The Supreme Court judgment on the definition of a woman on 16 April restored a degree of sanity to a world that was in danger of going mad. Even Keir Starmer now knows that a woman is a matter of biology rather than ideology. Can somebody please tell the Americans? Or, more precisely, those progressive types over the pond who like to concern themselves with other people’s business.
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security is an American non-profit organisation that started out to address concerns about the situation in Iraq in the wake of Isis. The institute claims to connect ‘the global grassroots with the tools of genocide prevention’, and generally to do a bit of good in the world. How effective their campaigns might be in a world where aggression remains rife is for others to judge.
It helps nobody to ruminate on the fiction that they are hated for claiming a transgender identity
Their latest red flag alert, however, homed in on the United Kingdom and, in particular, the experiences of transgender and intersex people. They saw ‘evidence of genocidal intent and actions targeting these communities’. According to them, ‘this hostile environment is a subtle, pernicious and clear attempt to eradicate transgender and intersex people from British life.’
The hyperbole is so far from my experiences as a trans person that it is ridiculous, and such deluded campaigners from afar should merit no further discussion. What bothers me more are people closer to home who ought to know better. Last week, Victoria McCloud – a former judge, who also happens to be trans – announced:
I now see it as my sad duty to make an evidence-based report to Genocide Watch and The Lemkin Institute requesting investigation into the systematic oppression of the trans community of the UK.
Perhaps we now know why the Americans suddenly poked their noses in? And that wasn’t a one-off. The BBC recently reported McCloud’s fear that ‘someone’s going to get killed’ because of the Supreme Court ruling. My view of the situation is rather more mundane. Could it be that some people don’t like the judgment and fear being called to account for their actions?
It was never right for male transitioners to assume that they could co-opt themselves into the rights of women simply by uttering the magic words ‘I identify as a woman’. We now live in a saner – and better – world where everybody knows that other people’s rights matter too. McCloud needs to get over it. My fear is the genuinely vulnerable will be put at risk, not from some genocidal mob but from fear itself.
As trans people, we are told regularly about that ‘systematic oppression’. When there is power in being a victim, claims of persecution can attract benefits and rewards. For over a decade, the trans community has drawn in vulnerable youngsters with promises that can never be delivered. Now I sense that the carnival is moving on: the Cass Review put the brakes on the chemical castration of children; the Supreme Court gave women the confidence to object to people they perceived to be men in their spaces; and Pride has lost its grip on our public institutions – at least in councils run by Reform UK.
But while society moves on, some youngsters risk being left to flounder. Some never experienced puberty, others were led to believe that they were the opposite sex at unknown cost to their psychological development. Rather more were told that they had a gender identity that set them apart from mere muggles.
Life might be far more complicated for them in the coming years and decades. They need to be helped to focus on the things that really matter – building committed relationships, finding productive employment, and taking up their place in society. It helps nobody to ruminate on the fiction that they are hated for claiming a transgender identity. The reality is that few people even care.
The world of their future will have its challenges, but genocidal mobs trying to eradicate trans people from the UK are hardly likely to feature – whatever a former judge might like to believe.
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