An absolutely brilliant piece from @wearequeeraf.com featuring equally brilliant scholarship from @alexsharpe.bsky.social
'Sex by Deception' cases in the UK have a frightening history, but the treatment of trans woman Chiara Watkin is a terrifying new development
Photo of protest. A security guard stands on a banner reading Silence = Death, HRT saves lives. A protester lying on the floor holds up a placard that says, 48% of trans people have attempted suicide.
From Instagram - today the Dyke Project shut down NHS England HQ to protest the politically motivated ban on trans youth healthcare.
Transphobia is at the core of modern fascism
Another mad and confusing day to be doing a PhD on trans rights from England.
New School Guidance announces:
Full bathroom ban.
Full PE ban.
Full school trip accommodation ban.
Trans kids will not go to the bathroom, do PE or go on any school trips. 1/
This is an important read. I don't want to take anything away from it. However:
It really should have been a news item informed by the Good Law Project's data. It isn't bc the British press has shut out any story that contradicts anti-trans talking points.
goodlawproject.org/new-data-sho...
None of these tests have diagnostic significance, and their scientific validity has long been discarded. All they do is cause distress and give gatekeepers something to back arbitrary decisions.
I wondered what was a "good" level of distress: which body parts was I expected to hate? How much?
This test is (was?) used by Italian GICs.
I filled the long list and ranked how distressing I found each part of my body, 0 to 5. This particular test was at the top of a thick stack - hundreds of pages - of other tests.
It set the scene about how humiliating the rest of the process would be.
They are forcibly de-transitioning trans children/adolescents. Those most severely impacted are aged 11-15. The risk to this group is very high, and NHS England/NHS Sussex know this. They don't care at all about the safety or well-being of trans under 18s.
📣SAVE THE DATE 📣
📆 29-30 gennaio 2026
📍Dipartimento di Scienze Umane - Università di Verona
Deadline: 31 ottobre 2025
La CfP è aperta al mondo dell’accademia, dell’attivismo e delle istituzioni, con l’obiettivo di stimolare un dialogo intersettoriale.
sites.dsu.univr.it/politesse/wp...
‘The current members of the Supreme Court, ten men and two women, all of them white, seem to regard the Human Rights Act as an unwelcome remnant of a past era.’
In his final piece for the 𝘓𝘙𝘉, Conor Gearty writes on the Supreme Court’s reinterpretation of the HRA: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
It is hard not to despair when literally anyone could accuse you of having hid your "transgender status" from them and have you imprisoned and put on a sex offenders register.
Hello! To make sense of the world, transphobia and my research, I’m looking for *poetry* suggestions about:
- agency, activism and solidarity after torture
- life/emotions post dehumanisation
- the oppression-trauma-guilt-shame mix
With a preference for 🏳️🌈 authors other than cis straight men! 🏳️🌈
Thank you @pagingdrpaige.bsky.social for such a cool idea to sketch while listening to the podcast!! (And yes, it seems like I’ll be able to take it out of the sketchbook!)
The banality, everyday-ness of hate is one of the most striking parts of this.
The way in which bystanders are once again happy to make humiliation of trans and gender non-conforming people a part of their routine social interactions.
It was so nice to see @pagingdrpaige.bsky.social and Gina, and to have a small PhD workshop filled with feminist and queer care practices to navigate academia!
I confirm - once again - that not having to justify your whole existence to access basic gender affirming healthcare FEELS GOOD. And light. And decent.
Thank you Australia (2025) and Belgium (2021) for these brief encounters with your imperfect (!!) but not violently transphobic healthcare systems.
I’m taking a breather from England and its transphobia, and reading this from a place where gender self-determination is a solid policy makes the hate and cruelty so visible and incomprehensible at the same time.
I know. But there’s nothing legally binding about pronouns. The Court made an active choice to misgender the applicant and not respect their/her dignity. It’s about recognising that a person’s identity exists and deserves respect before legal recognition and while their/her rights are being violated
All good BUT details matter:
> the Court misgenders the applicant EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. 🤯
> no critique of aim of the interference - the aim to maintain states’ ability to exclude some trans people from recognition and protect cisnormativity is still *fine* for the Court.
Oh wow, yes, absolutely that would be amazing!!!
Oh amazing! I heard from Gina and planned to see each other in July, it would be great to catch you for a coffee too!
Summer is winter, winter is summer - I’m staying from the end of June to mid September. 🥶
Matteo in an orange leather jacket and jeans, being happy to be in a city and not a village for once!
Hi!
I’ll be in Melbourne this summer for a research visit :)
If anyone has tips about the city, bookshops to visit, queer things to do, leads on housing, or anything else, let me know!!
Last week I had the amazing opportunity to chat about trans rights catastrophes in the Uk with @pagingdrpaige.bsky.social and Manon!!
Chatting and complaining about the case with such amazing minds was such an important part of making sense of what’s happening on terf island.
Time to make *those* worst-case scenario type of plans for trans people in the UK.
The hard reality is that this is not a panic-induced call, but a very calm and rational one.
I’m listening and - wow - they all really do want a medal for most transphobic speaker of the year. The passport stuff they’re throwing around is scary too.
Uh.. is the UK parliament having having a fight about who’s more transphobic?
