Ordinary Britons can’t complain about Terf Island
If Britons don’t like being associated with transphobia, why don’t they start fixing the problem by condemning the gender critical extremists giving them a name for bigotry?
This article started with the working title “the miscommunication between trans and cis people is leading to animosity”. That article got to 1600 words and then I deleted it and started over.
The original motivation for the article was founded on two conversations I had with two different people in the UK.
The first, my elder brother. In my view he is an intelligent and reasonable person. The second was with a friend I have known since my early twenties, we will call him Ford. He is a very intelligent person whose views I respect and in most cases agree with.
Both of these people will openly tell you they are centrists. However when stripped of the jargon and political terminology, both of them would better be described as humanists. To accuse either of being a bigot would be an extreme injustice. When one considers the background of these two, where they grew up and the development of their views, one would consider it accurate to say they are self aware to the point of being quite “woke”. My point is they are considerate, kind, thoughtful and intelligent people who would baulk at the idea of expressing actual bigotry.
This article started its life pointing out that we have let extremists on both sides hijack the conversation regarding trans people. The result being that the cool headed centre is losing patience with the trans segment of society. This article was supposed to be questioning the narrative that the UK has a transphobia problem and how we need to look at the messaging the trans community is putting out in the UK. This is unfortunately an inaccurate assessment of the situation in the UK.
Both of them said that they did not agree with people losing their jobs as a result of trans rights activists. Both agreed that the manner trans rights activists were attacking people was unwarranted and malicious. One believes that terf is a slur. Please bear in mind my description of them, they are not hateful or bigoted people.
Ford was unimpressed with my description of the UK as Terf Island. His view being that trans rights activists had driven the narrative of the UK being anti trans and the general population was not transphobic at all. He also has some incredibly interesting views on Tavistock and the NHS.
My discussions with these guys left me baffled. Two people I know to be liberal left leaning (even if they won’t admit it) expressing some really strange and transphobic ideas. People I know are not transphobic.
My initial reaction was to start taking apart the points and debunking them bit by bit. Ford, the ever logical man of consideration requested I send him reputable articles debunking the ideas I felt he held that were wrong. And that’s where this article changed from a tone of conciliation to one of anger and dismay.
Maya Forstater (Ford specifically mentioned her case) was not fired, sacked or let go. Her contract was not renewed when it expired. Yes, her employer made the decision to not renew when her very public transphobia became known to them. Allison Bailey was not hounded out of her law firm by Stonewall UK. Stonewall is a milquetoast middle of the road organisation that ran an equality program. Allison Bailey started an organisation called LGB Alliance. LGB Alliance is listed as a hate group by several LGBTQ organisations. A petition requesting their charitable organisation status be removed garnered more than 30 000 signatures. More than 50 LGBTQ Pride organisations in the UK signed an open letter stating the LGB Alliance does not represent LGBTQ people. The Good Law Project and Mermaids have come out against them as well. Hell, several Labour ministers have signed letters against the LGB Alliance.
The problem I face in writing this is that we have one side of an argument merely trying to survive. While the other side consists exclusively of anti trans bigots and hate groups aided by an extremely biassed media targeting a minority. I looked up countless articles, I was astounded by the clickbait fear inducing headlines. I found articles that hinted at the Cass report endorsing conversion therapy. I read the interim report, it certainly endorses mental health care for trans minors, but it does not endorse conversion therapy. In fact, almost every article I read on the Cass report says something along the line that the report is against trans kids getting care. It doesn’t, it clearly says Tavistock is inadequate and the extremely long waits are intolerable and harmful to kids. Yes, the Cass report advises caution in the treatment of kids, but so do trans people. One article I found sourced a comment from Keira Bell and implied Keira Bell was a victim of Tavistock who had a double mastectomy at age 16. Keira Bell became a patient of Tavistock at 16, went on puberty blockers. Later, at age 18, went onto testosterone and at age 20 went onto surgery. Miss Bell only developed a problem with the treatment she, as an adult, received from Tavistock after she started dating Rebekah Wershbale, a known anti trans gender critical activist. She has the credibility of a second hand car salesman and represents, according to the latest study on detransition, 2.5% of people who transition. Yes, the detransition rate is 2.5%. Why are the other 97.5% being ignored?
I have read polls in the past that show the majority of cis women in the UK regard trans women as women and as no threat at all. The same polls reflect that the male population is marginally less supportive of the trans community. So on one hand, Ford is correct in taking offence to the UK being viewed as Terf Island. However, we cannot ignore the actions and comments of the Tories, we cannot turn a blind eye to the misinformation and open dishonesty the UK media is pushing.
The UK is Terf Island and it has earned that title through hate and bigotry. When a majority allows an extreme minority to represent it sans pushback, the majority gets seen as complicit. If this offends the middle, the centrist and those who don’t want to be associated with transphobia, I have a solution for them.
In the grand tradition of expecting groups who find themselves the victims of association with extremists to earn their place in society by condemning that group of extremists they say do not represent them. I think centrist Britons need to prove their anti transphobic chops by coming out against the transphobic media and the hate groups in the UK. Until then, it’s Terf Island.
