Whoa, I go away for 48 hours and look what happens!! This is a long one today, dear readers!!
Thanks to a reader for a couple of excellent suggestions for a happy Christmas movie (to counteract Bad Santa) but I’m afraid I went with the obvious choice!!
Bing Crosby as Bob Wallace, Danny Kaye as Phil Davis, Rosemary Clooney as Betty Haynes and Vera-Ellen as Judy Haynes.
I thought I’d choose a less obvious song from this 1954 classic.
OK, OK, stop going on, I know you want it!!
OK, back to reality.
Kemi Badenoch
Hopefully most if not all of you will have caught up with the excellent performance by Kemi before the Women and Equalities Committee. However I agree with Kellie-Jay who said in a recent video that this, by itself, does not make her a hero. What would make her a hero would be if she persuaded the Government to back Liz Truss’s Private Member’s Bill.
Kate Osborne and Kemi Badenoch
Lucy Leeson in The Independent (Kemi Badenoch calls Labour MP ‘liar’ in transgender children clash 13 December) reports:
Kemi Badenoch accused a Labour MP of being a “liar” in a heated clash over the language used to describe transgender children.
The equalities minister was warned about the use of “unparliamentary language” after she clashed with Kate Osborne, who she accused of lying.
During an appearance at the Women and Equalities Select Committee on Wednesday (13 December), the Cabinet minister became angry when Ms Osborne accused her of previously using “inflammatory language that likens children and young people coming out as trans to the spread of a disease”.
Ms Badenoch said: “That is a lie and I think you should withdraw that statement. That is a lie. You are lying.”
Turns out Ms Osborne was not aware of the full meanings of the word ‘epidemic’!!
There is an excellent brief analysis of this by Jo Bartosch on UnHerd:
https://unherd.com/thepost/kemi-badenoch-is-right-about-britains-trans-epidemic/
The full committee session is here:
https://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/41208ebe-60ce-4f19-99d4-0edc4e99e384
Lady Ballers
This sounds good!
Tony Diver in The Telegraph (Anti-woke film about male basketballers competing in women’s league becomes streaming hit 13 December) reports:
A satirical film about fake transgender basketball players has proven a surprise hit with viewers as conservative film studios hit back against “woke” Hollywood.
Lady Ballers has remained among the most popular releases for online audiences since its release on Dec 1.
It features a male basketball squad who claim to be women in order to compete in a female league in an attempt to satirise the debate over transgender people in sport.
The film was released by The Daily Wire, a Right-wing studio co-founded by Ben Shapiro, a conservative media personality who has declared it is “time to blow up the Death Star that is the left-wing monopoly on entertainment”.
Anyone watched it yet?
The full article is here:
Donations to Universities
As readers know, universities are a hotbed of the gender madness. In light of that, this report is very interesting. What are the strings attached to these enormous anonymous donations?
Evgenia Filimaniova in Epoch Times (Top UK Universities Received £281 Million in Anonymous Donations Probe Finds 14 December) reports:
Britain’s leading research universities have received at least £281 million in anonymous donations since 2017, including from overseas donors, an investigation has found.
Analysis of financial contributions to Russell Group universities—a group of 24 members that includes the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge—was conducted by openDemocracy.
The media platform obtained the data after it filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the universities.
The findings revealed that the University of Oxford accepted more than £106 million from donors who wished to remain anonymous between 2017 and 2023.
The money could be tracked back to donors from Azerbaijan (£10 million), a U.S. organisation (£13.3 million) and an organisation in China (£4.2 million).
Anonymous donations, pouring into the University of Cambridge in the same period amounted to £25-49.9 million.
According to openDemocracy, the UK’s top universities lobbied the government in order to keep the names of donors secret.
Cambridge University’s former vice-chancellor Stephen Toope was reported to tell a government official in 2022 that fundraising abilities could be “severely impacted” if the donors’ anonymity got waived.
“Many donors, especially those from countries that place emphasis on privacy as important, may feel that their giving is a private matter and expect high levels of donor privacy to be upheld by the institutions that they give to,” Mr. Toope wrote in his letter to a Whitehall adviser.
'Missed Opportunity'
The move came after the Conservative MP Jesse Norman had proposed to amend the Higher Education Act 2023. Mr. Norman had suggested that universities disclose any gifts from “overseas counterparty” worth more than £50,000 and report them to the Office for Students (OfS) and the Education Secretary.
Hear, hear!
The full article is here:
Isabelle Ayalla
I previously reported on Isabelle’s case here, one of the defendants being Michelle Forcier ( ‘do chickens cry?’):
https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/local-hero
Thanks to wonderful Feminist Legal Clinic for this update:
Detransitioner suing American Academy of Pediatrics ( 14 December)
A Florida woman who medically transitioned from female to male as a 14-year-old is suing the American Academy of Pediatrics — alleging she was whisked through the process as a minor by “a collection of actors who prioritized politics and ideology over children’s safety, health, and well-being.”
Isabelle Ayala, now 20, is also suing her doctors in Rhode Island in a first of its kind case, filed in Providence/Bristol County Superior Court.
Ayala says she was sexually assaulted as a child and began precocious puberty at age 8 — both experiences she says made her resent her femininity and believe she was better off male.
At 11, she found solace in the transgender activist community on Tumblr, and thought, “This is going to fix me.”
She learned from trans activists that fabricating suicidal ideation is a surefire way to get a testosterone prescription quickly. So, at age 14 she did just that: “I learned that from the internet that… I had to convince [my doctors and family] that if they don’t affirm me, I’m gonna kill myself.”
Ayala said she was referred to a gender clinic and diagnosed with gender dysphoria by transgender health expert Dr. Jason Rafferty. According to the lawsuit, he determined she “would benefit from being put on cross-sex hormones” in a single visit that lasted less than an hour.
Less than a year into treatment, Ayala said, she actually did attempt suicide.
By age 17, in 2020, Ayala felt the urge to begin presenting femininely again. A YouTuber who had detransitioned inspired her to identify as a woman again — and she soon realized her transition had been a massive mistake.
Three years on, according to the lawsuit, she still struggles with unwanted body hair, vaginal atrophy and an altered bone structure from the testosterone.
“She has since contracted Hashimotos’s disease, an autoimmune disease that only the males in her family have a history of, from taking testosterone,” the suit claims.
Ayala filed her lawsuit in October, naming seven doctors and 15 John Does she accuses of “civil conspiracy, fraud and medical malpractice.” Among the physicians named is Dr. Jason Rafferty, the doctor who she alleges prescribed her testosterone on her first visit.
Source: Detransitioner suing American Academy of Pediatrics
Surely the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) can’t be all bad though? Here is a video from EDI Jester just released featuring a secret recording of a training session for the AAP. Judge for yourselves!
Bloke In A Bad Wig
Unless you’ve been in hiding, you can’t possibly have missed this one. Thanks to a wonderful reader for providing me with a good article on it.
Claire Ellicott in The Daily Mail (EXCLUSIVE Top Tory reported to police over 'man with wig' trans row vows to keep speaking up for women's rights as she says she 'refuses to deny reality' 13 December) reports:
A top Tory reported to police in a trans row has vowed to continue speaking up for women’s rights and said she refuses to 'deny reality'.
Rachel MacLean, the Conservative Party's deputy chairman for women, found herself embroiled in a storm after sharing an online post about an aspiring Green MP who is transgender.
The post labelled the Green candidate as a 'man who wears a wig and calls himself a 'proud lesbian'.
The man in question is calling himself Melissa Poulton. I’m sure his ex-wife is delighted since Poulton is her maiden name!!
Thanks to the same wonderful reader for directing me to an excellent discussion on this subject on Lee Anderson’s programme on GB News where Simon Danczuk and Paola Diana ( rip roaring performance from Paola!) oppose - you’ve guessed it - Peter Tatchell. It is at about 34.00:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg0yx4x4UL8
The full article is here:
I will leave it to Kellie-Jay to do the analysis (in case you haven’t seen this yet):
Women’s Croquet
Thanks to the same wonderful reader for drawing my attention to another women’s sport where a cheating male is taking all the prizes.
Ollie Lewis in The Daily Mail Australia ( Transgender Australian becomes the first biological male to become a world champion in a women's sport - and rivals are NOT happy 14 December) reports:
Furious croquet players have been left feeling 'quite sick' after a transgender Australian became the women's world champion.
Jamie Gumbrell, from Canberra, won the Women's Golf Croquet Championship in August but it has since emerged that the 23-year-old, who identified as a man up until 2019, is a transgender competitor.
The World Croquet Federation changed its rules two years ago, permitting competititors to nominate their own gender.
But rival members have now spoken out against her [ Dusty - HIM!!!], with The Telegraph reporting that some competitors were unaware they would compete against a biological male at the tournament in Sussex.
They also argued that Gumbrell had advantages in strength because she was born a male.
Jamie ‘The Cheat’ Gumbrell
'There was a huge amount of disquiet,' Sue Lightbody, a member of England's team at the World Championship, told the same outlet.
'But nobody was prepared to say or do anything. I was quite sick about the situation. We thought it would go against us, that we wouldn't be picked for another team.
'Everything was hush-hush, everyone was worried about being called transphobic.
'People told me not to get involved, saying, "Don't do anything, you'll make yourself very unpopular."
'But this just shouldn't happen. It fundamentally isn't fair.'
Ian Burridge, president of the WCF, responded: 'The fact that Jamie was assigned male at birth is not disputed by anyone.
'Jamie now identifies as female as her entry into the world championship was determined in accordance with our policy, approved by our members in April 2021.
'We welcome feedback, given the concerns that exist.'
Since identifying as female, Gumbrell has won every tournament she has competed in, according to The Telegraph.
Gumbrell defeated Rachel Gee of England 7-2 in the final, with the original report claiming Gee was crying behind her sunglasses during the trophy presentation.
Lightbody added that Gumbrell's strength advantage was unfair on the rest of the competition.
'A key shot in golf croquet is the jump shot,' she said.
'If you're on the boundary, you can jump over a couple of balls and get through a hoop. I can only do mid-jumps, I can't do one from the baseline.
'But Jamie can. That is a huge advantage over a woman.'
The full article is here:
World Professional Association for Transgender Health
We have had a spate of experts getting into gender woo conferences or meetings and reporting back ( see above re the AAP). Talk about taking one for the team!! This time our thanks to Eliza Mondegreen reporting in UnHerd.
The secret life of gender clinicians (14 December)
This was no ordinary medical conference. Over the course of three days, I learned a great many things. That eunuchs are one of the world’s oldest gender identities and that doctors should not judge their strange desires for castration but fulfil them. That, “ideally, patients wouldn’t be actively psychotic” when they initiated testosterone, but that psychotic patients consent to take medication like stool softeners and statins all the time and “people don’t pay that much attention”. That it would be “ableist” to question an autistic girl’s insistence on a double mastectomy. That patients who claim to have multiple personalities that disagree about which irreversible steps to take toward transition can find consensus — or at least obtain a quorum — using a smartphone app.
It is hard to shock me these days — but as I moved around the World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s symposium in Montreal in September 2022, I often felt as if I’d slipped sideways into some strange universe that operated in accordance with other laws: where up is down and girls are boys and medicine has left its modest brief — healing — far behind in its breathless pursuit of transcendence.
The full report is here:
Bad Santa
In case you miss it, really shocking piece cross-posted on his substack by Glinner from Ceri Black about Pink News, Diva Magazine and Think2Speak sending ‘presents’, unsolicited, to children without their parents’ knowledge.
Bad Santa: An organisation with links to Mermaids wants to send vulnerable children secret gifts ( 14 December)
Pink News and Diva Magazine have announced that “LGBTQ+ organisation Think2Speak has launched a heartwarming Secret Santa campaign to “spread joy to trans youth across the UK this Christmas.” According to the Think2Speak website, “the more money raised, the better the parcels will be.” Gifts are available to “young people,” which appears to refer to those aged 25 and under.
Yes, children are not nominated. They are encouraged to contact the organisation directly, without permission, giving their name, email and phone number. Then, unrelated adults, unknown to their parents, will send “secret gift bundles” (Diva) sent in “discreet packaging.”, with no opportunity for parents to scrutinise the contents.
There is no part of the website dedicated to safeguarding or data protection. Not a single, solitary word about either. Maybe it’s just a problem with their servers, but in place of safeguarding information, there are only unanswered questions. Why is there no lower age limit? What do the packages contain? What GDPR and safeguarding protocols do they have regarding data gathered from internet contacts from children? How do they vet adults who are handling this data? Is there any propaganda in the packages? How difficult is it to get from what is sent in the packages to explicit online content?
These are not idle questions; any organisation engaging in an activity as suspect as sending “secret” gifts to children without their parents’ consent should be considering them, and putting the answers up front and centre.
Language
The language across the piece is concerning. Patronising, contradictory, coddling, echoing sexualised trans content, victimising, bordering on cultish. Grooming, through and through. Imagine the shopping centre Santa we alluded to earlier doesn’t just invite you to sit on his knee and ask you what you want for Christmas. He tells you, like Think2Speak, “you’re loved, little girl.” He tells you he wants to “spread a moment of joy” to you by giving you a “secret Santa present.” As a parent, how much of this talk would you put up with before you pulled your kid out of there?
Let’s say we are willing to let it slide. We leave our kid on Santa’s lap, and suppress our uneasy feelings about the language of “joy.” What if Santa then tells our kid she’s “cherished, valued and part of an extended global family that champions your success.” He tells her he wants to be a “ray of hope,” and tells her that he wants to “remind her that she is loved more than she knows and that she’ll always have a family of people around the world who care about her and want her to succeed.”
I would have had her out of there the second he leered at her and patted his lap, but surely, the moment he starts in on the “love” bit, anybody would high tail it out of there, no matter how tolerant they were. Call me old fashioned, but individuals and organisations who regard it as their role to take over the role of, you know, actual families, tend to run rather quickly into cult territory.
But perhaps the rest of the article advises children to turn first to their own families and communities, to look for the cherishing, joy, love and support that so many of us find amongst our imperfect families, neighbours, friends, volunteer networks, sports clubs, educational institutions and workplaces?
No such luck.
The full article is here:
https://grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/bad-santa
Prime Time
EDI Jester has just featured this documentary from RTE.
Firstly, RTE are Ireland’s state broadcaster and normally very captured by the gender woo but this report is pretty balanced.
Secondly, though I don’t always agree with Professor O’Shea and Dr Moran ( who appear to believe in ‘true trans’), well done to them bringing forward a formal complaint against the Irish Health Service Executive (HSE - the Irish equivalent of the NHS) who have been following WPATH guidance on ‘gender affirming care’ and referring children with gender dysphoria previously to the Tavistock and now to a Belgian clinic (which they have not assessed).
This broadcast is, in itself, an important step forward!
Digital Services Bill
Still in Ireland, we have recently been referring to the Hate Crime Bill but wonderful Gript draw attention to another extremely alarming Bill.
THE OTHER SPEECH BILL YOU AREN’T WORRIED ENOUGH ABOUT by Dr Matt Treacy ( 14 December)
In moving the Second Stage of the Digital Services Bill (2023) yesterday, Minister Simon Coveney made what I still find to be a strange recommendation for any piece of legislation passed by a sovereign state. He said that it is a “technical bill,” designed to do no more than “give full effect to the supervision and enforcement provisions” of EU 2022/2065.
That is a rather strange position for any sovereign state, but as was pointed out recently the majority of legislation is nothing more than the transposition of EU regulations and directives into domestic law.
It was interesting too that Coveney and others concentrated not on the monitoring and banning of actual illegal and harmful content – child pornography would be one example that springs to mind or the sale of drugs – he referred to the need to tackle “disinformation” with reference to “recent terrible events at home and abroad.”
Two questions spring from this: Does anyone genuinely believe that the Dublin riots, presuming that is what he is referring to, might have been prevented with tighter internet surveillance? Secondly, to what extent do the 19 named “very large online platforms” play host to genuinely illegal dissemination of content?
If Facebook, for example, are found to be facilitating communications through their messaging services between drug dealers or people smugglers then of course there ought to be an obligation on them to prevent this taking place. And failing that they ought to be penalised for failing to do so.
But surely the obligation is on the state authorities to prevent such illegality. Is this another instance where the Irish state is not only happy to uncritically adopt an EU Regulation but to then farm out the responsibility for the monitoring and enforcement of that regulation to an ideologically motivated NGO?
As Rural Independent TD Michael Collins pointed out, with regard specifically to the Dublin riots but it can be employed generally to actually illegality, “there is already a law of the land whereby we can clamp down on that nonsensical carry-on and punish the people who do that.” The same applies to the “hate” bill. If someone is breaking the law of the land based on common law then they can be pursued and penalised.
One of the key areas of concern is the provision in Part II of the Bill, under Section 37, for the appointment of “trusted flaggers” These positions will be open to applicants who specialise in a particular area of research. Well, I could almost name some of them now. Some of the likely candidates have already gained the ear of the legislature to demand that anyone opposed to their own far left positions be censored and preferably banned.
Once appointed the “trusted flaggers” who specialise in – for talk’s sake, monitoring pro life sites which they specialise in because they do not like them – can then make complaints about the said site with a view to forcing the host entity to close it down.
Of course theoretically, the boot could be on the other foot, a point which in fairness was noted by Sinn Féin’s Louise O’Reilly even though her party intends to support the measure. Perhaps within that party there is some residual memory of when it was the target of censorship. Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín and Rural Independent Mattie McGrath both reminded Sinn Féin again of how in general they have forgotten that through mention of the former Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act.
The fact that Sinn Féin is happy to accept another Regulation from Brussels being taken directly into Irish law tells another story. It has come a long way on most things but opposition to the EU, period, was not so long ago a central part of the Sinn Féin platform. As far as I know that was never overturned by a vote at an Ard Fheis.
Yet now we have a Sinn Féin TD, Aengus Ó Snodaigh, whose only criticism of the Regulation is that it does not go far enough, and is deficient in that it does not have the power to close down online providers who through some NGO/”trusted flagger” prism on reality are disseminating “misinformation.”
Rural Independent TD for Laois/Offaly Carol Nolan hit the nail on the head as to exactly what is likely to result from the appointment of “trusted flaggers.” Deputy Nolan claimed that “this amounts in practice to organisations that are in perfect lockstep with the Government’s preferred narrative on a range of contentious issues being given significant power to close down debate. “
No such worries about possibly becoming the victim of censorship for Catherine Murphy of the Social Democrats who tellingly inquired as to whether “any NGO approached the media commission declaring an interest in gaining this status?” Which pretty much tells its own story. Are these entities already in lobbying mode?
Perhaps the most apt comment on the Regulation at EU level, and it is pertinent to its proposed adoption here, was made by Sweden Democrat MEP Jessica Stegrud in April 2022. Her point that “everything that is legal offline should also be legal online” is central to any debate on proposals to limit the scope of public discourse, in any sphere.
When it comes to public discourse, therefore, no anonymous “moderator” or “flagger” or Big Tech company (and their role in suppressing debate here and elsewhere has conveniently not been referred to by the supporters of the Regulation) should – with the backing of the state and the EU – ought to be given powers way beyond those of a member of the judiciary.
No court in any democracy has the right to stop somebody expressing, or somebody else reading, an opinion that the judge or whoever appointed him do not agree with.
Sex Matters
Sex Matters have just released another excellent Memo newsletter. Just one piece from there and well done to The Countess for lodging this Bill.
Irish bill aims to keep prisons single-sex ( 15 December)
A new law aims to amend the Gender Recognition Act to stop males being housed in female prisons in Ireland.
The bill, which was drafted by Laoise de Brún BL, founder of the campaign group The Countess, will be introduced to the Dáil at the first stage by Peadar Tóibín TD.
Ireland’s Gender Recognition Act 2015 (GRA) has led to the housing of male prisoners in female prisons. De Brún says the solution is to limit the effect of gender-recognition certificates to protect female inmates.
“No man should ever be housed in a female prison regardless of how they identify. Men and women have been housed in separate prisons since the Prisons (Ireland) Act 1826. One of the many unintended consequences of the 2015 GRA has been a reversal of this policy of sex separation… this loophole must be closed.”
Action Men
Julie Bindel has started a new series on Spectator TV (!!) with the above title and her first guest was Michael Foran. Very interesting discussion looking at his involvement opposing the Scottish Gender Recognition Reform Bill and his changing views about feminism ( given that he is only 29!!!).
The War To Annihilate Sex
Arty Morty has done a six part ‘primer on trans ideology’ which Glinner has cross posted. Arty has also done a video of himself reading it if you would prefer that. I haven’t managed to either read it or watch the video yet. You will find it here:
https://grahamlinehan.substack.com/cp/139697908
Endpiece
On a recent Lesbian Project podcast, Julie Bindel and Kathleen Stock mentioned that there weren’t that many well known lesbian singers but did mention Tracy Chapman. That got me digging out my old Tracy Chapman LPs!! Here is Baby, can I hold you 😎
The next update will probably be on Tuesday 😎
Dear readers
I have to get stuck in to a bit of paid work now but my draft update for today is so longgggggg, especially now that the 'trans' schools guidance has been published today, that I am going to have to split it in two to make it more digestible! Just to forewarn you.
I am probably then going to take a break until after Xmas!
OK I'll be back to you later!😊
Dusty
Dear readers
Mr Menno is doing a livestream from Dublin (!) this evening at 21.30 GMT.
Hope to see some of you there😎
Dusty