Not all transphobes are the same

I am transphobic. I do not consider a transgender person to be anything other transgender. This means that I consider a transgender man to be a transgender man, not a woman, not a man. I also consider one who is before transitioning to be different to one who has undergone gender reassignment surgery. The same applies to transgender women. I do not consider them to be men or women, but I view each as a transgender woman, one with or without a penis. 

I think that pronouns should be respected, but I think that it is silly to advertise your own if you do not wish to do so. I consider it rude to refer to India Willoughby as a man, she does not consider herself to be one anymore. Likewise, if someone prefers to be referred to as Ms, as opposed to Miss or Mrs, then that should be respected. 

I think that in areas, such as toilets and changing rooms, where segregation has occurred by biological sex, it should be replaced by genitalia. I have no issues with gender neutral or unisex spaces existing, especially as we live in a world with multiple gender identities, but ideally, people should have the choice to go to places there they can be segregated. There are many devout followers of many religions who believe in segregation based on biological sex, and a compromise based on genitalia is, in my view, the best way forwards. 

 

I think that sports should have the right to protect women’s sports based on biological sex and I do not consider it to be a violent act or an act of genocide against transgender people when a sporting body excludes transgender women from completing with women. Each sport should have the right to make its own decision on this as the advantage that going through male puberty will vary from sport to sport.

However, when it comes to degrees of transphobia, it appears that I am not as bad as others.  Here are a selection of videos which I find to be horrific.  I think comparing someone who is transgender to a paedo is wrong.  While I have concerns about children de-transitioning later in life, I think that refusing to accept that some children are going to continue to be transgender as they get older is silly and a total ban on treatments including surgery for those under 18 is wrong.  I also think that not accepting that people can realise that they are non-binary later in life is also barbaric.  I have seen too many people living a lie because society feels that they have to conform.  Let me know what you think of them (and my views) in the comments.  I am of course happy to discuss this on Twitter, or X as it is now called.  Normally though, civil discourse tends not to happen there, but it would be great to have some.

Inaction man

I guess the best bit of PMQ's today was a comment made by Starmer to Sunak calling him Inaction Man.  My daughter was not impressed, but she is of a generation that never had Action Man.

To be fair to Sunak, he has tried to do a lot while Prime Minister.  He has brought forward legislation to increase the amount of sewage in our rivers.  He has tried to stop the boats, he has tried to deport those seeking asylum to Rwanda.  But like a poor marksman, he just keeps missing the target!

The Last Night Of the Proms

There was annoyance from the right about The Last Night of the Proms.  It appears that they wanted the BBC to censor those waving EU flags.  Those flags apparently had been given out free of charge by an organisation, but if a person wanted a Union Flag, they would have had to buy it from vendors outside.   

I have to agree with Femi in that patriotism is wanting our great nation to be even better, and it was better in the EU than out of it. 

While I would love to re-join the EU, we are never going to get the great deal that we had being in it again.  Any referendum held now could probably be won by those wanting to re-join the EU for reasons shared by Gary Lineker. 

We are family

Just got home after a day in London. My younger brother is going out with a lovely South African woman, Lauren. Sadly, her sister died recently leaving behind her seven year old niece. Today, we met the two of them, her parents, her uncle, my other brother and my Mum. I was dreading it as it was over a two hour drive there (and the same coming back) so was expecting us all to be tired afterwards. We did get there early, but went shopping (I wanted to go to Richmond but was overruled) and ended up arriving last!

My children came along with Leia and they talked to my brothers, well mostly (my son resorted to grunts apparently with my youngest brother). They did not get to spend much time with my mother who spent time talking to the other parents. Lauren’s uncle ended going on a walk with Leia and me, he having had a dog in the past, but is not able to have one now due to him travelling a lot.

The last time my bothers and I got together like this was on New Years when we met up for my mothers birthday (which she decided not to attend) and I am going to have to badger them to make this a regular thing. Anyway, the kids are in bed along with my wife, Time to join them.

I am a terrible parent

I was called a terrible parent yesterday. Both children have gone back to school, and the house is a bit stressful as a result. My son has not been too forthcoming about how things have been for him, but that is the stereotype of a teenage boy of his age.

My daughter on Wednesday, when collected from her Sixth Form College stated that she felt lazy and stupid. She is not and she was feeling sorry for herself, so I agreed with her.

Yesterday, when asked at work, about how she did on her first day, by two of the people she works with, I told them what happened and what I said.  They were not impressed.

Trump on climate change report: 'I don't believe it'

I think my children agree with Trump about climate change. We are in a heatwave this week in the UK and yesterday my daughter decided to put on the tumble dryer rather than put the clothes out to dry in the heat.

They are continuing to leave appliances on, notably the PlayStation, which we use to watch streaming channels.  And they continue to put plastics that cannot be recycled (usually film plastic) in the plastic recycling pile.

I am sure that they will say that climate change is an issue they agree needs action to address, I just have the view that they do not care enough to make any meaningful changes.

Schools out, oops

In PMQs today, Sunak tried to avoid the blame for the recent school closures. 

Put simply, in 2010, the Conservatives cancelled building work on schools. Many of these schools are now shut or partially shut due to the risk of a roof collapsing on pupils. Starmer pointed this out in PMQs and Sunak attempted to duck and weave and to  even imply that Labour had some responsibility for this by not raising it enough. 

I am sure his words will stick with some, but put simply, the Conservatives have been in power since David Cameron became Prime Minister in 2010 and they have had thirteen years to sort this out, or as appears to have happened , ignored it and hoped that this would only become an issue after he next election.

The Conservatives are right in that most schools do not have the structural issues that had put many children at risk. But tell that to the children who cannot return to school, or are having disruption to lessons thanks to these cuts.