Post APCnohRj6P9Foukv8S by EmmyNoether@spinster.xyz
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(DIR) Post #APCkum16iokXs3VeRU by HebrideanHecate@spinster.xyz
2022-11-02T20:37:07.006649Z
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https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/regan-statement-stokes-rebellion-within-snp-rwsgdbbzlConscience forced me to resign over SNP trans bill, says Ash ReganAt a hastily convened press call the MSP explains why she voted against plans to make it easier to change genderIt took 15 years for rebellion to break out in SNP ranks but now the fire has ignited over contentious gender reforms party mandarins are struggling to put out the flames.The latest alarm bells rang today just as Nationalist MSPs were due to convene for their weekly meeting.At 12.45pm, in Holyrood’s garden lobby, Ash Regan strode up to a hastily convened press call to explain why she had chosen to become the first SNP minister to resign in the history of Scotland’s ruling party.At issue is a bill designed to simplify the process that enables trans people to obtain a gender recognition certificate which, its supporters insist, will not override the protection of safe spaces for women set out by the Equality Act.It is a view hotly contested by the bill’s opponents — including a majority of SNP supporters if the opinion polls are accurate — who are also alarmed about provisions that would enable 16-year-olds to change gender without any medical gatekeeping.Regan’s refusal to accept the bill will make her a “heroine” to future generations of Scottish women, said JK Rowling over the weekend, and today the former minister of community safety raised the issue again.Her statement was brief, but to the point. “My conscience would not allow me to vote for a bill where I could not be 100 per cent certain that women and girls would not be in danger,” she said.Regan said she wanted reform that would make the lives of trans people better, but many women across Scotland had raised “deep concerns” with her, and she felt their voices deserved to be heard.It was another explosive intervention which came days after she was one of seven SNP MSPs to defy Nicola Sturgeon by voting against her plans to make it easier for people to change their gender. Two other SNP MSPs abstained.Just a few minutes after Regan’s remarks, upstairs in the chamber conference room where Nationalist MSPs were meeting, a “flurry” of Sturgeon’s advisers strode in to speak to the SNP’s head of press, who in turn held a conversation with Gordon Macdonald, the chief whip.One source said that the party leadership “filled the room up with HQ staff who are never there”, adding: “The impression was that they were trying to create an intimidating atmosphere to keep everyone on side.”Although the meeting that followed was largely taken up with conversations about the NHS, Macdonald told the rebels that he planned to “pay you all a visit” before the bill’s next stage at parliament.In other words, there will be no formal disciplinary action against those who said they voted with their consciences but rebels suspect he will be trying to “turn the screws” by reminding them that the SNP’s end goal is independence.Sturgeon, for so long an impressive, unifying leader, suddenly seems fallible.For her critics, the bitter row over gender recognition reform was unnecessary. Fracturing the party creates cracks in the movement dedicated to winning “the cause”: the fundamental objective of independence.Yet the first minister keeps taking missteps.Accepting Regan’s resignation last week in the most terse of acknowledgements, she noted that “at no stage” did the former minister approach either the first minister herself or Shona Robison, the minister for social justice, to raise concerns about the bill.That was not the full picture, as Regan made clear. Asked directly about Sturgeon’s statement, the MSP said the first minister was “well aware of the concerns that I held” even if the pair had not discussed the issue face to face since a cabinet meeting three years ago.Regan, the Edinburgh Eastern MSP, was among 15 SNP politicians to sign a letter in 2019 that warned of the risk of allowing biological men to self-ID as women.Kate Forbes, the finance secretary — who is on maternity leave — and Ivan McKee, the trade minister, who last week voted in favour of the reforms, also signed the letter.Sturgeon loyalists have only succeeded in adding fuel to the flames with their interventions.Alyn Smith, an SNP MP, said Nationalist politicians “play for the jersey”, adding he expected that any who failed to support the administration would receive “a torrid time from their constituency parties and local members soon enough”.Regan said she had been inundated with messages of support from Scotland and abroad, with bunches of flowers arriving at her door.Others among the nine SNP MSPs who voted against the bill, or abstained, have said they too have received overwhelming backing for their stand. According to the latest polls, wider public opinion is against the proposed legislation.
(DIR) Post #APCkunA0TDSjPwgGx6 by HebrideanHecate@spinster.xyz
2022-11-02T20:37:52.145645Z
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A Scottish government spokesman said: “A minister who considers they cannot comply with collective responsibility should approach the first minister to discuss the issue. Ms Regan was free to do so — at any stage from her accepting appointment as a minister, in full knowledge of Scottish government policy on this issue, up until the parliamentary vote last week — but chose not to.“Ms Regan’s concerns were well known, publicly and privately, and the first minister’s letter does not say she was unaware of Ms Regan’s views. Rather, the letter makes clear that at no point did Ms Regan make use of the well-established practice by which any minister can approach the first minister when they have a difficulty. Nor did she make use of the specific facility to meet with the cabinet secretary for social justice on this issue, as other MSPs have done.”The legislation is now going through Holyrood’s equalities committee where any MSP can submit an amendment to the bill.However, only committee members can vote on the proposed changes and the SNP politicians who are part of the group are party loyalists so there is unlikely to be any push back through divisions, which will take place on November 15 and possibly November 22.The final opportunity for the whole parliament to have a say on the legislation is likely to come before Christmas, amid murmurs of more SNP rebels being recruited during that time.There is little doubt that the reforms will pass, with the bill’s progress guaranteed by cross-party support. It’s unintended consequences could yet involve a bonfire of Nationalist ambitions.
(DIR) Post #APCkunjSLPopBtGaCu by TriptychTwins-partdeux@spinster.xyz
2022-11-02T20:43:12.370234Z
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@HebrideanHecate They're just obfuscating things now. They know what the public thinks and they've ignored them too. They're corrupt as fuck and think they can get away with anything now - they're despots.
(DIR) Post #APCkuoVfSANpbPp5M0 by HebrideanHecate@spinster.xyz
2022-11-02T20:45:51.160661Z
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@TriptychTwins-partdeux Look at this little rat turd.https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/daniel-radcliffe-defends-decision-to-defy-jk-rowling-over-trans-rights-s7lbk65flDaniel Radcliffe defends decision to defy JK Rowling over trans rightsDaniel Radcliffe has said it was “really important” for him to speak out against JK Rowling over transgender rights.The Harry Potter actor, 33, claimed he would not have been able to look himself in the mirror had he not made a statement.He asserted his support for trans people in 2020, after a series of “transphobic” tweets by Rowling, who suggested the word “woman” was being erased.In an interview with IndieWire, Radcliffe said that many young, queer and transgender fans of the fantasy series had been hurt by Rowling’s posts.He said he had spoken out to show that not everyone involved with the Harry Potter franchise felt the same.Radcliffe said: “The reason I felt very, very much as though I needed to say something when I did was because, particularly since finishing Potter, I’ve met so many queer and trans kids and young people who had a huge amount of identification with Potter on that.“And so, seeing them hurt on that day I was like, I wanted them to know that not everybody in the franchise felt that way. And that was really important.”In her original June 2020 tweets, Rowling, 57, took issue with a headline on an article discussing “people who menstruate”, writing: “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people.Radcliffe commented at the time, saying: “Transgender women are women.”The actor shared a statement through the LGBT+ suicide prevention charity the Trevor Project, saying that while Rowling was “unquestionably responsible for the course my life has taken . . . as a human being, I feel compelled to say something at this moment”.He told IndieWire: “It was really important as I’ve worked with the Trevor Project for more than ten years, and so I don’t think I would’ve been able to look myself in the mirror had I not said anything.“But it’s not mine to guess what’s going on in someone else’s head.”
(DIR) Post #APCkup09coln7y5QsC by polarisera@gleasonator.com
2022-11-02T20:47:27.705244Z
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Daniel should take a stroll and visit the dock workers and talk about that.
(DIR) Post #APCllXL41dHfhB0HB2 by TriptychTwins-partdeux@spinster.xyz
2022-11-02T20:48:17.001707Z
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@HebrideanHecate He's a scummy little shit-bag. A 3rd rate actor, who, whether he likes it or not, will be forever linked to JKR. Ner ner ner ner 😝
(DIR) Post #APCnohRj6P9Foukv8S by EmmyNoether@spinster.xyz
2022-11-02T21:15:42.715844Z
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@TriptychTwins-partdeux @HebrideanHecate What best sums him up? Gobshite? Cockwomble? Wankbadger? Shitstain on the underpants of a movie franchise?