The Magnificent Sixteen
Update 391 Terf Month - Manifestoes Part 1 - #BeMorePorcupine
Given the number of manifestoes I am trying to wade through I have pulled this update forward.
A short pause on Terf Month speeches.
You have heard of The Magnificent Seven?
Well, here are The Magnificent Sixteen 😊
Bernadette O'Malley - South West Hertfordshire
Bev White - St Neots & Mid Cambridgeshire
Catherine Briggs - Doncaster North
Hazel Mary Exon - Honiton & Sidmouth
Julia Maria Long - Bexhill & Battle
Katharine Margaret Murphy - Finchley & Golders Green
Katherine Longthorp - Oxford East
Kellie-Jay Keen - Bristol Central
Kelly Oliver Dougall - Tynemouth Constituency
Lesley Woodburn - Islington South & Finsbury
Lisa Morgan - Barrow & Furness
Liz Panton - Newcastle upon Tyne East & Wallsend
Louise McDonald - Sheffield Heeley
Seonaid Dawn Barber - West Worcestershire
Thanks as ever to two wonderful readers for suggested pieces.
As an aside, I am having to jettison some pieces this week that I might otherwise cover in order to concentrate on the manifestoes. However I will be covering other pieces still this week - just not so many. 😊
Terf Month
Why are we having Terf Month on this substack?
Here is Mark Dolan on GB News
And here is Mr Menno (with constructive criticism of Jordan Peterson)
Do you understand now? 😊
General Election Manifestos
OK, dear readers, here are the first manifestoes. Obviously I am just concentrating on gender ideology and related matters such as free speech. I leave you to, if you so wish, look at the other policies of the parties.
I covered the Labour manifesto here:
https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/stand-up-and-speak
I summarised the issues that the Party of Women will be concentrating on here:
https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/rebellion
I am taking the various other UK parties in alphabetical order. In some cases the manifesto does not seem to have been published yet but I am relying on their existing statements of principles and policies. I start in each case with a link to the document I am working from.
I won’t comment when a policy is clearly off with the woo woo. I will leave you, dear readers, to spot where a party fails to address an issue that is relevant to gender critical belief (eg strip searching of women by male officers larping as women) - failure to mention an issue might indicate that the party in question does not see a problem with what is happening.
If I have missed anything important, please let me know 😊
ALBA
https://www.albaparty.org/where_we_stand
Women’s Rights
We strive to create a level playing field where we can become truly equal and where everyone’s rights are respected and protected, but, vitally, not at the cost of others. Therefore, we undertake to protect and preserve women’s rights, not at any expense to others, but as a safeguard for women and girls.
We believe women have the right to discuss all policies which affect them, without being abused and silenced.
Furthermore, we believe women have the right to maintain their sex-based protections as set out in the Equality Act 2010. These include female-only spaces such as changing rooms, hospital wards, sanitary and sleeping accommodations, refuges, hostels, and prisons. Therefore, we believe women have the right to refuse consent to males in single-sex spaces or males delivering intimate services to females such as washing, dressing, and counselling.
It is our belief that women have the right to single-sex sports to ensure fairness and safety at all levels of competition. Women have the right to organise themselves according to their sex class across a range of cultural, leisure, educational and political activities.
The ALBA Party acknowledges and promotes all protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010 which are age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, and sex.
The above is a summary. You can read the full statement adopted by the ALBA Women's Conference in 2021 here.
Gender recognition
Since our inception in 2021, we have attempted to amplify the voices and concerns of women who feel they have been shut out of the discussion in relation to the Gender Recognition Reform Bill (GRR).
We understand the controversy and pain which have characterised Scotland’s recent attempts at reform; there has been much heat and at times little light.
The ALBA Party endorses a Citizens’ Assembly on how best to reform the Gender Recognition process in a respectful, sensitive and positive fashion. This move will take much of the heat out of the debate that has often left so many in society feeling as though their voices have not been heard.
We acknowledge that no single protected characteristic is more virtuous or worthy of recognition and safeguarding than another. They are all fundamentally important, each on their own, and as a collective.
As a party that wholeheartedly believes in Scottish Independence, we could never celebrate the UK Government intervening in areas of devolution. The Scottish Secretary should not have invoked section 35. He has turned what should be a constructive discussion on equality and protections for all, into a constitutional fistfight.
Holyrood has created this sorry mess and they should sort it out for themselves without Westminster interference in terms of voting on the Statutory Instruments which will come before Parliament on the legislation.
Dusty - disappointing to say the least!
Women’s Prisons
The ALBA Party condemns recent cases which have highlighted the housing of violent and dangerous males within the women’s prison estate in Scotland. It is our firm belief that there should be no exceptions to the principle that no male bodied prisoner should ever be housed in a women’s prison.
The housing of violent and dangerous males in the Scottish Women’s prison estate underscores the urgent need to strengthen safeguarding across all public bodies and that and independent regulator must be established to ensure that no government or minister can play fast and loose with the rights and protections of anyone as have regrettably been done in recent cases.
The ALBA Party calls on the Scottish Government to carry out the following actions:
Make clear in a policy statement that no male bodied prisoners will be housed in the Scottish Women’s Prison Estate.
The establishment of an independent expert multi-disciplinary regulator to ensure to safeguard the rights of women in the Scottish Prison system.
Education
The Scottish government has issued guidelines to local authorities which includes controversial material including sex education and surveys on sexual habits and lifestyles.
Parents have been excluded from the decision process. The legal guardian’s rights have been infringed and this is an abuse of power by the Scottish government and local educational authorities.
Parents should be fully informed of the teaching materials before controversial subjects are taught to their children. They should also be able to refuse permission for such material to be taught to their children.
The ALBA Party hold several concerns surrounding this issue -
Parents are being excluded from exercising their rights to protect their children from explicit material.
Some children may not be mature enough to be exposed to certain sex education teaching materials.
Parents have the right to prevent controversial or in appropriate material from being given to their children.
ALBA are committed to support Parents Rights including Mother's and Father’s rights to protect their children from potential harm, and only age-appropriate educational materials being used by teachers in schools. We also believe that Parents should be included in the process of producing controversial sex education material before explicit material is given to their children.
We therefore urge the Scottish Government to must withdraw its guidelines covering Sex Education and Sexual Surveys without delay. They must also direct local councils to contact parents for consent before such material is distributed or used to teach their children. The Scottish government should withdraw any sex education materials if parents have not been given advance notice of.
Dusty - no mention of teaching of gender identity.
Hate Crime
There is no place in a civilised society for any individual or public body to discriminate against any other individual or group in a way that is motivated by hostility or prejudice based on that person's identifiable protected characteristic as established in the Equality Act 2010.
Any such criminal activity to be effectively policed and prosecuted demands precision in law to delineate the defining attributes that could aggravate such criminality. Furthermore, any such legislation should incorporate a robust mechanism to test and establish criminal intent for its purposes.
We are concerned of the potential impact on established and protected freedoms from the Scottish Government’s Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021.
The legislation’s exclusion of ‘sex’ and ‘beliefs’ as protected characteristics and of the potential for state intrusion into fundamental freedoms and breaches of fundamental human rights. This includes, but is not limited to Articles 1, 6, 7, 8, 9 10, 11, 14 and 17 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to which the UK State is a signatory and where in Scotland, civil and political rights are protected by the Human Rights Act 1998 which underpins the provisions set out in the Scotland Act 1998.
ALBA calls for the Scottish Government to;
Protect and maintain equality before the law in line with the ECHR and extant Equality and Human Rights statute.
Postpone the operational introduction of the Hate Crime and Public Order Act (Scotland) Act 2021 until such times as it is amended.
In the absence of such amendments, it will be necessary for any incoming Scottish Government to repeal the Hate Crime and Public Order Act (Scotland) Act 2021 replacing it with legislation that is consistent with the ECHR and extant Equality and Human Rights legislation.
Dusty - personally I would prefer to see ‘hate crime’ abolished but this is at least a step in the right direction.
THE CONSERVATIVES
https://manifesto.conservatives.com/
Protecting children online
Digital technology is a force for good. But as technology develops, we need to respond to the concerns many parents have. Children are spending much more of their time using screens, often unsupervised, with research finding 63% of eight to 11-year-olds are now using social media. We also know that the number of children suffering from mental illness is rising dramatically and children spend less time playing, sleeping and socialising. In the last decade, we have done more to protect children online than any other country. From next year, our Online Safety Act will make it a legal requirement for social media firms to protect children from illegal or harmful content online. This includes fining social media companies who shirk their responsibilities to keep children safe. But we need to do more to protect young people and empower parents to make decisions in the best interests of their children. We will put our guidance on banning mobile phones in the school day on a statutory footing which will require all schools to operate a ban, as the best schools already do. We will provide funding for schools to help them ban mobile phones where they need it. We will urgently consult on introducing further parental controls over access to social media. We know this is a complex area and we need more effective age verification and parental controls. That’s why we will consult widely to get this right, including developing the necessary technology, in partnership with other countries who are considering similar measures. We expect to build on the existing responsibilities set out for social media companies under the Online Safety Act.
Education
We will work to strengthen the relationship between schools and parents, including by delivering new legislation which will make clear, beyond all doubt, that parents have a right to see what their child is being taught in school and schools must share all materials, especially on sensitive matters like relationships and sex education. This builds on the progress we have already made, having updated Relationships, Sex and Health Education Guidance to introduce clear age-limits on what children can be taught and guarantee the contested concept of gender identity is not taught to children.
The National Health Service
We will complete the implementation of the Cass Review, protecting young people questioning their gender from ideologically driven care and ensuring that NHS services follow evidence-based best practice. We have already stopped the routine use by the NHS of puberty blockers for gender dysphoria and will legislate to permanently prevent their private prescription and supply. We will amend the NHS Constitution so that it recognises every patient’s right to request single-sex accommodation and same-sex intimate care. We will not allow the word ‘woman’ to be erased by health services. Words such as ‘breastfeeding’ and ‘mother’ will not be replaced by ‘chestfeeding’ and ‘birthing parent’.
Sex and ‘Gender’
Biological sex is a reality. The overwhelming majority of people in this country recognise that. It is right that we have in place provisions and protections for those whose sense of self does not match their biological sex. However, we will not allow the safety and privacy of women and girls to be undermined.
It has been more than a decade since the Equality Act was passed by a Labour Government. It has not kept pace with evolving interpretations and is not sufficiently clear on when it means sex and when it means gender. The next Conservative Government will introduce primary legislation to clarify that the protected characteristic of sex in the Equality Act means biological sex. This will guarantee that single sex services and single sex spaces can be provided, for example in healthcare and sports settings, to ensure women and girls are protected. We are clear that on fundamental matters of personal identity there should be one approach across the country, so we will also legislate so that an individual can only have one sex in the eyes of the law in the United Kingdom. In recent years, an increasing number of children have started questioning their gender, the consequences of which are still unknown. This is why we will pass legislation to ensure schools must follow our guidance for teachers on how best to support gender questioning students in schools and colleges. Parents will have a right to know if their child wants to be treated as the opposite sex and schools will have to involve parents when it comes to decisions about their children.
We are clear that no one in this country should be harmed or harassed for who they are. That is why we are proud that the UK has one of the world’s strongest legislative frameworks to prevent and tackle discrimination and harassment against those with particular protected characteristics, including sexual orientation and gender reassignment. Attempts at so-called ‘conversion therapy’ are abhorrent. But legislation around conversion practices is a very complex issue, with existing criminal law already offering robust protections. The challenges involved can be seen, for example, with the SNP re-consulting for views on their proposals in Scotland and Sweden recently concluding that they will not be pursuing a similar ban. In light of the Cass Review Final Report, it is right that we take more time before reaching a final judgement on additional legislation in this area.
Dusty - it is a shame that the Tories do not simply rule out any ban on conversion therapy. You will note that there is no intention to repeal the Gender Recognition Act or ‘gender reassignment’ as a protected characteristic. However I am not aware of any party apart from the Party of Women who advocate for these repeals. As I always say, I would point out that the Tories have had 14 years to implement the above!!!
THE DEMOCRATIC UNIONIST PARTY
I cannot yet find an actual manifesto for the DUP and the above summary of policies does not help a lot so I will have to keep an eye open for a manifesto.
Very helpful analysis of the manifestoes for the Tories, Labour, the Greens and the Liberal Democrats from Transgender Trend. Given the gender woo nature of the manifestoes from the Greens and the Lib Dems I will leave you to read this and skip doing further analysis myself of those two manifestoes.
https://www.transgendertrend.com/political-party-manifestos-general-election-2024/
Further manifestoes to follow!
Rosie Duffield
Lord Cashman! What can you say? How are the mighty fallen!
David Wilcock in The Daily Mail ( Labour lord brands gender-critical candidate 'lazy' over trolling fear 16 June) reports:
A former Eastenders star turned Labour politician was forced to apologise today for a stinging attack on one of the party's gender critical MPs.
Michael Cashman accused Rosie Duffield of being 'frit or lazy' in an online attack after she revealed she would not attend local hustings due to 'constant trolling'.
Ms Duffield revealed on Friday she made an 'extremely difficult decision' because the 'actions of a few fixated individuals' have made her attendance 'impossible'.
The 52-year-old, who is standing in Canterbury, is a defender of women's rights and female-only spaces who revealed this week that she has spent £2,000 on bodyguards while campaigning.
Lord Cashman, a prominent LGBT activist who played Colin Russell in Eastenders between 1986 and 1989, deleted his tweet this morning.
He added: 'I apologise unreservedly for a post that I put out regarding the Labour candidate for Canterbury. I fully understand any complaints that will be sent to the Labour Party.'
But Ms Duffield hit back, saying: 'This will be the first General Election where I haven't attended every single hustings. But as someone who has never been an MP, it looks as though Lord Cashman is completely unaware that very many MPs/candidates choose never to attend these events at all.'
The full article is here:
Endpiece
Third excellent single now released by Whistle The Band:
https://whistle.bandzoogle.com/home
#BeMore Porcupine
This is a great resource! The incredibly brave women standing for #pow get my utmost respect, but not my vote unfortunately - hopefully, Kellie-Jay will go live on election night! Thanks for keeping busy, Dusty! xx
I wonder how far you will get analysing the parties manifestos! There are an incredible 98 taking part in this general election, with a record number of candidates!
(But only 30% of them are women, a situation all of us in P.O.W. are determined to improve)!