Yeh! Alright!!!!!
Update 527. Repeal The Gender Recognition Act. #BeMore Porcupine.
As we move into 2025 I will be featuring, to start with, and in alphabetical order, those Readers’ Choices for best film ever that did not make the top seven ( see Update 500 for the top seven).
Next up is Little Miss Sunshine (2006).
Sheryl Hoover is a mother of two living in New Mexico. Her husband Richard is an aspiring motivational speaker. Dwayne, Sheryl's Nietzsche-reading teenage son from a previous marriage, has taken a vow of silence until he accomplishes his dream of becoming a fighter pilot. Sheryl's older brother Frank, a gay scholar of Proust, is living with the family after having attempted suicide. Richard's foul-mouthed father Edwin is also living with the family after being evicted from a retirement home for snorting heroin. Olive, Richard and Sheryl's young daughter, is an aspiring beauty queen coached by Edwin.
Greg Kinnear as Richard
Toni Collette as Sheryl
Steve Carell as Frank
Paul Dano as Dwayne
Abigail Breslin as Olive
Alan Arkin as Grandpa
Spoiler alert. This is virtually the last scene. How to take down the American beauty pageant system in one scene 😊
“Yeh! Alright!!!!”
Thanks to two wonderful readers for suggested pieces.
Some of the linked pieces below may be behind a paywall.
UK -The Gender Recognition Act
I hope you have all signed the petition! Also please share it around if you have not already done so. It is approaching 10,000 signatures at which stage the Government must respond to it.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/705403
On Matt Goodwin’s substack, James Esses reports on the Labour Government quietly shelving their plans to bring in virtual self ID but warns that this does not mean that Labour have had a change of heart but rather that they are concerned about the rise of Reform in the opinion polls and want to avoid this controversial subject for the time being. They are still indicating that they want to proceed with clinical trials regarding puberty blockers for children ( James and Keira Bell have sent a pre-action letter regarding this as I recently reported) and want to introduce a conversion practices bill.
What Britain should do if it was serious about taking on gender ideology
James Esses on Labour's recent row back on gender ideology
Feb 17, 2025
Angela Rayner and Keir Starmer
In a rare moment of positive news from Keir Starmer’s Britain, last week, it was reported that the Labour government is planning to “quietly shelve” some proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act 2004.
The changes would have made what is already a radical piece of legislation even more radical and out-of-touch with the Forgotten Majority in this country.
The Gender Recognition Act, remember, has already introduced a highly dangerous notion into British society that there is a difference between ‘biological sex’ and ‘legal sex’, offering a route for people to legally change their sex markers.
The conflation of ‘gender’ and ‘sex’ was also one of the most nefarious aspects of gender ideology, having been used to justify the erasure of women’s spaces, as well as the indoctrination of children and the politicisation of our public services.
Before the last general election, however, Labour said it wanted to go even further, by bringing about changes to this legislation that would have removed what few safeguards remained and usher in a form of gender ‘self-identification’.
Labour, for example, was planning to abolish the requirement of a panel of independent and anonymous doctors to make decisions around the granting of Gender Recognition Certificates (GRC). This was to be replaced with the diagnosis of a single doctor, chosen by the applicant.
Other proposed changes included removing the requirement for somebody who wanted to ‘change their gender’ to have lived in their ‘chosen gender’ for two years prior to obtaining a certificate.
Labour even promised to remove the so-called ‘spousal exit route’, which protected women and children by requiring the consent of a spouse before a Gender Recognition Certificate could be issued (thereby allowing for the marriage to be brought to an end by annulment or divorce first).
Such changes, in short, would have made it even easier for those with nefarious motives to legally change their sex and would have further entrenched gender ideology into the very fabric of British society.
Which is why, on the surface at least, you might think the current rumour Labour is about to scrap these proposed changes is something to celebrate. But not so fast.
James concludes:
Well, here [ are] four things that could be pursued were Britain to have the sense to follow Trump’s counter-revolution in America:
Repeal the Gender Recognition Act 2004 and restore the notion of biological reality;
Repeal the Equality Act 2010 and the protected characteristic of ‘gender reassignment’;
Shelve any notion of banning ‘conversion therapy’, to ensure children can get the help they need;
and permanently ban puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and bodily mutilation. No exceptions.
I hope and pray that our next government sees sense on one of the most important issues of our time. For now, however, we are hopelessly stuck with Starmer’s Labour.
Dusty - I agree with all those proposals except repeal of the Equality Act ( though I agree that the protected characteristic of ‘gender reassignment’ should be removed). The Equality Act is a shield and not a weapon.It is not responsible for the awful Diversity Inclusion and Equity departments which exist in the NHS, government departments and many organisations. Maya Forstater and others who took cases after her won their cases based on the Equality Act.
All thoughts gratefully received.
The full piece is here:
UK - The Sandie Peggie Case
We have been reporting here on this ongoing tribunal case in recent updates and the case was adjourned last Friday to a later date which was necessary because NHS Fife and Dr Upton failed to disclose all the relevant documents that they had previously been ordered to disclose.
Now NHS Fife have made a most extraordinary decision.
Daniel Sanderson in The Telegraph ( Nurse who challenged trans NHS doctor threatened with sack after ‘misgendering’ 17 February) reports:
A nurse who challenged a trans doctor for using women’s changing rooms is being threatened with the sack by the NHS after “misgendering” her colleague, The Telegraph can reveal.
Sandie Peggie, who brought a landmark employment tribunal against NHS Fife and Dr Beth Upton, is understood to have been told to attend a conduct hearing on Friday which her employer has warned could lead to her dismissal.
The nurse, who had a previously unblemished 30-year career, is accused of committing misconduct by challenging the presence of Dr Upton, who was born male but identifies as a woman, in female facilities at Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy on Christmas Eve 2023.
At the centre of the allegation which now threatens to ruin Ms Peggie’s career is that she “misgendered” Dr Upton by using male pronouns, including when speaking to other NHS colleagues.
Following an internal investigation, separate to ongoing employment tribunal proceedings, a NHS Fife panel will also consider two allegations that Ms Peggie compromised patient safety by refusing to work effectively with Dr Upton.
What was said in the changing room is disputed by Ms Peggie, who accepts calling Dr Upton a male but denies claims of “cornering” or “haranguing” her physically larger colleague.
Her legal team has accused Dr Upton of fabricating the two occasions in which she is accused of jeopardising patient safety, which were not made until months after they were said to have occurred. Ms Peggie insists they did not happen.
Experts told The Telegraph that the move from NHS Fife to push ahead with possible dismissal was “extraordinary” given that Jane Russell, the lawyer representing the health board and Dr Upton, had publicly accused the nurse of harassment and bullying towards Dr Upton in tribunal proceedings.
It is claimed that this pre-judged the outcome of the health board’s own investigation process, and would hand Ms Peggie strong legal grounds to challenge the outcome and any sanction.
The full piece is here:
Excellent interview with Baroness Claire Fox on Dan Wootton Outspoken covering this case but also a dispute between JK Rowling and Dan Hodges in the Daily Mail.
Excellent discussion of the case between Mr Menno and barrister Sarah Phillimore tonight. One thing not addressed ( because it is not part of the Tribunal case) is whether a male doctor should be allowed to present to his patients in a dress and a wig. Personally I think not. It is gaslighting! Certainly he should not be involved in intimate care of female patients. I think NHS Fife should tell him to dress as a man or find another job. All thoughts gratefully received.
Ireland - The Hate Crime Bill
After his amazing speech to the security conference in Munich, Vice President Vance has written to the Irish Government about their proposed Bill 😁
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gj_JYHEX0AAk7gd?format=jpg&name=medium
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gj_dY57WsAAS_4Q?format=jpg&name=large
Men In Women’s Sports
Mariah Burton Nelson on the substack Stronger Women reports on an excellent and extremely important database of men cheating in women’s sports.
Males Compete in Women’s Sports?
And how many win?
Oct 21, 2024
“But it doesn’t happen often” is a persistent myth designed to minimize the impact of male (trans-identified) athletes in women’s sports. Now, thanks to an ever-expanding dataset displayed at HeCheated.org – an accusation I’ll get to in a moment — we can confirm that male athletes frequently wreak havoc on women’s opportunities, victories, and awards — in at least sixty sports, from cycling to volleyball, distance running to soccer.
He Cheated
He Cheated is the brainchild of an anonymous person I’ll call Athena because Athena was the Greek goddess of numbers, among other things. The website allows you to search by athlete, sport, year, prize money, and more.
Athena is a former college athlete with experience playing recreational sports against male and female opponents, including male athletes who identify as trans. “I'm familiar with the differences between male and female athletic performance and the fiction that males turn into females with the use of wrong-sex hormones,” she says.
She had heard the “doesn’t happen often” myth.
She knew it was “false based on stories in the news almost daily, but no one knew the extent. How could they? This information was not being collected by athletic organizations on purpose. I realized I had to do something.
No girl should ever be told that her athletic aspirations and accomplishments are less important [than a boy’s].”
Athena stays anonymous “because this would not be well received by my employer. I know how vicious trans activists can be. I value my privacy.”
She began in early 2024 with a database compiled by the Women’s Sports Policy Working Group. She moved on to SheWon.org, a site that allows female athletes to upload their own data. Now she forages for and uploads data “so people see the pattern.”
The full piece is here:
https://strongerwomen.substack.com/p/how-many-males-are-competing-in-womens
Jacob’s Story
Excellent piece on the substack, Parents with Inconvenient Truths about Trans about two parents resisting going down the affirmation route when their son declares he is ‘transgender.’
Saving Jacob: A Family’s Story of Love, Patience, and Persistence
Feb 17, 2025
For many of you, this story sounds very familiar. Jacob was labeled gifted at an early age and developed an early talent for music. A precocious preschooler, Jacob grew into a well-liked student and classmate in elementary school. Around 5th grade, Jacob’s executive function issues became more pronounced and resulted in defiant behaviors. Suddenly, the smart kid who quickly finished books and assignments, stopped turning in work and became bored and disinterested in school. At the same time, the boys around him grew and began puberty, while Jacob remained small and immature. A year of therapy helped Jacob learn the importance of working hard and, just as he was learning to adapt to middle school, COVID shut everything down. All of our constraints on screen time and video games disappeared as we struggled to find a new normal. While I watched my kids attend remote school, I noticed Jacob was having a really hard time focusing on the lessons. But didn’t we all have Zoom fatigue? His grades slipped and despite my attempts to obtain help for him at school, we just couldn’t get Jacob on track.
The full piece is here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/pitt/p/saving-jacob-a-familys-story-of-love?r=7ogxh&utm_medium=ios
Of Witches And Men
In an excellent discursive piece on her substack, Radical Cartoons discusses a feminist film night in Bristol and looks at a male witch, Suffragettes making noise and other issues. She also refers to a brief documentary by You Tuber Wesley Winter who I myself have come across at the Germany Embassy protest and at one Let Women Speak event at Reformers’ Tree.
We watched a film based on the last ritual witch-killing in England.
A group of Bristol Feminists watched a film based on a gruesome unsolved murder, on St.Valentine's Day, 80 years ago.
Feb 16, 2025
The above clip is from footage of a Suffragette march from the Kinolibrary Film Collection, on YouTube.
Yesterday the Bristol branch of Let Women Speak held our first “Feminist Film Night”. We are trying to recreate women's get togethers, in real life, to talk about our rights and issues.
These were once very common, but died out sometime after the 1980s.
Movies (“Moving Pictures") are a perfect medium to use as a catalyst for discussions on the issues they raise. And of course, to have drinkies, snacks, and a good rant together afterwards!
Our “Theatrical Short" was from the British Film Institute, about the Suffragettes, and how they used the popular medium of cinema to further their cause.
Today we use the internet. Instead of Pathe Newsreel cameramen, we have youtubers!
This documentary by Wesley Winter has had 119K views, and brought our campaign to a new audience. I am pleased to say it was me that invited Wesley to come to Reformers Tree, and I think he did a bloody good job!
What's striking is how similar the Suffragettes publicity campaigning was to ours today (by “ours” I mean Terfs).
“Make More Noise”, “Be The Billboard ”; these slogans are not new, just as the struggle for Women's Rights is not new. Here's the film:
Our Film Night was held one day after St Valentine's Day. This day celebrating Romance has degenerated into a tacky corporate event, designed to make you part with your money on cards and fancy meals out!
But in some rural areas, 14th February is still thought of as Imbolc, on the old Roman Calendar.
The end of Winter. One of the liminal times, to the ancient Celts, when the veil between worlds was thin. A time when evil things might walk amongst us, and have to be guarded against.
The full piece is here:
Endpieces
The weekly meeting of the Dusty’s Substack Endpieces Team
From Liz
From Tenaciously
#BeMorePorcupine
#EndGenderAffirmingCare
#AdultHumanFemale
#LetWomenSpeak
#GrassrootsArmy
#FightForFreeSpeech
#ByeByeStonewall
#GenderEnders
#NeverSurrender
Thanks Dusty. I agree with you about the Equality Act and should have said the same when I left my comment for James Esses. The removal of the concept of gender would be a small change but with huge consequences for a return to normality. And surely transsexuals are protected under sex discrimination?
When I saw the title of the update I thought it was going to be about Neil Kinnock.
Love the witches picture. Wish I was that young again. 😁
Hahaha - I don't know why, but I initially thought you were referring to a real-life family at the beginning of your newsletter, and I was like "holy fck!" Lol!!