{"id":22979,"date":"2023-01-31T19:00:44","date_gmt":"2023-01-31T19:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/?p=22979"},"modified":"2023-01-31T19:01:33","modified_gmt":"2023-01-31T19:01:33","slug":"no-more-divide-and-rule-fight-for-trans-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2023\/01\/31\/no-more-divide-and-rule-fight-for-trans-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"No more divide and rule \u2013 fight for trans rights!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following article by trans activist Leslie Cunningham\u00a0exposes the lies and hypocrisy behind the Tory attack on trans rights and democracy in Scotland. It was first posted by rs21.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

NO MORE DIVIDE AND RULE- FIGHT FOR TRANS RIGHTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Edinburgh protest against Westminster blocking of Gender Recognition Reform<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Tory Government confirmed this week that they intend to use Section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998 to block the Gender Recognition Reform Bill (GRR) passed by the Scottish Parliament in December 2022, which makes\u00a0<\/a>the process of obtaining a Gender Recognition Certificate easier<\/a>. This is a cynical attempt to attack not only the rights of trans and non-binary people, but also the limited autonomy of the devolved Scottish Parliament.<\/p>\n

Far from being \u2018rushed through\u2019, as the media have frequently alleged, this Bill went through not one but two public consultations, and took almost seven years to be passed. Ironically, this is even longer than the waiting time for a first appointment at a Gender Identity Clinic in Scotland.<\/p>\n

Disgraceful as the Tory attack is, it is hardly unexpected. However, Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s shocking betrayal of the democratic process and human rights, while pretending concern over women\u2019s safety and the \u2018protection of children\u2019 (ie 16 to 18 year olds, who can legally marry and vote in Scotland), is almost more scandalous. Yet again, he has grabbed a chunk of Tory disinformation and used it for his own self-aggrandising purposes. His high-handed disregard for democracy, in his own party has now extended to telling a democratically elected devolved Parliament that it doesn\u2019t know what it is doing.<\/p>\n

The Tories have attacked the Bill for being \u2018contentious\u2019, but of course that\u2019s equally true of all the legislation they are currently pursuing. The final vote on the GRR was conclusive: 86 in favour, including MSPs from every party, 39 against, and 4 not voting. All the major women\u2019s organisations in Scotland, including Scottish Women\u2019s Aid, support the legislation as it stands, and many have signed\u00a0a very powerful statement of support<\/a>\u00a0arguing that:<\/p>\n

There are currently a number of very real threats to women\u2019s rights in Scotland and the UK including but not limited to poverty, the cost of living crisis, cuts to services, rape conviction rates and the experiences of immigrant and refugee women. We find it particularly concerning that so much political and media attention has been devoted to the debate around this Bill in place of tackling these genuine barriers to women\u2019s equality.<\/em><\/p>\n

If the Tories get away with blocking such an important piece of legislation, which in no way exceeds the Scottish Parliament\u2019s devolved powers, it seems likely that the same Section 35 will be invoked every time the Scottish Parliament passes a piece of legislation that the Tories don\u2019t like very much. It will probably also be used to veto the work of the Welsh Assembly. Even people who do not support the GRR must see that this threat to our democratic rights must be fought tooth and nail.<\/p>\n

However, it is not enough to focus on the double attack on Scottish democracy and human rights. The Tories seek to demonise a tiny minority of trans and non binary people (less than 1% of the British population) \u00a0to distract people from the cost of living crisis and growing inequality in Britain (the richest 1% of people in Britain are now wealthier than 70% of the rest of us) At the same time, they are also using identical \u2018divide and rule\u2019 tactics against refugees, strikers and protestors. It is worth noting that the Policing Bill, often said not to apply in Scotland, can in fact be invoked here against the rights of Gypsy, Roma and Travelling people to move freely and set up camp in this country.<\/p>\n

This is not a \u2018single issue\u2019 fight, nor is it an unconditional or uncritical defence of the Scottish Government, which is currently refusing to use its considerable powers to raise money through taxation (or indeed use some of its \u00a32 billion underspend) to fund decent pay rises for teachers, firefighters and health workers, to name but a few.<\/p>\n

My \u2018dream team\u2019 at the rally in defence of trans and non binary rights at Queen Elizabeth House, the HQ of British imperialism in Edinburgh, would be\u00a0<\/a>Fridays for Future<\/a>,\u00a0Turn Up for Trans Health<\/a>\u00a0(who have collaborated magnificently on organising marches and rallies on a number of previous occasions),\u00a0Youth in Resistance<\/a>, rank and file trade union activists, and everyone who wants to fight racism and attacks on refugees. People who don\u2019t like the Tories very much will be most welcome, too!<\/p>\n

Lots of unions are already fighting the Tories, and almost all unions have positive policies on trans issues. Union members can be key allies for trans people in this fight \u2013 the kind of alliance behind Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, and now also Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants. Let\u2019s turn up with union banners, Trans Pride flags, and have a party \u2013 fight hate with joy!<\/p>\n

18.1.23<\/strong><\/p>\n

___________<\/p>\n

also see:<\/p>\n

The Gender Recognition Reform Bill – Graham Checkley<\/a><\/p>\n

Holyrood dismantles UN special rapporteur’s arguments against gender recognition reform – Alex\/Rose Cocker<\/a><\/p>\n

How anti-trans activists forced Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre into lockdown – Adam Ramsay<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following article by trans activist Leslie Cunningham\u00a0exposes the lies and hypocrisy behind the Tory attack on trans rights and democracy in Scotland. It was first posted by rs21. NO MORE DIVIDE AND RULE- FIGHT FOR TRANS RIGHTS The Tory Government confirmed this week that they intend to use Section 35 of the Scotland Act…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1843,1858,1867,1873,8833,1875],"tags":[9163],"class_list":["post-22979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-capitalists-organise","category-oppression-liberation","category-emancipation-liberation-and-self-determination","category-against-unionism","category-queer-liberation","category-scotland-against-unionism","tag-author-leslie-cunningham"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/mastodon.scot\/@rcfscotland\/109785359760636859","error":""},"views":1394,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22979"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22983,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22979\/revisions\/22983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}