The Sunday Times says Boris Johnson is going to reject May-era proposals to allow people to “self-identify” changes of their legal gender.
Some thoughts:
1. Trust this report. It’s by one of the best-connected reporters around and it’s consistent with public and private signals from inside government in recent months.
The organised trans rights groups also failed to distance themselves from the online hate-mongers who do trans people a huge disservice by bombarding dissenting women with obscene abuse.
2. This is a remarkable demonstration of how grassroots politics can still work. When the Gender Recognition Act consultation began in autumn 2018, there was no organisation in existence that was willing or able to raise the concern of women (and men) who worry about the consequences of self-ID for women’s legal rights and same-sex spaces. Unrepresented and facing a solid political consensus built by well-funded professional advocacy groups, those women were undeterred. They organised themselves, finding ways to voice their concerns.
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