says Paisley and Renfrewshire North MP Gavin Newlands, gushing about the ‘good value’ of the subsidised Commons cafeteria. Outside of the Parliamentary estate, the Nats have been a little more adventurous. Natalie McGarry is outed by colleagues as the organiser of an SNP team dinner at the upmarket Cinnamon Kitchen in the heart of the City. The sister restaurant of Westminster’s opulent Cinnamon Club, the Kitchen’s extensive menu offers spiced red deer for £29 and Pinot Noir at £100 a bottle. Forty-five out of the 56 SNP MPs attended.
‘This isn’t a change of job, it’s a change of life,’ admits O’Hara, and for him the most difficult adjustment has been the Palace of Westminster itself. ‘Labyrinth doesn’t begin to describe it,’ he says. ‘I find myself running up staircases and wandering around for hours thinking, “How do I get back?” I’d love to get into the mind of the architect.’ For McGarry, the change in climate has caused more serious concerns: ‘I woke up one morning and I had massive lumps all over me!’ Had moving 400 miles nearer to the equator left her susceptible to tropical diseases? ‘I went into a tailspin thinking I had bed bugs, so I went to the nurse. She just scoffed at me.’ The Nats were expecting plenty of bite south of the border, but they had not bargained for mosquitoes.
Watching them sip champagne on the Commons terrace and hearing about their fine dining and luxurious flats, one cannot help but feel the SNP’s new intake are already becoming the very metropolitan elite they claim to despise. ‘There is a real danger with that,’ admits Owen Thompson. ‘It is absolutely in your face all the time. I hope we’re not showing we’re all getting caught up in the establishment.’
‘You could get into bad habits,’ cautions McGarry. ‘I think people could get swept into the Westminster state of mind.’ She advises colleagues ‘to get out of that bubble’, warning it is ‘not healthy’ to ‘socialise too much’. O’Hara disagrees, insisting ‘it’s really important that we don’t go around as a tribe and that we get to know a lot of people down here.’
But one man is resolute. ‘I’m not going out,’ scowls Gavin Newlands: ‘I don’t want to be part of the bubble. It’s almost a different planet down here, rather than a different city.’ A different planet indeed, and its gravitational pull is proving hard for the SNP to resist.
Oswald was born in Dundee in 1972 and grew up in Carnoustie. She has a degree in History from the University of Glasgow. Before being elected to Westminster, she worked as Head of Human Resources as Lanarkshire College for 12 years.
She was first elected as the SNP MP for East Renfrewshire in 2015 a constituency located to the south of Glasgow stretching out from its outer suburbs. A commuter area for the city of Glasgow, it is an affluent area in which owner occupancy is high and contains the largest Jewish community in Scotland.She lost the seat in 2017 but was reelected in 2019.
She married Davinder Bedi and moved to East Renfrewshire with her husband and two sons in 2008. She was head of Human Resources at South Lanarkshire College for 12 years. Soon after her election in 2015 her husband surprisingly joined Scottish Labour.
She first became active in politics during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, serving on the committee of her local Women for Independence group where she was responsible for local food bank collections.
30 Jan 2015: She was selected as the SNP candidate for the East Renfrewshire constituency at the 2015 general election and won the seat.
Between 2015 and 2017, she was the SNP spokesperson for the Armed Forces and Veterans.
14 Feb 2017: Israeli ambassador and the week long SNP delegation visit to Israel
Angus Robertson, together with Kirsten Oswald, made their visit in November 2016 at the invitation of the Israeli and Palestinian ambassadors to London. During the one-week trip, they met with Israeli and Palestinian government officials, Israeli businesses and human rights groups. They also visited the Palestinian Shu’fat refugee camp, UN positions in the occupied Golan Heights and the Holocaust memorial at Yad Vashem. The SNP has been a long-standing advocate for a Palestinian state and decry the British government’s policy towards Israel and yet the SNP Westminster Group only part-funded the official trip. Israeli government officials provided assistance in terms of logistical support and in-country travel. According to parliamentary rules, MPs do not have to declare overseas trips “wholly” funded by their own parties, but members must declare any hospitality and travel costs amounting to more than £300. But the nature and value of this assistance remains unclear at 2022. The report revealed the level of control over British politics to be absolute and a threat to Scottish society. The whole sordid mess is to be found here. (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/2/14/shai-masot-courted-snps-angus-robertson-ahead-of-trip)
2017 General Election, Oswald lost her seat to the Tory Party. The influential Jewish community in East Renfrewshire voted the Tory Party candidate into office.
2018: Elected Chairman and Business Convener of the SNP.
2019: General Election. Elected MP for East Renfrewshire. Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Yemen; Antisemitism; British Muslims; British Sikhs, Drones, Young Disabled People, the Future of Work, Hate Crime, Management, Women and Work.
7 Jul 2020: Elected Deputy Leader of the SNP in the House of Commons. Appointed SNP Spokesperson on Armed Forces and Veterans.
13 Oct 2020: The Alex Salmond inquiry a mystery wrapped in an enigma & the Whatsapp fiasco
Peter Murrell confirmed he was the author of a series of leaked Whatsapp messages copies of which were provided to the inquiry. The messages, shared with a group, discussed the investigation into Mr Salmond and said: “Totally agree folk should be asking the police questions…report now with the PF on charges which leaves police twiddling their thumbs. So good time to be pressurising them. Would be good to know Met looking at events in London. TBH the more fronts Alex Salmond is having to firefight on the better for all complainers. So CPS action would be a good thing.”
An opposition party member wrote to SNP Chairwoman Kirsten Oswald asking seven questions for clarification and urging her to condemn Peter Murrell over his and his groups leaked Whatsapp messages.
There was no reply but the SNP responded dismissing the letter as an attempt to “score political points”.
Decide for yourself. The Questions:
“You will be aware of media reports of WhatsApp messages from your Chief Executive calling for pressure to be exerted on Police Scotland with regard to its investigation into the former First Minister, Mr Salmond.
“In the interests of transparency, as Business Convenor for your party, I now write to ask you when were you made aware of these text messages, what action you have subsequently taken and to ask what discussions you have now had regarding the controversial content of these messages with both the First Minister, the Leader of your party and the Chief Executive?”
“As Party Chairperson do you condemn the actions of your Chief Executive which sought to interfere with a police inquiry?
“As Party Chairperson what action did you take when you were made aware of the Whatsapp involvement of Mr Murrell, SNP chief executive and husband of the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon?”
“Will you provide full answers to the Parliamentary Inquiry including if called to appear as an oral witness?”
“Were you ever a member of the Whatsapp group together with Mr Murrell and/or did you ever receive or exchange messages with/from him about the investigation into Alex Salmond?”
“When were you made aware of the Whatsapp messages sent by your Chief Executive that stated it would be “good” to be “pressuring” Police Scotland.”
Summarising the content the writer wrote: “I would hope and expect your work as Chairwoman and Business Convenor of the SNP will be fulfilled diligently and that you would not want to be seen to be adding to the obstructing of the work of a committee of The Scottish Parliament carrying out its inquires.
I am sure that you will agree that your constituents in Eastwood also deserve answers as to why the Scottish Government squandered over half a million pounds of taxpayer’s money on the handling of this fiasco.”
17 April 2021: The SNP faces a fraud probe into its internal party finances
The police are investigating claims that £600,000 raised to prepare for an independence referendum and “ringfenced” was diverted for other purposes. Three members of the party’s Finance and Audit Committee, including the Party Treasurer, resigned in March 2017 after the FM’s husband and party CEO Peter Murrell refused to show them the Party accounts. Two weeks later the police confirmed receipt of an allegation of fraud. A police investigation has not reported at 2022 but his did not prevent Oswald claiming in May 2021 that she fundamentally disagreed with Douglas Chapman on the assessment of support and financial information available to him in his role as Party Treasurer.
Sep 2021: Oswald has repeatedly spoken out in the Commons against China’s reported repression of the Uyghur people of China. Her reward came in the form of of an honour from the Uyghur World Congress and public praise for her support.
22 Jan 2022: Oswald led a debate in the House of Commons in which she warned against complacency in tackling scourge of anti-Semitism, highlighting the importance of Jewish voices being heard ensuring their stories of the Holocaust would be preserved for future generations to learn from.
20 Mar 2022: Undermining Oswald!! The SNP has been urged to sack one of their candidates in May’s council election after Wullie Graham, who is running to be a councillor for the Pollok ward in Glasgow, shared a picture on his social media of a man wearing a yarmulke and a young girl, both holding guns, with the added caption, “Bloody sickening that Israeli Jews bring up their kids to hate and kill.
Summary:
Ministerial Aspirant Oswald only took up politics in 2015 and piggy-backed into an MP post in Westminster on the SNP landslide victory of that year.
She quickly gained front bench status and her policy advocate advances and arguments for causes she believes in brought her the exposure and public profile she desired.
But the policies of the SNP are of no interest to her and she would dump the party and Nicola Sturgeon in a heartbeat if some other party offered her the platform she needs to push her agenda’s which do not include Scottish Independence.
Indeed on that matter there is no record of her ever promoting the cause of Scottish independence at Westminster.
Westminster Governance and the role and responsibilities of MP’s
Representation of local constituency interests has always been central to the Westminster system of government and created strong bonds between elected representatives and their constituents.
In the course of the twentieth century the widening of the franchise, changes to the party system and the growth of the welfare state contributed to these relationships changing and indeed increasing in important ways. But the constituency role was of meaningful importance in Scotland.
A Westminster study completed in 1970 categorised MPs into four types depending on how they prioritised their roles. Namely:
Constituency members: Who concentrated first and foremost on serving the needs of their local areas.
Scottish MP’s allocated around 15 hours each week which was the highest concentration of such members.
The support of other activities eg. meeting local interest groups, attending local community and party meetings and promoting local business and public spending increased the total number of hours to 25 weekly.
The categories were not mutually exclusive since many MPs carried out both to some extent. And this local role was further split into two sub-categories:
The “self promoter” (current day selfie queen/king) who promoted a high visibility profile for themselves and their constituency with a view to improving their economic wellbeing and status by encouraging local investment and facilitating the activities of local businesses and other interest groups.
The “welfare officer” who supported the cases of individual constituents primarily through the provision of negotiating services such as housing and health provided by the welfare state, or dealing with government departments over benefit matters or immigration.
Welfare support expanded rapidly from the late 1950’s and led to the establishment of constituency welfare officers and or casebook workers and local office support within the constituencies. e higher allowances available to pay MPs’ staff – the ‘welfare officer’ or ‘casework’ role had grown in importance.
MP’s were provided with an annual financial allocation to meet the costs of providing these new services.
Policy Advocates: Who consistently advanced and argued for for particular causes.
Ministerial Aspirants: Party leader favourites who quickly gained front bench status
Parliamentarians: Back benchers, who wielded power in groups and focussed their attention on participating in committees benefitting from additional financial allowances.
The impact of devolution
The establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 raised important questions about the future of these local representative roles.
The Scottish Parliament took over responsibility for many of the issues that individual constituents were likely to raise with their elected members, as well as important strategic matters such as economic development, transport and health which were central to the role previously remitted to MP’s.
Members of the Scottish Parliament MSPs assumed the duties of local representative and spend many hours each week fulfilling them. Their contact with interest groups and work with local community groups and party members is also more frequent. MSPs spent more time on these activities than did Scottish MPs previously
The traditional local role of the MP in Scotland, which was highly rated and significant in terms of commitment of time, has been given up to members of the Scottish Parliament.
But some MPs are determined to hold onto the past and the resulting duplication of roles can be the cause of an amount of confusion amongst constituents depending in part on whether co-operation exists between the two local members. A problem when the local MSP is a list member from another political party.
Benefits and Allowances
Gross Salary & Pension: £120-£140k
Staffing: Constituency based. Assistance with casework, correspondence, surgeries, visits, meetings, organising events, and outreach activities. Mainly covers payroll costs but can also be used for pooled staffing services and incidental expenses for volunteers. It is paid directly to the employee. Annual charge £150-180k.
Office costs: Covers rent, stationery, telephone, broadband, and other costs attributed to running a constituency office. Annual charge £14-£20k
Accommodation: To meet costs incurred as a result of working from two permanent locations. Unless there are exceptional circumstances, it is usually only possible to claim for accommodation and associated costs in either Scotland or London, not both. Annual Charge £25-£40k.
Travel and Subsistence Allowance: Is for travel between Scotland and Westminster, within the constituency, and elsewhere on parliamentary business. MPs can only travel First Class if the fare is demonstrably cheaper than a standard class ticket. Annual cost £12-£18k
MPs may only claim for the cost of food and non-alcoholic drinks where they have stayed overnight either outside the London area or Scotland. This is limited to £25 for each night of a stay but can be for purchases made in the day.
Summary: The role and responsibilities of Scottish MP’s at Westminster is greatly diminished following devolution.
And yet MPs still enjoy the same benefits, privileges and allowances as English MP’s who’s role has remained unchanged.
The admitted number of hours freed up for other duties at Westminster is around 25 weekly and the absence of any tangible promotion of the cause of Scottish independence and claims of MPs promoting LBGTQ agendas, wild partying, alcohol consumption, extra marital sex affairs and harassment both physical and sexual within the group is embarrassing and of concern to constituents.
Something needs to be done to ensure the Scottish taxpayer is provided with value for money. We are not getting it from the present group of SNP MPs.
Westminster Governance and the role and responsibilities of MP’s
Representation of local constituency interests has always been central to the Westminster system of government and created strong bonds between elected representatives and their constituents.
In the course of the twentieth century the widening of the franchise, changes to the party system and the growth of the welfare state contributed to these relationships changing and indeed increasing in important ways. But the constituency role was of meaningful importance in Scotland.
A Westminster study completed in 1970 categorised MPs into four types depending on how they prioritised their roles. Namely:
Constituency members: Who concentrated first and foremost on serving the needs of their local areas.
Scottish MP’s allocated around 15 hours each week which was the highest concentration of such members.
The support of other activities eg. meeting local interest groups, attending local community and party meetings and promoting local business and public spending increased the total number of hours to 25 weekly.
The categories were not mutually exclusive since many MPs carried out both to some extent. And this local role was further split into two sub-categories:
The “self promoter” (current day selfie queen/king) who promoted a high visibility profile for themselves and their constituency with a view to improving their economic wellbeing and status by encouraging local investment and facilitating the activities of local businesses and other interest groups.
The “welfare officer” who supported the cases of individual constituents primarily through the provision of negotiating services such as housing and health provided by the welfare state, or dealing with government departments over benefit matters or immigration.
Welfare support expanded rapidly from the late 1950’s and led to the establishment of constituency welfare officers and or casebook workers and local office support within the constituencies. e higher allowances available to pay MPs’ staff – the ‘welfare officer’ or ‘casework’ role had grown in importance.
MP’s were provided with an annual financial allocation to meet the costs of providing these new services.
Policy Advocates: Who consistently advanced and argued for for particular causes.
Ministerial Aspirants: Party leader favourites who quickly gained front bench status
Parliamentarians: Back benchers, who wielded power in groups and focussed their attention on participating in committees benefitting from additional financial allowances.
The impact of devolution
The establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 raised important questions about the future of these local representative roles.
The Scottish Parliament took over responsibility for many of the issues that individual constituents were likely to raise with their elected members, as well as important strategic matters such as economic development, transport and health which were central to the role previously remitted to MP’s.
Members of the Scottish Parliament MSPs assumed the duties of local representative and spend many hours each week fulfilling them. Their contact with interest groups and work with local community groups and party members is also more frequent. MSPs spent more time on these activities than did Scottish MPs previously
The traditional local role of the MP in Scotland, which was highly rated and significant in terms of commitment of time, has been given up to members of the Scottish Parliament.
But some MPs are determined to hold onto the past and the resulting duplication of roles can be the cause of an amount of confusion amongst constituents depending in part on whether co-operation exists between the two local members. A problem when the local MSP is a list member from another political party.
Benefits and Allowances
Gross Salary & Pension: £120-£140k
Staffing: Constituency based. Assistance with casework, correspondence, surgeries, visits, meetings, organising events, and outreach activities. Mainly covers payroll costs but can also be used for pooled staffing services and incidental expenses for volunteers. It is paid directly to the employee. Annual charge £150-180k.
Office costs: Covers rent, stationery, telephone, broadband, and other costs attributed to running a constituency office. Annual charge £14-£20k
Accommodation: To meet costs incurred as a result of working from two permanent locations. Unless there are exceptional circumstances, it is usually only possible to claim for accommodation and associated costs in either Scotland or London, not both. Annual Charge £25-£40k.
Travel and Subsistence Allowance: Is for travel between Scotland and Westminster, within the constituency, and elsewhere on parliamentary business. MPs can only travel First Class if the fare is demonstrably cheaper than a standard class ticket. Annual cost £12-£18k
MPs may only claim for the cost of food and non-alcoholic drinks where they have stayed overnight either outside the London area or Scotland. This is limited to £25 for each night of a stay but can be for purchases made in the day.
Summary: The role and responsibilities of Scottish MP’s at Westminster is greatly diminished following devolution.
And yet MPs still enjoy the same benefits, privileges and allowances as English MP’s who’s role has remained unchanged.
The admitted number of hours freed up for other duties at Westminster is around 25 weekly and the absence of any tangible promotion of the cause of Scottish independence and claims of MPs promoting LBGTQ agendas, wild partying, alcohol consumption, extra marital sex affairs and harassment both physical and sexual within the group is embarrassing and of concern to constituents.
Something needs to be done to ensure the Scottish taxpayer is provided with value for money. We are not getting it from the present group of SNP MPs.
Born in Bellshill in 1987 she joined the SNP around 2010 and was the National Convenor of the SNP’s youth-wing, Young Scots for Independence, and sat on the SNP’s National Executive Committee. She was elected as a councillor for the Hamilton South ward in 2012.. Her political career progressed further when she was elected as the (MP) for Lanark and Hamilton East as part of the SNP surge in 2015 and was re-elected albeit with a much reduced majority in 2017.
House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee
Discussing her role as a member of the committee she was asked the question. What projects are you involved with that you can talk about? Her answer included the following: “In my first year on the committee we discussed issues faced by the transgender community.”
Quite where her answer fitted is beyond identification since the subject is outwith the remit of the committee and at odds with her declared mission as an MP that she was not in Westminster to simply accept the status quo, but to challenge it, and make real changes for the benefits of people’s lives and to deliver for the communities across her constituency including driving forward regeneration of the Hamilton Town Centre, bringing employment opportunities to the area and hosting specialised surgeries in Larkhall and Forth, helping people get the right advice and support to navigate their way through the welfare system, and tackling poverty.
Fantasy SNP Shadow Cabinet
She was appointed shadow minister for Defence Procurement in 2020 and took on the role of Shadow Attorney General since 2021. The posts are a total nonsense since the SNP are not the official opposition to the Westminster government but they serve the purpose of providing the SNP leadership access to £millions of “short money” which is given over to Sturgeon’s Shadow Cabinet favourite’s in the form of lucrative unearned additional duty allowances.
LGBTQ
Her campaigning on LBGTQ issues, in particular transgender equality borders on the obsessive. In December 2016, she stated in Parliament her view that: “the law must be updated to recognise an individual’s gender identity, which has nothing to do with their birth gender and everything to do with the gender they believe they are”.
In February 2017 she launched yet another campaign for transgender and non-binary equality stating: “The UK government must also follow the lead of the Scottish Government by committing to reform gender recognition law to ensure that all trans and non-binary people are fully and more easily able to access their human right to legal gender recognition – in line with international best practice. LGBTI equality activists and organisations have called for these reforms for many years and now we need to see action – not just more warm words.” (http://angelacrawleymp.com/angela-launched-new-campaign-transgender-non-binary-equality/)
Scottish Independence
In a “Q and A” article in “TheFemaler” she was asked 10 questions about her approach to politics and the ambitions that encouraged her to represent her constituents as a Scottish National Party MP. Her answers were revealing, at no time did she mention Scottish Independence preferring to address female and LBGTQ issues. (https://thefemailer.com/post/148239709616/an-interview-with-angela-crawley-mp-r-now-you-are)
She closed her maiden speech in the House of Commons with the following: “My team of 55 colleagues and I will work tirelessly with those on the opposition benches to ensure that we see an alternative to the damaging cuts to our public services.” Again no mention of Scottish Independence
British American Parliamentary Group (BAPG)
The Group was created in 1944 with the aim of promoting “friendly relations and mutual understanding between Members of Parliament in the U.K. and Members of Congress in the U.S. by arranging for the exchange of collegial visits and information between the two groups of legislators and providing opportunities for discussion on matters of common interest and concern.
Each year there is a 10 day exchange initiative funded by the US Department of State. In the course of the exchange British MP’s are welcomed to the U.S. in an exchange that includes Congressional appointments in Washington, several days of shadowing a Member of Congress in their home district, and a closing session in Boston that ties all of their experience.
Group members SNP, MP’s, Angela Crawley and Patrick Grady spent ten (fully funded) days in the US in the summer of 2016. Activities of note included attendance at and marching in the San Diego LGBT Pride an annual three-day celebration held every July, focusing on the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
21 April 2021: Counting Dead Trans People Karen Ingal Smith addresses Crawley misconceptions about LBGTQ matters
My name is Karen Ingala Smith and I prioritise women. I prioritise the well-being of women who have been subjected to men’s violence. I try to make sure I see the women that many others disregard. I’d like to contribute to ending men’s violence against women and girls. If I can’t do that, I’ll settle for helping ensure that women have access to specialist support from women, that victim-survivors’ needs are prioritised and wishes heard, and that more people understand the realities of men’s violence against women, girls and children.
In the Women and Equalities Select Committee on reform of the Gender Recognition Act on 21 April 2021, Angela Crawley, Scottish National Party MP for Lanark and Hamilton East and the SNP Shadow Attorney General asked:
” Would you agree, and I think we can all agree on the prevalence of male violence, and the instance of how often this occurs and often it is a male perpetrator against a female individual, would you agree that individuals who perhaps, perhaps a trans female has transitioned*, they are also at equally and perhaps greater risk of the same violence and the same issues that you’ve expressed around patriarchy.
Would it be possible for a women’s refuge to have a policy that is both inclusive provides that safety that provides those single sex spaces built also is able to provide a service that recognises that individuals who are transgender may also be the victims of the very same violence and they might also need protection from those very similar services that we’re discussing.”
(*It’s anyone’s guess who she means here? A trans female who has transitioned surely means female to ‘transman’, but I think she is so determined not to use words referring to maleness for ‘transwomen’ that she means a male who has so-called transitioned to ‘transwoman.’)
Firstly, let’s get this out of the way, you cannot be both single sex and trans inclusive, unless you mean women and ‘transmen’ together or men with ‘transwomen’. If you have transwomen in a women’s refuge it is not single sex. It cannot be.
Angela Crawley seemed to be trying to say that trans people are perhaps more at risk from the same men’s violence as women are. This isn’t true with regards to fatal violence. Men’s fatal violence against males who identify as transgender does not follow the same pattern as men’s fatal violence against women.
As far as I know, nine males who fall under the trans umbrella have been killed in the UK since 2009. I don’t know which of them would have described themselves as cross-dressers, transsexuals, transwomen, trans women, or even say that they are women but using Stonewall’s concept of the trans umbrella, there are nine and I don’t want to open myself to accusations of undercounting. There have been over 1,800 women killed by men in the UK in the same time. These 9 people are
Andrea Waddel, 29, killed by a punter (sex buyer), in Brighton in October 2009
Destiny Lauren, 29, killed by a punter (sex buyer), in London in November 2009
David/Sonia Burgess, 63, killed by a trans friend/associate (male who identified as trans at the time), in London in October 2010.
Lionel/Suzie Morl, 49, referred to in the press as a transvestite, who was killed by a couple with drug problems.
Chrissie Azzopardi, 22, who was killed by a neighbour, possibly over drug debts, in London in April 2012.
Vanessa Santillan, 33, who was killed by her husband in London in March 2015.
William Lound, 30, a gay man who occasionally wore women’s clothes, was murdered by a punter in Salford in August 2016.
Naomi Hersi, 36, who was killed by punter (sex buyer) after a drugs and sex hook-up in London in March 2018.
Amy Griffiths, 51, was killed in Worcestershire by a friend on 11 January 2019.
None of those above were killed in Scotland, where Angela Crawley is an MP. None. Since 2009, at least 129 women have been killed by men in Scotland. 17 women have been killed by men in Scotland since the last known murder of a trans person in the UK. Why can’t you see or why do you turn your back on the violence done to women by men, Angela?
We know from the Femicide Census that 62% of women who were killed by men between 2009 and 2018 were killed by a current or former partner. In the year ending March 2020, the Office for National Statistics says that 46% of adult females and 7% of males were killed in domestic homicides.
The ONS also said that 29% of female homicide victims recorded no suspect had been charged for the offence at the time of analysis. This will decrease as investigations proceed and the percentage of cases where a woman’s current or former partner is identified as being responsible for her death is likely to increase.
The proportion of males killed by current or former partners is consistent with previous years. 8% of male homicide victims were killed by a partner in the year ending March 2019, 1% in the year ending March 2018 and 3% in the year ending March 2017. Note also that males are much more likely to be killed by a same sex partner, fatal violence is very rare in lesbian relationships.
Given the number of trans people killed in the UK, annual trends in the composition of their relationships with their killer isn’t possible. There have been nine over eleven years and none since Amy Griffiths in 2019. Only one was killed by their partner.
Most women’s refuges work exclusively with women who are fleeing partners, ex-partners and in some cases, family members. That doesn’t mean other people don’t need places of safety or support but it does mean that their experiences are different and their needs are too. Women in refuges benefit from being able to place what was done to them in the context of the abuse that other women have been subjected to by men they loved.
Sometimes it is through seeing that another woman was not to blame for what was done to her that they are able to begin to stop blaming themselves. Sharing with and listening to other women is a huge part of healing and moving on. Women don’t enter refuges for fun. For most there is no other choice and many are in fear of their life.
The number of men who kill or attempt to kill their female partners shows that women’s fears are well grounded. I’ve written in other places about the importance of single-sex spaces for women who have been subjected to men’s violence, for example here, about the necessity of trauma informed services for women being single sex and here, more generally in a speech I delivered in Scottish Parliament in January 2020.
Looking beyond fatal violence and at childhood sexual abuse, prevalence is not equal or greater for males who identify as transgender than it is for females. We know that both girls and boys can be subjected to child sexual abuse and that grooming of younger gay males by older men is an established form of abuse normalised by some men.
Prevalence studies for England and Wales suggests that approximately 15% of girls/young women and 5% boys/young men are subjected to some form of sexual abuse before they are 16 years old and that the majority of perpetrators – prevalence studies always indicate over 90% – are male.[1] For women and girls, single sex space to address what has been done to them is vital. For males, who are far more likely to have been abused by someone of the same sex, the preferred or most beneficial sex of their therapist, counsellor, support worker or fellow therapeutic group members can be less clear.
Sometimes but not always depending on the sex of their abuser, they may or may not have a preference for or therapeutic issues with the sex of who supports them.[2] The needs of these men should be addressed but this necessary provision should not affect the needs of the majority of female victim-survivors and provision of single sex services to meet their needs; neither should the support and therapeutic needs of males survivors of childhood sexual violence and abuse who come to identify as transgender.
It should not be seen as, and it is not, an indication of disrespect to Andrea Waddel, Destiny Lauren, Sonia Burgess, Suzie Morl, Chrissie Azzopardi, Vanessa Santilan, William Lound, Naomi Hersi and Amy Griffiths to say that with regards to intimate partner homicide, the pattern of their relationships with the person who killed them is far closer to that of male-on-male fatal violence than that of men’s lethal violence against women. Of course what was done to them is abhorrent. But, the evidence suggests that the same services as those under short supply for women would not have saved the lives of most of these trans people.
By identifying the context of the sex industry, which inherently abusive; or substance use, I am not excusing what was done to these people any more than I would consider involvement in prostitution or drug use as an excuse for killing women, or any more than I would hold any woman responsible for abuse perpetrated against her.
Prostitution turns people into products and abusive, predatory men who fully recognise the power imbalance in the transaction, into consumers. Prostitution puts people, mainly women, in situations where they are easy prey to murderous men. It is the twisted logic of sex trade advocates that creates a space for victim blaming and denies that prostitution is abuse.
Where fatal violence is concerned, the evidence is that the violence perpetrated against trans people, is not the same violence as that which is perpetrated against women. It’s not the same, it might be proportionate, there aren’t reliable statistics on the number of trans identifying people in the UK so we can’t calculate.
Of course not all violence and abuse is fatal, but we can still learn a lot about violence from that which is. It is possible that rates of fatal violence against trans people by men are higher than those of males against women if we take population sizes into account, but this would make that violence more in line with men’s violence against other men, after all men kill more men every year than they kill women.
This does not justify removing the single sex exemptions permissible under the Equality Act in the provision of services for women who have been subjected to men’s violence and more than any other form of men’s violence against other men.
Like most people, I do not want to see trans people suffering violence, harassment and discrimination. Universal human rights are an important principle. If we want to stop violence, including fatal violence against trans people, we would be better placed addressing the drivers of violence and abuse of people who do not conform to the gender stereotypes associated with their sex.
As a feminist, I would say that we would be better placed dismantling sex-role or gendered stereotypes. Being abused and/or killed as or because you are a gender non-conforming man is not the same as being abused and/or killed as or because you are a women. We help no one if we don’t acknowledge who is doing what to whom and why, or by falsely claiming that that violence against trans people is the same as men’s violence against women. More information here: (https://kareningalasmith.com/category/trans/)
caltonjock 