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Something wonderful happened in the Scottish elections this week. A whole bunch of politicians who’d bet on transphobia being a vote-winner were either kicked out of office or failed to get elected in the first place. The most obvious example of that is self-confessed sex pest Alex Salmond’s sleepy cuddles party, Alba, which failed to… [more]
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My talented musical pal Becci Wallace made this. It’s funny because it’s so very true. [more]
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There was an important legal judgement yesterday that, despite being about trans people, has somehow failed to make it into the papers. London’s High Court threw out the attempted judicial review of the Equality Act 2010 by LGB Alliance co-founder and trustee Ann Sinnott, saying that her case was “unarguable” and that her interpretation of… [more]
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The unprecedented legislative attacks on trans people, particularly teens, in the US are horrific. Writing in Jewish Currents, Jules Gill-Peterson explains why there are so many anti-trans bills being introduced by Republican lawmakers and what ideology is behind them. the right-wing proponents of this legislative avalanche have greater ambitions than mere electoral dominance. As HB… [more]
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It’s Lesbian Visibility Week. That’s important, because research suggests that gay men are more than twice as likely to be out in the workplace than gay women; gay trans women tend to stay closeted in the workplace too. Visibility matters. I grew up in a period of viciously anti-LGBT+ media and Section 28, and it wasn’t… [more]
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The actor Alan Cumming wrote this for the Royal Society of Edinburgh and shared it on his Instagram. I think he’s right. The vast majority of people who fear LGBT+ folks aren’t hateful. The problem is that they are lied to by a small but vocal group of people who are hateful and whose goal… [more]
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Another Angry Woman has an excellent post about the comedian Robert Webb, who’d previously been vocally transphobic. This week he was gently questioned about it in an interview by a presenter who is the parent of a trans child. Faced with someone who actually had some insight into the subject of trans kids, Webb’s response… [more]
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This, by Katie J.M. Baker in Lux magazine, is a good analysis of how an apparently benign website, Mumsnet, became a hotbed of anti-trans radicalism. Baker has previously reported on misogynist men online including incels and self-proclaimed Men’s Rights activists. I think Baker is right in her judgement that women’s genuine anger and trauma –… [more]
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In Texas, bill SB1646 would make it illegal for parents to support their trans children. Merely consenting to a doctor’s prescription of puberty blockers would be child abuse and cause to remove the child from their parents. As writer Cassie Celeste put it on Twitter: We’ve gone from “just asking questions” to this in six… [more]
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Slate explains the role of the Alliance Defending Freedom in US (and UK) anti-trans bills and legal cases. Over the last 28 years, the ADF has defended laws prohibiting same-sex intimacy; opposed marriage, adoption, and surrogacy for same-sex couples; attacked LGBTQ non-discrimination laws, as well as bans on conversion therapy for minors; argued in favor… [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.
