(1/2)🧵 In shock news - the UK Equalities & Human Right Commission (EHRC) pan the Tory Schools draft guidance for England and Wales on trans kids, pointing them back to the EA 2010 and the actual law
Some EHRC Board members or the CEO hoping to hang onto their jobs after the next election perchance ...?
"The guidance should more clearly explain and refer to key concepts in the Equality Act 2010, particularly direct and indirect discrimination
"... should clearly explain that children cannot legally change their sex, but they can have the protected characteristic of gender reassignment
"... should uphold the rights contained within the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child ... that the weight given to the responsibilities, rights and duties of parents should be consistent with the capacity of the child, which will usually evolve with age
"... Further reference could be made to key rights under the Human Rights Act, including Article 8 (right to respect for privacy and family life), Article 9 (freedom of thought or belief) and Article 10 (freedom of expression)
".... The best way to avoid discriminatory practices is for schools to develop policies and flexibly apply them to take informed and sensitive decisions on requests relating to aspects of social transition"
@Natasha_Jay everything you have said is correct and none of it is particularly difficult, particularly for schools and other institutions who have responsibilities for children and young people.
The reason it shouldn't be difficult for such instructions is because they should be doing this for all children in any case, irrespective of whether or not they are trans.
@alexadeswift
Indeed. Which is why I think there's a specific callout on the Human Rights Act 1998 not just the EA 2010 ie because of the UN's GANHRI investigation of the EHRC and potentially being stripped of "A status"
@Natasha_Jay not only has the UN been scathing of the UK Government and the UK EHRC, but the Council of Europe iaw the EHRC (Equalities and Human Rights Convention - confusing as two different things have the same initials!) have condemned the UK Government too and for broadly the same reasons.
@alexadeswift@elizabethveldon Kishwer Falkner's contract is only until Dec 2024. That will likely see the start of a EHRC cleanout
I anticipate Torygraph opinion pieces by Braverman/Badenoch/Cates/Fletcher over the next week. Either spin or damning this or blaming "Stonewell capture", but in all cases with an eye to the upcoming power jostle in opposition
@Natasha_Jay@alexadeswift oh its obviously 'instatutional capture' while the capture of goverment by far right anti-trans groupds (who the smart money are suggesting may well be labeled as extremists under the new goverment definition) is fine and normal
@elizabethveldon@alexadeswift
Thankfully (within a specific LGBTQ+ context) the Tories are incompetent legislators and Badenoch lacks appetite. The goal was always stoking division via non-statutory 'guidance', never to actually achieve or deliver anything
We've seen Scottish GR Reform blocked via S28 and the the GRA foreign country list limited via a secondary SI. And endless delays on a comprehensive Conversion Therapy ban
Oh and Liz Truss recently going full fash for the US speech circuit money
@elizabethveldon@Natasha_Jay the capture of public institutions by far right extremist hate groups is all part of the plan, hence Gove explicitly saying such groups will not be subject to the planned changes to the legal definition of extremism
@alexadeswift@Natasha_Jay but, as commentators I have seen have pointed out, the bourd that decides on the extremism of groups is independant of him.
this is not to say that I welcome these changes, far from it. They may well capture GCs but they could also be used against enviromental activists or against us.
@elizabethveldon@alexadeswift
By all accounts a horrible piece of legislation. Oversight of public board appointments, the opaque flow of money into 'charity-based' thinktanks and UK client-journalism in general are all huge issues
Of the hardcore Tory anti-trans mob, Truss and Fletcher have safe seats. Cates (best guess) will end up heading up a GC/anti-abortion Tufton street thinktank affiliated with the 'Sex Matters' group
@Natasha_Jay@alexadeswift all the worst tories have the safest seats and it makes me worry for what they will become if the election is as bad for them as it seems it will be.
@elizabethveldon@alexadeswift
If they don't coronate (unlikely after Sunak imo ...) Mordaunt or some compromise like Jenrick or Cleverly we'll see a Top 2 of Mordaunt vs Badenoch
The Tory membership are so far-right now I expect Badenoch and 2+ terms out of office
@Natasha_Jay@alexadeswift they're not getting near power for a long time. I was there in the 90s and I saw the disasterious end to tory rule then and it was allot better than what we have now.
@elizabethveldon@Natasha_Jay ah, the '97 election. I has happy as that put the largest number of libdems in power in my lifetime. I am now a Green (Die Grüne/Bündnis 90) and always leaned a bit to the left. Oddly colleagues expected me to be distraught as they were absolutely certain that I was a Tory 🤣
@alexadeswift @elizabethveldon
Yes, parallels of '97 and a further right swing but after an even worse election result?
The demographics of their aging membership base counts against them horribly the longer they stay out power
But the members elect the Tory leader. I suspect the next Tory PM is not even a current MP, much like Cameron wasn't in 97 - he became an MP only in 2001 (?)