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‘This Is Nothing New (Part 5) – The Matter Of Laws And Civil Rights’
(18 Feb 2022)
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Dear Reader:
The anti-Trans hate gangs are working hard exterminating Trans people altogether – same as Hitler.
Republi-cons legislate the perfect Catch 22. Their surreptitious ideology is to impose that Trans girls must obtain hormones and surgery to qualify to participate on girls sports. Meanwhile, they criminalise all health care, prohibit Puberty Blockers and cross hormones, and outlaw all Transition medical services for Trans children and adults; thus, meeting those Repubi-con and Christian Con-servative legislated obligations is impossible.
Deny our Human Rights, allow the extermination of our Class of people from society – Hitler’s Three Stages to Genocide fullfilled.
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This series continues the greater theme of organised anti-Trans antagonism and hostility as previously documented in the ‘Lavender Scare’ post.
I divide this current presentation into multiple parts:
(https://slimandme.wordpress.com/2022/02/14/this-is-nothing-new-part-1-the-nazi-period/)
‘This Is Nothing New (Part 1) – The NAZI Period’
(https://slimandme.wordpress.com/2022/02/15/this-is-nothing-new-part-2-leading-to-the-here-and-the-now/)
‘This Is Nothing New (Part 2) – Leading To The Here And The Now’
(https://slimandme.wordpress.com/2022/02/16/this-is-nothing-new-part-3-the-blatant-religious-component/)
‘This Is Nothing New (Part 3) – The Blatant Religious Component’
(https://slimandme.wordpress.com/2022/02/17/this-is-nothing-new-part-4-denying-trans-health-care-legally/)
‘This Is Nothing New (Part 4) – Denying Trans Health Care – Legally’
(https://slimandme.wordpress.com/2022/02/18/this-is-nothing-new-part-5-the-matter-of-laws-and-civil-rights/)
‘This Is Nothing New (Part 5) – The Matter Of Laws And Civil Rights’
(https://slimandme.wordpress.com/2022/11/10/this-is-nothing-new-part-6-before-kristallnacht-after-kristallnacht/)
‘This Is Nothing New (Part 6) – Before Kristallnacht, After Kristallnacht’
(https://slimandme.wordpress.com/2023/03/20/this-is-nothing-new-part-7-sharing-my-personal-journey/)
‘This Is Nothing New (Part 7) – Sharing My Personal Journey’
(https://slimandme.wordpress.com/2023/04/18/this-is-nothing-new-part-8-remembering-the-trans-and-lgbt-community-on-shoah-holocaust-remembrance-day/)
‘This Is Nothing New (Part 8 ) – Remembering The Trans And LGBT Community On Shoah Holocaust Remembrance Day’
(https://slimandme.wordpress.com/2023/04/22/this-is-nothing-new-part-9-looting-private-records-to-expose-trans-and-lgbt-community-to-violence/)
‘This Is Nothing New (Part 9) – Looting Private Records To Expose Trans And LGBT Community To Violence’
I may add to a part already published, may add a new part, as additional resources become applicable.
Thank you for reading through this assembly of documentation to present the theme.
– Sharon
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1.
(https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10155082502381813&id=18982436812)
ACLU
FeSbprauuuanry 15r62, 209i1f3d8 ·
6 Feb 2018
We’re suing the state of Alabama for refusing to give transgender people driver’s licenses that reflect their gender identity.
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How Alabama’s Driver’s License Law Injures Transgender People
By Gabriel Arkles, Senior Staff Attorney, ACLU LGBT & HIV Project
FEBRUARY 6, 2018 | 12:00 PM
TAGS
Transgender People and ID
Transgender Rights
LGBTQ Rights
Many people use a driver’s license or other ID without giving it much thought. We carry it with us when we drive and show it if we get pulled over. We use it to get into a bar, board an airplane, or open a bank account. We use it to rent a car, pick up prescriptions, buy beer, claim a senior citizen discount, or check into a hotel.
Sometimes we have to show it to enter an office building or make a purchase using a credit card or check. In some places, like Alabama, we need it to cast a vote.
Unfortunately, Alabama is one of nine states that still demands proof of surgery from transgender people before issuing an accurate driver’s license. For many transgender people, gender-confirming surgical procedures are an important, necessary form of medical care. But not all transgender people need or want surgery, and others can’t afford to get the treatment they need. That means that in Alabama many transgender people have no ID they can use safely.
Today, the ACLU and ACLU of Alabama filed a lawsuit challenging Alabama’s policy of restricting access to driver licenses for transgender people that accurately reflect their gender identity. The government has no business dictating what treatment transgender people get, especially as a prerequisite for a basic government service. After all, it has nothing to do with how people drive.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CASE
(https://www.aclu.org/cases/corbitt-v-taylor)
For transgender people with IDs that do not match their gender, everyday experiences can become fraught with fear. Each instance of showing ID could lead to inconvenience, embarrassment, discrimination, or violence. In a 2010 report on transgender people in the South, Southerners on New Ground said that having ID with the wrong gender marker made transgender people afraid of calling the police and also made it harder for them to get jobs.
Darcy Corbitt, one of our three plaintiffs, thought she could leave that fear behind her after she changed the gender marker on her North Dakota license and U.S. passport. But when she moved back to Alabama for graduate school, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency looked up her old records and refused to issue her a license that showed her female gender. For Darcy, that means staying in Alabama long-term is not an option. If she had to give up her North Dakota license and get an Alabama one under this policy, her safety and dignity would be compromised.
One of our other plaintiffs, Destiny Clark, has had to contend with Alabama officials seeking out ever more invasive information about her medical and surgical history, at one point even calling her doctor’s office without her consent to get detailed records. And even with all that information, Alabama still refused to change the gender marker on her license. As a result, Destiny has adapted her life to minimize her chances of needing to show her ID. Choices that many non-transgender people take for granted, like heading to a club with friends or going out for a drink, are off limits for Destiny.
According to 2015 research from the National Center for Transgender Equality, around a third of transgender people have experienced mistreatment after showing an ID that did not match their gender, most commonly verbal harassment or denial of services. Some — most commonly transgender women — were asked to leave an establishment after showing ID. Sometimes people were even physically attacked.
As with all forms of discrimination against transgender people, this problem does not affect all transgender people equally. Assault after showing ID that did not match their gender was twice as common for Black transgender people, three times as common for Middle Eastern transgender people, almost five times as common for Native transgender people, and almost eight times as common for undocumented transgender people, compared to transgender people overall.
In addition to endangering transgender people, Alabama’s policy — and other policies like it — violate the law. All people have a right to make their own health care decisions free from government coercion. They have a right to keep their personal information private. They have a right not to endorse a message from the government with which they disagree. And they have the right not to be discriminated against by the government for who they are.
Transgender people — like all people — deserve to live their lives without the government compromising their privacy, safety, autonomy, dignity, or equality. That’s why Darcy, Destiny, and other transgender Alabamans have taken this stand, and that’s why they should win in court.
The American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Alabama filed a federal law suit against officials of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) for depriving transgender people of driver licenses that reflect their gender. The lawsuit states that the Alabama government has violated the privacy, due process, free speech, and equal protection rights of Darcy Corbitt, Destiny Clark, and a third, unnamed plaintiff.
Currently, transgender Alabamans may only change their gender marker on a driver license if they have had certain gender-confirming surgery. This policy makes it impossible for most transgender people in Alabama to obtain a license that they can use without sacrificing their privacy, safety, health, autonomy, and dignity.
Gender-confirming surgery is an important form of health care that many transgender people want and need. Many other transgender people do not want or need it, though—and some who do cannot afford it. Transgender people’s gender identities are valid regardless of what health care they have had, and the government has no justification for meddling in these personal health decisions. Most states and the federal government do not require surgery for changing the gender marker on identification.
People in Alabama typically need their license on a daily basis. Transgender people, unlike others, have to get by without one, or use a license that shows the wrong gender and so puts them at high risk of harassment and violence. That’s discrimination, and it’s wrong.
Update: On January 15, 2021, the district court ruled that Alabama’s refusal to issue accurate drivers licenses to our clients was impermissible sex discrimination and violated the federal constitution. While our clients have now been able to update their licenses, the state has since filed a notice of appeal to the Eleventh Circuit court of appeals.
LEGAL DOCUMENTS
Appeals Court (11th Cir.)
08/30/2021Reply Brief of State Defendants-Appellants
Supplemental Authority to Reply Brief of State Defendants-Appellants
08/03/2021Amicus Briefs in Support of Plantiffs-Appellees
Amicus Brief of United States
Amicus Brief of LGBTQ Advocacy Groups
Amicus Brief of Medical Professionals
Amicus Brief of Organizations
Amicus Brief of Law Professors
07/26/2021Brief of Plaintiffs-Appellees
06/02/2021Amicus Brief in Support of Defendants-Appellants
MORE DOCUMENTS
District Court (M.D. Ala.)
© 2022 American Civil Liberties Union
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2.
Alabama Senate committee approves bill criminalizing treatments for transgender youth
Brian Lyman
Montgomery Advertiser
February 9, 2022, 1:01 PM
(https://www.yahoo.com/news/alabama-senate-committee-approves-bill-200150631.html)
Alabama Senate committee approves bill criminalizing treatments for transgender youth
Brian Lyman, Montgomery Advertiser
Wed, February 9, 2022, 1:01 PM·3 min read
Protesters in support of transgender rights march around the Alabama State House in Montgomery in this file photo.
Monroe Smith wanted the senators to understand that his gender transition was a long process and one that made him a success.
Speaking in opposition to a bill to ban medical treatments for transgender individuals on Wednesday, Smith, a senior at the Alabama School of Fine Arts in Birmingham, described a “slow and steady process” involving rounds of counseling and parental consultation before any medical treatments began. “Not once in this process,”
he said, “did he or his family ever feel pressured to engage in the treatments.”
“The focus of my evidence-based treatment was not to force anything on me or my family,” Smith told the Senate Healthcare Committee on Wednesday. “It was to facilitate my well-being, and offer me a chance to present to the world as I know myself.”
But the committee ultimately decided on a voice vote to approve a bill that would make recommending those treatments a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville, would make it a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, for any person to prescribe medications like puberty blockers and hormones to those under the age of 19 and prevent surgery that alters a child’s sex. The bill would also require school counselors to not “withhold” information from parents about a transgender child.
Shelnutt and other supporters said that they were trying to protect children.
“They might go out of state for these surgeries, but we want to make sure that never happens to these children because there are lifelong consequences to these procedures,” Shelnutt said.
Opponents of the legislation said the bill showed a profound misunderstanding of gender dysphoria and medical care for transgender youth. Dr. Nola Ernest, a pediatrician who practices in Enterprise and Dothan, citing the risk of suicide among transgender youth, said many parents approached her for help.
“But gratefully, we know the use of medication for gender dysphoria under the guidance of a medical team is an evidence-based standard of care,” she said. “And it is often life-saving, not experimental.”
Quentin Bell, a nonprofit director who is a transgender male, said the Legislature should focus on improving education and health care in the state.
“If I have one request for you today is that you see transgender people, especially transgender youth, as members of your community, instead of making them targets,” he said.
More: They’re here: HBO show highlights Selma’s LGBTQ community
Shelnutt’s bill is similar to one filed last year, part of a wave of anti-transgender legislation that Republicans pushed through State Houses in 2021. Shelnutt’s bill passed the Senate last year and almost came to a floor vote last year, but died on the last day of the session.
Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill last year banning transgender athletes from playing sports of the sex with which they align.
The bill moves to the Senate.
Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Brian Lyman at 334-240-0185 or blyman@gannett.com.
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British Doctor’s Career Could be Ended By Tweets Defending Trans Rights
Dr Adrian Harrop, a 34-year-old GP based in Liverpool, told VICE World News he believes he was the victim of an “organised and orchestrated” campaign.
Ben Hunte
November 17, 2021, 4:50am
A British doctor who used social media to defend trans rights could lose his job because of complaints about his posts.
Dr Adrian Harrop, a GP based in Liverpool is currently going through a Medical Practitioners Tribunal hearing regarding his conduct on his Twitter account, which he dedicated to speaking up for trans lives.
The tribunal, which started this week, is expected to run for the next three weeks. It could potentially end with Harrop being suspended or having his name erased from the medical register, making him unable to practise medicine.
Speaking exclusively to VICE World News ahead of the tribunal, Harrop said he believed he was the victim of an “organised and orchestrated” campaign against him by “gender critics,” however, he does regret using social media in the way that he did.
World News
LGBTQ Employees Are Quitting the BBC Because They Say It’s Transphobic
BEN HUNTE
11.11.21
“I can achieve so much more by just being a doctor than arguing with anonymous people on Twitter,” he explained.
“I shouldn’t have wasted as much time and energy on that toxic platform as I did, but I still believe it is a genuine moral responsibility for privileged people to stand up for trans rights.”
The 34-year-old gay man splits his time between working as a GP for a practice in Liverpool, and working for CMAGIC, a gender dysphoria service which was set up by NHS England to cut down the waiting times for trans people who need medical support.
“We look after a huge number of transgender patients,” he told VICE World News. “I have well over 100 people who I supervise the medical treatment of, including gender affirming hormone therapy.”
While transgender healthcare continues to be debated in the UK, especially when it relates to people under the age of 18, Harrop is on the front line. This, he says, is why he felt the need to be so involved on social media.
“Doctors do have a powerful voice to share, and they should be able to use their voices to bring about positive societal change. What I didn’t realise is that on social media, everyone is under constant scrutiny, including by people who want to go against them in bad faith,” he says.
“The most foolish thing I did was to allow myself to get too drawn into a lot of fragile and vulnerable people arguing with each other.”
The General Medical Council’s guidance for doctors’ use of social media states: “You must make sure that your conduct justifies your patients’ trust in you and the public’s trust in the profession.”
It continues: “You must be prepared to explain and justify your decisions and actions… Serious or persistent failure to follow our guidance that poses a risk to patient safety or public trust in doctors will put your registration at risk.”
The tweets in question, which the General Medical Council received “hundreds of complaints” over, involve Harrop fighting back against online bullying, as well as him responding to transphobic statements, and retweeting pro-trans statements.
The witnesses and tweets involved in the case are currently being kept anonymous, but VICE World News was sent all of the material being discussed in the tribunal, including the full dossier of allegations, witness statements, and documents defending the doctor.
News
A Trans Woman Was Jailed With Men and ‘Viciously’ Beaten, Lawsuit Says
CARTER SHERMAN
11.15.21
“From 10 May 2018 to 23 November 2019 you inappropriately used your Twitter account to post tweets that were offensive and/or insulting and/or inappropriate in nature,” reads the charges letter from the General Medical Council.
The letter goes on to list 15 charges against Harrop, all related to people holding “different views” to him “on transgender issues”. Among the charges are that Harrop used his Twitter account to “intimidate” critics by revealing information that could identify them.
“I am not transgender myself but I am a fervent supporter of transgender rights,” his defence statement reads.
“Strongly held views on both sides were being advocated via social media platforms including Twitter. I engaged in that debate… These sparring matches could be humorous or mischievous or aggressive and antagonistic,” he continues.
“A number of individuals and campaign groups whose ultimate aim, I believe, is to undermine, if not erase, the rights of transgender people deliberately chose to follow me on Twitter and to read and respond to many of my tweets,” he writes.
“They also made repeated complaints about me,” he adds, noting that some of them even “pretended” to be different people in their complaints to his superiors. Some encouraged others to do the same, even posting templates of what to write, and directly linking to his boss’ email address.
ChrisBethell_Adrian-5.jpg
One woman who led the complaints against Harrop, who claims that the gay doctor bullied her online, tweeted that he is a “sick degenerate”, claiming “he and his ilk are a danger to children.”
The “journalist and broadcaster” goes on to claim that the work done by UK trans charity Mermaids is “child abuse”, and compares the organisation to “The Nazis”.
She continued: “If witch burning were still a thing the faggots would be piling up around me.” Facing backlash from her followers for using the offensive word, she claimed “it’s not meant as an insult to gay people though.”
The same woman promoted a petition against “Gay Pride at Disneyland” in summer 2019, claiming “LGBT is not for children”. The petition received 105,000 signatures in 24 hours, but the pride parade was not cancelled.
VICE World News has seen further evidence of social media users, some with over half a million Twitter followers, encouraging others to send abuse to Harrop, and to make official complaints against him.
In response to one of his tweets, a user posted a photo of a hand making a gun sign. They then deleted it, saying: “All I did was post a funny gif… Taken out of context I guess it COULD look like a death threat.”
World News
UK Government Officials Held Secret Meeting With ‘Ex-Gay’ Conversion Therapy Providers
BEN HUNTE
11.02.21
A tweet from February 2019 called Harrop “Baby Shipman” – referring to Harold Shipman, a doctor who is believed to be one of the most prolific serial killers in UK history – and a “snivelling shit”, before the user claims “Harrop has form. I’ve reported him to the GMC.”
A tweet from July 2021, targeting Harrop, explains to another Twitter user how driving “an extra ONE mph could literally kill someone” and to “think about who you want to run over”.
In October 2020, Harrop decided to close his Twitter account.
“The scale and intensity of the abuse, harassment and threats I have been receiving, both on and offline, has stepped up considerably in recent weeks,” he wrote at the time.
His tweet continued: “I am going to take a step back from Twitter for the foreseeable future, for the sake of my safety & sanity. I hope that I can just be left in peace”.
Harrop has not used Twitter since that day.
ChrisBethell_Adrian-9.jpg
A professor who Harrop reported to during his postgraduate training gave a statement to the General Medical Council regarding Harrop’s behaviour online. She notes that following receiving “a number of complaints about Dr Harrop’s use of social media” she held two meetings with him in 2018 regarding his posts.
“I expressed my concern regarding the style and tone of some of Dr Harrop’s tweets and stated that I could understand why some individuals may feel that Dr Harrop was being aggressive,” she adds.
Today, Harrop is “deeply sorry” for the negative implications of his tweets, even in the face of extreme abuse, both then and now.
“I never imagined that I would give my regulator cause to investigate my fitness to practise during my career,” he says.
Asked how serious this tribunal is, Harrop told VICE World News: “It’s extremely serious – it’s the most serious thing that can be done to a doctor in this country.”
“Ultimately, the tribunal will be deciding whether what I’ve done and what I’ve said deems me unfit for practice as a doctor. If that’s the case, they could give me a warning, or a suspension. The worst thing that they can do is to strike someone off – effectively erasing them from the medical register – but I think the likelihood of that is virtually nil.”
Harrop is aware that some people will not understand why he cares so much about protecting the transgender community when he is not actually transgender himself. He has effectively put his career on the line for what he calls his “moral debt to the trans community.”
“I’ve been out and open about my life since I was at university, about 18 years old,” he said. “I learnt early that if you’re in a privileged position – which I am as a gay white cis doctor – you need to stand up for people.
“If people hadn’t stood up for the likes of me when we were little, fighting against really intense homophobia, there’s no way we could be so open and loud and proud now. That’s ultimately what I felt I was doing when I was doing this, and I tried my best to do that in the most effective and positive way possible.”
World News
‘Don’t Punish Me For Who I Am’: Huge Jump in Anti-LGBTQ Hate Crime Reports in UK
BEN HUNTE
10.11.21
It is his long-held belief in equality, and his deep understanding of trans lives, that has led to Harrop being at the tribunal today.
“If it can happen to me on this issue, it could happen to any other doctor, commenting on any other important societal issue,” he warns. “Racism, climate change, whatever. People say things online because they believe they’re right – but if the debate shifts, they may come to regret it.”
Asked what he would like to say to the gender critics and transphobes who may read this, Harrop paused for a moment, before calmly and confidently responding, “you will not win”.
He continued: “I want them to understand that they make up a small minority of people who have extreme views. Although the battles you’re fighting on social media may seem like you’re winning, you’re not.”
Today, the doctor will start being cross-examined by the General Medical Council’s barrister, based on the evidence and statements that have been collected. Harrop told VICE World News he feels “nervous – as anyone would be in this sort of situation”.
He continued: “Ultimately, I’ve been entirely honest and transparent about everything, and I have nothing to hide. It’s now my opportunity to give my side of the story, and it is a relief to be able to finally get it out there and on the record.”
TAGGED:
NHS
UNITED KINGDOM
TRANS RIGHTS
TRANSGENDER RIGHTS
WORLDNEWS
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Britain’s Equalities Watchdog Met Privately With Anti-Trans Groups
Exclusive: Leaked emails and documents obtained by VICE World News show how senior leaders at the Equality and Human Rights Commission worked to erase trans rights.
Ben Hunte
February 2, 2022, 4:31am
EHRC-trans-rights-leaked-emails
BARONESS KISHWER FALKNER, THE CHAIR OF THE EQUALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION. PHOTO: UK PARLIAMENT
Senior leaders at Britain’s equalities watchdog have worked to erase trans rights via the courts and held private meetings with anti-trans groups, leaked emails and documents obtained by VICE World News reveal.
VICE World News has obtained documents revealing leaders at the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) as being key players in removing rights from trans people, through supporting legal cases that opposed trans equality.
The commission’s executives have also organised multiple private meetings with anti-trans lobbyists over the last year, the emails and documents reveal.
The EHRC was established in 2007 by the then Labour government to monitor human rights in England, Wales and Scotland, and to enforce equality laws based on protected characteristics, such as sexuality, gender reassignment, race and religion. Although not part of a government department, the EHRC is a public sector organisation funded by the taxpayers, whose senior leaders are appointed by the government. The organisation’s “vision and purpose”, which is embedded in staff email signatures, says it is committed to standing up for “freedom, compassion and justice.”
However, emails and documents obtained by VICE World News, some via Freedom of Information Act requests, show current leaders of the EHRC appear to hold views about trans people and gender identity which completely contradict this.
Asked about our findings, a spokesperson for the commission said: “We exist to protect, enforce and promote equality and human rights laws for everyone, including trans people.”
Equality campaigners have previously complained about the organisation being “too politicised” because the commission’s most senior leaders – also known as the commissioners, or board – are appointed by the minister for women and equalities, a role currently held by Liz Truss.
In December 2020, Truss – who is also UK Foreign Secretary and a potential successor to Boris Johnson as prime minister – appointed Baroness Kishwer Falkner as chair of the EHRC, which is the most important role in the organisation. Falkner also serves as a non-aligned member of the House of Lords.
Documents provided to VICE World News by researchers at trans rights organisation Steph’s Place reveal a number of controversial meetings were arranged with the EHRC following Falkner’s appointment.
Nicola Williams, founder of Fair Play For Women, a group that claims to “advocate for the sex-based rights of women and girls”, was invited to meet with Falkner. Williams has been accused of transphobia for repeatedly calling trans women “males”.
Williams notes in one email, “With a new Chair installed, I hope this can be a moment for change.”
Suddenly switching to her parliament email address, rather than her EHRC email address, Falkner sent Williams a message on the 22nd June, 2021 with the title “Can we have a telephone conversation?” The women then exchanged phone numbers.
VICE World News asked four leading LGBTQ organisations that support trans rights whether they were given this same opportunity for direct contact with Falkner in her role as EHRC chair – they all said they hadn’t.
Just last week, the EHRC released two controversial statements which received a huge backlash from LGBTQ groups.
One statement called for the Scottish government to delay its work updating trans equality laws, and the other requested the upcoming conversion therapy ban in England and Wales to not cover trans people.
Stonewall called the statements “an attack on trans equality”, and the charity created an open letter in support of trans rights, which has now been signed by over 5,000 people.
Another of the appointed leaders of the EHRC is Alasdair Henderson, a barrister who has played a key role in erasing trans rights.
In 2020, Henderson represented Keira Bell, a young woman who regretted transitioning. Henderson challenged the NHS’ use of puberty blockers, claiming that young people cannot consent to using them. As a result, the NHS had to remove all medical treatment options from trans young people, until the decision was overturned nearly a year later.
The leaked documents appear to show Henderson’s long-term influence over his colleagues on the EHRC board, and therefore his influence over the organisation becoming more critical of trans lives.
In April 2021, the EHRC received a huge backlash from LGBTQ people and their allies for suddenly jumping to the defence of a “gender critical” woman in a major legal case. Maya Forstater claimed she lost her job because of her belief that trans women are not women. Assistance from the EHRC helped to close the case in favour of “gender critics”, and the case was celebrated by people who hold transphobic views.
Through documents released through the Freedom of Information Act, VICE World News has learned that Henderson was the employee who first suggested to “intervene” in the Forstater hearing.
This was confirmed through an email following-up on a conversation in a board meeting the day before.
Asked if this was correct, the EHRC responded: “The suggestion to intervene in the case was made by one of our Commissioners, Alasdair Henderson.” However, it adds, “the decision to intervene was ultimately approved by Commision Board members and the Chair, Kishwer Falkner.”
In an online profile, Henderson describes himself as a Christian who would “strongly defend freedom of religion and belief, freedom of conscience and freedom of speech for everyone.” He has previously been criticised for liking and retweeting social media posts criticising Black Lives Matter protesters, and describing the words misogynist and homophobe as “highly ideological propaganda terms”.
The leaked emails obtained by VICE World News also show that some senior staff in the EHRC policy teams were not aware of Henderson’s involvement in the case against the UK’s gender identity service for young people.
The massive legal case stopped the NHS from providing transgender healthcare to under 16s in the UK, and caused lasting damage to trans rights globally. Henderson was partnered with Paul Conrathe, a Christian lawyer known for legal attacks against abortion, contraception and LGBTQ rights.
After the NHS eventually won the case, allowing trans young people to continue with their gender care, Conrathe said he was “dismayed” and “surprised”, calling services offered by the NHS Gender Identity Development Service “poorly evidenced treatment with lifelong irreversible consequences”.
The day before the conclusion of the case made international news, one EHRC communications official wrote, “Alasdair Henderson, one of our Commissioners, is one of the barristers challenging the Tavistock. Were we aware that he was this involved in the case?”
Being passed up the chain, another staff member wrote, “Please see email below. Are we aware of this connection?”
The pack of leaked documents show, on at least two occasions when discussions about transgender people were held by the board, Henderson appeared to flag that he had a “potential conflict of interest” because of his legal work. However, the board still allowed him to continue participating in the discussions.
The emails reveal further evidence of the EHRC becoming more critical of gender identity over recent years.
Documents show that Kate Harris and Bev Jackson – founders of the “gender critical” LGB Alliance – have held meetings with people at the top of the EHRC since Falkner took over as chair.
In February 2021, the founders were personally invited to participate in a briefing session for the board on “issues relating to trans people” by Melanie Field, executive director of strategy, police and Wales at the EHRC. The other organisations invited were Stonewall – Europe’s largest LGBTQ charity, and Williams’ Fair Play For Women. No other groups were invited to participate.
“Apologies to email you out of the blue,” someone from the EHRC wrote to the LGB Alliance – the sender’s name was redacted. “I have a time-limited request which I wondered if you would be able to help with.”
They continued: “I know you have been in contact with colleagues at the Commission and will soon be meeting with Melanie Field. She has asked me to contact you to enquire whether you would be able to provide a short three minute video outlining LGB Alliance’s main policy positions and why you think it is important to separate trans and LGB issues, for us to share with our board at tomorrow’s session.”
Field then sent an email thanking the founders of LGB Alliance.
“I’m really keen that our Board gets a balanced picture of the different issues being raised in this debate,” she wrote.
In the video produced by LGB Alliance, seen by VICE World News, the founders of the organisation call transitioning “horrifying”, adding, “it leads to a life of infertility, loss of sexual feeling, continuous medication and appalling surgery. We’re so glad that we were not growing up in this kind of ethos which we have today.”
Discussing how the NHS is carrying out “medical experiments on children”, they add: “We don’t need to go into much detail about that because Alasdair Henderson, on your board, will be able to explain all about it.”
They continue: “We represent thousands and thousands of lesbians, gay men and bisexuals, who don’t hold to this belief in gender identity. Unfortunately, all the other LGBT groups do, so it’s really important that we get representation and that our views are heard whenever anything about LGBT issues is being discussed.”
Three months after the board briefing, the EHRC controversially removed itself from Stonewall’s Diversity Champions programme – a corporate diversity scheme which helps organisations to support their LGBTQ employees.
Asked why gender-critical groups were invited to speak with the EHRC, but no trans-led organisations were, an EHRC spokesperson said: “We hold regular discussions with a full range of interested parties on all areas of our work.”
Just over a year ago, Falkner’s predecessor as EHRC chair David Isaacs warned that the equality watchdog was being used as a political tool. His criticism came after Truss announced the EHRC’s new chair and commissioners who would “drive [her] agenda forward” and “challenge dangerous groupthink”.
In an interview with the UK’s Guardian newspaper, Isaacs said: “My view is that an independent regulator shouldn’t be in a position where the governments of the day can actually influence the appointments of that body to support a particular ideology.”
The UK’s biggest trans and LGBTQ organisations have repeatedly called out their “frustration and disappointment” at the EHRC’s failure to protect LGBTQ people’s rights – and trans people’s rights specifically.
In May 2021, leaders from 40 leading LGBTQ charities signed a public letter stating: “The EHRC has driven forward very little for our communities in recent years… We are frustrated that you chose to intervene in a case to say that so-called ‘gender critical’ beliefs should be a protected philosophical belief.”
They ended the letter with “It’s time to step up”, however, the EHRC has become significantly more critical of LGBTQ rights since then.
In response to last week’s EHRC statements on LGBTQ rights, LGBTQ charities and organisations have been publicly questioning how the EHRC can continue to operate.
Liberty, a human rights campaign group, said the EHRC’s status as a national human rights institution needs to be “reviewed”. Stonewall echoed this, saying the EHRC had betrayed LGBTQ people.
An EHRC spokesperson said: “We are an independent statutory body with a specific responsibility to ensure equality across the nine ‘protected’ characteristics of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex and sexual orientation. Sometimes this means balancing rights, and we understand that this issue in particular evokes strong views.
“As we have said, the current polarised debate is causing much harm and distress to people on all sides. Everyone’s concerns should be discussed and addressed carefully, openly and with respect, to avoid further damage and division.”
TAGGED:
LGBTQ
UNITED KINGDOM
WORLDNEWS
EHCR
EQUALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
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5.
Leaked EHRC Guidance Reveals Plans to Exclude Most Trans People From Bathrooms
Under unpublished guidance leaked to VICE World News, Britain’s equalities watchdog wanted to restrict the lives of trans people unless they held a Gender Recognition Certificate – despite only 1% of trans people in the UK having one.
Ben Hunte
February 10, 2022, 6:45am
Trans people in Britain would be excluded from single-sex spaces unless they possess a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) under unpublished guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). GRCs are currently held by as little as 1 percent of trans people in the country.
VICE World News has been leaked sections of an unpublished guidance pack dated from the end of 2021 from Britain’s equalities watchdog, which advised businesses and other organisations such as shops, prisons and gyms to “protect women” by barring most trans people from their single-sex spaces, including toilets, wards and changing rooms.
A trans person looking for legal recognition of their gender identity currently requires medical assessments and psychiatric interviews in order to “prove” their gender and receive a GRC. Non-binary identities are not recognised in UK law.
World News
Britain’s Equalities Watchdog Met Privately With Anti-Trans Groups
BEN HUNTE
02.02.22
According to the leaked EHRC guidance, a trans person should be barred from accessing spaces matching the gender they’re living as, unless they hold a GRC. But official data estimates only 1 percent of trans people in the UK currently have one.
Baroness Kishwer Falkner, the chair of Britain’s equalities watchdog wanted workplaces and businesses to “exclude trans people” from these spaces to “protect women’s rights”, VICE World News was told by ex-EHRC staff members.
The guidance was due to be released last month but has not yet been published.
Do you have a story to share? We’d love to hear from you. You can contact VICE World News securely using the information on our tips page. Alternatively contact Ben Hunte at ben.hunte@vice.com, or via Twitter or Instagram.
Whistleblowers told VICE World News that Falkner was “furious” about UK department store John Lewis adopting gender neutral fitting rooms in April 2021 and had subsequently “pushed for the EHRC to adopt a totally gender critical position”.
Screen Shot 2022-02-10 at 12.45.29.png
“Falkner was furious about John Lewis ‘letting down women,’” one ex-staffer said. “She was being transphobic… The team just wants to exclude trans people more,” said another.
Asked detailed questions about our findings, a spokesperson for the EHRC didn’t respond to any specific points. They didn’t confirm or deny whether trans people could soon require GRCs to access single-sex spaces.
They said: “We acknowledge that some EHRC staff have been unhappy, which we regret, and we are working hard to explain decisions and why they are in line with our statutory responsibilities.”
“Sex and gender reassignment are legally protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, as are seven other characteristics. The Human Rights Act 1998 protects all rights in a balanced and proportionate way. These are the laws that the EHRC upholds impartially and we totally refute your insinuations of bias in the areas you mention.”
VICE World News has previously reported that staff are leaving as a result of an “anti-LGBT culture” being adopted at the organisation, since a change of the government-appointed leadership team last year.
World News
Staff Are Quitting Britain’s Equality Watchdog the EHRC Due to ‘Transphobia’
BEN HUNTE
02.04.22
Responding to the reporting, Crispin Blunt, a Conservative Party MP and chair of a UK Parliament oversight group for LGBTQ rights, described the EHRC’s work as a “direct assault” on the rights of trans people in the UK.
The UK currently has some of the most restrictive gender recognition processes in Europe, as a result of the 2004 Gender Recognition Act. However, all trans people are currently protected from discrimination by the UK’s Equality Act, and they do not need to have undergone any specific treatment or surgery to be protected.
While the way these laws intersect has been the subject of intense and frequently toxic debate in the UK, several other countries have successfully implemented progressive policies which support trans people.
The unpublished guidance shows a radical shift from previous advice given by the EHRC.
It is unclear how the EHRC expected organisations to enforce the policy on trans people needing to hold certain legal documents to access facilities such as bathrooms, but a current EHRC policy worker said “the leadership team aren’t worried about that, they just want organisations to know that they won’t be sued for being transphobic.”
Staff members – who are working their notice periods – told VICE World News they are “scared” the guidance would have led to “customers reporting people for looking too manly or womanly”.
The EHRC was established in 2007 by the then Labour government to monitor human rights in England, Wales and Scotland, and to enforce equality laws. Although not part of a government department, the EHRC is a public sector organisation funded by the taxpayer, with senior leaders appointed by the government.
Falkner has previously described the EHRC as “a regulator with compliance enforcement powers”. The current single-sex spaces guidance is significant because organisations across the UK have been asking for help to provide legally-sound facilities.
The Good Law Project campaign group provided another document to VICE World News, confirming that the EHRC’s current leadership team now wants GRCs to be key to accessing single-sex services.
Jo Maugham, director of the Good Law Project campaign group, said: “What the EHRC is reported to be proposing is straight up unlawful. The Equality Act protects all trans people – not just those with a Gender Recognition Certificate. Guidance in that form would not survive legal challenge.
“This guidance as reported would mean a trans man who has lived as a man for years, and may have gone through medical treatments and operations to affirm his gender, should be using the women’s toilets if he does not possess a GRC.”
Ex-staff members told VICE World News that in April 2021 Falkner pushed staff to speak to John Lewis about its trans-inclusive policy on fitting rooms, following complaints sent to the EHRC by “gender critical” groups.
Asked what the tone of the chair’s request was, the staff member replied: “Well she certainly wasn’t congratulating John Lewis on their trans-inclusive policies. She was being transphobic.”
“Any time Falkner saw gender-related things she wanted to get involved in, she would send an email to [senior leaders at the EHRC], and they would forward it on and loop others in.”
Another ex-staffer recalled the same John Lewis incident: “I was completely flabbergasted. Our leadership team had completely disregarded all of the legal advice they’d been given on GRCs and the Equality Act, and I couldn’t believe what Falkner was trying to do.”
They added that the EHRC’s legal expert on this topic has now left, and moved to “a human rights organisation that actually cares about LGBTQ people”.
The ex-staff members said that they eventually changed Falkner’s mind, asking her to wait to contact the department store chain until the EHRC’s “new position” on single-sex spaces was ready. VICE World News contacted John Lewis, who confirmed that the EHRC had not reached out to them about their fitting room policy.
In 2020, the former CEO of the EHRC, Rebecca Hilsenrath, stated that the laws which allow organisations to treat trans people differently “do not hinge on whether the trans person has a GRC or not.” She added: “To provide reassurance on this important point, we have written to the Equalities Minister, Kemi Badenoch MP.”
In the same release, the former leader reiterated that there is “no reason” why simplifying the way trans people are legally recognised should lead to “the removal of single-sex services or women-only spaces”.
However, a year later – in an interview on the BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour programme – Falkner completely disagreed with this. She discussed a theatre trip where she came across gender neutral toilets, saying: “I discovered that there was no single-sex space for women other than one toilet right in the rafters, very far away from where the seating was.”
“There is this sort of loss of women’s toilets and women’s facilities,” she added, “things that used to be there that aren’t any longer there.”
Describing the guidance that she hoped to release in January 2022, she said: “All we’re going to do is explain in practical terms, to different kinds of businesses and institutions, public and private institutions, what the Equality Act actually says about being able to – in this case – discriminate in favour of women.
“We’re hoping that all we need to do is point out what the law says. We’re hoping that organisations will draw their own conclusions on that. It’s a nudge rather than a hammer.”
Blunt, the Tory MP, said: “It does now appear the rights of trans people are under direct assault in the UK from the public body they would, until now, have expected to be most steadfast in their defence.”
He added: “Baroness Falkner should reflect seriously on the effect of her decisions to date on this most vulnerable group, and bring them back to being consistent with evidence. She should also not underestimate the breakdown in trust and confidence in her leadership within her organisation, as it is her officials whose evidence and advice is being discounted.”
TAGGED:
LGBTQ
TRANS RIGHTS
WORLDNEWS
EQUALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
ORIGINAL REPORTING ON EVERYTHING
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6.
Bloomington family fights for transgender daughter amid bill banning her from girls’ sports
Christine Stephenson
The Herald-Times
Mon, February 7, 2022, 4:31 AM
Kirin Clawson poses Wednesday in front of family pictures in her home.
Around the time Kirin Clawson turned 2, she began refusing to leave the house if she wasn’t wearing a tutu. She would throw a tantrum if she was only wearing her boy clothes.
When her parents, Beth and Nathaniel Clawson, saw that she felt more herself in girl clothes, they went out and bought her a pair of “Frozen”-themed shoes from Smith’s Shoe Center that she never took off.
By the time she was 3, Kirin was living as her true self. She started transitioning in preschool, which involves using correct pronouns and buying clothes she feels comfortable in.
Now, she’s a 9-year-old transgender girl in third grade at Childs Elementary School. She’s outspoken, precocious and funny, and she does roller derby, plays volleyball and is a heck of a swimmer, Beth said.
At the Statehouse: How Indiana Republican lawmakers changed their sights from gay rights to trans issues
Kirin has always been accepted by her classmates and family. But the Indiana Legislature continually attempts to pass laws that tell her she doesn’t belong.
What’s in House Bill 1041?
The Indiana House passed a bill, HB 1041, last week banning transgender girls from playing sports in elementary, middle and high schools. It passed 66-30 and is now in the hands of the state Senate.
The bill’s author, state Rep. Michelle Davis, R-Whiteland, said the bill is about ensuring girls’ athletics remain fair, as transgender girls could have a physiological advantage over cisgender girls.
The Indiana High School Athletic Association already has a policy that requires transgender girls who want to play sports to show they’ve undergone hormone treatment for at least a year and that their muscle mass or bone density is in line with other girls their age.
The bill has been adamantly opposed by the ACLU, which has said it will fight the bill in court if it is signed into law, as well as members of the LGBTQ community and parents of trans children.
Nathaniel, who testified at the Statehouse last week, is one of them.
He spoke about Kirin and how she won’t go through a testosterone-rich puberty. How her peers have seen her as a girl for as long as they’ve known her. How she’s only ever seen herself as a girl.
“There are so many life lessons that kids learn through sports, and they build stronger friendships with their peers,” he said. “It’s those life lessons that I was worried most about my daughter missing out on.”
Standing up for herself
As Kirin’s gotten older, she’s learned to stand up for herself and take up the space she deserves, Beth said. But earlier in her daughter’s life, Beth was hesitant to put her in sports with other girls in fear of what they might say to her.
“I discouraged her interest in things, specifically in swimming and gymnastics, because it’s leotards and swimsuits,” she said. “Of course, we as a family now know that gender has nothing to do with body parts, but a lot of the world doesn’t understand that.”
Beth said she understands all kids should get the opportunity to compete in fair competitions, but banning transgender girls from participating in girls’ athletics would cause much greater issues.
“My daughter’s mental health and wellness is far more important than your child’s medal or record,” she said.
In 2020, 52% of transgender and nonbinary people in the U.S. seriously contemplated killing themselves, according to an annual survey from the Trevor Project, a national nonprofit focusing on suicide prevention in LGBTQ youth. The survey is based on the experiences of nearly 35,000 LGBTQ people aged 13 to 24 across the country.
Bloomington, specifically Childs Elementary, has always been accepting, Beth and Nathaniel agreed. The day after Nathaniel testified at the Statehouse, Kirin’s teacher allowed her to carry her transgender pride flag all day and give a presentation to her classmates about what it means to be transgender. Every year, Kirin comes out to her class — mostly the same students she’s been with since kindergarten — because she feels she needs to and is comfortable doing so.
At the Statehouse: Indiana lawmakers move forward with bill banning transgender girls from girls sports
Some proponents of anti-trans legislation have argued kids can’t develop gender identity at such a young age and that parents of transgender children are mutilating them. If those people were able to see Kirin and how happy she is in her body, Beth said, they might not feel the same.
Developing an identity
When Kirin was young, Beth and Nathaniel started requesting letters from her pediatrician confirming that she is being cared for and not mistreated. They keep a binder of the letters, so that if social services or anyone else questions if Kirin is living with a safe home life, they have evidence.
And even if Kirin does decide one day that she isn’t transgender, Beth and Nathaniel won’t have any regrets.
“Our whole thought process is if she changes her mind, she’ll at least know that we accepted her and we love her,” Nathaniel said.
The Clawsons are involved with a local group called TASC, the Trans and Allies Support Community, through which they met Jeanne Smith, a longtime Bloomington resident. Smith and the Clawsons talk about once a week, Beth said.
Smith, 69, has known she was transgender since she was 5. She spent her life hiding her true identity until she was 55.
“I spent 50 years trying not to be trans until I realized that I had a soul,” she said.
Smith said if transgender girls are banned from playing girls’ sports — and if other legislation that is harmful to the transgender community becomes law — it would instill fear in transgender youth and could cause them to hide their identity like she did.
“The state of Indiana is doing nothing to help the trans person,” she said. “They’re putting them in the worst possible situation.”
“We spend our days armored up,” Beth said. “A lot of people are saying, ‘We’re not denying your child because they can still play boys’ sports.’ But I’m like, you can’t tell them, ‘Be who you are, except when.’ You have to let our kids be who they are all the time.”
At least half a dozen bills were filed at the beginning of Indiana’s 2022 legislative session that involve transgender people. Other bills included banning affirming medical care for minors, limiting which bathrooms transgender people could use and not allowing gender to be changed on a birth certificate. Although they’re less likely to pass, Nathaniel said, it still hurts to see those bills filed.
Beth, Nathaniel and Jeanne, who are all heavily involved in the local transgender community, said they don’t know of any other transgender girls in this area who are participating in sports right now.
As long as they have Kirin, though, they’re going to fight for her.
“We spend our days armored up,” Beth said. “A lot of people are saying, ‘We’re not denying your child because they can still play boys’ sports.’ But I’m like, you can’t tell them, ‘Be who you are, except when.’ You have to let our kids be who they are all the time.”
CORRECTION: The print version of this story in Sunday’s Herald-Times incorrectly stated that Kirin Clawson is taking hormones. She is not.
Contact Herald-Times reporter Christine Stephenson at cstephenson@heraldt.com.
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7.
Legal bullying and abuse – the absence of Civil Rights and Human Rights – leads to the extermination of those populations exactly as Hitler’s Final Solution designed for his target Trans and LGBT groups.
– Sharon
(https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=485700076260313&id=100044609731549)
Eli Erlick
7 Feb 2022
FAKE TRANS DOCUMENTARY/ORGANIZATION:
Here’s the ridiculous story about how extreme the far-right is willing to go to dehumanize trans people. I was nearly tricked into doing an elaborate anti-trans documentary by Matt Walsh’s film crew this month. It started with an email from the “Gender Unity Project” a couple weeks ago. They claimed they were doing a film on the trans community and gave me names of well-known trans individuals and surgeons they had interviewed. It all seemed normal at first. I even talked to the producer (Makenna Lynn Waters) on the phone beforehand. She sounded like a well-meaning cis film graduate who was just curious about the trans community.
When we chatted, she claimed the documentary was self-funded. I was suspicious because she had finished college recently, but figured she was just rich (who has that kind of money?). Later, she told me the individual they were interviewing in Chicago had suddenly canceled (this happens, but is still sus). Then she offered to fly me to Nashville: where Matt Walsh lives. They finally sent me a release form this morning, which strangely didn’t have the name of the company on it. So, I looked up the Gender Unity Project. It used a registered agent to shield the company owners. It’s dubious but sometimes registered agents simply make it easier to incorporate. Then I looked Makenna Lynn up. Her name didn’t show up anywhere.
After some heavy Google searching, I realized she used her middle name as her last in our emails. I found the IMDB page of her real name (Makenna Waters). It turns out she’s a producer for the Matt Walsh show! That’s not a red flag: that’s a gun to your face. If you’re not familiar, Matt Walsh is a white supremacist who makes a living denying the basic humanity of trans people. She wasn’t just a producer for his show: she worked on over 200 episodes of it! I finally found her Twitter, which features videos of Walsh berating protesters and Ben Shapiro doing his usual BS.
I decided to look closer into the “Gender Unity Project.” After searching its state registration number, I learned it was registered to Justin Folk, a white supremacist documentarian who works for Matt Walsh and Prager U. His initials (jrkfolk) were also listed in the release I thankfully refused to sign. So, if you’re contacted by these slimy assholes, don’t respond. The last thing we need right now is another “gotcha” anti-trans documentary! Stay alert and take any media personalities with a grain of salt.
And they say we’re the ones tricking people?
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Eli Erlick
Tue 5:03 PM
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Dear Reader:
Thank you for visiting this post today.
Thank you to the Resources who contribute to this page. Please take note of the specific and the random memes and screen print images that may be attached to this article, that I present throughout this web-site. They add to the essence of this post.
Acknowledgement and credit goes to those who create their social media content, essays, and images.
*
Thank you to T-central.blogspot.com for listing my ‘Slim and Me’ web-site with them. Please check them out for plenty of good resources.
(https://T-central.blogspot.com)
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Additional Resources:
1.
(https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10159707745261738&id=834431737)
Karen Caron
6 Aug 2021
Costco carries this jam and I felt that this story needed to be shared.
The incident took place in a supermarket in New Jersey. The tweet is by Michael Perino @ProfessorPerino
“At the supermarket today, I found a small, elderly woman standing in front of a high shelf holding @BonneMamanUS preserves. She was having trouble finding the flavor she wanted because the jars were set back on the shelf.
She couldn’t read the labels. She could barely reach them. I offered to help.
After I handed her the raspberry preserves, she thanked me, paused, and then asked, “Do you know why I buy this brand?”
I laughed and replied, “Because it tastes good?”
“Yes, it tastes good.” She paused again. “I am a Holocaust survivor.”
This was not the conversation I expected on a Sunday grocery run. “During the war, the family that owns the company hid my family in Paris. So now I always buy it. And whenever I go to the store, my grandkids remind me, ‘Bubbe, don’t forget to buy the jelly.’”
I told her that that was the best reason I ever heard to buy any company’s product. And then we both smiled behind our masks and went our separate ways.”
***************************
Someone else on Twitter looked into the story and indeed, the town that Andros Company, the makers of Bonne Maman, comes from, hid and saved Jewish families in WW2. It was called Biars sur Cere, which then had about 800 villagers.
From an article, “You have to understand what it was like then. There were posters on the walls, from the Nazis and from the collaborators, and they said that if you are found to help a Jew, a freemason, a communist, a socialist, or a pervert, you will be shot on sight.” Despite the great danger in which helping them put the villagers in, still they kept the children safe.”
A good reason to buy Bonne Maman products. And a poignant reminder that when we look out for each other it can change lives, and that there are good and selfless people in the world.
♥️Bonne Maman! 🇫🇷
**
Costco carries this jam and I felt that this story needed to be shared.
*The incident took place in a supermarket in New Jersey. The tweet is by Michael Perino @ProfessorPerino*
“At the supermarket today, I found a small, elderly woman standing in front of a high shelf holding @BonneMamanUS preserves. She was having trouble finding the flavor she wanted because the jars were set back on the shelf.
She couldn’t read the labels. She could barely reach them. I offered to help.
After I handed her the raspberry preserves, she thanked me, paused, and then asked, “Do you know why I buy this brand?”
I laughed and replied, “Because it tastes good?”
“Yes, it tastes good.” She paused again. “I am a Holocaust survivor.”
This was not the conversation I expected on a Sunday grocery run. “During the war, the family that owns the company hid my family in Paris. So now I always buy it. And whenever I go to the store, my grandkids remind me, ‘Bubbe, don’t forget to buy the jelly.’”
I told her that that was the best reason I ever heard to buy any company’s product. And then we both smiled behind our masks and went our separate ways.”
*****************************
Someone else on Twitter looked into the story and indeed, the town that Andros Company, the makers of Bonne Maman, comes from, hid and saved Jewish families in WW2. It was called Biars sur Cere, which then had about 800 villagers.
From an article, “You have to understand what it was like then. There were posters on the walls, from the Nazis and from the collaborators, and they said that if you are found to help a Jew, a freemason, a communist, a socialist, or a pervert, you will be shot on sight.” Despite the great danger in which helping them put the villagers in, still they kept the children safe.”
A good reason to buy Bonne Maman products. And a poignant reminder that when we look out for each other it can change lives, and that there are good and selfless people in the world.
♥️Bonne Maman! 🇫🇷
Karen Caron
Tue 12:56 AM
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2.
Hitler’s Enabling Act:
(https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enabling_Act_of_1933)
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3.
Christian Con-servatives impose Trans Panic legislation targeting the Trans Community.
Christian Con-servatives preach the Old Testament as American law – that Trans is ‘pervert’. Sheesh! My 11th Grade Psychology teacher also taught our class that same lesson in 1973 – that Trans is ‘pervert’.
(https://youtu.be/PIvCh3EQv1Q)
Daily Show
7 Apr 2016
Legal Discrimination.
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4.
When LGBT was illegal.
A Stonewall Inn veteran recalls the riots that sparked an LGBTQ revolution
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5.
(https://fb.watch/barQDSp7-7/)
(https://fb.watch/barIjyiiJe/)
Liberal Redneck – Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” Bill
Trae Crowder
10 Feb 2022
Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill.
(https://fb.watch/barLmWBYUW/)
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6.
A cult. Drumpf supporter reversing course after participating in January 6th.
(https://fb.watch/b9l7Br3QmW/)
CNN
10 Feb 2022
‘Stop the Steal’ was about Black votes don’t count. Biden won election in 2020 with 92% of the Black voters.
The subject admits Drumpf is a cuit; he still believes in the propaganda and he still excuses his actions. He’s not sorry about what he did. As a member of the Drumpf Insurrectionist mob, he doesn’t accept his responsibility for the terrorist attack.
(https://fb.watch/b9lf0IAWlt/)
‘It was the greatest day of my life. I was a patriot standing up for my president. I was not in control. I got caught up into this. All the evidence will be coming, wait for our next breath. Crazy fight scenes started happening. I wasn’t doing anything wrong storming the Capitol. Police should be held accountable. I created a reverence for Stop the Steal. It is a second Civil War. ‘
– Keith Scott, Drumpfian Insurrectionist
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7.
(https://fb.watch/b9kHgtNZ6H/)
Daily Show
11 Feb 2012
Freedom Convoy Compares Vax Mandates to Holocaust
(https://fb.watch/b9kRR6xT07/)
(https://fb.watch/b9kSQSY5OD/)
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8.
File Civil Rights complaints at the Health and Human Services website – Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (‘ObamaCare’) protects against Sex Discrimination.
Don’t spend ANY time worrying about whether the ACA applies in your case. Assert that this is Sex Discrimination, because it is. They will figure out whether the ACA applies in the particular case. If people do not file, HHS doesn’t know what is going on.
Such complaints wouldn’t have been beneficial under Croooked Drumpf and Republi-cons. We are in a different place now. For now. Use it!
(https://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/filing-a-complaint/index.html)
Filing a Civil Rights Complaint
If you believe that you have been discriminated against because of your race, color, national origin, disability, age, sex, or religion in programs or activities that HHS directly operates or to which HHS provides federal financial assistance, you may file a complaint with OCR. You may file a complaint for yourself or for someone else.
If you believe that you have been discriminated against because of your disability by a State or local government health care or social services agency, you may file a complaint with the OCR. You may file a complaint for yourself or for someone else.
Do you have a complaint about housing, law enforcement, labor, education or employment discrimination? OCR does not generally investigate these types of complaints. Find other Federal civil rights agencies that can help you.
(http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/civilrights/otherenforcementagencies.html)
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9.
‘Drumpf will re-take the President in 2024 and fix the trouble we in. (sic). ‘
‘We’re back in the game. We Republi-cons have a very positive future. ‘
– Lindsey Graham, R-Drumpf (ABC ‘This Week’, 13 Feb 2022)
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10.
‘Far Right groups, Drumpf supporters, are the danger when they join the T-party. ‘
– Jerry Seib, R-Drumpf / ‘Wall Street Journal’ (‘Fox News Sunday’, 13 Feb 2022)
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11.
Tony Guida
‘Lavender Scare ‘
(https://youtu.be/h8foOUPctfA)
Interview: 14 Jun 2019
With guest Josh Howard.
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12.
(https://youtu.be/BVUs4dS30c0)
PBS Frontline
Trump’s American Carnage #3910
Arizona PBS HD
ADD TO FAVORITES:
DESCRIPTION
From his first days as president to his last, how Trump stoked division, violence, and insurrection. Trump’s siege on his enemies, the media, and even the leaders of his own party, who for years ignored the warning signs of what was to come.
Broadcast In: ENGLISH
Duration: 0:56:46
HD
ADDITIONAL AIRINGS
3:00am, 02/02/2022 | Arizona PBS HD
SET A REMINDER
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‘Drumpf’s Presidency ended in a violent assault on American Democracy. Drumpf stood at the Capitol on his Inauguration, lighting the fires that would become the Insurrection. Elected leaders looked on – unable to stop Drumpf or unwilling to see the coming violence and the Insurrection. Carnage that Drumpf vowed to end was just beginning. ‘ ‘Drumpf stirred chaos and violence. Violence worked.
– Narration
‘WE are led by Stupid People! ‘
– Drumpf (his speech)
‘American people were angry. They saw Drumpf fighting for them. ‘
– Corey Lewendowski, R-Drumpf
‘Drumpf’s a Race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot. Tell Drumpf to go to Hell. ‘
– Senator Lindsey Graham
‘We have a Con artist in Drumpf in the Republi-con Party. He’s made a career telling lies. ‘
– Senator Marco Rubio
‘Drumpf is a pathological liar. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth. ‘
– Senator Rafael Cruz
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Slim and Me 