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There’s a good piece in Doing Feminist Legal Work about the connections between gender and tyranny going back hundreds of years, and the way they’re connected on both sides of the Atlantic today. The article makes the point that the US state-by-state attack on women’s reproductive freedoms, Donald Trump’s assertion that domestic violence by husbands… [more]
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This, by Toby Buckle, is very good: Britain’s Bathroom Ban. The UK is in the process of implementing a prohibition on any trans person accessing any single-sex space. Trans people will be barred from using facilities that match their gender (i.e., a trans woman will not be able to use the women’s toilets), but also,… [more]
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I’ve been saddened but not surprised by the rush to canonise Charlie Kirk, the murdered bigot, in so much of the UK press: reading pieces like yesterday’s utterly deranged column by Kevin McKenna in The Herald would leave you with the impression that Kirk was some kind of Debate Jesus crucified by trans women rather… [more]
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Yesterday, three UK newspapers said that the killer of hatemonger Charlie Kirk was pro-trans on their front pages. The Daily Telegraph had the headline “Charlie Kirk suspect ‘left gun with trans message’”. The Sun front page said that “Ammo ‘carried pro-trans message’”. The Times front page headline was “Trump ally’s killer left ‘transgender ammunition’”. Other… [more]
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Transactual’s doing great work about terrible things right now. Its new report details how LGBTQ+ people are living in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling, and it’s clear that the UK has become a terrifying and hostile environment for many of us. The report says: “some trans people are planning to flee to safer… [more]
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The Quakers in Britain have published their response to an activist’s demand that they segregate trans women in their premises and at their events. It’s a masterclass in how to respond to bigots’ unreasonable, aggressive and unlawful demands, and an excellent example of a very British form of literary work: telling someone, very politely and… [more]
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I can barely read this NYT piece about the generative AI chatbot that helped a teen kill himself because it’s so upsetting. Content warning doesn’t begin to cover it. Without ChatGPT, Adam would still be with them, his parents think, full of angst and in need of help, but still here. This isn’t your typical… [more]
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What’s it like to be a woman (trans or otherwise) or non-binary person since the EHRC tried to segregate trans people? Transactual’s new report goes into detail and makes grim reading. It’s based on hundreds of testimonials and shows that the EHRC interim update, and bigots’ misrepresentation of the Scottish Ministers verdict in the Supreme… [more]
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You may have seen coverage of the Polari Prize protest, in which almost all of the first book prize nominees and many of the main prize nominees have withdrawn in protest at the inclusion of the anti-trans writer John Boyne. Boyne, a self-proclaimed “TERF” who just happened to sanitise his social media a few days… [more]
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The Times reports that the EHRC guidance on trans people, to be published later this year, is going to ignore the 50,000+ consultation responses and will tell organisations not to let trans people use the correct facilities for their gender. It’s not a surprise, but it’s important to understand that what the EHRC is attempting… [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.
