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When Theresa May allied with the notoriously anti-LGBT DUP, the government promised significant investment in promoting LGBT rights in Northern Ireland. Channel 4 News has investigated and discovered exactly how much has been spent to promote equality in a country of 1.871 million people. £318. You may be wondering: what amazing things was this incredible… [more]
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My former doctor has been suspended by the General Medical Council. Dr Mike Webberley, who took over the care of trans patients when his wife Helen was censured over an administrative issue, is no longer able to treat patients in the UK. I don’t know the ins and outs of this one, but I do… [more]
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James Doleman’s Twitter account is providing an unintentionally hilarious account of Katherine O’Donnell’s employment tribunal. Today, Times editor John Witherow is giving evidence. A pattern appears to be emerging. Counsel for the complainant presents to the court another Times article, a “self-identification,†of gender. This refers to the Soham Murderer, Ian Huntley, and suggests he… [more]
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The chat app SnapChat is back in the headlines after its new gender-swapping filter went viral. The filter makes boys look like girls and vice-versa, and as you can see above the results are pretty funny – although I seem to have the dubious honour of being the only person who looks older when the… [more]
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I’m indebted to Tennessee Pete on Twitter for the link to and commentary on this story: As he put it: This is such a good case study for manufacturing consent because it’s just… ‘in response to Iran’ In response to Iran doing what? No, not in response to any provocation, just in response to Iran.… [more]
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Imagine if the BBC had been taken to a tribunal over allegations of bullying, bias and malpractice so serious the entire management team were made to appear as witnesses. Newspapers would be all over the story, with good reason. As award-winning journalist Liz Gerard points out on Twitter, if you swap the BBC for The Times… [more]
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These are the politicians who passed the horrific anti-abortion bill in Alabama. Notice any similarities? It’s easy to look across the Atlantic in horror at Dark Ages throwbacks such as these yahoos, but don’t forget that right here in the UK abortion is still illegal in Northern Ireland, as is equal marriage. In Northern Ireland,… [more]
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Scotland’s only openly transgender elected official has resigned over “institutionalised transphobia” in the SNP. Dundee councillor Gregor Murray has repeatedly clashed with senior SNP figures including Joanna Cherry and Joan McAlpine. Murray: The SNP has a major institutional problem with transphobia, and is doing nothing to rectify this. While they rightfully condemn Labour for anti-semitism, and… [more]
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One of the witnesses in Katherine O’Donnell’s employment tribunal against her former employer The Times  is Christine Burns MBE. Burns played a key part in the creation of UK equality legislation, and she’s been monitoring and reporting on the press coverage of trans issues for very many years. In her submission to the tribunal, she describes… [more]
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Writer Erynn Brook has posted an important thread on Twitter that begins with a simple question: why does she, a Canadian woman, care so much about abortion law in the US? The answer isn’t just that it’s a moral position, that if you care about women’s rights you should care about women’s rights everywhere. It’s… [more]
Read me in books
My debut memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was a Scotsman book of the year and Damian Barr’s Literary Salon book of the week, and it was shortlisted for the 2023 British Book Awards book of the year in the Discover category.
My latest book, Small Town Joy, is a celebration of queer influences on and queer artists in Scots music and is out now.
I’m also a contributor to the excellent anthology Fierce Salvage, which is also out now.
