this post was submitted on 27 Apr 2025
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‘Rights can be knocked out in a second’: older trans women shocked by supreme court ruling (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 1 day ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world
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Women who transitioned decades ago feel their safety and security has suddenly been removed

Last week’s supreme court ruling sent shock waves through the UK’s trans community.

The unanimous judgment said the legal definition of a woman in the Equality Act 2010 did not include transgender women who hold gender recognition certificates (GRCs).

That feeling was compounded when Kishwer Falkner, the chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which is preparing new statutory guidance, said the judgment meant only biological women could use single-sex changing rooms and toilets.

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[–] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

The UK doesn't even have a written constitution, so everything, including "Rights" is really just one parliamentary majority (which with the country's First Past The Post system can be had for as little as 34% of votes cast, which taking in account the typical levels of abstention means the approval of less than 1/4 of the population) or one Supreme Court decision away from being nullified.

Back when the UK was still a member of the EU (to be an EU member one MUST be a member of the European Convention Of Human Rights), this kinda stuff ended up in the European Court Of Human Rights (which is not an EU court, but instead is the court of last resort for members of the European Convention Of Human Rights), but nowadays maybe that's not so (I'm not sure if the meanwhile after Brexit the UK has already left the European Convention Of Human Rights, but being able to leave it was one of the things the Brexiters claimed was a "benefit" of leaving the EU).

(Edit: it turns out the UK is still a member of the Council of Europe and hence the European Convention Of Human Rights, so maybe this can still be appealed to the European Court Of Human Rights)

I've lived in a couple of countries in Europe, including the UK, and found the UK the be the least Democratic of all (frankly I'm not even sure what they have is a real Democracy rather than a "managed" Theatre Of Democracy to keep the riff-raff thinking they have real power).

[–] RedFrank24@lemmy.world 7 points 10 hours ago

I had to avoid looking at this topic elsewhere because it made me so fucking angry. My best friend in the entire world is trans, and she's coming for Christmas this year. I'm not sure what I'd do if someone harassed her for using the toilet, but I get the feeling my mugshot would be in the paper afterwards.

[–] A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 141 points 1 day ago (4 children)

I hate it when European countries play "who can emulate the US the fastest"

[–] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 7 hours ago

From having lived in several countries in Europe, including the UK, I would say that Britain is the closest we have here to the US when it comes to being a deeply flawed Democracy, possibly worse than the US since unlike it, Britain doesn't even have a written constitution, so just about everything can be changed with a law passed by a simple parliamentary majority (of 50% + 1) and as the UK has a First Past The Post electoral system said majority can be had with a mere 34% of votes cast (the current government has such a parliamentary majority with only 33.7% of votes), which given the typical level of Parliamentary Elections abstention over there is less than the votes of 1/4 of voters.

Britain has wonderful propaganda helped by some really weird elements like the local elites sending their children to schools were they learn the fine arts of "managing apperances" (learned behaviours which in many other countries would be considered dishonest and deceitful) plus a media industry which is World class (probably the best Theatre industry in the World, IMHO) often used to project a very good image of the country (its almost a joke how every couple of years, almost like clockwork, out comes a new film about WWII portraying Britain as a great country), so from the outside most people have a good impression of of that country, but if you're living there and get involved in Politics and really learn about their system, the more you learn the less Democratic it seems.

[–] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 19 points 20 hours ago

Well, UK birthed the US after all. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

[–] Zagorath@aussie.zone 149 points 1 day ago (11 children)

Nah, that doesn't apply in this case. The UK is a world leader in transphobia, acting not because the US does things, but because they're entirely transphobic on their own.

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 5 points 10 hours ago

They suck, but world leader? Some countries still stone you to death for such things.

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 38 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I bet Rowling is ecstatic.

[–] garbagebagel@lemmy.world 31 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

She donated £70,000 to the people that pushed to pass this bill.

In the words of Pedro Pascal, she is indeed a "heinous loser"

[–] Zagorath@aussie.zone 17 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

Her public celebration of the result was absolutely grotesque

Screenshot of a Tweet by Rowling, replying to another Tweet by Rowling. The original Tweet has a photo of her smoking a cigar and holding a drink, sitting by the sea and staring smuggly at the camera, with the caption "I love it when a plan comes together". The reply Tweet compares people mistaking her cigar for a blunt to trans women, claiming the cigar might "identify as a blunt".

[–] Jumpingspiderman@lemmy.world 13 points 16 hours ago (3 children)

Anyone speculate on why JKR is so anti-trans? Did something happen in her past that makes her so hateful on this issue?

[–] burgerpocalyse@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago

radical feminist to trans exclusionary radical feminist pipeline, being completely isolated from other people due to being a billionaire, not respected by other authors due to not being very good at being an author, also potential black mold poisoning

[–] Zagorath@aussie.zone 7 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Did something happen in her past that makes her so hateful on this issue

I can't guess as to the full extent of her transphobia, but I can point to a couple of elements of it.

She did suffer domestic abuse of some sort before and around the time the first Harry Potter book came out. This was a cis man who did it, but I think in her mind there's no difference between cis men and trans women.

There's also a well-studied psychological phenomenon where people tend to double-down on their prior beliefs when challenged, unless those challenges come in a very narrow form. Her earliest transphobic comments may have been her being tepid about expressing her true beliefs, but they may genuinely have been the sort of misinformed casual transphobia that a much, much wider segment of the population has which may have gone no further if she were a normal person. But because lots of well-intentioned people—largely some of her most dedicated fans—tried to educate her and help her to be better, she may have doubled down and got into the reactionary feedback loop that so many transphobes, racists, and members of the alt-right got into. They perceive constructive criticism, especially when it comes in large volumes, as a personal attack, and the people who aren't attacking them instead encourage them to double down on their beliefs, and reward them when they do.

Her books show a very strong liberal bias. Liberal in the sense that it's not regressive per se, but it's also strongly opposed to analysis of problems as stemming from systemic issues rather than One Bad Actor. SPEW is the easiest to point to, but the lack of systemic change in the governance of the Wizarding World post-Voldemort is more significant, in my view. The problem was one Minister of Magic who was just ignorant of the problem of Voldemort, followed by another who actively covered it up. These individuals are the bad guys who need to be defeated. It wasn't, as the books tell it, underlying racism and classism of wizarding culture. So it seems that Rowling is not good at spotting systemic injustice. Such as the higher suicide rates among trans people (especially if they're not accepted), higher rates of DV and other violence, and other problems faced are not factoring into her calculations. Which makes it so much easier to cast trans people as the bad guys.

But I find it hard for these to adequately explain either the initial spark of transphobia per se, or the rather extreme extent she's gone to. So yeah, like you I'm a little curious if there's more to it.

[–] Jumpingspiderman@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago

An excellent analysis. Thank you for a thought and highly plausible explanation of the JKR phenomenon.

[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 16 hours ago

I am also so curious. Maybe money and the idea of “I just subjugate anyone that isn’t like me” is the answer? Notch went though similar stuff shirt he got “fuck you” money.

[–] sik0fewl@lemmy.ca 2 points 16 hours ago

Did she mean demonstrably?

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[–] vzq@lemmy.world 47 points 1 day ago (6 children)

Good on you for leaving the EU with at that fuss about “human rights” and “rule of law”.

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[–] squirrel@lemmy.blahaj.zone 42 points 1 day ago (3 children)

The Guardian shedding crocodile's tears? Boohoo, we spend years vilifying trans people and now look what happened...

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