The dogged determination of our sisters in forwomen.scot has helped some Scottish politicians realise that women make up half their population and might not want to vote for those who intend to remove their sex-based rights. They also have a handful of outstanding female politicians who have continued to speak up in the face of threats of rape and death.
There is no equivalent voice in the Senedd. Female politicians will doubtless have registered the vicious abuse of Helen Mary Jones of Plaid Cymru – enabled by her party leader – for daring to know that men cannot become women – and fallen silent. But at least a lack of legislative powers means that we don’t have self-ID here in Wales. Yet.
In Ireland, self-ID legislation was brought in without consultation. The impact on women and girls – particularly the most vulnerable – has been disastrous.
An activist said:
We are living in an environment and time where not only are our rights being eroded in Irish legislation, but the erosion of our rights is being championed as progress by people who should know better — among them some who are well paid to know better. […] Ireland has become an increasingly hostile environment for any woman raising her voice in defense of her own sex-based rights.
Ireland is often held up as an example of best practice in relation to gender identity legislation. As this disturbing interview with the Irish Women’s Lobby makes clear, Ireland’s ‘best practice’ is rapidly dismantling single-sex spaces, services and opportunities. Women have nothing of their own left.
Plaid and Labour have both signaled their desire to replicate the Irish model.
We do not consent.
