Buy me a coffee

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/the-conversion-practices-bill-a-trojan

LGB Alliance organised a lobby of Parliament today.

The parliamentary assistant (PA) to my MP, Cat Eccles ( Labour) had e-mailed me this morning saying Ms Eccles would meet me but, in the end, after waiting for one and a half hours, she sent down the PA because she wanted to listen to Andy ‘What Rape Gangs’ Burnham giving his inaugural speech. I don’t know what he was talking about. What he bought at Greggs this morning? More of meeting the PA below.

I was actually rather amazed that she said she would meet me because, since the General Election in 2024, my wife and I have sent her many e-mails and she is yet to agree with us on anything!!!!!

We gathered first at St Stephen’s Green and then again later for a further photo session. Talked to lots of lovely Terfs during the day. Several of them allowed me to practise what I was intending to say to my MP and then provided constructive criticism which was very useful. I commiserated with those who had the following MPs: Jeremy Corbyn; David Lammy; Keir Starmer. Probably the majority of people who turned up didn’t get to see anyone!!

One woman I was talking to said that the majority of “ordinary people'“ agree with us. I agreed. ‘Transing away the gay’ was, of course, top of the agenda!! See further below.

I didn’t do any notes for my meeting with the PA but ad libbed so this is my recollection of how it went. I started by saying that I frequently hear from older adult gays and lesbians ( including some I was chatting to before I met him) that, if this madness had been around when they were young, they may well have fallen for it and decided that they were ‘trans’. One woman I talked to said that, when she was young, she thought for a while that she was a boy who had been born without a penis because of how tomboy she was!!!! I then referred to the evidence that came from the Gender Identity Service at the Tavistock Clinic after it was shut down following the initial Cass Report that a substantial majority of the teenagers were same sex attracted. Dr Cass herself accepted that the majority of children who said they were ‘born in the wrong body’, if they were allowed to go through puberty, would no longer have so called ‘gender dysphoria’ once they were in their twenties. Additionally most if not all of these children have co-morbidities. I especially gave as an example autistic children who were disproportionately represented amongst this cohort. At the very least it made sense to talk to these children and perhaps provide therapeutic help for these children to work through their concerns and link them in with their other concerns.

If this Bill becomes an Act parents and others will potentially be criminalised for these matters. I gave as an example a parent saying she or he would not buy the daughter a breast binder especially due to the physical harm that can be caused. There is a clause relating to ‘economic pressure.’

It is vanishingly rare that there are actual instances of conversion therapy regarding LGB people. If it happens, there are already criminal offences that deal with this. Effectively, on analysis, this Bill is supporting the conversion of LGB people!!!

The PA seemed to be coming from the angle that perhaps the Bill could be re-drafted to solve any problems but I made it clear that my position was that the whole Bill needed to be binned.

We agreed that we would see where the Bill gets to a bit later in the day and then I could arrange a local ‘surgery’ appointment with Ms Eccles. So further constructive criticism to the way I have presented the arguments welcomed.

Finally some photos from the day.

Baroness Nicholson in centre in green, detransitioner Michael to her right, two further to the right Kate Barker of LGBA in the black jacket and white trousers.

Mr Menno in the Great Hall at Westminster

Steven and Rebecca who organised the day. Well organised, both!!

Statue of Emmeline Pankhurst next to Parliament

Statue of Millicent Fawcett in front of the Supreme Court

Horse Guard, Whitehall

I am going to defer an Endpiece to the next Update.

#BeMorePorcupine

#StopThe ConversionPracticesBill

Buy me a coffee

Thanks as ever to my paid subscribers and to those who buy me a coffee. These updates do take up an enormous amount of work, so please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Onwards with the Dusty,Nicola, Moodie and Rex Film Series 😀 Please keep the suggestions for films coming in but please check the list first which I am updating as we go along. Please send suggestions in the comments here at this link:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/empire-of-light-dustys-film-series

The Name of the Rose is a 1986 film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, based on the 1980 novel by Umberto Eco.

Franciscan friar William of Baskerville ( Sean Connery) and his novice, Adso of Melk ( Christian Slater), arrive at an early 14th-century Benedictine abbey in Northern Italy. A mysterious death has occurred ahead of an important theological Church conference—a young illuminator appears to have committed suicide. William confronts the worried Abbot (Michael Lonsdale) and gains permission to investigate the death. Over the next days, several other bizarre deaths occur.

His investigations are curtailed by the arrival of Bernardo Gui of the Inquisition ( F. Murray Abraham), keen to prosecute those he deems responsible for the deaths.

Thanks to two wonderful readers for suggested pierces.

Some of the linked pieces below may be behind a paywall.

UK - The For Women Scotland Judgment

Fiona McAnena of Sex Matters is interviewed on GB News about certain councils and other organisations openly defying the Supreme Court judgment. The other day ( as I reported) I got a waffly reply from the Equality and Human Rights Commission as to whether they would step in. I think some of the Terf organisations may need to take action. These cases would be sure fire winners, so you would almost certainly get your costs back at the end of the day. We need to hunt down the rats!!!!

UK - The Sandie Peggie case

As regular readers will know, Sandie lost her case at first instance.

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/im-laughing-at-clouds?utm_source=publication-search

The Grounds of Appeal have now been released:

https://x.com/tribunaltweets/status/2093293015968207313

Michael Foran goes through those grounds of appeal . Sandie was refused permission to appeal on the ground of bias by the judge but is now also challenging that decision. And the more you look at the decision, the more it appears that this may be a case of bias (amongst other grounds of appeal):

https://knowingius.org/p/live-with-michael-foran-506

UK - Dr Chrysostom

At a conference in Wales, Penny Marie has a brief interview with Dr Chrysostom, who has been relentlessly sending letters to those in power about the horrors of gender surgery:

https://pennymarie.substack.com/p/medical-deception-dr-joseph-chrysostom

UK - Can We Trust Andy Burnham?

Well I know what my answer is…but over to EDI Jester:

https://edijester.substack.com/p/burnham-built-the-machine-he-will

UK - Puberty Blockers

Great interview with James Esses by Jack Jewell about the attempt to stop the clinical trial of puberty blockers:

UK - Let Women Speak

In case you missed it, Kellie-Jay Keen and Let Women Speak were at Marble Arch yesterday:

The States - Mini Round Up

As ever good round up by Kara Dansky I will pick out just one piece:

The Democratic primary election for the New Hampshire House of Representatives takes place on September 8. Jonah Wheeler and Peter Leishman are both running unopposed for the seats they currently hold. In 2025, both voted to pass HB 148, which allows businesses in the state to maintain single-sex spaces like bathrooms. He gave a speech on the assembly floor explaining his vote.

A few weeks ago, he gave an impassioned speech about why he feels so strongly about this topic and posted it on X. He emphasized that “gender identity” is illiberal and definitely not progressive. He is absolutely right. I discussed his video in an episode of Woman’s Hour for paid subscribers only.

He tells me that local Dems are attacking him, and calling him “MAGA” and “anti-gay.” Nothing could be further from the truth, and it is high time we drop the popular media narrative that this fight is somehow “MAGA” against a “tiny marginalized community.”

So many groups on the political left have popped up in recent years. There are Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender (DIAG, on whose board I serve) and the LGB Courage Coalition, “a lesbian and gay advocacy group committed to promoting evidence-based medical care, ending the medicalization of gender nonconformity, safeguarding homosexual rights, and building a pathway back for LGB individuals who have undergone medicalization.” There are the radical feminist groups Women’s Declaration International USA and Women’s Liberation Front, both nonpartisan organizations whose members and supporters generally hail from the political left (I have previously served on the boards of both organizations).

Calling any of these groups “MAGA” is lazy and outrageous. “Gender identity” is illiberal. It’s the most regressive ideology I have seen in my lifetime. It’s based on regressive sex stereotypes. It’s sexist and homophobic. It subjects minors and vulnerable adults to harmful hormones and surgeries.

It’s important to note that Jonah is not asking for donations at this time. He tells me that at this point in the race, there’s nothing for him to spend money on.

I can’t publicly back any candidates and I don’t live in New Hampshire, but I will say that this is ridiculous and it has to stop.

The full piece is here:

https://karadansky.substack.com/p/a-woman-who-serves-on-the-board-of

New Zealand - Woke Scientists and Academics

We have been following the definition of a man and woman bill and Katrina Biggs, on her substack A B’Old Woman, looks at how a woke scientist and academic are responding!

Woke scientists and academics really shouldn’t write articles that show how much their brains have been broken by gender ideology.

A woke scientist and academic teamed up to write an article .... and the outcome was predictable.

Aug 29, 2026

An opinion piece appeared in Newsroom in early July this year, titled Marcroft’s sex definition bill fails basic science. The title refers to NZ First MP Jenny Marcroft’s bill to define women and men in legislation. The piece claims that the bill supposedly fails basic science, because it doesn’t subscribe to the new belief that sex is a spectrum, but sticks to the old-fashioned biological sex binary. Defining women and men apparently means that “the bill’s proponents join a long and sordid history – from race science to eugenics – of dehumanisation disguised as scientific classification.” Unpack that, if you can.

The two authors of the piece, Dinithe Bowatte and Dr Max Soar - who give the impression of being a female scientist and a male academic, but may reject that sex binary classification for something more creative – say “Scientists have increasingly come to understand sex as a spectrum, rejecting the two-sex model’s neat categorisation”.

However, one of the authors, the female one at a guess, Dinithe Bowatte, who’s a scientist, seems to unconsciously revert to the “two-sex model” when she states in her bio that she (they?) uses “interdisciplinary feminist methods to study disease emergence in Uganda”. I don’t know what that means, but I do know that by using the word ‘feminist’ it implies two sexes, because otherwise what does feminism mean, and where does it begin if sex is a spectrum?

The full piece is here:

https://aboldwoman.substack.com/p/woke-scientists-and-academics-really

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health

Ute Heggen on her substack looks at how WPATH are now trying to re-frame their guidance, which has been adopted by so many around the world, is actually just ‘opinion’!!!!!!!!!

Now, Standards of Care Like SOC8 are Simply “Opinions,” According to WPATH! Why Does this Sound so Familiar?

Because it reminds me of Neddy---who would make any rational statement you’d made into a strawman argument, or change course with, “I never said that.”

Ute Heggen

Aug 29, 2026

Below, an article by Leor Sapir, a Manhattan Institute researcher, on the lawsuit by the Federal Trade Commission alleging consumer fraud in the practice of “gender affirming care.” While WPATH claiming their published “Standards of Care” are merely opinions might seem inconsequential, this is actually a very significant development. They are shifting around in the glare of scrutiny, after jettisoning the results of more than one study, when the results were not their preferred flavor. WPATH has conflated their words with “settled science” for decades.

This reminds me so much of Neddy [ Ute’s former husband], as long ago as 50 years, when he’d suddenly claim during a disagreement that he never said what I’d just quoted from him verbatim. Fifty years ago, I was 20, and yes, engaged to Neddy. I called him “King of the Hyperbole” to his face. We married the next year, and I recall having regret that long ago when I realized I’d possibly trapped myself in a marriage to a narcissist. But we were both working our way through college and often passed like ships in the night. When the crossdressing adventures surfaced in 1992, Neddy’s hysterical threats to self-harm and his quotes from his therapist regarding WPATH’s “protocols” and “The Blanchard Protocols” made the treatments sound very official and codified. How will the adult side of the recommendations be affected by the exposure of the medical malpractice in youth “gender care?”

……………..

I ask, why do I feel I’m one of the few who see this current scene as an all-of-a-piece blend of events indicating the same truths about the immutability of sex? The Sophie Cunningham defense of women’s sports, the HHS scrutiny of risky hormones consumption and surgeries on the urinary tract and the ejection of men from women’s prisons in the UK are all puzzle pieces in this medical misadventure labelled “gender expression.” Other pieces include “birthing bodies,” murderous “trans” criminals and my data on trans widows. It is all connected. Most likely, Jennifer Sey and Colin Wright are annoyed that I keep on beating the drum about trans ideology’s abuse of the wives in their Substack comment sections. I’m not going to stop, because it is all of a piece and children are being told to swallow snake oil by educators who think they’re “being kind.”

The full piece is here:

https://uteheggen.substack.com/p/now-standards-of-care-like-soc8-are

The Perversion of Male Breastfeeding

We reported on this horror story here:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/mystery-train

Andrew Doyle on his substack picks up the story:

The Madness of Male Breastfeeding

The welfare of babies is being subordinated to the demands of gender ideology.

Aug 31, 2026

There are many good reasons why men should not breastfeed. First and foremost, it’s because they’re men. There are other reasons too, but let’s just say that this one takes priority.

This weekend, the Association of Lactation Consultants in Ireland (ALCI) paused ticket sales for its annual conference. This decision followed complaints about one of the scheduled speakers, Jacob Engelsman, who was due to give a talk on ‘lactation support for gender-diverse families’. This title is marginally more palatable than his previous talks on ‘inducing lactation for kinksters’ at fetish conventions, but only just. It has since been reported that the venue – the Ardilaun Hotel in Galway – will no longer host the conference, although the ALCI has not yet confirmed whether it will be abandoned altogether.

The concept of ‘male breastfeeding’ is not only sinister on a conceptual level; it also raises serious and unresolved safety questions. In order for lactation to be induced in males, treatment has commonly involved oestrogen and progesterone to develop the breast tissue, together with breast pumping and sometimes domperidone (a drug that raises prolactin and can stimulate milk production). The official product information for domperidone – sold under the brand name Motilium – warns that the drug passes into breast milk and that possible cardiac effects in the baby cannot be ruled out. Even if the risk is slight, why would anyone prioritise the feelings of a trans-identified male over the safety of a child?

Of all the insane demands of the genderist movement, the insistence that men ought to be able to breastfeed babies with a chemically induced mammary secretion must be among the most egregious. Frankly, I regard it as a form of child abuse. An adult male’s desire to breastfeed should not override the rights of the baby. I find it astonishing that I am even typing these words, but the behaviour of activists in recent years has meant that many of us have grown accustomed to stating the obvious.

There can be little doubt that male breastfeeding is scarcely on the radar of the general public; indeed, many people would probably be astonished to learn that it is happening at all. Yet only last month controversy erupted over an organisation called Queer Milk, then advertised as a weekly peer-support group welcoming ‘all LGBTQ+ people’. While the Scottish Government says Queer Milk itself receives no dedicated public money, the group is operated by LGBT Health and Wellbeing, a charity in receipt of substantial public funding.

Following criticism, Queer Milk insisted that it does not provide clinical advice or support induced lactation, and its chief executive went further, saying that the group is not open to trans women seeking to breastfeed and is not intended to encourage such activity. That clarification sits rather awkwardly with the breadth of its earlier publicity, and indeed with the name itself. Why, one is tempted to ask, should breast milk need to be ‘queered’ at all?

I don’t believe that it is particularly old-fashioned or reactionary to insist on a firm boundary between the feeding of babies and the sexual interests of adults…

Yet in the work of Jacob Engelsman, the speaker invited to the ALCI’s forthcoming conference, those two subjects sit in remarkably close proximity. This is what he writes in his book Lactation for the Rest of Us: A Guide for Queer and Trans Parents and Helpers:

‘As to the question of why they would want to, it seems reasonable to believe that cis men want to lactate for the same reasons as anyone else. Which is to say, usually to feed and bond with their baby and to a lesser extent for curiosity, fun, or sexual gratification.’

Later, he adds:

‘Not much has been written on cis men lactating for curiosity or erotic purposes; however, I would not be surprised if this is because anyone interested in it would quickly learn just how much work it involves. I know there are quite a few cis men out there who use electric pumps whether or not any milk comes out, and this seems to scratch their proverbial itch.’

Nothing I could write about this could be more damning than the extract itself.

Male imitation of pregnancy and childbirth is hardly new, but up until now it has not been accommodated in mainstream culture. In his book Mother Clap’s Molly House: Gay Subculture in England 1700-1830, Rictor Norton describes the ‘molly houses’ of the eighteenth century, sex clubs in which cross-dressing men were known to perform birthing ceremonies with wooden babies.

The impulse has hardly disappeared. Today there are niche online communities devoted to ‘mpreg’, or male-pregnancy fantasy, where imagined male pregnancy and childbirth are explored through fiction and roleplay, sometimes as an explicit fetish. Videos have been posted on social media in which men act out imagined experiences of menstrual cramps.

What fetishists choose to get up to in their private lives is their own business, but when the safety of a child is at risk it is no longer a matter of personal preference. Babies have human rights too, and it is outrageous that the Health Service Executive (HSE), Ireland’s public health and social care service, has defended the appearance of Engelsman at the ALCI’s conference. Citing the need to cater for ‘diverse family structures’, an HSE spokesperson said:

‘Providing ALCI practitioners with opportunities to increase their lactation knowledge and skills to support families of all structures and backgrounds is necessary and in line with equality legislation and inclusion strategies in Ireland.’

The full piece is here:

https://www.andrewdoyle.org/p/the-madness-of-male-breastfeeding

Is Disney Unwoking?

EDI Jester sees signs that Disney is abandoning woke - here’s hoping!!

https://edijester.substack.com/p/disneys-woke-retreat-is-a-start-but

Endpiece

From Tenaciously Terfin

#BeMorePorcupine

#KeepTerfing

#BanTheConversionPracticesBill

#BeMoreDissident

#RepealTheGRA

#AdultHumanFemale

#LetWomenSpeak

#LGB✂️TQ

#NeverGiveUp

#HoldTheLine

#StopTheBlockersTrial

#NeverSurrender

#NeverForget

#TruthWillTriumph

#WeWillWin

I am at the LGB Alliance lobby of Parliament tomorrow regarding the Conversion Practices Bill and hope to give you a report back tomorrow evening, Terven. The next update, therefore, will probably be on either Wednesday or Thursday.

If you like this update, please send to a friend. Until next time, Terven. This isn’t over yet! Please subscribe for free or paid or buy me a coffee, like and comment.

Buy me a coffee

Thanks as ever to my paid subscribers and to those who buy me a coffee. These updates do take up an enormous amount of work, so please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Onwards with the Dusty,Nicola, Moodie and Rex Film Series 😀 Please keep the suggestions for films coming in but please check the list first which I am updating as we go along. Please send suggestions in the comments here at this link:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/empire-of-light-dustys-film-series

Mystery Train is a 1989 film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch and set in Memphis, Tennessee. It’s a cracking film which should be better known.

The film consists of three stories that take place on the same night in downtown Memphis. The three stories are linked together by the Arcade Hotel, a run-down flophouse presided over by a night clerk and a bellboy, where the principal characters in each story spend a part of the night. Everything is held together by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins as the night clerk and Cinqué Lee as the bellboy. An undiscovered classic in my opinion.

Thanks to four wonderful readers for suggested pieces.

Some of the linked pieces below may be behind a paywall.

Wales - The National Gender Service

The Welsh Gender Service has been stopped from sending out any further referrals for ‘gender surgery’ due to an unusual level of referrals!

As reported by EDI Jester:

And by Nick Wallis on his website:

Welsh Gender Surgeries Could Be Stopped

Fri 28 August 2026

On Monday, NHS Wales joint commissioning body’s Quality, Safety and Outcomes committee met to discuss the Welsh Gender Service. Last week this website revealed that WGS had been designated a “potential Service of Concern” due to “issues identified through ongoing review and assurance processes”. These included “higher rates of surgical referral than seen in comparable services in England and concerns regarding referral appropriateness”. The higher rates of surgical referral were first highlighted by this website in May.

On Tuesday I received a message from NHS Wales telling me “The issues identified through our review and assurance processes have now been considered… Following the conclusion of yesterday’s meeting, our first responsibility is to ensure patients are informed before any wider communication takes place.”

This felt like a suggestion that a significant decision had been taken. The NHS Wales communiqué continued: “We recognise the public interest in this matter and are committed to providing a full and factual account once patients have been informed. and we’re sure you’ll understand why it’s important to do this first. The necessary communications are being prepared following the QSOC meeting and will share our full statement with you, including the outcome of the meeting and the agreed next steps, as soon as possible.”

I asked if the above meant that WGS had been elevated to an actual Service of Concern (a formal NHS designation, meaning there have been “significant singular service failures, or cumulative or systemic concerns regarding a service or setting”) and if so, whether surgery referrals and scheduled surgeries had been suspended. I got no response.

Reddit. Didn’t Necessarily Believe It

Yesterday we started seeing messages appear on TransgenderUK Reddit from posters purporting to be WGS patients or their friends/partners. The lead poster said: “I’ve just got word that a friend of a friend had their top surgery cancelled just before going into theatre. This is because of a review into the Welsh Gender Service following the tory complaint that they are too effective at referring people. This has been confirmed by the Welsh Gender Service (I called them), but they don’t know to what extent this is occurring or what it means for others on the waiting list (like me). They said they’d call me back when they get more info from the commissioner (today or tomorrow). If you are a fellow Welshy then you might want to start making some phone calls.”

The “tory complaint” is likely a reference to Natasha Asghar MS’ question to the Welsh Health Minister in the Senedd or the quote she gave me for my last piece about the WGS, which was used again in the Sunday Times piece about the WGS at the weekend.

Here are some of the replies to yesterday’s original post on Reddit:

• “Girlfriend just had a call to cancel her surgery. It was tomorrow. Everyone is cancelled no matter how far along you got… She’s still on the surgery’s list but they can’t proceed until the review of the Welsh gender service concludes and actions are taken.”

• “This happened to my partner today, too. They were supposed to have top surgery tomorrow morning but got a call this morning to say it’s been cancelled. My partner is devastated and heartbroken. They’ve been waiting 5+ years already.”

• “My partner’s top surgery was cancelled with less than twelve hours warning. We’re devastated. We had accommodation booked and medical leave arranged and everything. No idea when/if he’ll get his surgery now. The receptionist for the surgery team at Manchester said it was the Welsh Gender Service’s “fault” for “not processing their patients correctly” and told us to just “check the news”.”

I would take all these messages with a pinch of salt. Anyone can say anything on Reddit, but it got people asking questions.

https://genderblog.net/welsh-gender-surgeries-could-be-stopped/

EDI Jester expands on the matter here:

https://edijester.substack.com/p/nhs-wales-stonewall-and-the-grotesque

UK - Conversion Practices Bill

Helen Joyce interviews Stella O’Malley of Genspect about this appalling Bill:

https://www.sex-matters-news.org/p/conversion-practices-bill-threatens

Scotland - The Sandie Peggie Case

We have, of course, been following Sandie Peggie’s case. For example, here:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/the-man-who-invented-christmas?utm_source=publication-search

Her appeal proceeds following the (frankly) bonkers judgment of the Employment Tribunal and her legal team have now released their grounds of appeal ( I haven’t managed to read them yet). Additionally, they were refused leave to appeal on one ground that was based on bias. This related to the strange story of the judge initially getting some quotes in his judgment from other cases wrong and blaming this on advice received from a judicial acquaintance!!?? They are also appealing this decision not to let that ground proceed as well.

https://tribunaltweets.substack.com/p/appeal-peggie-vs-fife-health-board

Ireland - Breastfeeding

Feminist Legal Clinic via The Daily Mail report on an upcoming breastfeeding conference in Galway including a male speaker who, amongst other highly dubious things, supports men “breastfeeding”.

Women outraged as speaker who helps men lactate for ‘curiosity, fun or sexual gratification’ is booked for breastfeeding conference funded by the Irish taxpayer | Daily Mail Online (28 August)

A conference aimed at consultants in breastfeeding has been criticised for hosting a man who specialises in helping men lactate for ‘curiosity, fun, or sexual gratification’.

US-based Jacob Engelsman will lecture on ‘lactation support for gender diverse families’ at the Galway conference being held in October by the Association of Lactation Consultants in Ireland (ALCI).

Catherine Monaghan, an Irish women’s rights activist and founding member of Wicklow Women 4 Women, said: ‘Surely ALCI can provide inclusive and compassionate lactation support to women, regardless of how they identify, without surrendering sex-based boundaries or accepting the proposition that male lactation is equivalent to the normal female process of breastfeeding?

‘Women are entitled to boundaries, and babies are entitled to have their welfare prioritised.

‘Is it too much to ask that women and babies remain at the centre of a profession established to support them?’

She said: ‘Engelsman’s interest and expertise is not limited to lactation for the purpose of feeding an infant. One of his previous presentations was “Inducing Lactation for Kinksters”.

He wrote the recently published book, Lactation For The Rest of Us: A Guide for Queer And Trans Parents And Helpers, and specialises in inducing lactation in parents who haven’t given birth, and in inducing lactation in men with medication.

Source: Women outraged as speaker who helps men lactate for ‘curiosity, fun or sexual gratification’ is booked for breastfeeding conference funded by the Irish taxpayer | Daily Mail Online

https://feministlegal.org/women-outraged-as-speaker-who-helps-men-lactate-for-curiosity-fun-or-sexual-gratification-is-booked-for-breastfeeding-conference-funded-by-the-irish-taxpayer-daily-mail-online/

Irish women’s rights group, The Countess also report on this:

Does alci support male breastfeeding?

The Countess wrote to The Association for Lactation Consultants Ireland (ACLI) expressing our concerns over the appearance of Jacob Englesman at the Galway conference in October. Englesman’s views are deeply troubling. The use of an infant for the benefit of an adult, as described by Mr Englesman, constitutes a breach of adult responsibility, and is… Read More »Does alci support male breastfeeding?
Read on »

Aisling Considine on X reports that the conference has now been cancelled.

https://x.com/AislingAon/status/2093392668302733477

Europe - The Mercenary Gender Industry!

Róisín Michaux is interviewed by Stella O’Malley about her work investigating the black market in ‘gender affirming care’ often by pretending to be a parent of a ‘trans’ child.

The States - Another Important DHHS Report

Yet another important report from the Department of Health and Human Services as reported by Penny Marie and she also looks at the situation in New Zealand:

The Study That Finally Asked the Question No One Else Would

A US health department finally measured the psychology behind “gender ideology” - and New Zealand is already living out the results

Aug 28, 2026

Psychology has an entire literature on the people who push back - what’s wrong with them, what fear or prejudice explains their resistance. Nobody thought to turn the question around and study the people demanding compliance.

This week, a report called “Where the Clinic Meets the Movement: Does Gender Ideology Arm Left-Wing Authoritarian Psychology?” - commissioned by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services finally did.

The full piece is here:

https://pennymarie.substack.com/p/the-study-that-finally-asked-the

The States - Detransition Story

On Woman’s Hour Kara Dansky interviews Emma Thomas of the group Children of Transitioners:

https://karadansky.substack.com/p/listen-to-womans-hour-the-terf-report-137

The States - Basketball Gate

We have, of course, been following this and my rather contrary position. See here:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/my-life-as-a-dog-in-fact-ive-been

Amy Sousa provides an update ( I am not having a go at Amy, of course, she does great work for Terfs):

1. She points out that, as she puts it, a ‘trans person’ was previously registered with the WNBA. That person, Layshia Clarendon, was a larping woman ie. she was a woman. So that didn’t breach anything!

2. She hopes that the male basketball player Enes Kanter who is now ( bear with me) pretending to pretend to be a woman should sue the WNBA. This is total madness. What if they cave in and allow in male players? Why are you putting a man at the front of your campaign?

3. She refers to ‘Veronica Ivy’ a larping man who took awards in women’s cycling and is now taking awards in women’s golf. Yeh, good point - go and protest where he is competing.

Feel free to disagree with me but I think that some of the American Terfs are now barking up the wrong tree in the wrong field!! OK, I’ll shut up now!

The Importance of Detransitioners’ Stories

Joe Figliola reports in Reality’s Last Stand on an important study of detransitioners;

Restoring Psychological Nuance to Gender Medicine

Detransitioners’ stories challenge the activist premises that have shaped contemporary youth gender medicine.

Aug 27, 2026

About the Author

Joe Figliolia is a policy analyst at the Manhattan Institute where he writes about ethics, society and culture with a particular focus on pediatric gender medicine. His writing has appeared in City Journal, The Dispatch, and the New York Post, among others. Figliolia earned an MA from NYU’s Center for Experimental Humanities.

The conceptual foundations of youth gender medicine embrace several contentious assumptions about the nature of gender dysphoria and cross-sex identification. A recent paper in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, however, provides an important clinical corrective to some of the dominant cultural narratives surrounding “gender diversity.”

As the authors point out, clinical practice for trans-identified youth is often shaped by activist-driven assumptions that can overshadow—and flatten—the clinical complexity of individual patients. As recent malpractice suits lay bare, these ideological tenets can override nuance and stated guardrails, with potentially lifelong consequences for patients.

In Exploring the Psychological Mechanism of Transition and Detransition, researchers Lal and Levine draw on thirty-seven retrospective autobiographical accounts from detransitioners to propose several overlapping developmental and psychological pathways that may contribute to trans-identification. The proposed mechanisms include social contagion, neurodevelopmental disorders, dissociative responses to sexual abuse, distress over same-sex attraction, and fears surrounding adult sexuality and sex stereotypes.

The full piece is here:

https://www.realityslaststand.com/p/restoring-psychological-nuance-to

Interesting interview by Carol ( aka Sourpatches) on her substack with Jessi Harris who spent 30 (!!) years pretending to be a man before she detransitioned and who has now written a book called Down The Rabbit Hole:

https://sourpatches2077.substack.com/p/a-30-year-journey-to-detransition

The Red Tent Collective

On FFS Friday, Kara Dansky celebrates the ‘Red Tent Collective’:

https://karadansky.substack.com/p/ffs-friday-the-women-of-the-red-tent

Double Endpiece

Given that Screamin’ Jay Hawkins featured in our film choice, I have to include my favourite version by The Banditos of his most famous song ‘I Put A Spell On You’:

And from Liz Parker:

#BeMorePorcupine

#KeepTerfing

#BanTheConversionPracticesBill

#BeMoreDissident

#RepealTheGRA

#AdultHumanFemale

#LetWomenSpeak

#LGB✂️TQ

#NeverGiveUp

#HoldTheLine

#StopTheBlockersTrial

#NeverSurrender

#NeverForget

#TruthWillTriumph

#WeWillWin

The next update will probably be on Monday, Terven.

If you like this update, please send to a friend. Until next time, Terven. This isn’t over yet! Please subscribe for free or paid or buy me a coffee, like and comment.

Read more

Buy me a coffee

I will be hosting a live chat on this substack about the Bill this Saturday 29 August at 7pm. This is for all subscribers. This is the first time we have tried this. Hope you can make it. You will receive an e-mail at 7pm. This is a new feature I am trying out so apologies in advance if there are any glitches!! The chat will last for about an hour.

We did send out a very large piece compiling all of the relevant materials that have been produced recently since the Government decided to proceed with this appalling piece of legislation:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/the-conversion-practices-bill-a-trojan

That piece is very long so if you haven’t time to look at or listen to anything else before you join us please do listen to this excellent interview between Helen Joyce and Dennis Kavanagh:

Hope to see as many of you as possible in the chat tomorrow. Please try not to drag us into other subjects. Please keep your messages fairly short so we can all keep up with them. Let me know if there are any queries beforehand. You can drop me a direct message to dusty1958@protonmail.com if necessary.

Let’s hope it goes ok!! My feline assistant is banking on it!

In the meantime he’s resting himself in preparation for a big night 😊

#BeMorePorcupine

#StopTheConversionPracticesBill

Buy me a coffee

Thanks as ever to my paid subscribers and to those who buy me a coffee. These updates do take up an enormous amount of work, so please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Onwards with the Dusty,Nicola, Moodie and Rex Film Series 😀 Please keep the suggestions for films coming in but please check the list first which I am updating as we go along. Please send suggestions in the comments here at this link:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/empire-of-light-dustys-film-series

My Life as a Dog is a 1985 Swedish film co-written and directed by Lasse Hallström. It is definitely in my top ten films!

The film centres on 12 year old Ingemar ( excellently played by Anton Glanzelius) who spends some time thinking he is a dog and barking at people. He is also obsessed with Laika, the ‘space dog’. Sputnik 2, launched on November 3, 1957, carrying poor Laika, the first living creature to be shot into space and orbit Earth. Laika was a stray dog found on the streets of Moscow. There were no plans to return her to Earth, and she lived only a few hours in orbit.

With regard to Ingemar’s decision that he is a dog, everyone just thinks : fine, let him get on with it. Do you see where I am going with this? He meets a young tomboy, Saga ( equally well played by Melinda Kinnaman), who beats him in a boxing match but eventually they become best friends. Ooh, a tomboy!! Nobody decides to actually treat Ingemar as a dog or to say that Saga must now be a boy because she is a tomboy and is good at boxing. Expanding on this, nobody tells an anorexic girl that she really is fat or a child who says she or he wants to commit suicide that that is a jolly good idea!

The excitement in the trailer, where Ingemar’s uncle ( Tomas von Brömssen ) shouts out of the window ‘Hooray for Sweden’, is because ( this is 1959) the Swedish heavyweight, Ingemar Johannson, has just beaten the American Floyd Patterson to win the World Heavyweight title. So this is set in 1959. If Ingemar ( the boy not the boxer) and Saga actually lived now, what might have happened to them in the midst of the current madness!!

In fact, I’ve been kind of lucky. Compared to others.

Thanks to two wonderful readers for suggested pieces.

Some of the linked pieces below may be behind a paywall.

The States - Basketball Gate

We have recently been following what I am calling Basketball Gate. In one of her two latest mini round ups in The Terf Report Kara Dansky features a case that arises from a peaceful protest at a girls’ soccer game where a larping boy was playing on the opposing team. This is the kind of protest that makes sense to me - just saying 😊

A victory for speech in the First Circuit Court of Appeals

Fellers, et al. v. Kelley, et al.

August 27, 2026

Among TERF law nerds, the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals is known for being extremely hostile to women and girls as a sex class, and to the material reality of sex.

So, I was a bit fascinated to read a decision from August 26 in which that very court ruled that parents have a 1st Amendment right to wear wristbands bearing “XX” to a girls’ soccer game, overruling a previous decision by a lower court that they didn’t.

The post continues ( most of the discussion is behind the paywall):

On the day of the game (I’ll leave it to readers to figure out who are the parents and who are the school officials in this scenario; it’s fairly obvious):

“During the first half of the game, Anthony Foote quietly distributed pink “XX” wristbands to the other appellants and to approximately half a dozen other spectators whom he understood to be in support of his views. The parties here agree that the “XX” symbol represents opposition to transgender girls participating in girls’ sports. Foote instructed the group not to wear the wristbands until halftime. Once halftime arrived, Foote walked to the Bow High School parking lot and placed a poster with a picture of an activist opposed to transgender participation in female sports on the windshield of his car. Foote and Anthony Fellers then quietly donned the “XX” wristbands. Appellants chose not to conduct their passive protest until halfway through the game because, based on their prior exchanges with school officials, they anticipated their protest might well prompt a response or result in their removal from the game.

“About ten minutes after halftime, Desilets approached Foote and instructed him to remove his wristband. Foote initially refused and responded that he had the right to express his support for women’s sports, but ultimately complied. Desilets then looked through the crowd for others wearing wristbands.

“Desilets next asked Fellers to remove his wristband. Fellers refused. Desilets walked about ten feet away to consult with Fisk and Lieutenant Lamy. Fisk approached Fellers and again asked him to remove the wristband; Fellers heatedly refused. Lamy then stated that Fellers must remove the wristband or leave the game. At this point, Fellers removed the band.

“Fellers’s father-in-law, Eldon Rash, placed Fellers’s wristband on his own wrist after learning what had occurred. Fisk and Desilets likewise directed Rash to remove it. Shortly thereafter, the game’s head referee, Steve Rosetti, stopped play and directed both teams to their benches. The referee informed Rash that play would not resume unless he removed the wristband. After about fifteen minutes, Rash complied and the game resumed. There is no evidence in the record that any player was aware of the reasons for the stoppage. Immediately following the game, Fellers stood next to his car holding a poster, which read “Protect Women’s Sports for Female Athletes.” Fellers was asked to leave by Lamy. After briefly objecting, Fellers left.

“The school district soon issued no-trespass orders prohibiting Fellers and Anthony Foote from attending Bow School District athletic or extracurricular events, along with other sanctions described in the footnote below. In response, appellants brought a lawsuit challenging the school district’s actions under the First Amendment.”

The parents ( and one grandparent) have now won before the First Circuit Court of Appeal! Great result!!

The full piece is here:

https://karadansky.substack.com/p/a-victory-for-speech-in-the-first

The other mini round up from Kara is here:

https://karadansky.substack.com/p/are-we-allowed-to-speak-freely-about

The States - Log Cabin Republicans

A previously LGBT group, Log Cabin Republicans have now kicked out the T!! As reported by Scott Zylstra for LGB Alliance USA:

Log Cabin Republicans Just Joined The Conversation

Aug 26, 2026

On August 20, Log Cabin Republicans (LCR) President Ross Hemminger announced that the organization’s board had voted to refine its national advocacy specifically on issues of sexual orientation and conservative values. He quoted:

“We are an LGB advocacy organization.”

This is coming from one of the oldest recognizable gay political organizations in the United States.

In case you need a quick reminder who the Log Cabin Republicans are:

They were founded almost fifty years ago to give gay Americans a voice in the Republican Party. In 2015, they expanded to include transgender issues. Now it’s reversed that decision. Mr. Hemminger says the organization will return its attention to matters involving sexual orientation, including marriage, adoption, military service, equal treatment under the law, and religious liberty.

Regardless of your personal feelings of the LCR, this is big news because it creates something on a large scale for LGB advocacy groups who point out the different goals of LGB and tq+. It creates permission.

The full piece is here:

https://lgbausa.substack.com/p/log-cabin-republicans-just-joined

Dusty - this is really also a recognition that ‘gender ideology’ is completely harmful to LGB people whether that involves ‘transing away the gay’ or the invasion and take over of LGB organisations and spaces.

The States - The Horror, The Horror!

I am going to start a new occasional piece with this title. I think it is important to bring to the attention of those sitting on the fence or who are ignorant of this medical scandal, the horrors that await those who enter into medicalisation or, worse still, surgeries. The tile is based on the last words of Colonel Kurtz in the film Apocalypse Now and in the book it is based on, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness:

Here is the first entry from Kat Highsmith:

From Andre to Adea: Plastic Surgery Hell

How much of “trans” is addiction to cosmetic procedures?

Aug 25, 2026

Nobody, adult or child, is born in the wrong body.

Once that false idea lodges itself into someone’s mind, however, and once a corrupt medical industry goes along with the lie, those who doggedly seek the goal of deceiving the world into thinking they are the opposite sex are flung into a hellish and unceasing meat grinder of surgeries and procedures.

An outstanding example of this phenomenon is a 25-year-old Canadian man named Andre, who now goes by the name Adea Danielle.

He is a fairly well-known influencer and social media figure, so he has documented multiple years of his life on the spinning hamster wheel of plastic surgery upon which he will remain as long as he chases the cultish promises of “trans.”

The devastating results of that chase, which he sadly must live with forever, were avoidable if even just one of his many doctors or surgeons had told him the truth.

But nobody did.

Since we can witness the unfolding tragedy of such a life in real time on the internet, we must also ask ourselves the following question—how much of “trans” is merely an addiction to these procedures? He persists in these repeated and incessant behaviors even though they cause him great harm, and there is no foreseeable end in sight, so it suggests a self-destructive intent.

The full piece is here:

https://kathighsmith.substack.com/p/from-andre-to-adea-plastic-surgery

Australia - This Never Happens

Feminist Legal Clinic via the Herald Sun reports:

NSW Prison boss moved violent male-born offender to women’s prison | Herald Sun (27 August)

A “violent offender” who entered into the prison system as male-at-birth is now living alongside women in a female correctional facility after a decision from the NSW [ New South Wales] Government.

The transfer comes despite the NSW Government, including Acting Premier Ryan Park and Acting Corrections Minister Jihad Dib, telling this masthead and the public that transgender inmates are accommodated in facilities “corresponding to their sex assigned at birth” last year.

The Daily Telegraph revealed double murderer Terry Mark Donai was locked in a bitter battle to be transferred to a Sydney women’s prison following an application to be identified as female.

In May this year, NSW Premier Chris Minns said prisoners who are biologically male should not be housed in female prisons.

“If you’re born biologically male and you change your government certificates to be female, it will not mean that you can change from a male prison to a female prison,” he said.

“We also acknowledge that there’s biological differences between people who are born male and people who were born female, and that needs to be reflected in the law.”

Deputy Commissioner Jennifer Galouzis revealed to Budget Estimates there were “47 transgender inmates in custody at the moment, and 46 of those are accommodated according to their biological sex”.

“We have one who is housed according to their identified sex,” she said.

Opposition Corrections spokesman Anthony Roberts accused the NSW Government of not keeping its word to the public, while calling for an inquiry to be undertaken.

“This is not an offender sent to prison for unpaid traffic fines,” he said. “This is a violent offender.”

Corrections Minister Anoulack Chanthivong said the transfer “is not a new policy or a change in approach”.

“Post-operative transgender inmates have been able to be placed in a prison matching their sex characteristics and birth certificate for decades, under governments of both political persuasions,” he said.“The Corrections Commissioner makes decisions case-by-case, taking into account a range of factors including the safety, security, offending history and the safety of other inmates.

Source: NSW Prison boss moved violent male-born offender to women’s prison | Herald Sunhttps://

feministlegal.org/nsw-prison-boss-moved-violent-male-born-offender-to-womens-prison-herald-sun/

Support for Larping People - The Stats

According to the latest statistics as reported by Sex Matters support for so called ‘trans rights’ ( whatever that is!!??) is falling:

Support for trans demands is falling globally

Aug 27, 2026

A worldwide survey of attitudes to “LGBT” issues published in June shows that most people oppose discrimination against gay, bisexual and trans-identifying people, but oppose trans-identifying men in women’s sport. British respondents go further, treating gay rights and “trans rights” differently.

The market research company Ipsos has conducted the same survey across 26 countries since 2021, making it easy to compare countries and to see how attitudes have changed over the past five years. It mostly uses “LGBT” as a single category, though it asks separately about LGB and transgender discrimination, and about specific transgender demands, such as options beyond M and F on passports and funding for gender-related medical procedures.

Its findings suggest that in the UK at least, more people are distinguishing between lesbian, gay and bisexual people, on the one hand, and trans on the other – and between tolerance and support for LGBT people and the demands of the trans lobby. That may help shed light on why corporate sponsorship for annual Pride events is falling. The survey also shows lukewarm public support for corporate LGBT activism, with only 44 percent of respondents agreeing that companies and brands should be “actively promoting equality for LGBT people”.

This weekend’s Manchester Pride, for example, will be much more modest than previous years’ extravaganzas after the company that ran them went into voluntary liquidation owing more than £1 million. According to the UK Pride Organisers Network, three-quarters of more than 100 Pride organisers around the UK have seen corporate partnerships decline this year.

Widespread support for protection from discrimination

80 percent of British respondents, and 75 percent across all 26 countries, agreed that “lesbian, gay and bisexual people should be protected from discrimination in employment, housing, and access to businesses such as restaurants and stores”. Likewise, most agreed that transgender people should have the same protections from discrimination – 74 percent of British respondents, 73 percent across all 26 countries.

It’s no surprise that Turkey, a conservative Muslim country, shows the lowest acceptance of gay and transgender rights at 51 percent, while Thailand is consistently at the top.

Great Britain is generally near the top on gay, lesbian and bisexual acceptance, and at the bottom on trans demands such as access to female sport.

Ipsos says:

“Majorities in the 26 countries surveyed continue to support legal measures to prevent discrimination against lesbian, gay and bisexual people. Meanwhile, support for same-sex marriage remains a global cornerstone of acceptance.

“Where we continue to find diverging views is on transgender access to single-sex facilities, healthcare provision and participation in sport.”

Britain is increasingly trans-sceptical

British respondents are strongly in favour of protection from discrimination for LGB and T, and slightly ahead of the global average. But when it comes to specific trans-related demands, like access to single-sex facilities and sport based on gender identity, British respondents are much less accepting.

The full piece is here:

https://www.sex-matters-news.org/p/support-for-trans-demands-is-falling

Over The Rainbow

Sorry, readers, there is another book out as reported by FLC!!

The Spin Newsletter: A challenge to cancel culture

Over the Rainbow: A Challenge to Cancel Culture
edited by Drew Hutton & Libby Connors

Over the Rainbow brings together writers from Australia, the UK, Canada and the US to examine how beliefs about sex and gender have become embedded across politics, medicine, workplaces, sport and the law. Drawing on perspectives from feminism, health, elite sport, law, philosophy and progressive politics, contributors explore the impact of gender ideology on women’s and lesbian rights, free speech and political debate, and what happens when dissenting voices are excluded or silenced. At its heart is a defence of open civic discourse and the right to question ideas that affect our institutions, culture and everyday lives.

Drew Hutton is a co-founder of the Queensland Greens and the Australian Greens, with a long record of activism and writing on peace and non-violence, civil liberties and the environment. Libby Connors is a historian and founding member of the Queensland and Australian Greens who has been active in non-violence, anti-racism, civil liberties and environmental causes for more than four decades. Contributors also include Spinifex Press co-founders Susan Hawthorne and Renate Klein; radical lesbian feminist activist Bronwyn Winter; feminist journalist, broadcaster and author Julie Bindel; US lawyer, author and women’s rights advocate Kara Dansky; journalist Bernard Lane; Anna Kerr, founder and Principal Solicitor of Feminist Legal Clinic; and former Green Party of England and Wales Deputy Leader Shahrar Ali.

Source: The Spin Newsletter: A challenge to cancel culture

https://feministlegal.org/the-spin-newsletter-a-challenge-to-cancel-culture/

Animal Farm

George Orwell’s Animal Farm is one of the literary inspirations for us Terfs and Andrew Doyle on his substack relates visiting the village where George Orwell lived and he visits the original and still operating Manor Farm:

The Real Animal Farm

My visit to the village that inspired George Orwell’s classic tale.

Aug 27, 2026

One of life’s small pleasures is the uncanny sensation of exploring a place previously encountered only in fiction. Those who have read Howards End by E. M. Forster will remember the vivid descriptions of the old property that Mrs Wilcox so adored. But are they aware that it exists in the real world in the form of Rooks Nest House near Stevenage? Similarly, fans of James Joyce’s Ulysses can step into Buck Mulligan’s shoes by visiting the Martello tower where he lived, still standing today at Sandycove just south of Dublin.

Locations that have been immortalised in novels tend to inspire a chill of familiarity. On a recent trip back to England I took one of my favourite country walks to another literary landmark. My house is not too far from Wallington, the village where George Orwell lived and worked from 1936 to 1940. It was here that he conceived Animal Farm (1945), and it was only by walking there myself that I discovered there is an actual ‘Manor Farm’ – the apparent model for the farm in the novel – just a few hundred metres from where the great man lived.

The story opens with the farmer, Mr. Jones, locking up the hen houses for the night and making his way up to bed. Then the protagonists of our ‘fairy story’ are introduced…

‘As soon as the light in the bedroom went out there was a stirring and a fluttering all through the farm buildings. Word had gone round during the day that old Major, the prize Middle White boar, had had a strange dream on the previous night and wished to communicate it to the other animals. It had been agreed that they should all meet in the big barn as soon as Mr. Jones was safely out of the way.’

There follows Old Major’s famous speech to the animals in which he lays out his dream of revolution. The ‘big barn’ remains to this day and is the first structure of Manor Farm that one sees from the road. The farm is still working, so I was reluctant to risk trespassing to see whether it still contains the raised platform from which the mighty beast – a porcine Lenin – delivered his oration. Still, it’s definitely there. It’s big, it’s a barn, and to settle all ambiguity it bears the sign of ‘Manor Farm’.

It’s worth a visit. There’s not so much as a pub in the village itself and, with its population of one hundred and fifty, you’ll be noticed if you start taking photographs. But walking along those lanes to the faint trilling of birdsong, it’s easy to find oneself momentarily seeing the village through Orwell’s eyes.

The full piece is here:

https://www.andrewdoyle.org/p/the-real-animal-farm

Endpiece

The story of Laika the Space Dog leads me to the ending of the great science fiction film Dark Star:

And here is the full version of Benson Arizona:

#BeMorePorcupine

#KeepTerfing

#BanTheConversionPracticesBill

#KeepSpeaking

#RepealTheGRA

#AdultHumanFemale

#LetWomenSpeak

#LGB✂️TQ

#NeverGiveUp

#HoldTheLine

#StopTheBlockersTrial

#NeverSurrender

#NeverForget

#TruthWillTriumph

#WeWillWin

The next update will probably be on either Saturday or Sunday, Terven.

If you like this update, please send to a friend. Until next time, Terven. This isn’t over yet! Please subscribe for free or paid or buy me a coffee, like and comment.

Buy me a coffee

Thanks as ever to my paid subscribers and to those who buy me a coffee. This has involved an enormous amount of work, so please consider becoming a paid subscriber for the price of a cup of coffee per month. Plus you also then get access to paid subscriber pieces.

LGB Alliance are organising a lobby of Parliament about this appalling Bill next Tuesday 01 September - see the last piece. I will be there. Let me know if you are coming. In advance of that I have put together here all the relevant pieces we have done recently about this Bill including my suggestion as to further challenge if it becomes an Act. Please spread around as best as you can. We have to defeat this!!!

All thoughts gratefully received.

I will be hosting a live chat on this substack about the Bill this Saturday 29 August at 7pm. This is for all subscribers. Hope you can make it. You will receive an e-mail at 7pm. This is a new feature I am trying out so apologies in advance if there are any glitches!! The chat will last for about an hour. I’m not expecting you to read all of this before our chat😊

The Bill is here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/draft-conversion-practices-bill/conversion-practices-draft-bill

The Bill is currently undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny after being officially published on 25 June 2026.

Current Status

• Stage: Pre-legislative scrutiny by a joint committee of parliamentarians from the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

• The specific membership of the Joint Committee on the Draft Conversion Practices Bill has not yet been formally appointed or announced.

• A formal public call for evidence has not yet been officially launched by Westminster, but it is expected to happen imminently.

Here are the pieces we have featured to date from previous Updates.

An extremely useful explanation of the Bill from Sex Matters is here which I am taking the liberty of quoting in full:

Draft conversion-practices bill threatens parents with jail time

Jun 25, 2026

The government has published a draft bill to ban “conversion practices”.

While there are improvements on previous drafts of this law, it remains an attempt to shift “Stonewall Law” – now slowly being driven out of workplaces and services – into homes and classrooms.

It puts parents, therapists, teachers and partners at risk of being subjected to investigation if they do not affirm that someone is “male” or “female “ (or both, or neither) based on their personal declaration rather than their biology.

Although it offers an exception for medical professionals as long as they do not “act in a way that falls far below the standards reasonably expected of a person in their position”, others are at risk of being subjected to investigation if they do not support a person’s transition.

It also hands the power of private prosecution to organisations like the Good Law Project and Nancy Kelley’s Trans Solidarity Alliance.

What does the bill do?

The bill defines “conversion practice” as any conduct with the intention of causing the individual to have or not have (or to believe that they have or do not have) a particular sexual orientation or transgender identity. The question of whether conduct amounts to an abuse is a question of fact “to be determined by reference to all the circumstances of the case”.

The government’s argument is that “abuse should never be legal”, but in practice this bill hands off the detail for determining what is or isn’t abuse to the courts.

We fear that this open-ended and subjective definition will lead to parents, teachers, therapists, youth workers, pastoral leaders and others being investigated by the police and possibly submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service for assessment and prosecution, and also being vulnerable to private prosecution.

The offence of carrying out an abusive conversion practice on an individual is defined in terms of causing “serious harm” to the individual’s physical or mental health, or “serious alarm or distress to the individual which has a substantial adverse effect on their usual day-to-day activities”. This could potentially mean a wife telling her husband to stop wearing her clothes, parents telling a child they will not pay for puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones, or a school insisting on referring to all children accurately as girls or boys, in line with its safeguarding responsibilities.

Making Equality Act compliance a criminal offence?

The crime may be tried as a summary offence at a magistrates’ court, which can hand down a 12-month prison sentence, or by the Crown Court, leading to imprisonment of up to five years. Corporate bodies such as companies can also be tried for “failing to take all reasonable steps to prevent the commission of the offence”.

This is likely to have a significant chilling effect on individuals expressing gender-critical beliefs and applying sex-based rules at work.

A brief history: from historic abuses to strategic campaigning

Historically, what the public understands as conversion therapy refers to abhorrent, systemic attempts in the 1950s and 1960s to “cure” homosexual individuals using barbaric aversion techniques such as electric shocks or nausea-inducing drugs. These historic practices have long since died out – and are completely illegal under existing UK criminal laws.

When we reviewed 10 years of annual reports from major LGBT organisations up to 2019 we found that “conversion therapy” was barely mentioned as an active concern: it was widely seen as a historical relic. The sudden pivot occurred around 2020 following the loss of the debate over gender self-identification via the Gender Recognition Act. Lobby groups strategically co-opted the universal moral outrage against historic gay conversion methods and lifted the terminology wholesale to apply it to an entirely different phenomenon: “gender identity”.

The evidence vacuum: pulling apart the numbers

Proponents of the ban routinely lean on three heavily compromised data sources to assert that there is an ongoing “epidemic” requiring a new criminal law. When subjected to scrutiny, the evidence is not there:

• 2017 National LGBT survey: this self-selected online survey is frequently cited because 2% of respondents claimed to have undergone conversion therapy. However, the survey bundled spiritual counselling and ordinary conversations into the same definition as serious criminal abuses like corrective rape. Crucially, the survey showed that reporting was higher among older age groups, confirming that traditional conversion efforts are a historic, rather than contemporary, UK issue.

• 2023 Galop report: This was based on a survey claiming that 43% of trans-identifying people had faced conversion practices. Yet the qualitative data in fact shows that 56% of those accounts described ordinary interpersonal family friction or peer disagreements (such as a friend telling a teenager they are transitioning “for attention”). While emotionally distressing, family arguments should not be the business of the criminal justice system.

• 2025 Stonewall/Opinium poll: This push poll claimed that 30% of trans-identifying people in the UK had been subjected to an exorcism in the past five years. It also featured a bizarre generational skew whereby the youngest respondents reported drastically higher rates of physical violence than the older generations who actually lived through the persecution of the 20th century. It represents a narrative capture that broadens the definition of “harm” so widely that it pathologises everyday parental guidance and clinical scepticism. [ Dusty - additionally, I think it is true to say that, if this data were true, then there would be more exorcisms than marriages every year! In other words, Stonewall are lying - there’s a shock]

Today’s announcement came with another report from Galop which analysed the case notes of 195 detailed cases of GALOP clients. Most of these relate to family relationships which they identify as “emotional and psychological abuse” such as:

“Dad makes frequent comments that ‘[Client] is not trans’ and that he is a woman. […] [Client] disclosed his parents want to take him to counselling to ‘convince him he is a female’.“

Like the previous Galop study, it includes a small number of crimes such as sexual assault alongside a much larger number of family disagreements. There is nothing in the study about what proportion of these cases were judged to be crimes by Galop, and what the outcomes were if they were reported to the police.

What happens next?

Ministers have opted for the slow track: the draft bill will be sent for pre-legislative scrutiny by a joint committee. This gives parliamentarians, clinicians, parents and teachers [ Dusty - and all Terfs] a vital window to influence what happens next.

Briefing on the draft bill

https://www.sex-matters-news.org/p/draft-conversion-practices-bill-threatens

The Free Speech Union reports on X:

The Free Speech Union

@SpeechUnion

📣🚨CONVERSION THERAPY BAN PETITION

The Government has announced it intends to press ahead with a ban on conversion therapy. Like most ‘bans’, this sounds benign. How could anyone not want to ban giving electric shocks to gay kids?

But the fact is, that’s already against the law, as are all the other coercive practices conjured up by the phrase ‘conversion therapy’. So what is it the Government wants to ban, exactly? The answer is ‘converting’ children who think they’re trans to being ‘cisgendered’. That’s where the impetus for this ban has come from — well-funded pro-trans lobby groups like Stonewall and Mermaids.

So any parent who ‘misgenders’ their confused adolescent daughter, or tries to talk them out of embarking on an irreversible medical pathway, could face criminal charges for trying to ‘convert’ them. And we’re not talking about out a slap on the wrist. In the state of Victoria, Australia, which brought in a conversion therapy ban in 2021, the maximum penalty for trying to ‘convert’ someone is 10 years in prison.

It won’t just be parents and medical professionals who will risk imprisonment for trying to talk gender-confused children out of mutilating themselves. Any religious leader who shares the teachings of their faith on issues like homosexuality and gay marriage, could also face prosecution. That’s what this authoritarian Government wants to ban — any dissent from radical progressive orthodoxy when it comes to sex and gender.

So please do sign our petition and let Andy Burnham know how you feel about this anti-free speech measure. Speech is always curtailed in the name of preventing ‘harm’. But stopping parents talking honestly to their children about the risks of irreversible medical procedures will cause actual, real world harm. This is a fight we have to win.

✍️ Sign our petition below 👇

25 Jun 2026

https://x.com/SpeechUnion/status/2070070677059633214

Please sign their petition.

https://freespeechunion.org/campaigns/conversion-therapy-petition

Jennifer Thetford-Kay reports on X:

Jennifer Thetford-Kay

@JenKteach

⚠️URGENT ALERT: Draft Conversion Practices Bill published today ⚠️

The UK Government has released its draft Conversion Practices Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny. It uses dangerously broad definitions that could criminalise parents guiding their children, therapists offering exploratory care, and open discussion of biological sex and desistance. If you’re a parent who tries to dissuade your child from taking puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones or undergoing breast/genital surgery; this Government may send you to prison for up to 5 years.

It explicitly legislates around “transgender identity” (including non-binary) and risks chilling legitimate safeguarding amid the findings of the Cass Review, which highlighted weak evidence for medical pathways, high rates of co-occurring issues, and the need for holistic psychological support rather than affirmation as default.

Current criminal and child protection laws already cover real abuse, coercion, and harm. This bill risks going far beyond that by potentially equating evidence-based caution or exploratory therapy with prohibited “conversion practices.”

James Esses

@JamesEsses

🚨Breaking: The UK government has published a draft ‘Conversion Practices Bill’🚨

As expected, it is an utter nightmare. The fact that Stonewall is celebrating tells you everything you need to know.

On the week that it pushed forward with the puberty blockers trial…

25 Jun 2026

https://x.com/JenKteach/status/2070092787941265450

Excellent piece from Dennis Kavanagh of the Gay Men’s Network":

https://dennisnoelkavanagh.substack.com/p/labours-section-28-on-steroids-the

EDI Jester addresses it here:

https://substack.com/home/post/p-203533191

Dusty - None of the supporters of this Bill really believe that ‘gay conversion’ practices are a problem. This is an enormous case of smoke and mirrors. To be blunt they are lying through their back teeth albeit that they are very good at doing that. They know they are bending the knee to Stonewall and the trans lobby. They want revenge from having to comply with the Supreme Court judgment in the For Women Scotland case and from having to ban the prescription of puberty blockers for children following the Cass Review. This and the clinical trial of puberty blockers amount to their attempt at revenge. In the West we can tend to think that all our politicians, whether they are left or centre or right, are basically reasonable people. Big mistake! These people are evil. They are happy to send children into a clinical trial that will almost inevitably cause them severe harm and has no purpose in any event ( you can’t transition). They are happy to send parents, therapists, teachers, doctors and others to prison for the sake of their insane ideology.

Bernard Lane on the substack Gender Clinic News has, as usual, provided his excellent round up of worldwide ‘gender affirming’ medicine news and I am just picking out his piece on this Bill.

Shouting down the science

Plus: Death and the Dutch protocol; US consumer cop vs WPATH; prison threat for UK parents; Germany gets the Finnish news; hormones like candy in Argentina; in praise of desistance; overbearing Enbys

Jun 29, 2026

………………………………..

Criminalising caution

United Kingdom | The ruling Labour Party government has introduced a draft “trans-inclusive” criminal law against “conversion practices” with penalties up to five years’ prison and unlimited fines. A conversion practice could be conduct with the intention of causing someone to “believe that they have or do not have” a particular sexual orientation or trans identity. There is conditional protection for those providing “health care services”, but not for parents.

Bev Jackson, co-founder of the LGB Alliance, said the law would “criminalize a parent who says: ‘No, you’re a boy. Maybe you’re gay. That’s fine: Let’s get you some therapy to explore the causes of your distress’. It will criminalize a parent who says ‘No, I refuse to pay for binders, blockers, testosterone. You’re a girl. It’s fine to be a lesbian.”

US detransitioner Jonni Skinner, a young gay man, said he believed such conversion practice bans were “a work around to solidify the affirmation-only approach to pediatric gender distress into law—[something] which has already and will continue to have catastrophic consequences for gay, gender non-conforming, and other vulnerable youth into the future.”

In the UK Parliament, Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi asked if the draft law would allow “detransitioners to bring retrospective cases against therapists and professionals who transitioned them using that affirmative approach”.

The parents’ group Bayswater Support said the new statute would “harm the very people it purports to protect by enshrining in law a belief that is inextricably bound up with rejection of the body and psychological distress”. “Individual parents, parent-led support groups like Bayswater Support and healthcare professionals (including the NHS paediatric gender services) continue to be subjected to a barrage of false accusations that they are engaging in ‘conversion’. This draft bill adds the threat of criminal prosecution to those wildly inaccurate claims.”

The Free Speech Union (FSU) has begun a petition against the draft law. “Speech is always curtailed in the name of preventing ‘harm’,” the FSU said. “But stopping parents talking honestly to their children about the risks of irreversible medical procedures will cause actual, real-world harm. This is a fight we have to win.”

Columnist Sonia Sodha saw Labour’s draft law as a device “to smuggle a new concept into criminal law of an undefined ‘gender identity’ that is defined nowhere else in [UK] law, and which pulls against the emerging medical consensus that children and young people don’t have fixed ‘gender identities’, their identities are in flux”.

In her analysis, barrister Sarah Phillimore found no sign that the bill’s drafters had considered its likely effect on the family justice system. In the worst-case scenario, she said, prosecution of parents for a conversion practice could lead to orders for removal of the child, or even all their children.

Thought control

International | A paper by US paediatrician Dr Julia Mason and colleagues has warned that overly broad bans on conversion practices conflate psychotherapy with coercion and put a political chill on normal clinical inquiry. “The case of youth gender dysphoria illustrates how political institutions can shape psychology not only by regulating interventions, but by narrowing the scope of permissible clinical thought,” Mason et al argued in the journal Current Opinion in Psychology.

“When uncertainty is reframed as harm and exploration as misconduct, psychology risks abandoning its foundational commitments to formulation, pluralism, and developmental sensitivity. Preserving space for psychotherapeutic inquiry is therefore not merely a clinical concern, but a disciplinary imperative.”

The full piece is here:

https://www.genderclinicnews.com/p/shouting-down-the-science

Sex Matters address the completely made up or totally exaggerated evidence from the other side. I hope someone is doing a Freedom of Information Act request. If you want help crawling through the documents, let me know. I’ve done it before in other contexts! If I remember rightly there were twelve A4 folders of redacted documents that I had to analyse after a court ordered their release! Nightmare!!!

The £360,000 helpline that didn’t ring

Jul 02, 2026

Why is the government claiming to have evidence that 90,000 people a year suffer conversion therapy when almost no cases were ever reported to its national helpline?

When the government unveiled its draft bill to criminalise so-called “conversion practices” on 25th June, ministers and officials said they had evidence of a serious problem.

For proof, equalities minister Olivia Bailey pointed to a newly published report by LGBT charity Galop. It was described as containing “hundreds of case studies” demonstrating widespread abuse taking place across Britain today. The Cabinet Office claimed to have evidence of tens of thousands of people being victimised. But dig into the numbers and the picture changes dramatically.

Read Conversion therapy: still not illegal – or still not happening?

Following the evidence

Galop’s report Still not illegal: Evidence of modern-day conversion practices from Galop’s frontline services analyses case notes the charity collected between 2022 and 2025. It is presented as “some of the strongest evidence yet” that conversion practices are widespread.

Researchers examined records from around 13,500 Galop clients over three years. From those they identified:

• 371 potential cases of conversion practice

• 195 cases with sufficient detail for analysis

• just 132 recent cases

• only 29 cases that came through any of Galop’s helplines.

Only 51 clients approached Galop seeking help specifically because of alleged conversion practices. Most were already receiving support for issues such as domestic abuse, “honour”-based abuse, forced marriage, sexual violence, homelessness or asylum issues. That hardly suggests an epidemic requiring the creation of new criminal offences.

Meanwhile the Cabinet Office is citing a debunked Stonewall survey that claims tens of thousands of people are undergoing exorcism every year.

The Ban Conversion Therapy coalition of campaigning organisations has more members than the number of “case studies” of conversion therapy reported by Galop in Still not illegal.

The full piece is here:

https://www.sex-matters-news.org/p/the-360000-helpline-that-didnt-ring

Jane Symons of the Women’s Rights Network interviews James Esses about the Conversion Practices Bill and the ongoing judicial review of the clinical trial of puberty blockers. With regard to the Bill, James feels that it is almost inevitable that it will become law. However, I note that Dennis Kavanagh in conversation with Helen Joyce ( see here: https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/the-maltese-falcon ) felt that the Bill was arguably in breach of the Human Rights Act and thus could face a declaration of incompatibility challenge. I have long been saying that this is a potential challenge though I was just relying on Article 8. Dennis relies on Articles 5,6,8,9 and 10. Reader Becca throws into the mix Articles 3 and 14.

For further details of the various Articles see here: https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/human-rights/human-rights-act#:

Here is the interview with James Esses:

https://womensrightsnetwork.substack.com/p/in-conversation-with-james-esses

Baroness Claire Fox discusses events in the Lords including the Conversion Practices Bill:

https://www.academyofideas.uk/p/inside-the-lords-is-anyone-running

Excellent piece by Transgender Trend discussing the Bill:

The Conversion Practices draft bill is anti-Cass

July 2, 2026

Yet another draft conversion therapy bill has been published after several failed attempts to get a ban into law. This time it’s the Labour government’s version, now called a Conversion Practices bill and with a carve-out for healthcare providers, but not for parents, teachers or child protection professionals. It is the worst proposed bill we have seen yet in terms of child safeguarding and in its inherent conflict with the Cass Review.

The carve-out for healthcare professionals makes little difference because they are governed by professional associations that already have their own trans-inclusive ban on conversion therapy, the Memorandum of Understanding on Conversion Therapy (MOU). Therapists already dare not say anything that might result in a child changing their mind about being trans which may lead to a charge of conversion therapy.

The MOU shows us how a ‘trans conversion therapy’ ban is so effective in distorting the practice of counselling and therapy from a genuinely open-ended exploration as Cass recommended to a guarded and careful tip-toeing around the child who says they are trans. That’s if a therapist dares to venture outside the model of unquestioning affirmation at all.

So the drafters of the new Conversion Practices bill know they are already on safe ground there. It is parents who will feel the full force of this bill’s authoritarian dictates on language and behaviour. As family lawyer Sarah Phillimore says

The ‘chilling effect’ of a criminal prosecution on responsible and protective parents is obvious.

The bill criminalises any conduct carried out by a person towards an individual with the intention of causing the individual

• (i) to have or not to have,

• (ii) to believe that they have or do not have,

a transgender identity or a particular transgender identity.

The bill presents these things as symmetric, a dishonest wording of a bill specifically designed to protect gay and trans people from conversion practices, not the other way round.

Gay conversion therapy itself is vanishingly rare and already legislated for, it is not a problem that needs urgent legislation. But this is certainly not a bill for heterosexual people with a long history of awful experiences of being forced to be gay. The government knows the issue of gay conversion therapy is not symmetric.

For ‘transgender identity’ the imbalance is the other way round. The problem is the opposite. Everywhere we look children are being encouraged to understand themselves as ‘trans’ and to believe they have a ‘gender identity.’

Online, across media, in children’s books and entertainment, in schools, universities and health services, and even in High St shops, ‘transgender identity’ is celebrated and elevated to special status. There is no equivalent encouragement of children to feel proud of their ‘cisgender identity.’ In fact ‘smashing cisheteronormativity’ is the specific aim of some classroom resources.

There is no pressure on children not to be trans, all the cultural messaging to children and young people is the opposite. The government knows the issue of ‘trans conversion therapy’ is not symmetric either.

But this is not a bill that has been fought for by parents worried sick that their child’s school is presenting concepts of ‘gender identity’ to their child that they are too young to understand but are in one of the vulnerable groups highly susceptible to believing it.

This is a bill fought for by transgender activists. Why? The sheer number of children on the waiting list for the new gender hubs and the number of young people in line for the adult services shows that there is not a problem to be solved here, there are plenty of children and young people who are adopting a ‘transgender identity’ all the way to the clinic. They are not being dissuaded, but the opposite. They are being ‘affirmed’ as trans every step of the way.

But the safety of the ‘gender affirmative’ approach is now in question. From Keira Bell’s case against the Tavistock to the Cass Review, the closing of the GIDS [ Gender Identity Development Service] , and the setting up of the new gender hubs under a new holistic model focused on psychological and therapeutic exploration and support, the unquestioning gender affirmative approach is in trouble. It needs shoring up, legislatively. This is what the draft bill will do. It’s a last-ditch attempt to get gender self-id onto the statute and to stop people’s right to question it.

It’s difficult to claim that affirmation of a child’s transgender identity is conversion therapy. Conversely, it’s very easy to claim that a parent exercising caution in order to protect their child from the potential medical consequences, and keep their child’s options open, is conversion therapy. We know this because cautious parents who want to slow things down are already accused of conversion therapy.

The bill loads the dice between two approaches towards children who say they are trans. The bill’s overreach is not just into family life and parental authority, but into clinical models of care.

The gender-affirming care (GAC) treatment model, involving gender affirmation and social transition, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries, replaced the developmentally-informed watchful waiting approach through no clinical reasoning (children were not being harmed) but through political advocacy.

The gender affirmative approach was found to be unsafe at the Tavistock GIDS and the clinic was closed down. One of the problems identified in the Cass Review was ‘diagnostic overshadowing.’

‘Another significant issue raised with us is one of diagnostic overshadowing – many of the children and young people presenting have complex needs, but once they are identified as having gender-related distress, other important healthcare issues that would normally be managed by local services can sometimes be subsumed by the label of gender dysphoria.’

Children being unquestioningly affirmed in their ‘transgender identities’ has led to the unprecedented rise in the numbers of children seeking puberty blockers and hormones. For the Cass Review, the University of York carried out a systematic review of social transition which found

‘those who had socially transitioned at an earlier age and/or prior to being seen in clinic were more likely to proceed to a medical pathway’

This bill effectively prevents parental opposition to a child who wants to socially transition as it could be construed as ‘controlling or coercive words or behaviour’ or ‘use of psychological or emotional pressure’ which causes ‘serious alarm or distress to the individual.’

Yet Cass describes social transition as

‘an active intervention because it may have significant effects on the child or young person in terms of their psychological functioning.’

And that

‘it is possible that social transition in childhood may change the trajectory of gender identity development for children with early gender incongruence.’

The Conversion Practices draft bill interferes with the evidential basis of clinical decision making by weighting support for a gender affirmative approach over recent findings and emerging concerns about that very approach, as set out comprehensively in the Cass Review. It is beyond the government’s remit to become involved with a live and contested clinical issue with profound impacts on children’s health and wellbeing.

The draft bill supports an unevidenced, one-size-fits-all approach to children who are experiencing gender-related distress which may place parents in opposition to the clinical advice they are receiving. Parents may have informed themselves by reading the Cass Review but they will be prevented from following it.

The bill would significantly reduce patient options by discouraging exploration and reframing a cautious exploratory approach as harm. The bill proposes an unquestioning acceptance and agreement with a child’s self-diagnosis which has profound implications for the child’s ability to give informed consent to medical treatments.

It is not the government’s job to advocate an active intervention and effectively prevent a cautious, developmentally appropriate approach through the threat of criminal prosecution. The draft bill attempts to do this by targeting the most important adults in a child’s life whose job it is to safeguard children from harm and whose authority should not be undermined by state intervention.

The Conversion Practices bill is dangerous for children because it does not distinguish children from adults and it ignores childhood developmental stages. The term ‘transgender identity’ hides the reality that it mandates adult agreement with a boy that he is a girl, or with a girl who says she is a boy. It mandates agreement with a transgender identity declared by a child who has no understanding of what that means.

The evidence of the danger for children was revealed by Hilary Cass in the House of Lords last week. A two and a half year old boy was told by his parents that he was a girl and brought up as a girl for all his early childhood, with no interference from teachers, doctors or social services.

The bill should enable professionals to report such cases of child abuse as ‘causing the individual to have a transgender identity’, but it won’t. People are justifiably terrified of losing their jobs and livelihoods if they question anyone’s transgender identity. Societal pressure and bullying goes only one way; the professional risk too is not symmetrical.

The bill will increase the fear already felt by professionals of daring to challenge a ‘transgender identity’ even in a child who is many years away yet from understanding what that could possibly mean.

It is entirely inconsistent for a government that has claimed at every opportunity to be ‘following Cass’ when it comes to the puberty blockers trial, to undermine its own stated commitment to be guided by the evidence through a draft bill that is actively in opposition to the Cass Review’s findings.

https://www.transgendertrend.com/conversion-practices-draft-bill-anti-cass/

Another excellent piece here, this time from Sonia Sodha on her substack:

The conversion practices bill: vibes-based legislating

Labour MPs are rallying in support of a dangerous bill that risks criminalising parents who don’t agree to their child’s social transition

Jul 06, 2026

The government published its draft conversion practices bill ten days ago. The bill was a manifesto commitment and purports to ban something bad - abusive conversion practices aimed at changing someone’s sexual orientation or transgender identity. If only that’s all there was to it.

The reality is that this bill is a Trojan Horse that smuggles in a whole host of dangerous unintended consequences that gender activists could use to pursue people who don’t comply with their ideological demands. First, that men who believe they are women should be treated as women for all purposes in society, and second, that gender-questioning children should be affirmed as trans and funnelled onto irreversible medical pathways that come with lifelong risks for their fertility, bone health and brain development.

Abuse, assault and coercive control are already criminal offences in England and Wales. The key question about this bill remains: what does this bill criminalise that isn’t already criminal and which ought to be criminalised? Its proponents - including government ministers - have not been sufficiently clear on this, a worrying sign of just how badly thought through it is. The research on which the draft bill is based - undertaken or commissioned by third-party campaigning organisations like Stonewall and Galop - is threadbare, and does not come close to establishing the extent to which there is a problem with specific conversion practices that should be, but are not, criminal under existing law. Meanwhile, the bill risks criminalising parents and child professionals who don’t accede to children’s demands to be recognised as the opposite sex, with significant chilling impacts, and in a way that represents an unacceptable incursion by the state into parent-child relationships.

The background

Gender activists who hold the quasi-religious beliefs that everyone has an inner ‘gender identity’; that trans people have a different gender identity from the reality of their sexed bodies; and that it is gender identity rather than the scientific fact of someone’s sex that determines whether or not they are a man or a woman, have long campaigned for a statutory ban on what they term ‘conversion therapy’.

For them, ‘conversion therapy’ goes beyond incredibly harmful - and already criminal - practices to try and change someone’s sexual orientation through assault, abuse or coercive control. It means trying to change someone’s ‘gender identity’. They believe that it is abusive not to immediately recognise or affirm a gender-questioning child who says they have a gender identity associated with the opposite sex. This belief is based on the false assertion that ‘gender identity’ is a fixed characteristic like sexual orientation. In fact, as highlighted by the independent review undertaken by the experienced paediatrician Hilary Cass, gender distress in children and young people - many of whom are autistic or grappling with their emerging same-sex attraction - is likely to be transient and naturally resolve in the majority of cases. Gender activists see the key thrust of the Cass review - that gender-questioning children should be treated through holistic, exploratory therapy that explores the underlying reasons why they may be experiencing distress related to their bodies, rather than just take it as read they will grow up to have a lasting trans identity in adulthood - itself as a form of ‘conversion therapy’. The former chief executive of Stonewall has appeared to openly endorse this view.

You cannot understand the conversion practices bill without understanding these roots. It is primarily a tool for campaigners to smuggle in the means to impose their ideology on the rest of society - an ideology that has harmed women and children through its erosion of sex-based rights - using the criminal law, under the guise of banning things that are already criminal. The pledge to criminally ban ‘conversion therapy’ in the Labour manifesto was made to keep these campaigners happy, not on the basis that there is a significant problem with abusive practices not covered by existing criminal statute. We can see this in the fact that the government’s draft impact assessment neither gives clear examples of conduct that should be but is not already criminal, nor establishes that there is a problem new legislation is needed to address.

The full piece is here:

https://soniasodha.substack.com/p/the-conversion-practices-bill-vibes

Kathleen Stock in Unherd comes from a slightly different angle:

The conversion paradox Today’s asexual could be tomorrow’s lothario

‘Nobody can tell now whether a current identity will stick; not even its owner.’ (Dimas Ardian/Getty)

3 Jul 2026

Like Aristotle, our Labour overlords take a firm line on the question of essence versus accident in the human soul. A desire to stuff your face with cake is fixable with injections. Ardent petrolheads can be bribed into buying electric cars. Reform voters can be shamed out of their political attraction to Nigel Farage. But a sexual orientation or gender identity is for life.

Such is the unstated implication of the Conversion Practices draft bill, published last week. Two supposedly core, immutable elements of the human person are identified, for which corrective drugs, bribes, or shaming are all presumed diabolical — though these are completely fine to use for more flexible attitudes elsewhere. To try to alter the pattern of someone’s sexual desires, by exerting psychological or emotional pressure or worse, risks becoming a “conversion practice”. The same goes for trying to dissuade someone from a heartfelt profession of gender identity. Past a certain threshold, the police and courts must get involved.

This bill is already receiving much hostile comment, both for its performative aspect — violent and abusive acts are already punishable — and its absurd overreach into understandably heated family discussions about life-changing hormones and surgery. Accompanying notes to the draft try to make a virtue of the chillingly authoritarian focus upon “verbal or non-violent physical acts”. Offences include practices causing “serious alarm and distress” and “serious harm to mental health”, both of which are too vaguely specified to protect loving parents from police investigation for speaking their mind. The wording is also unlikely to induce religious clergy to express honest and well-meant thoughts about the wisdom of homosexuality or medical transition. Thankfully, at least, there is a carveout for healthcare professionals, but it remains unclear why conversations perfectly acceptable in the doctor’s surgery or therapy space must be harmful at home or in church.

But not much has been said about one unexpected implication of the bill: that conversion practices involving straight people are just as harmful as those involving gay or trans ones. The intention to cause a heterosexual or “cis” person to become homosexual or trans is to be treated in just as draconian a manner as the inverse case. In theory at least, progressive parents who preach the gospel of gender affirmation a little too enthusiastically risk criminal investigation later, when their children have second thoughts — a possibility which, you have to admit, is darkly funny. The idea that there might also be criminal liability for the hundreds of lanyard-wearing youth workers out there, still working very hard to cement the idea of medical and social transition into deeply unworldly heads, is even more delicious.

But these enticing visions also point to an ambiguity at the heart of the draft legislation; namely, how are third parties supposed to know for sure that a professed sexual orientation or gender identity is permanent, as opposed to a temporary form of experimentation? It would be ironic if the first parent prosecuted for trying to “convert” her child from X to Y turned out later to have been right about the merely transitory presence of the X-ness all along. Unless authorities can answer this question, the law will be unworkable; and I suggest that they can’t.

Since we cannot look into minds directly to find some bedrock, a proxy method must be found. The original epistemic formula, implicit in early gay-rights activism though rarely spelt out, was that you knew a person must be same-sex-attracted if he said he was, because there was no good reason for him to be confused about this, or to pretend. Back in the day, the social context was so hostile and punishing for gay people, it would be irrational for someone to say they were gay when they were not. This meant you could usually take the act of coming out as accurately revealing the state of profound and permanent inner feelings.

Academics chimed in with essays on “heteronormativity” and “compulsive heterosexuality” in society, implying that if a same-sex attraction ever did emerge against such oppressive odds, it could only be a sign of true inner authenticity: a rare delicate flower, improbably growing on stony ground. But conversely, the surrounding atmosphere of homophobia and the heavy expectation of normality made professions of a straight sexual orientation unreliable. In this case, unlike the other, there was good reason to lie to others about who you really were, or even lie to yourself. Despite your protestations, onlookers couldn’t be sure; and nor, for that matter, could you.

When transactivists came along in the Nineties, effectively they adopted the same strategy: you can tell someone is “really” trans if she says she is, because it would be crazily self-defeating to lie. For decades, LGBT activists have kept up this narrative of intense cultural persecution, even as the UK became one of most accepting countries for sexual minorities in the world. Indeed, the Conversion Practices bill itself is the fruit of furious myth-making, with lobby groups suggesting to politicians that Britain is riddled with dastardly ECT-wielding doctors and stern-faced religious exorcists, blithely ignoring the rainbow flags draped all over the Royal Colleges and the Church of England.

As gay and trans identities have become extremely popular in young people, the preferred strategy has not adjusted. According to rainbow dogma, such people can only be expressing authentic realness when they announce their identities, whereas those who say they are straight or “cis” may just be blindly going along with the normie flow. Professed heterosexuality is always suspicious and can legitimately be challenged, in case there is a less conventional, more socially oppressed orientation trembling shyly underneath, waiting to be coaxed into the sunlight.

“These days, we don’t so much have compulsory heterosexuality in youth culture as compulsory queerness.”

But by including legal protection for straight people, the Conversion Practices bill produces a reductio ad absurdum of this whole approach. The logic of infallible authenticity, as applied to heterosexual identities, patently collapses; for almost every gay person started off by sincerely self-interpreting as straight. Things are even worse with asexual identities which — ludicrously — are also protected by the bill, according to the accompanying notes. As a concerned mother worried about your lonely son, it seems you will not be permitted to try to robustly argue him into trying to find a girlfriend, if he is telling you at the time that he is asexual. Otherwise, though, it is fine. But since, with the right sort of encouragement, today’s depressed asexual might easily become tomorrow’s happy lothario, why on earth should the law protect awkward teenagers from what they don’t want to hear?

Ultimately, the point extends to gay and trans identities too. These days, we don’t so much have compulsory heterosexuality in youth culture as compulsory queerness, and it no longer makes sense to say that the only plausible reason a young person would tell herself she was gay or trans, is if she “really” was. There are several alternative explanations available, including that a non-binary teaching assistant suggested she might be; or that she thinks it sounds cooler and more likely to win her friends than the boring straight alternative. This associated glamour can make self-interpretation confusing, and lead to false positives; not something that could have been said of the typical gay experience in the Sixties.

The insuperable problem here is that nobody can tell now whether a current identity will stick; not even its owner, and especially not when she is young and naive. And of course — a bit like television channels — though there used only to be two or three, there are now so many more to choose from. Ironically, gender studies academics used to stress this impermanence before it became inopportune to do so, always banging on about the endless flexibility of constructions of the self. What seems lifelong today may turn out to be temporary, and vice versa; in which case it cannot be remotely helpful to criminalise the verbal attempts of others to persuade you to take a different path. Critical discussion might feel rude, upsetting, or intrusive, but none of that means it is the business of the law to rule it out. And in fact, with the presumption of your own infallibility about yourself removed, attempts to “convert” you may turn out to be perceptive recognition of what there is, or what still could fruitfully be.

The fantasy of an immutable orientation or identity, offering a key to your true nature, sits awkwardly with human powers of self-interpretation and self-creation. For as long as you are alive, your current understanding of yourself might change, because of social influence or personal reinterpretation or something else entirely. No amount of felt certainty that this won’t happen can rule the possibility out. Life is full of surprises. And sometimes conversion from one set of outworn ideas or feelings to another can be a form of personal salvation.

https://unherd.com/2026/07/the-conversion-paradox/

The Conversion Practices Bill that is currently before the UK Parliament tries to paint a picture of evil people who give electric shocks to gay men and lesbians to try and turn them into heterosexuals! This is, of course, fantasy land. Even if there were such people, such practices are already criminal offences. Instead, like the Black Riders in Lord of the Rings, the people behind this Bill are trying to sniff out and expunge not evil and homophobic torturers but those ordinary, decent people, like the Hobbits of the Shire, who are trying to explain to confused and distressed children that they are not born in the wrong body.

At least the Terf and Gender Critical organisations and individuals have had a lot of practice in arguing against such evil legislation given that, since 2018, 8 bills or motions have been placed before Parliament on this issue.

If Parliament does not give in to these arguments ( and Labour, of course, have a large majority), what next? What if this Bill becomes law?

• Terf and Gender Critical organisations are already getting together details of individuals who will be affected by the Bill if it is brought into law especially parents.

• In addition to all the cogent arguments that we already have and which have been exercised before when Bills like this were previously put before Parliament , the Bill seems to me to be clearly in breach of Article 8 of the Human Rights Act and I note that Dennis Kavanagh in conversation with Helen Joyce also agreed with this position. Indeed Dennis thought that several other Articles might be involved!. See the link above. Dennis thought that, in addition to Article 8, you could also rely on Articles 5,6,9 and 10. Reader Becca (thanks, Becca) thinks you could also rely on Article 3 and tack on to those Articles, Article 14. All those Articles are here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/42/schedule/1

• I would like to put great emphasis on Article 8:

Right to respect for private and family life

1Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.

2There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

• If this Bill becomes law, a challenge from some individuals such as parents could go forward on the basis of section 4 of the HRA namely seeking a declaration of incompatibility. Though difficult to achieve this is not impossible. See this recent case ( on a different subject matter , of course): Dean v Mitchell and the Secretary of State for Levelling Up [2023} EWHC 1479 (KB). This is especially since this Bill does seem to be a clear and outrageous breach of human rights especially regarding parents. This challenge could in itself knock out the Bill if it becomes an Act.

If you are a member of a Terfy or gender critical organisation please send this to them. Please send this to your MP. I am happy to talk to or correspond with anyone on this matter.

I also think we need to closely examine the so called evidence that has been produced in support of this Bill, all of which looks highly dubious. I hope Freedom of Information requests are going in. I would be happy to help in wading through any of this ‘evidence’ if obtained.

Here’s a suitable film clip:

Do you want to bring it down?

With a wrecking ball!

Arty Morty on his substack joins in the debate and comes from yet another angle by looking at how the law has dealt with the question of caste:

The UK Conversion Therapy Ban: Caste legislation all over again

The problem isn’t “gender” — it’s the “identity” part of “gender identity”.

Jul 09, 2026

There’s a dangerous piece of legislation creeping forward in the UK: yet another round of trans activists attempting to slip gender ideology into the law books by stealth, hiding behind the language of banning gay conversion therapy. Canada went through an almost-identical ordeal a few years ago. I was very active in that particular debate. (I almost testified before Canada’s parliament amid that debate, which the trans activists ultimately won.)

The UK’s new “Conversion practices draft bill” has been covered brilliantly at Sonia Sodha’s substack, as well as Sarah Phillimore’s. And Dennis Kavanagh and Helen Joyce of Sex Matters had a wee natter about it on video here.

So it’s already very well covered in terms of the UK’s legal-expert, gender-critical perspective.

Still, I’ve got a bit of added perspective I’d like to toss into the discourse…

The identity part of “gender identity”

The problem, as I see it, is the “identity” part of “gender identity”.

The debate focuses so much around the word “gender”, that “identity” tends to slip right under the radar. Which is weird when you think about it, because the gender part really isn’t an issue.

Debates about gender expression are long gone. No one cares anymore about women wearing pants and not shaving their arm and leg hair, or men wearing blouses and painting their fingernails, or whatever.

The difference between the past and the present is that now we’ve hitched people’s fluid and diverse manners of personal “gender expression” to a rigid collection of distinct, sacred & holy “gender identity” categories.

Tomboys are now said to be literally boys; femininity in young boys means they’re literally female, or at least something so close to it that only a heretic would venture to disagree. Et cetera.

(To boot, we then convinced everyone that some of these categories necessitate supposedly life-saving medical “treatments”, and then we declared that no one is allowed to question anyone’s vibes about their magic “identity” categories.)

In a sense, “gender identities” have a lot in common with the religious/cultural/ethnic concept of castes. They are socially constructed categories whose relevance is derived from a cultural system of belief rather than any material basis of distinction: the difference between a man and a “trans woman” is, quite literally, purely a matter of tribal/identitarian feelings. The exact same can be said for the difference between a Brahmin and a Dalit — an “Untouchable”.

And we’ve always known that it’s very risky to inject such concepts into the language of legislation.

We’ve been down this road before. Let’s not do it again.

The UK has explicitly grappled with this issue over the past decade and a half. Discrimination against people based on their perceived “caste” is obviously bad and should be prohibited by law. Virtually everyone agrees on this. But the problem is, by explicitly, legally naming caste as a freestanding protected characteristic, the government risks making the category of caste look official, stable, and administratively real.

The full piece is here:

https://artymorty.substack.com/p/the-uk-conversion-therapy-ban-caste

Lucy Beney on her substack provides another powerful demolition job and also provides useful examples of people who will be caught by it:

Cruel to be Kind

Lying to children should never be enshrined in law, as the UK’s draft Conversion Practices Bill intends. Sometimes, we have to be ‘cruel to be kind’.

Jul 11, 2026

“You’ve gotta be cruel to be kind in the right measure

Cruel to be kind, it’s a very good sign.

Cruel to be kind means that I love you, baby –

You’ve gotta be cruel to be kind”.

Nick Lowe, from the album Labour of Lust – 1979.

On 25th June, the UK Government published the long-awaited Conversion Practices Draft Bill. The stated aim is to create new offences “in relation to the carrying out of abusive conversion practices on individuals”, on the grounds of sexuality or ‘gender’ identification. This ignores the reality that abusive practices – physical, sexual, psychological, emotional and financial – are already illegal in this country.

It is evident to me that those behind the draft Conversion Practices Bill are entirely unconcerned about its long-term impact on confused and vulnerable children and young people. The main aim, quite obviously, is to silence young people’s stories, shut down any exploration of the possible underlying causes of their distress, and ensure that the ‘trans’ train continues moving forward, without delay or diversion, and with as many passengers onboard as possible.

Here are a couple of Lucy’s examples:

Here are some illustrations, in which the dangers of shutting down discussion become obvious.

1. A counsellor is supporting Chiara, who identifies as a lesbian. Chiara isn’t sure whether or not she has been raped. In response to the counsellor’s questions, the girl explains that she is in a relationship with a ‘trans girl’ (biologically male), and she was expecting a “lesbian encounter”. What she then describes is, in fact, heterosexual intercourse with a young man. Chiara had consented to sexual activity but not to “that”. The counsellor asked if they had used any form of contraception. “No”, answered the girl… “a trans girl is a girl and two girls can’t make a baby”, although she conceded that her partner has a “girl dick”. The suggestion that her partner was biologically male immediately elicited an angry denial and accusations that the counsellor was both homophobic and transphobic – denying that Chiara was a lesbian, and also denying that her ‘trans’ partner was a girl. Chiara demonstrated “serious alarm and distress”. Was that counsellor doing due diligence, or falling short of “standards reasonably expected”, and likely to end up in court under the provisions of this draft Bill?

2. Tom has always liked animals. As a young teenager, he sometimes found himself wishing that he was an animal. It would be so much easier – there wouldn’t be all those social signals to read. He’s worried that he’s autistic – he’s done a couple of tests on social media. He doesn’t go out much and spends most of his time gaming online, and has created an animal avatar. Recently he’s been playing against other ‘animals’. One of them has a full animal costume, apparently – a super-realistic ‘fur suit’. He also has a ‘fursonality’. Tom now believes he was ‘born in the wrong body’ and into the wrong species entirely. He is in fact, ‘fox gender’ – because he is playful and likes the outdoors. He wants to be called Silvano – because it derives from the Latin for woods. Under the provisions of the draft Bill, ‘transgender identity’ includes circumstances in which “the individual identifies as neither male nor female or not solely male or female”. Would someone disabusing Tom of the idea that he is an animal, and treating him as one mixed-up boy, possibly being groomed and urgently in need of safe-guarding, fall foul of the law in future?

The full piece is here:

https://lucybeney.substack.com/p/cruel-to-be-kind

LGB Alliance have set up a website dedicated to the fight against the Bill.

It’s OK to be Gay: The Conversion Practices Bill could harm gay people (15 July)

Hello everyone!

It’s OK to be Gay – The Campaign Begins

The Government’s proposed Conversion Practices Bill could make it harder for adults to ask whether a young person is gay rather than transgender. That is why we have launched the It’s OK to be Gay campaign.

Over the past few weeks we’ve been laying the foundations for what we believe will be a long campaign.

We’ve been building the website, gathering evidence and personal stories, meeting with partner organisations and preparing resources for the months ahead.

This Bill still has a long way to go. It won’t be decided by a single headline or one day in Parliament. We’ll need to be informed, organised and determined every step of the way.

Most importantly, this campaign will only succeed if supporters are right at its heart. Every conversation you have, every story you share and every person you encourage to get involved helps build the movement we are going to need.

For this first update, we have three requests.

Visit the campaign website

Our new campaign website is now live and will become the home of the campaign. You’ll find news, resources, answers to common questions and opportunities to get involved.

We’re only just getting started, and new content will be added regularly, so please take a look, bookmark the site and keep checking back.

Visit the website now

Tell us your story

One of the most powerful things we can do is help Parliament understand how this Bill could affect real people. Perhaps you:

• know a young person who was encouraged to believe they were transgender before anyone explored whether they might simply be gay

• experienced genuine conversion practices yourself in years gone by

• are a parent who has faced difficult conversations with your child

• are a therapist, clinician, teacher or safeguarding professional with concerns about the proposed legislation

• or have another experience you think could help others understand what is at stake.

Every story helps. Please get in touch at rebecca.cobb@lgballiance.org.uk.

Ask your MP to listen before they legislate

Now is the time for MPs to hear from their constituents. Please contact your MP and ask them to:

• visit the campaign website and read our key arguments

• watch the conversation between Dr Az Hakeem and Bev Jackson

• keep an open mind and listen to the experiences of those who may be affected by this legislation.

Here is a template letter / email which you are welcome to use and adapt.

You can find your MP and their contact details here: Find your MP

Our message to Parliament is simple: It’s OK to be Gay. Listen before you legislate.

Thank you for being part of this campaign. We’re delighted to have you with us and look forward to working together in the months ahead.

Excellent discussion between Sunil Sharma and Dennis Kavanagh and you will notice that Dennis refers to the possibility of a declaration of incompatibility under the Human Rights Act. As referred to by yours truly here:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/the-black-riders-the-evil-intent

Here is the interview:

https://youtu.be/V3FElbaFq-A?t=1

It’s OK To Be Gay!!

It’s OK to be Gay – Mass Lobby in Parliament

On 1 September, LGB Alliance supporters from across the country will gather in Westminster to urge their MPs to reject homophobic Conversion Practices legislation.

Please join us

Together we will tell MPs that there are already laws in place to protect people from abusive, coercive, threatening or violent practices designed to change their sexuality. We will make it clear that the ONLY purpose of new legislation is to punish, and potentially criminalise, parents and childcare professionals who refuse to affirm a child’s contention that they are ‘trans’ or have been ‘born in the wrong body’.

We will show that this is legislation that will harm young gay and bi people disproportionately. Too many young people have already been persuaded that their same-sex attraction means there is something wrong with them that needs to be treated with drugs or surgery.

Join us in Westminster to protect the next generation of LGB people from the horrors of gender identity ideology. Please help us to say, It’s OK To Be Gay and ask that the government rejects legislation that makes it harder for parents and professionals to say so.

You’ll find everything you need to know on our Conversion Practices Campaign page. Please sign up to join our action today.

Donate

We receive no government grants or funding and rely on our supporters to fund our vital work. We would be extremely grateful if you were able to help us to have more impact and be more effective by making a donation if you can.

Meanwhile Ronni Nicole on X reports:

Ronni Nicole #KPSS

@RonniNicole1

“SNP’s £230,000 ‘conversion therapy’ helpline took only four calls
LGBT charity received taxpayers’ money to operate what may be ‘Scotland’s most expensive helpline’ — only to answer four calls in three months
LGBT Health and Wellbeing criticised for its definition of conversion therapy”
Times
archive.today/wYKza

8 Aug 2026

https://x.com/RonniNicole1/status/2086200165635928425

Hope to see some of you in the chat on Saturday and hope to see some of you at Parliament on Tuesday.

WE HAVE TO DEFEAT THIS, TERVEN!!

OK, we need something to end with. A lot of this is about ‘transing away the gay’, so I am going with the wonderful final scene from Beautiful Thing (1996). For a brief summary of the film see here:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/beautiful-thing-sweet-dreams?utm_source=publication-search

#BeMorePorcupine

#BeatTheBill

Buy me a coffee

Accrington Stanley are a very old men’s football team here in England and are currently third from bottom in League Two of the Football League ( there are four divisions and that is the lowest division). If one of their players said that men should not be in women’s sport ( in the context where there are no men in women’s professional football), would we have to follow Accrington Stanley all over the country?

I’m obliged to reader Amanda for reminding me of this advert 😂

As a further aside I sometimes say that I am Accrington Stanley to Glinner’s Arsenal 😀

#BeMorePorcupine

Buy me a coffee

Dusty: Are you ready for copy checking, Puss.

Puss: Eyes peeled, ears pricked, bowl of treats in place, Dusty.

Dusty: Let’s roll!!

Thanks as ever to my paid subscribers and to those who buy me a coffee. These updates do take up an enormous amount of work, so please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Onwards with the Dusty,Nicola, Moodie and Rex Film Series 😀 Please keep the suggestions for films coming in but please check the list first which I am updating as we go along. Please send suggestions in the comments here at this link:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/empire-of-light-dustys-film-series

My Fair Lady is a 1964 American film adapted from Lerner and Loewe's 1956 stage musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 stage play Pygmalion.

It was a toss up for my Mum as to her favourite film between this and The Sound Of Music!!

In London, Professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison), a scholar of phonetics, believes that a person's accent determines their prospects in society ("Why Can't the English?"). At the Covent Garden fruit-and-vegetable market one evening, he listens to Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn), a young flower seller with a strong Cockney accent, and makes notes. This causes others to suspect he is a detective. Eliza protests that she has done nothing wrong and asks Colonel Pickering (Wilfred Hyde-White), himself a phonetics expert, to confirm this. Pickering and Higgins are delighted to become acquainted; in fact, Pickering had come from India just to meet Higgins. Higgins boasts he could teach even someone like Eliza to speak so well he could pass her off as a duchess at an embassy ball. Eliza wants to work in a flower shop, but her accent makes that impossible ("Wouldn't It Be Loverly"). The following morning, Eliza shows up at Higgins's home, seeking lessons. Pickering is intrigued and offers to cover all the attendant expenses if Higgins succeeds. Higgins agrees and describes how women ruin lives ("I'm an Ordinary Man").

Thanks to two wonderful readers for suggested pieces.

Some of the linked pieces below may be behind a paywall.

UK - The For Women Scotland Judgment - Councils and Unions Flouting The Law

We have been reporting on the six London councils who have said they would defy the law. I wrote to the Equality and Human Rights Council abut whether they would take action and got a waffly response:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/moon

Sex Matters look at this issue and also at the trade unions who say they will defy the law. I had written to Sex Matters and also LGB Alliance as to whether they may take action but have yet to hear from either of them. I am going to the LGBA lobby of Parliament next Tuesday 01 September about the Conversion Practices Bill so will talk to them then about it then. Over to Sex Matters:

The councils and unions flouting the law

Aug 25, 2026

On 5th August, as new statutory guidance on single-sex services was finally published, the leaders of six London councils wrote an open letter to Minister for Women and Equalities Bridget Phillipson saying they did not intend to comply with the Equality Act’s provisions on single-sex spaces and services, as clarified by the Supreme Court last year and detailed in the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s Code of practice for services, public functions and associations.

Describing themselves as “a group of London boroughs with collectively some of the largest Trans+ communities anywhere in the UK”, the six councils – Lambeth, Hackney, Haringey, Lewisham, Southwark and Waltham Forest – wrote:

“We say this to you in no uncertain terms: Trans women are women, trans men are men, and non-binary identities are fundamentally valid. [ Dusty - I say this to you w***ers in no uncertain terms: trans women are men, trans men are women, in any event trans doesn’t exist and non-binary is nonsense ].

“It is simply unacceptable that the Code of Practice is harmful to the rights of trans people and will make their exclusion from public life more likely, not less. This will feel like an attack to the countless trans people in our communities who are simply trying to live their lives in safety and wish to be treated with respect.” [ Dusty - they missed out “So all you women and girls and gay people can f*** off!”]

When local authorities fail to protect single-sex spaces, their residents suffer. They are responsible for social care, community safety, changing and toilet facilities in places like sports centres, gyms and parks that they own and run, and many state schools. They are also responsible for inspecting health and safety at local businesses.

Research published last year by Women’s Rights Network shows that sexual predation by men against women and children is more common in leisure centres with mixed-sex changing rooms or changing villages, which enable male voyeurism, exhibitionism and assault despite being described as “family friendly”. WRN concluded:

“The safest changing room is a single-sex changing room.”

Councils also play a vital role in safeguarding children through social services and their work with state schools. The six signatories of the open letter are among London’s most deprived boroughs: all have substantial populations suffering domestic violence, addiction and homelessness. Eligibility rules that permit trans-identifying men to access these services harm female users of domestic and homeless refuges and rape crisis services, who have nowhere else to turn.

The Women Only One Stop Hub (WOOSH) run by Haringey council, for example, offers various services including sexual-health advice, support for addiction and other mental and physical health issues and shelter from domestic abuse. But despite the name, WOOSH is not women only: the council describes it as a “safe space for all women, including cis and trans women”. A woman traumatised by male sexual violence who attends a women-only support group or counselling session cannot be sure she won’t be confronted by a man – and one, moreover, she will have to pretend she thinks is a woman. Gaslighting victims of male sexual violence in this manner isn’t just unlawful, it’s cruel.

In October 2025 Miranda Newsom, a 60-year-old resident of Southwark, encountered a trans-identifying man using the female changing room in Castle Gym, a council-run leisure centre. Rather than apologising to her and fixing its rules to make clear that no male people may use the female changing room, the council investigated her and then banned her. Sex Matters, Women’s Rights Network and local campaigners demonstrated against the suspension. Miranda has now been allowed back to the gym, but Southwark has not changed its policies. Instead, it has told her that she can use the accessible changing room instead of the women’s changing room if she doesn’t want to risk changing with men. She is continuing to challenge this policy.

Local authorities are required to follow the law as it is. But some seem to be putting party policy first and taking the opportunity to grandstand. Hackney, Lewisham and Waltham Forest have Green majorities. In Lambeth, Haringey and Southwark, no party has overall control but the Green Party is the largest. Its position is that the EHRC guidance should be withdrawn and the Equality Act reformed to bring in gender self-ID. Hackney’s mayor, a Green, has said that single-sex spaces and services in the borough will remain “trans inclusive” and that she has told council staff not to “police access”.

In contrast the Conservatives have stated that they support single-sex provisions based on biology. On 15th April 2026, the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, said she had asked Conservative-run councils to “adopt and publish clear, lawful policies on single-sex spaces across the services they run and fund”.

An injury to one…

Eight unions, with a combined membership of 3.6 million, have also criticised the EHRC code of practice. After a meeting on 19th August with “trans, non-binary and gender diverse members”, Andrea Egen, Unison’s general secretary, said she would work with them to “change the law for legal gender recognition”. In January, when supporters of Miranda Newsom protested outside Castle Gym against Southwark’s policy of allowing trans-identifying men to use women’s changing rooms, Unison organised a counter-protest (pictured above).

But unions too must follow the Equality Act. Among other things that means not discriminating against their gender-critical members – and three live court cases suggest they are not taking this duty seriously.

The full piece is here:

https://www.sex-matters-news.org/p/the-councils-and-unions-flouting

UK - Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Freedom of the Press

We have been following the Jason Arday story from the point of view of DEI ( which has serious implications for us Terfs) and also introduce here the question of freedom of the press. Firstly, I join with Kaizen Asiedu’s analysis of the situation:

EDI Jester continues his excellent investigation especially centring on the DEI aspect of the matter:

https://edijester.substack.com/p/jason-arday-the-race-and-health-observatory

https://edijester.substack.com/p/how-edi-orthodoxy-captured-academic

SEEN In Journalim look at the freedom of the press angle and also mention a slight improvement to the BBC’s Style Guide!!!

https://seeninjournalism.substack.com/p/when-media-accountability-becomes

The States - Mini Round Up - Is Title IX Under Attack?

Good round up as ever by Kara Dansky on The Terf Report. It looks like the Democrats have Title IX in their sights ( albeit they will not be able to do anything while Donald Trump is President). Most of this discussion is behind the paywall. Helpfully Kara provides a link to Title IX:

Here is Title IX in its entirety. Or, if you want to be fancy about it, 20 USC § 1681, et seq.

Typically, when Title IX is referenced, this is quoted:

“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

That’s the gist of Title IX, and it’s beautiful.

She also provides a lovely and moving piece from Parents with Inconvenient Truths about Trans:

I love her so much, and I’m hurting so much from what she’s doing. The 2 extremes live in the same place

I never thought those eyes that saw me
Would look on me with hate

I never thought those arms that hugged me
Would push me away

I never thought that voice that laughed with mine
Would shout “no debate”

I never thought the sacred path I walked
Could lead to this bleak day

I never thought the breast that nurtured you
Would take such a blow

I never thought the hands that toiled for you
Would be spat at in this way

I never thought the brother that played with you
Would be abandoned in the dust

I never thought the reflection of yourself
Would make you turn your face away

And what is it you’ve turned towards
A glitter painted snake

And what’s the truth you’ve run towards
That claims nature is a lie

And what’s this love you think you’ve found
But envy wrapped in hate

And what’s emerged from this chrysalis
But a death-head moth; not a butterfly

The full piece is here:

https://karadansky.substack.com/p/are-the-democrats-coming-for-title

The States - Basketball Gate

We have been following this and we last reported on it here:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/fetchez-la-vache

As regular readers will know I seem to be taking on the role of John The Baptist ( ‘A voice crying out in the wilderness’). I have invented a new term: Larping The Larp ( pretending to be a man who is pretending to be a man). I claim copyright! One of the two men in question, Enes Kanter Freedom, has just turned up at a game in the crowd and picked an argument with one of the players - see below. He then got ejected.

Before we move on I know most of you disagree with me. This is a free speech stack, of course, so please do slag me off ( politely please) in the comments.

A lot of people think this is a great move but I think it is a very bad look. Even if this guy and Royce White, the other man, were as pure as the driven snow and albeit that women need as many men as possible to stand with them on these issues, putting two men at the front of a women’s rights campaign just seems bonkers to me.

Aside from all I have said above, there are no men in the WNBA ( if there were I am sure we would have heard by now) so why not turn up at events where larping boys or men are taking part in other sports?

Accrington Stanley are a very old men’s football team here in England and are currently third from bottom in League Two of the Football League ( there are four divisions and that is the lowest division). If one of their players said that men should not be in women’s sport ( in the context where there are no men in women’s professional football), would we have to follow Accrington Stanley all over the country?

OK, you can all have a go at me now.

Australia - The Sydney Rally

We mentioned the Sydney Rally in the last update. All the excellent speeches have now been released and glad to see there was no counter protest:

https://feministlegal.org/rally-to-fix-the-sex-discrimination-act-martin-place-sydney-australia-sunday-23rd-august-2026-youtube/

On Gender Clinic News Bernard Lane discusses some of the speeches:

https://www.genderclinicnews.com/p/confusing-the-innocent

Australia- The Captured AHPRA

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency seems to be completely captured by the Gender Borg as reported by Feminist Legal Clinic via The Australian.

AHPRA silent on gender activist ties as inquiry calls grow | The Australian (24 August)

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency has refused to engage with questions regarding its impartiality, treatment of practitioners who raise evidence-based concerns about “gender-affirming” care, and relationship with transgender advocacy organisations.

The watchdog has since failed to provide any on-record response, instead referring to ­sources of background information, including a statement made by AHPRA chief executive Justin Untersteiner and Medical Board of Australia chair Susan O’Dwyer in April, the transcript of Mr Untersteiner’s appearance at Senate estimates hearings in June, and the watchdog’s review of its handling of notifications relating to racism and discrimination, released in July.

In an indication of the extent to which gender ideology has pervaded AHPRA, the regulator’s media and digital manager signed his email specifying a preference for “he/him” pronouns.

Professor Geelhoed’s article [ Dusty - I’m afraid I can’t find any non-paywalled link to this article] cited evidence of close relationships between AHPRA and trans advocacy organisations including ACON and its Pride in Diversity program, Transgender Victoria and Trans Hub, to the extent that these organisations had a role in embedding “identity-affirming care” into AHPRA’s clinical standards.

The Australian asked AHPRA whether it was confident its independence had not been compromised, and whether it was appropriate for the medical regulator to have such a close relationship with advocacy organisations, particularly when they were advocating for a highly contested model of care.

In February, AHPRA banned Queensland psychiatrist Andrew Amos from making online statements about gender medicine and barred him from having direct clinical contact with patients.

The regulator, which is investigating Professor Geelhoed for his gender stance, last month dropped its investigation into fellow child psychiatrist Jillian Spencer after she was cleared of wrongdoing by Queensland Children’s Hospital four years after raising concerns about ­gender-affirming care.

Source: AHPRA silent on gender activist ties as inquiry calls grow | The Australian

https://feministlegal.org/ahpra-silent-on-gender-activist-ties-as-inquiry-calls-grow-the-australian-2/

New Zealand - The Courts and Pronouns

Katrina Biggs on her substack, A B’Old Woman looks at worrying guidance from Courts of New Zealand ( also referred to in Kara Dansky’s round up):

Courts of New Zealand instructs Counsel to use preferred pronouns in the courtroom.

The UK has wound back on doing that, so why is NZ starting it?

Aug 24, 2026

In what appears to be a backwards move, the Courts of New Zealand have issued guidelines which advise counsel – i.e. lawyers who fight a case for a client - to use preferred pronouns for clients and witnesses in the courtroom. Instead of being advised to stick to facts for clarity, they are told they “should” use pronouns based on personal preference, rather than sex-based reality.

In the Guidelines for Courtroom Conduct for Counsel, paragraphs 38 and 54 state:

• 38. It is counsel’s responsibility to make sure they know the correct spelling and pronunciation of the names of their clients and witnesses and also the titles and pronouns they use. Wherever possible, this information should be conveyed to the registrar in advance of the hearing. [my emphasis]

• 54. Witnesses should usually be referred to using their formal name, including their title (e.g., Mr, Ms, Dr, Professor, Sir, Dame, Lady or other title), and their pronouns should be used. It is generally appropriate to refer to children or young persons by their given or preferred name. [my emphasis]

Although witnesses are not compelled to use preferred pronouns, it’s hard to imagine that an activist judge wouldn’t look unfavourably upon one who didn’t. Unfortunately, striking an activist judge is not as rare an occurrence now as it should be.

Jan Rivers posted on X that using terms like ‘her penis’ is now basically official advice:

Does this mean a victim of rape could feel coerced to call a rapist who discovers his womanhood at the courthouse door she/her, and refer to ‘her penis’ to avoid disapproval from the judge, and risking an unfavourable judgment due to that? If a witness is brave enough to stand their ground and use correct sex-based pronouns, there’s also the possibility of the ludicrous situation where the counsel calls a male defendant she/her, whilst the witness calls him ‘he/him’. And would a ‘gender fluid’ person be allowed to change their pronouns during the case?

An NZ organisation called TOAH-NNEST, an advocacy group against sexual violence, informs us that:

Although they use the word ‘gender’ (they ought not) I’m going to take a leap and presume they mean that rape is sex specific. However, I acknowledge that you never know anymore what is meant by ‘gender’. But – and stay with me here - if a woman gets some skin on her forearm or thigh removed to use in the grafting of a facsimile penis near her groin area, and one day manages to subdue another woman – or man – long enough so she can do what’s necessary to make that thing erect, and rapes them, can it then be referred to as her penis’? Or, does the fact that she probably wants to be called he/him make ‘her penis’ a ‘his penis’?

The NZ Crimes Act doesn’t go down the road of mentioning surgically altered genitals in the instance of rape, as far as I’m aware. As per section 128, it seems to remain content to make our heads spin with with references to ‘Person A’ and ‘Person B’, instead of ‘woman’ and ‘man’, and talks about “the penetration of person B’s genitalia by person A’s penis”. Undoubtably, gender ideologues had a hand in that bollox, in the event one, or both, of those persons has surgically altered genitals. I’d better stop there, because this is starting to get mad.

The UK wound back from the compelled use of preferred pronouns in court in early 2025. The guidance was revised following some high-profile court cases, such as that of double rapist Adam Graham, who identified as a ‘transwoman’ after committing the crimes and then called himself Isla Bryson, being referred to as she/her in court. The Christian Institute reported that:

New Zealand - Falsifying Birth Certificates

Fern Hickson of Resist Gender Education examines the enormous problems that arise from the ability to falsify birth certificates:

Birth certificate falsehoods - a landmine for schools

The safeguarding risks of secret identities.

Resist Gender Education

Aug 25, 2026

Principals attest that they need to be aware of anything that might lead to harm for a student - from a bee allergy right through to an opposite sex identity. Knowledge enables special arrangements - such as separate changing rooms - to be put in place for students who identify as trans, while ensuring the rights of all students are respected. [ Dusty - not sure about this myself] The only way that safety and dignity for every student can be protected is for the principal to be kept informed of any potential risks.

But what if some students hide their opposite sex identity?

According to an OIA reply to Family First, since our sex self-ID law came into force three years ago, 86 children aged 15 and under and 172 aged 16-17 have changed the sex marker on their birth certificates.

Have they all been honest with their schools or are some of them “going stealth”?

Under NZ’s sex self-ID law (BDMRR) parents are able to change their child’s sex marker from the age of two. Some families think it is appropriate to keep a child’s ‘social transition’ a secret, although it is ethically wrong in two ways – firstly because it is deceitful to all the people who have daily interactions with the child, and secondly because it imposes an unnecessary burden on the child, who must be on constant alert and fearful of being found out.

The full piece is here:

https://resistgendereducation.substack.com/p/birth-certificate-falsehoods-a-landmine

New Zealand - The Gender Action Tracker

Garwhoungle on The Ministry Has Fallen explains her wonderful ‘gender action tracker’ which also covers cases beyond NZ. I will be letting her know that the judicial review challenge to the clinical trial of puberty blockers has failed and, unfortunately, will not be going any further.

https://theministryhasfallen.substack.com/p/whats-been-going-on-this-year

aPauling News

I have not included this as an endpiece since it does contain some Terfy news albeit delivered in a wonderful satirical style!

The Real Endpiece

Given the film that we have featured…..

#BeMorePorcupine

#KeepTerfing

#BringDownAmnesty

#KeepSpeaking

#RepealTheGRA

#AdultHumanFemale

#LetWomenSpeak

#LGB✂️TQ

#NeverGiveUp

#HoldTheLine

#StopTheBlockersTrial

#NeverSurrender

#NeverForget

#TruthWillTriumph

#WeWillWin

The next update will probably be on either Thursday or Friday, Terven.

If you like this update, please send to a friend. Until next time, Terven. This isn’t over yet! Please subscribe for free or paid or buy me a coffee, like and comment.

However, let’s avoid you having to read a whole book. Let’s discuss the Four Minute Mile.

Read more

Buy me a coffee

Thanks as ever to my paid subscribers and to those who buy me a coffee. These updates do take up an enormous amount of work, so please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Onwards with the Dusty,Nicola, Moodie and Rex Film Series 😀 Please keep the suggestions for films coming in but please check the list first which I am updating as we go along. Please send suggestions in the comments here at this link:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/empire-of-light-dustys-film-series

My Dinner with Andre is a 1981 American film directed by Louis Malle, and written by and starring André Gregory and Wallace Shawn as fictionalised versions of themselves sharing a conversation at Cafe Des Artistes in Manhattan. The film's dialogue covers topics such as experimental theatre, the nature of theatre, and the nature of life, and contrasts Andre's spiritual experiences with Wally's modest humanism.

Thanks to two wonderful readers for suggested pieces.

Some of the linked pieces below may be behind a paywall.

Dr Miriam Grossman

I have just stumbled on this speech from two years ago by the wonderful Dr Miriam Grossman. Essential listening. In her book, Lost In Trans Nation she states that ‘gender dysphoria’ ( or ‘gender incongruence’ as it is now described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM)) is a symptom and you don’t treat a symptom. You find out what the cause is.

England - Hampstead Ladies’ Pond

We have, of course, been following this case and Maya Forstater provides an update. If you click the link you will find a marvellous history of the ponds and full details of the up to date incursion of the Gender Borg! As many of you will know, there is a third unisex pond - but that’s not good enough for the larping men, of course!!

21st August 2026

Maya with Professor Jo Phoenix at the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond

Even though the memo has been on holiday, I haven’t been. One of the things I have been working on is Sex Matters’ case against the City of London about the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond and Highgate Men’s Pond, two of the best-known single-sex services in the country.

The case will be heard in the High Court on 3rd and 4th November. Part of the City’s defence is that “trans inclusion” has been the rule since at least 2017. Before the Supreme Court put a stop to it, the City used to tell everyone that “trans inclusion” was required by the Equality Act, but it now admits that that was a misinterpretation of the law.

So I have spent a few lovely mornings swimming around in the dark, murky waters of the Ladies’ Pond – and several days delving into the records of the City’s even murkier decision-making, as well as looking back at the stories of some of the women who dived in headfirst to challenge it in creative ways.

You can read the twisty tale about what happened in 2017 and since on our website. It involves Edward Lord, a non-binary activist and city councillor; Gendered Intelligence; trans-identifying man Jane Fae; several City of London committees, journalist Andrew Gilligan; the Sunday Times; IPSO, the press regulator; and indefatigable activists including Julia Long, Venice Allan, Janice Williams and an anonymous Mumsnetter who went undercover to a TRA conference – oh, and Amy Desir in a lime-green mankini (if there are parts of the story I have missed let me know).

This case has been a long time coming. We have argued that it is in the public interest for everyone to have clarity about the law, while the City has tried everything to stop the core question being answered by the court. After spending so many years adamantly getting the law wrong, it argued that our legal challenge was both “too early” (because it was carrying out an irrelevant consultation) and “too late” (because the initial decision to allow men into the Ladies’ Pond was made years ago). And if there was any case to answer, it argued, it was for individual women to bring personal claims, not for Sex Matters to challenge the policy itself.

Initially, the court agreed that we should not be granted permission. In November the decision to refuse us permission was overturned, meaning we were finally set to ask the High Court to rule definitively on whether any version of the City of London’s “trans inclusive” rules at the Hampstead Ponds is lawful.

Swimming in circles around a cold, dark pond where you can’t put your foot down to rest, and you don’t like to think what is at the bottom, is not for everyone. But this is more than a battle for a much-loved oasis in North London; the City of London Corporation is the governing body of the Square Mile, London’s financial centre, and is hugely influential. It is frightening just how easily its decision-making was captured, and how much work it has taken by so many women to get even this far towards winning it back.

Thank you to everyone who has spoken up about the ponds, and who continues to support our work on this case. We hope to see some of you in court!

Dusty - your roving reporter will be there on 03 and 04 November. Let me know if you will be there.

UK - Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

We have recently discussed how DEI ( which, amongst other things, instals gender ideology within organisations) allowed a fantasist such as Jason Arday to become a Professor at Cambridge University. It is worth re-emphasising this point, so over to EDI Jester:

https://edijester.substack.com/p/when-arday-met-heidi-the-creation

If you want to explore the Jason Arday story further I recommend:

Rex Landy on Reality Bites:

https://rexlandy.substack.com/p/an-ardays-knight

Brendan O’Neill in The Spectator:

https://spectator.com/article/the-media-didnt-kill-jason-arday/

Kathleen Stock on Unherd:

https://unherd.com/2026/08/the-jason-arday-delusion/

Helen Joyce on her substack:

https://www.thehelenjoyce.com/p/the-arday-affair

The first half of The Dumb Ages with Clive Simpson and Jack David:

https://thedumbages.substack.com/p/episode-65

UK - Trade Unions Erase Women!

Christian Concern reports ( 21 August):

Unions vow to oppose single-sex spaces

The Times reported this week that eight major trade unions have vowed to fight back against the recent EHRC guidance that better (but imperfectly) protects single-sex spaces.

Lisa Lockey, one of the Darlington Nurses, quit her union Unison in 2024 after 30 years, after its president at the time called our clients “transphobic bigots.”

Lisa was quoted by the Times: “Unison has repeatedly declared hostility toward its female members, dismissing our safety and privacy and seeking to sidestep the law. When you see statements like this, I feel like I deserve a refund.”

We supported Lisa and the other Darlington Nurses in their landmark winning case, challenging how they were treated after a man used their changing room and behaved inappropriately.

The major trade unions have long been captured by harmful ideas that are a distant way from their often-Christian roots. That’s one reason why we’re supporting the development of new unions that will uphold created reality and properly defend Christians in the workplace.

Pray that these efforts would be successful and that unions would not successfully push transgender ideology in workplaces around Britain.

UK - The Greens Spend The Woo Money!

Do the ordinary Green Party members know what their subscriptions are being spent on!? Feminist Legal Clinic reports via The Telegraph:

Greens rack up £1m legal bill in year of ‘unwinnable’ trans battles | UK | The Telegraph (23 August)

The Green Party has spent more than £1m on legal costs in the past year, amid accusations that pro-transgender “ideologues” within the party are pursuing unwinnable claims.

In 2024, the party was found to have discriminated against its former deputy leader over his gender-critical beliefs.

A court ruled that the party had improperly dismissed Shahrar Ali – who believes that “biology is real and immutable” – as party spokesman because it had failed to identify any misconduct. The Mayor’s and City County Court awarded £9,100 in damages to Mr Ali.

Mr Ali is taking the Greens to court again for further unlawful discrimination and victimisation, over his expulsion from the party. The case is due to be heard in Central London County Court later this year.

The party is being sued by another former member who was suspended for mocking “fairy” pronouns.

Emma Bateman, who was co-chairman of Green Party Women, was found to have breached diversity rules by making “clearly antagonistic” comments about “fae/faer” pronouns used by people who believe they are mythical beings.

She was also condemned for using the terms “pronoun police” and “cognitive cis-connance” during a speech in Hyde Park, leading to a three-month suspension and disqualification from the women’s committee for nine months.

Ms Bateman, 58, is suing the party for discrimination under the Equality Act 2010 after being repeatedly suspended and eventually expelled for her gender-critical views.

Source: Greens rack up £1m legal bill in year of ‘unwinnable’ trans battles

https://feministlegal.org/greens-rack-up-1m-legal-bill-in-year-of-unwinnable-trans-battles-uk-the-telegraph/

Scotland - Men Out Of Women’s Prisons

Mr Menno celebrates with Susan Smith of For Women Scotland following their success in getting men out of women’s prisons in Scotland.

We reported on this great success here:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/transgenderism-does-not-exist

For Women Scotland are heroes!!

New Zealand - The General Election

The General Election in NZ is to take place on 07 November. Excellent analysis of the positions of the main parties on Terfy issues by Lesbian Resistance NZ. They understandably hold off from saying who people should vote for but I am not so constrained 😀 If you were just basing it on Terf issues, you should vote for NZ First 😊 And you should definitely not vote for Labour, the Greens or Te Pāti Māori.

All Kiwi comments gratefully received.

https://lesbianresistance.substack.com/p/election-2026-where-the-parties-stand

The States - Hoist By Your Own Petard!

On The Distance, Matt Osborne writes:

The Vibe Shift Is Real

For trans times, they are a-changing

Jul 23, 2026

“Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules”, Saul Alinsky advised. Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas made American Bar Association (ABA) President Michelle A. Behnke live up to her own set of rules in a House Oversight Committee hearing, “The Future of DEI in Law School Accreditation and the Legal Profession”, yesterday.

Gill’s enemy is the intersectional oppression hierarchy. He is adept at twisting its administrators into pretzels with leftist logic.

The full piece is here but especially check out the video 😂

https://www.thedistancemag.com/p/the-vibe-shift-is-real

Australia - The Sydney Rally

We reported on this rally here under ‘Fix The Sex Discrimination Act’:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/mr-right

Shocking news from Feminist Legal Clinic via The Australian that Sall Grover had to pull out due to threats against her. The rally took place today and I understand it went really well.

Sall Grover pulls out of Sydney rally after alleged death threat | The Australian

Women’s rights advocate Sall Grover has opted to pull out of publicly addressing a rally in Sydney on Sunday after she and fellow campaigner Kirralie Smith allegedly received death threats from a trans rights activist.

Ms Grover has also issued a defamation concerns notice to a range of trans activist groups, having been described as a “racist transphobe” on flyers promoting a counter-protest challenging Sunday’s Women’s Rights Network event.

In a private social media message sent to Binary Australia spokeswoman Ms Smith, a trans activist identifying themselves only as “Riles” told her: “We are going to put a bullet through your f..king head for bringing men to (a transgender soccer player’s) game to intimidate her! 1 terf 1 bullet! You will suffer immense physical anguish for putting our side in harm’s way!”

Another message from “Riles” said: “So happy you lost $100,000 but it’s not f..king enough we WILL ruin your life as much as humanly possible. We will never stop pursuing your suffering! And trans people are going f..king NOWHERE you subhuman filth! We will haunt you as long as you live! You will never be safe! Trans people are all over the world too, and thanks to the internet, also connected! We know what you look like in other words on f..king sight.”

The message also featured a photograph of Ms Grover, with the caption “1 terf 1 bullet”.

Ms Grover said she had felt “really nervous” about her personal safety at a similar rally in Brisbane in July, which had also been counter-protested by trans activists.

“We have been inundated with abuse, and it has been escalating,” she said. “We are living in a post-Charlie Kirk (assassinated US political figure) world, and it makes me super nervous. I have to remember I am first and foremost my child’s mother,” said Ms Grover, who is a single parent to a four-year-old daughter.’

She said supporters of rallies like Sunday’s were “mostly a bunch of middle-aged women, some younger, some older, and some men who come along in support of us”.

“We don’t send threats. We don’t try to intimidate these guys, we’re not opposed to counter-protest. Counter-protest is part of living in society. What I am against is incitement, and that in order to hold these rallies to defend our rights, we need police protection from trans activists.”

Ms Smith said she would still speak on Sunday. “I am still going ahead,” she said. “This is no judgment on Sall. She is a single mum with a four-year-old, so I 100 per cent respect her position, but from my point of view, I won’t be intimidated, I won’t back down.

“I don’t want a bullet in my head, and I want women to have the freedom to speak about these issues.”

Other speakers at Sunday’s rally include the Lesbian Action Group, breastfeeding advocate Jasmine Sussex, Feminist Legal Clinic principal Anna Kerr, psychologist Dianna Kenny and philosopher Clive Hamilton.

Source: Sall Grover pulls out of Sydney rally after alleged death threat | The Australian

https://feministlegal.org/sall-grover-pulls-out-of-sydney-rally-after-alleged-death-threat-the-australian/

Here is the excellent speech from Anna Kerr of the Feminist Legal Clinic:

https://youtu.be/dv8RUMV_mXg?t=2

How To Counter ‘Transwomen Are Women’

Inspired by ‘Sophie Fever’, Mary Jane Murphy on her substack suggests three questions you could put to someone who states that ‘transwomen are women.’ I think I would add another question: What does ‘trans’ mean since you can’t actually ‘transition’.

https://maryjanemurphy2.substack.com/p/the-three-questions-id-ask-someone

Intel Lady

Sunil on Rational Voices interviews one of the Terven’s favourite comedians, Intel Lady.

Endpiece

I think that we all struggle not to swear like troopers when dealing with this madness, so thanks to Tenaciously Terfin for this suggestion.

#BeMorePorcupine

#KeepTerfing

#BringDownAmnesty

#KeepFighting

#RepealTheGRA

#AdultHumanFemale

#KeepSpeaking

#LGB✂️TQ

#NeverGiveUp

#HoldTheLine

#StopTheBlockersTrial

#NeverSurrender

#NeverForget

#TruthWillTriumph

#WeWillWin

The next update will probably be on either Tuesday or Wednesday, Terven.

If you like this update, please send to a friend. Until next time, Terven. This isn’t over yet! Please subscribe for free or paid or buy me a coffee, like and comment.

There is a long history of a common law right to free speech in the UK as exemplified by Lord Justice Sedley in Redmond-Bate v Director of Public Prosecutions [1999] EWHC Admin 733:

‘Free speech includes not only the inoffensive but the irritating, the contentious, the eccentric, the heretical, the unwelcome and the provocative provided it does not tend to provoke violence. Freedom only to speak inoffensively is not worth having. What Speakers’ Corner (where the law applies as fully as anywhere else) demonstrates is the tolerance which is both extended by the law to opinion of every kind and expected by the law in the conduct of those who disagree, even strongly, with what they hear.

From the condemnation of Socrates to the persecution of modern writers and journalists, our world has seen too many examples of state control of unofficial ideas.’

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Buy me a coffee

Are you ready, Puss?

Let’s ruuuuuuumble, Dusty!

Thanks as ever to my paid subscribers and to those who buy me a coffee. These updates do take up an enormous amount of work, so please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Onwards with the Dusty,Nicola, Moodie and Rex Film Series 😀 Please keep the suggestions for films coming in but please check the list first which I am updating as we go along. Please send suggestions in the comments here at this link:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/empire-of-light-dustys-film-series

Mrs. Doubtfire is a 1993 American film directed by Chris Columbus.

The film involves a man dressing up as a woman but, of course, in the film he is doing that as a subterfuge and not because he thinks he is a woman ( see also Some Like It Hot ). Additionally this is a comedy!

Freelance voice actor Daniel Hillard (Robin Williams) lives in San Francisco and is a devoted father to three children - 14-year-old Lydia, 12-year-old Chris, and 5-year-old Natalie - though his workaholic wife Miranda (Sally Field) considers him immature and unreliable. After quitting a job following a disagreement over a morally questionable script, Daniel returns home to throw Chris a chaotic birthday party, despite Miranda’s objections due to Chris’ declining grades. Miranda arrives home early to break up the party and, in the ensuing argument, tells Daniel that she wants a divorce. Due to Daniel’s unemployed and homeless status, Miranda is granted sole custody of the children, with Daniel having visitation rights every Saturday; shared custody is contingent on Daniel finding a steady job and suitable residence within three months.

Daniel secures an apartment and a job as a shipping clerk at a television station. After learning that Miranda is looking to hire a housekeeper, Daniel secretly alters her classified ad form, then calls her using his voice acting skills to pose as a series of undesirable applicants before calling as “Euphegenia Doubtfire” (a surname he derives from a newspaper headline), an elderly British nanny with strong credentials. Impressed, Miranda invites Mrs. Doubtfire for an interview. Daniel’s brother, Frank, a makeup artist, and Frank’s partner, Jack, help Daniel appear as an old woman through the use of makeup and prosthetics.

In the clip, Anne Haney is the court appointed social worker, Mrs Wellner who has arrived unexpectedly for an apartment inspection.

Thanks to two wonderful readers for suggested pieces.

Some of the linked pieces below may be behind a paywall.

New Zealand - Flying The Suffrage Flag

New Zealand was the first country to introduce the vote for women. We have been reporting on Katrina Biggs’ campaign to get the Suffrage Flag flown over the New Zealand Parliament on Suffrage Day. She has won!!! Many congratulations, Katrina. She reports on this on her substack, A B’Old Woman and I trust she doesn’t mind me quoting the whole thing including an image of the very particular NZ Suffrage Flag:

For the first time ever, a women’s suffrage flag will fly at NZ Parliament!

NZ was the first self-governing country in the world where all women won the right to vote.

Aug 21, 2026

Success! After a year of me (metaphorically) tussling with the Speaker of the House, and lawyering-up to get a women’s suffrage flag flown at NZ Parliament, the Speaker has recently granted permission for this. The flag will be hoisted for the first time on Thursday 17 Sept this year, at 8.30am, on Parliament’s forecourt.

New Zealand was the first self-governing country in the world where women won the right to vote – i.e. suffrage - irrespective of circumstances. It kind of seems worth recognising that with more than just paying a bit of lip service to it each year. Winning that right was no easy ride – it took three attempts, and then finally the women’s suffrage bill passed by just two votes on 19^th September 1893.

There are some blokes still bitter about that to this day – lol.

This year, the 19^th September falls on a Saturday, so the Women’s Suffrage flag will have its inaugural hoisting on Thursday 17^th, being the closest House sitting day to the 19^th. I intend to be in Wellington for it, of course, and, if allowed, may even do the hoisting myself. Or, perhaps my sister’s granddaughters, who’ll be there with me and my sister, might be allowed to do it, instead.

I know others will be there, too - the more the merrier. The flags get raised at 8.30am, so those who are working may not be able to attend, but with any luck an MP or two might be able to spare fifteen minutes to come outside Parliament and have a gander. The media will be informed, but I have no idea if this will interest any of them or not.

Whatever happens, it will still be a day to remember.

There is a caveat on flying the Women’s Suffrage flag, and that is the Speaker cannot guarantee it to be an ongoing event each year, so it may be a case of making an application for each occasion. I’ll have to find out more about that. However, now that it’s been done once, perhaps it will create a precedent that’s easier to follow.

As well as the inevitable bitter blokes who feel emasculated by women being treated as human beings with their own agency, grinches will come out of their caves to grumble and growl about ‘more important things’. I agree that more important things do exist - and as long as we humans walk the earth, that won’t change. As one important thing gets resolved, another arises. Some never get resolved, try as we might, which is why we’re never given a timeframe for when the grand resolution of the ‘more important things’ might occur.

We juggle big and little things in life all the time, because that is life. How happy would it make us to grimly focus only on the ‘more important things’ to the exclusion of anything else? Of course, grinches aren’t unknown to refrain from grinching when a less important thing is something they approve of. Funny, that.

I would argue that something which inspires and uplifts us does have an important place in our lives. The Women’s Suffrage flag is symbolic of achievement through great perseverance, and that speaks to us all, no matter what we’re pursuing.

The vote is a great equaliser, as it does not give one hoot about what beliefs or opinions we have, or whereabouts on the political spectrum we may be. In a polarised world, the white camellia on the NZ Women’s Suffrage flag pictured below - which is the flower that was given to the MPs who supported the women’s suffrage bill to wear in their lapels, when they went into Parliament to vote on it - shows no favouritism. Whatever kind of woman you are, the vote was won for you.

I will confirm and update on matters as we get closer to Thursday 17 September, but if you can be there, do come 😊

Thanks to all those who have supported this initiative, and me, to get here, and to the Secret T Society (e: SecretTSociety@proton.me) for designing the flag.

https://aboldwoman.substack.com/p/for-the-first-time-ever-a-womens

UK - The Thought Police Strike Again!

Glinner may have won his case following his arrest by five armed officers at Heathrow Airport but never fear, the British Thought Police are still in action using a different technique - detain a man for 4 hours, cause his girlfriend untold worry and cause them both to miss their ferry - and then release him without charges! Glinner reports further:

The UK plod are still acting as thought police, but leaving no paper trail.

Graham Linehan

Aug 20, 2026

Jake Munro spent eight days in the south of Ireland with his girlfriend and their 6 year-old son. On the way home, four Welsh police officers pulled him out of the ferry queue at Pembroke Dock and took his fingerprints. [ Dusty - for those who know the geography of the UK, logically this must be on the way out not on the way home]

Munro streams under the name Goth Daddy, is based in Northern Ireland, and has appeared on Tim Pool’s Culture War Podcast. He talks about wokeism and migration as much as he does goth and metal subculture. He worries about the future of the UK, for the same reason a lot of ordinary people are worried, which is the strain a sudden influx of military-age men is putting on European countries, represented most recently by these terrifying government pamphlets produced for them.

Munro arrived at Pembroke Dock with his family at half one in the afternoon, booked on the 2:45pm ferry to Rosslare. He showed his ticket, got waved to a new lane, and then, in his own words, noticed “a growing amount of police officers, security, congregating outside my car.” A mountainous policeman knocked on his window and suggested they take a stroll. Inside the security hut, four officers told him he was being detained for “suspected right-wing ideologies” and would be questioned. After the questioning, he was told, depending on how it went, he might be arrested.

He wasn’t questioned about a specific crime, or a specific threat, or a plot. This was a survey. Was he affiliated with any right-wing nationalist or patriot groups? Was he agitating the British public to take things into their own hands? What did he think about Muslims? What did he think about migration? What did he think about trans people, and did he consider himself an active threat to them? What did he think was the biggest problem revolving around Jews?

He was fingerprinted. Photographed. Held for four hours. At the end of it, an officer told him they had no grounds to hold him for terrorism, incitement, or anything else, and drove him back to an empty car. His phone had been cloned, which is presumably where the four hours went. He missed his ferry and paid for a hotel he hadn’t planned on, finally rejoining his girlfriend who had been ‘beside herself’, not knowing if the father of her son had been arrested. Back home and about to go live on the stream he’d been away from for a week, he found a second strike waiting on his YouTube channel, for a clip that was months old. Whatever the machinations were behind the ban, it landed the moment he had an audience again.

The full piece is here:

https://grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/uk-introduces-catch-and-release-for

UK - Sarah Phillimore Fights On - And Looks at Freedom of Speech

Talking of freedom of speech…. We have been following Sarah Phillimore’s action for defamation against Jolyon Maugham and the Good Laugh…sorry, Law Project throughout. Sarah discusses the letter from the Bar Standards Board dismissing the GLP Complaint against her and looks at the implications for free speech:

Some more thoughts on freedom of speech

Those who crusade on behalf of individuals, to promote an ideology or increase fund raising, must owe some duty of care to their psychological well being.

Aug 21, 2026

I was very pleased to discover in my email inbox on 19 August 2026 confirmation that the BSB independent reviewer had decided to uphold in full the BSB’s initial rejection of the Good Law Complaint about my conduct. If you want a reminder of what went down in August 2025, I have written about it here and my response to the GLP request for a review in May 2026 is here.

The letter was too long to include in this post so I have set it out in a separate post here.

I want to consider the letter in more detail going beyond my initial pleasure at its conclusion, and then consider the wider implications of Maugham’s continued activities in showcasing individuals for his particular ideological crusades.

I am loathe to add yet more words to the teetering mountain of commentary about the tragedy of Jason Arday but I find it worrying that we now have two clear examples of the Good Law Project weaponizing individuals who appear to be a good fit for both its own ideological and fund raising objectives, but with little or no thought as to whether that person is psychologically robust enough to engage.

Some comments on the letter.

I note with unease para 16 which refers to the discussion between ‘the two women’ para 52 referring to ‘both women’, para 60 ‘the relationship between the two women’, para 63 again ‘the relationship between the two women’.

Mr Weddell is not a woman. That is the entire point of our dispute. I can grit my teeth and live with the female pronouns that litter the review, but would have preferred the reviewer to identify us by our names rather than show an unquestioning support for Mr Weddell’s assertion that he is in fact a woman. That position is not supported by material reality and it is not supported by law.

It may well be a view the reviewer holds but it should not be casually buttressed as an uncontroversial fact, for it is neither. It is instead either a quasi religious belief or a specific ideological position. Of course people are entitled to both and I am not entitled to prevent them just because I find either offensive. But it is troubling to see Mr Weddell’s ‘womanhood’ presented as uncontroversial fact by the umpire of this particular dispute.

I am unclear why para 17 refers to an ‘exchange’ between me and Mr Weddell. As far as I recall, I had blocked Mr Weddell’s X account by March 2024 and I was commenting on screenshots posted by others.

To comment on my commentary he would therefore have had to seek me out. As the Judge commented at para 73 in Hayden v Dickenson 02 Dec 2020 [2020] EWHC 3291 (QB), QBD

“The Court can reasonably expect a person who is the subject of unwanted communications to engage in a degree of self-help before seeking to obtain a harassment injunction from the Court. The first step is self-resilience: the ability to ignore or shrug off unpleasant messages or comments, a quality that is perhaps all the more important if a person intends to engage in public debate. The Claimant herself has acknowledged this and accepted that “when you put yourself in the public eye you expect a certain extent… of criticism and you have to be robust and you have to have thick skin” …. Even outside the arena of debate, most people, during their lives, will encounter occasional online comments that are critical and unpleasant, even offensive and upsetting. Sometimes that offence is intended, on other occasions the capacity for the remarks to hurt and upset is not fully appreciated by the critic. But everyone is expected to show a degree of tolerance and resilience in the face of this sort of occasional unpleasantness. These are part of the day-to-day irritations, annoyances and upset that are a fact of modern life ……..”

The court went on to say that people were also expected to use the tools of the platform they were using to protect themselves, such as blocking or muting.

The full piece is here:

https://sarahphillimore.substack.com/p/some-more-thoughts-on-freedom-of

Northern Ireland - Cancellation of Women’s Rights Network NI

We have been following the cancellation of an event organised by WRN NI by the Féile an Phobail Festival. For example here:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/its-the-meek-thats-nice-they-have?utm_source=publication-search

WRN NI managed to find an alternative venue outside the auspices of the Festival. The Sex Matters team report further:

https://www.sex-matters-news.org/p/women-in-northern-ireland-speak-up

The States - Texas Children’s Hospital

We have been reporting on the case of the Texas Children’s Hospital which the US Department of Justice found to be defrauding the Government and who then agreed to, amongst other things , set up a service for detransitioners. The nurse, Vanessa Sivadge, who blew the whistle has now spoken publicly. As reported by Feminist Legal Clinic via Blaze Media. What a hero!!

Children’s hospital transing kids? FBI targets the nurse who exposed it | Blaze Media

The Former Texas Children’s Hospital nurse exposed illegal transgender treatments for minors — and won.

While Sivadge initially remained anonymous, she publicly came forward with her story in June 2024.

“You can imagine, my life changed overnight. I blew the whistle. One day I was a nurse, the next day the hospital had put me on leave. The story made national news when the video of the FBI was posted, and it was viewed millions of times in just a couple days,” she explains.

When firing her, the hospital claimed that she had “accessed records inappropriately.”

“Of course, the very same records that proved that they were committing fraud,” she adds.

Now, after two years of litigation that began over the fraud under the Biden DOJ, the hospital’s settlement with her and the Justice Department was finalized last week — and her name has been cleared.

“A couple of months ago, in May, it was initially announced that a $10 million settlement had been reached, including the establishment of America’s first detransition clinic, the firing of five physicians that had … been a party to these procedures,” Sivadge tells Stuckey.

“So for the first time I was able to reveal that I was … the whistleblower that forced Texas Children’s Hospital, that compelled them to pay $10 million back to the government because the government was defrauded,” she adds.

Source: Children’s hospital transing kids? FBI targets the nurse who exposed it | Blaze Media

https://feministlegal.org/childrens-hospital-transing-kids-fbi-targets-the-nurse-who-exposed-it-blaze-media/

The States - A Sex Realist Democrat. You Read That Right!

Jonah Wheeler is probably the first ever ( latter day) Democrat representative who has come out batting for the Terfs! As reported by Kat Highsmith:

Top Five Points From Jonah Wheeler

His Obama-esque Speech Was a Hit...For Some

Aug 19, 2026

If you received an email a bit earlier with video problems, please excuse the technical error. The following video will work.

Now that the “trans” lie is coming apart at the seams, some politicians and media figures are doubling down out of embarrassment while others have the courage to speak honestly.

One such politician is Jonah Wheeler, a 23-year-old state representative from New Hampshire.

A previous post (linked below) discusses his handling of cross-dressers and their shenanigans in his state, and he is notable because he is a rare Democrat with the backbone to confront this cult.

He went viral on X recently for posting a nearly 8-minute video with this caption:

Gender ideology is an illiberal, backwards way of thinking that I make no apologies for opposing.

Some people loved it, including JK Rowling who reposted it, while others…not so much. You’ll see why.

Some critics found his cadence and style to be an obvious impersonation of Barack Obama, but others found him completely cogent and convincing.

Here are Jonah Wheeler’s top five points, which cut directly to the heart of this fraud.

The full piece is here:

https://kathighsmith.substack.com/p/top-five-points-from-jonah-wheeler

Kara Dansky on The Terf Report also discusses Jonah Wheeler ( who quoted Kara):

https://karadansky.substack.com/p/listen-to-womans-hour-the-terf-report-5cc

Kat Highsmith also looks at a larping man who is backtracking a bit on his claims to be a woman. Kat feels that the Gender Borg are losing. Over here, in the UK, I think they are planning a flanking manoeuvre via the puberty blocker trial and the Conversion Practices Bill. We will revert to this question!

They Know They Are Losing

And so the backtracking begins...

Aug 20, 2026

This was previously sent out to some subscribers, but there were technical difficulties specifically with links and video. Those should work now, and please send me a message if there are any additional issues.

As the wheels continue to fly off the careening “trans” cart, we will begin to see a retreat on previously asserted no debate positions alongside sheepishly feeble demands from cross-dressers and fetishists that the world still owes them submission.

It’s important we remember that to tolerate any of it is to allow all of it. The only solution is total rejection, no matter how much these men, in particular, whine and cajole as a way to appeal to our sympathy.

The most salient example of this currently unfolding phenomenon recently occurred at a Substack named The Argument, which published a fairly widely read article hilariously entitled “I don’t need you to believe I’m a woman” by a man calling himself “Cassie” Pritchard.

The full piece is here:

https://kathighsmith.substack.com/p/they-know-they-are-losing

Meanwhile, Kara Dansky reports on a journalist from a leftie leaning journal, The Seattle Times who resigned after he was prevented from publishing a piece about two teenage girls turning up at a basketball game to support Sophie Cunningham:

https://karadansky.substack.com/p/have-journalists-had-enough-of-the

Throwing Things!!

On Reality’s Last Stand Robert Deaner and Mike Lombardo look at the greater throwing ability of men as opposed to women:

Throwing Like a Girl: Is Biology Allowed to Explain Anything?

Fausto-Sterling’s treatment of sex differences in throwing reveals how modern Blank Slate thinking survives by acknowledging biology in principle while dismissing it in practice.

Aug 19, 2026

Robert Deaner, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Grand Valley State University. His research uses an evolutionary perspective to illuminate sex differences and their portrayal.

Mike Lombardo, PhD, is a Professor Emeritus of Biology at Grand Valley State University. His research interests include the evolution of sports and throwing in humans and cooperation and behavioral ecology in birds.

The phrase “throw like a girl” is a crude stereotype, but, like many stereotypes, it contains more than a grain of truth. In fact, the sex difference in overhand throwing is one of the largest behavioral sex differences ever measured.

Psychologists typically express group differences in standard deviations. Among young children, boys outperform girls in throwing distance and velocity by about 1.5 standard deviations. The gap widens across childhood and adolescence. By late adolescence and adulthood, estimates are generally around two standard deviations or greater. Thomas and French’s classic meta-analysis remains a useful starting point for examining this sex difference.

A difference of two standard deviations is roughly the same magnitude as the familiar adult sex difference in height. It means that the average man throws as well as or better than about 98 percent of women.

The raw numbers make the point just as clearly. In one study of young adults, men threw a tennis ball at an average velocity of 29.4 meters per second, compared with 18.6 meters per second for women. In other words, the women averaged about 63 percent of the men’s throwing velocity. At elite levels, the sex difference remains large. In modern track and field competition, men throw the javelin about 30 percent farther than women despite using a heavier javelin. The sex difference in javelin performance is therefore substantially larger than the familiar male advantages in running and jumping events.

These are group averages, not rules about individuals. The distributions overlap, some girls and women throw extremely well, and training matters. Nonetheless, the sex difference is large, appears well before puberty, and generally increases with age.

The full piece is here:

https://www.realityslaststand.com/p/throwing-like-a-girl-is-biology-allowed

Endpiece

From Petal

#BeMorePorcupine

#KeepTerfing

#BringDownAmnesty

#KeepFighting

#RepealTheGRA

#AdultHumanFemale

#LetWomenSpeak

#LGB✂️TQ

#NeverGiveUp

#HoldTheLine

#StopTheBlockersTrial

#NeverSurrender

#NeverForget

#TruthWillTriumph

#WeWillWin

The next update will probably be on either Sunday or Monday, Terven.

If you like this update, please send to a friend. Until next time, Terven. This isn’t over yet! Please subscribe for free or paid or buy me a coffee, like and comment.

Buy me a coffee

Women aren’t support animals for disturbed men, and the female category is not a dumping ground for mediocre male athletes.

I believe that the original quote may come from someone called Haley.

Thanks as ever to my paid subscribers and to those who buy me a coffee. These updates do take up an enormous amount of work, so please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Onwards with the Dusty,Nicola, Moodie and Rex Film Series 😀 Please keep the suggestions for films coming in but please check the list first which I am updating as we go along. Please send suggestions in the comments here at this link:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/empire-of-light-dustys-film-series

Mr. Right is a 2015 American film directed by Paco Cabezas. The film follows an overoptimistic young woman (Anna Kendrick) who discovers that her new boyfriend (Sam Rockwell) is a former professional hitman. This is another in Rex Landy’s Sam Rockwell ‘season’ and Rex writes:

Mr Right is silly. The premise, the story, the lot. It’s a fun, silly romp that is very enjoyable. Leave your credulity at the door and you’ll have a great time watching Sam and Anna Kendrick play off each other in this ripping yarn. Sam is a reformed hit-man who now kills anyone who tries to hire him. A chance encounter with Kendrick’s character (who has just been left on the roadside as romantic roadkill) leads to romance. There’s some great fight scenes, Tim Roth, RZA [ Robert Fitzgerald Diggs] and there’s even a happy ever after. Stupidly satisfying.

Dusty: I liked “When he said he killed a guy in the parking lot I thought he was joking.”

Thanks to three wonderful readers for suggested pieces.

Some of the linked pieces below may be behind a paywall.

UK - Anti-Meritocracy!

We have been occasionally featuring the story of Jason Arday and his tragic death because Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is the vehicle by which, amongst other things, ‘gender ideology’ is enshrined in organisations and it installed Jason Arday as a Professor in Cambridge University despite the fact that the poor deluded man had no right to be in that position at all. By the way now the journalists doing their job ( and that includes me in my minor role) are responsible for his death according to the woke mob. I will let you, dear readers, go through three excellent pieces by EDI Jester and another excellent piece by Frederick Alexander on a site called Gadfly but, first of all, here is Martin Luther King:

The woke morons need to listen properly to this speech. He hoped for a nation where his children “will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.” Those in charge in the UK have lost this message, if they ever understood it in the first place. All thoughts gratefully received.

https://edijester.substack.com/p/arday-question-time-and-the-manifestation

https://edijester.substack.com/p/beyond-arday-affinity-groups-collectivism

https://edijester.substack.com/p/grief-as-weapon-how-the-left-turned

https://www.gadflynotes.com/p/educated-beyond-common-sense?hide_intro_popup=true

UK - Sarah Phillimore v The Good Laugh Project

We have been covering Sarah’s defamation case throughout. For example, here:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/home-alone-are-you-thirsty-for-more

In fact we are like the Sarah P fan club 😂

Here are her latest two updates both produced today. Please consider donating to her case.

Protection against defamation

Part 1

I am very sorry to have left it so long since the last update and even more sorry to have nothing much substantive to share. Maugham has objected to a paragraph in my Particulars of Claim and refused a proposed amendment so my solicitors have now made application to the court to amend it. I am warned that if he contests this and wins it could cost me up to £50K.

His defence will not be provided until this issue is dealt with.

This is very frustrating, particularly in light of the Good Law Project’s recent activity regarding the death of Jason Arday and Maugham’s denials that this is being used as a fund raising opportunity for the GLP.

https://x.com/BarbaraRich_law/status/2089390287395119111?s=20

Maugham has sole control of the GLP funds and therefore access to millions of pounds. My fund is now more than half spent and we have not seen the inside of a court room yet.

I hope this issue can be resolved swiftly and we can move on to a court date. I will keep you updated when I know the date of the hearing, and then its outcome.

Sarah P.

Part 2

Updates are like buses! Nothing for months and then two in one day.

I am really pleased to find on checking my email this afternoon, confirmation from the BSB independent reviewer, that its original decision to reject the Good Law Project complaint of August 2025 was the right one. The reviewer upholds that decision in full.

I have not harassed Mr Weddell and I have not behaved in any way sufficiently badly to merit sanction from my regulator.

I hope that Mr Maugham will now pause and reflect. If, as sadly I think is likely, he is unwilling or unable, his next step will be to apply to judicially review the BSB decision not to sanction me. I can only hope that it makes it very clear to donors to the Good Law Project that some of their money at least may now be diverted into what I can fairly describe as his private vendetta.

I remain willing to settle my legal action with a public apology and payment of my costs to date. A donation to FWS would be nice, but if he won’t - I will.

Go to case page

The European Union

Marianne Driessen of Athena Forum talks of the Gender Borg infiltration being enforced by the European Union.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-OW26u551IA

Pseudoscience - World Round Up!

Good round up as ever of what I call pseudoscience around the world by Bernard Lane on Gender Clinic News. I will highlight just three pieces:

Tavistock clinic whistleblowers Marcus and Susan Evans have launched a website “bringing together our books, articles, lectures and interviews on gender distress, identity and psychological development”. Resources include information and support for parents, and a Family Consultation Service, which “offers parents and families an opportunity to think together about a child’s or young person’s distress, the wider emotional and developmental context in which it has emerged, and the different ways of understanding and responding to it”.

Sounds excellent!

Given my very grave concerns about the UK Conversion Practices Bill I also highlight these two pieces:

Meanwhile, Canadian writer Peter Gajdics, a gay man who suffered conversion therapy, has thought better of his past advocacy for the deceptive new generation of conversion bans focused on transgender identity. He says he did not understand at the time that such bans would lead to the medicalisation of gender non-conforming minors. Now, on a Genspect podcast, he says: “Gender affirmative care is the new euphemism for conversion therapy.”

Thumb on the scale

Australia | In the state of Tasmania, the Greens party has released an exposure draft of a law against “conversion practices” involving not only sexual orientation but the ill-defined concept of “gender identity”. The accused could face civil or criminal proceedings, with a maximum prison term of 21 years. In a submission, Emeritus Professor of Law Patrick Parkinson argues that the bill, like its counterparts in other jurisdictions, is “deeply flawed”.

He writes: “There has never been a well-documented issue about therapy concerning ‘gender identity’ that has caused significant harm. The only issue has been debate about the role of psychotherapy in treating gender dysphoria or incongruence. On this issue, medical practitioners differ. That [psychotherapy] treatment, which some call ‘conversion therapy’, is now the mainstream option for gender dysphoric minors in Scandinavia, Britain and elsewhere, following expert medical reviews of the evidence for the efficacy of hormonal treatments in addressing gender dysphoria.

“The Parliament of Tasmania should not put its thumb on the scale on what is an intense debate in the medical and mental health professions internationally.”

The full piece is here:

https://www.genderclinicnews.com/p/signs-and-symptoms-of-fraud

Bernard also looks at attempts to get around Queensland’s ban on provision of puberty blockers to minors:

https://www.genderclinicnews.com/p/puberty-blockers-unleashed

The States - Mini Round Up

As usual, a good round up on the Terf Report by Kara Dansky. I thought the main case she refers to ( most of which is discussed behind the paywall) of a parent challenging the State of Portland was particularly moving and important so will quote a bit of that here:

This post is about a lawsuit that was recently filed by a Portland, Oregon, mom against her child’s school for introducing her child to so-called “gender identity” ideology. It’s hard to tell, but I think she stands a decent shot at prevailing.

…………………………….

The mom in question is Allison Roberts. Before even reading the complaint, I noted from publicly available materials that before suing, she had written a letter to school administrators in which she said, “If we truly support the gay community, we should not blur the line between same sex attraction and medicalized identity.” She stood on the sidewalk outside her kids’ school and handed out copies of the letter to other parents.

…………………………….

In February of this year, Allison was on school property chatting with a woman named Olivia about an unrelated matter involving the PTA [Parent Teachers Association] . The next day, she brought Olivia a cup of coffee and wanted to continue the unrelated conversation. However, that time, Olivia’s husband was present and he asked her if she voted for Trump. When she said that she did, he yelled “White people are disgusting!” “at the top of his lungs.” Apparently, there were elementary school children present, who reacted in shock to this yelling. There is no indication in the complaint what race the husband is.

Naturally, the police arrived at her home the following morning and served her with a one-year no trespass order from the school. The complaint states that the order said that Allison had engaged in “harmful, unlawful and/or disruptive behavior,” but did not provide any specific details. It stated that she had engaged in “threatening and intimidating members of the school,” which she denies. It threatened that failure to comply would result in law enforcement engagement.

…………………………..

The lawsuit essentially boils down to several claims under the 1st Amendment (which applies to the school through the 14th Amendment, but don’t worry about that for now):

• The school retaliated against her for engaging in free speech in a lawful manner.

• The school engaged in viewpoint discrimination by punishing her but not the man who yelled “White people are disgusting!” in front of elementary school children.

• The school chilled her free speech.

• The school’s harassment policy is void for vagueness.

It also alleges that the school is burdening her right to the free exercise of religion.

It asks the court to state that the claims have merit and to enjoin (block) the school from engaging in further similar conduct.

Best of luck to Allison. The full piece is here:

https://karadansky.substack.com/p/do-parents-have-a-right-to-shield

Terflandia

Kara Dansky has edited what sounds like a great book about the Terven around the world and it will be officially launched on 6 October:

https://karadansky.substack.com/p/terflandia-how-the-global-terven-2dd

Australia - Fix The Sex Discrimination Act

Big rally coming up on 23 August. Wish I could be there!!

https://feministlegal.org/restore-womens-rights-and-fix-the-sda-wrna/

In Praise of Andrew Doyle

I am not sure that Andrew Doyle would describe himself as a Terf but he has always come out batting for the Terfs and we, as you know, frequently feature him on this substack.

Simon Edge wrote an excellent book called The End of the World is Flat which was clearly based on Stonewall’s 2015 U turn moving from gay rights to T and Q rights.

Following the Southport Riots after the killing of three young children at a dance class in the UK, Simon Edge co-edited a letter making outrageous allegations that certain women’s rights activists supported violence and racism. Nobody was named but it was clearly aimed at Kellie-Jay Keen and Let Women Speak.

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/serpico?utm_source=publication-search

Now he has launched forth again with defamatory allegations against Andrew, Josh Howie of GB News and others!!

https://kaygreen.blog/2026/08/09/the-alarming-tale-of-the-far-right-bookshop-in-rural-suffolk/

Andrew responds in a very measured way here:

https://www.andrewdoyle.org/p/the-art-of-the-smear

Come on, Simon, ‘fess up. Are you the Mata Hari of the Gender Borg?

Endpiece

From Amanda Grimes

See: ‘The For Women Scotland Judgment’ here: https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/moon

A statement from the Equality and Human Rights Commission 😀

“It’s a possible maybe”

#BeMorePorcupine

#KeepTerfing

#BringDownAmnesty

#KeepFighting

#RepealTheGRA

#AdultHumanFemale

#LetWomenSpeak

#LGB✂️TQ

#NeverGiveUp

#HoldTheLine

#StopTheBlockersTrial

#NeverSurrender

#NeverForget

#TruthWillTriumph

#WeWillWin

The next update will probably be on either Friday or Saturday, Terven.

If you like this update, please send to a friend. Until next time, Terven. This isn’t over yet! Please subscribe for free or paid or buy me a coffee, like and comment.

On 8 June 1975 a police constable was stationed on a road in Cambridge. The police had surrounded the area in question because another attack had occurred by the so called ‘Cambridge Rapist.’ The PC saw a woman cycling towards him and her front light was not working on her bike so he stopped her. Soon after he stopped her he realised this was not a woman and arrested the man in question. He had arrested Peter Samuel Cook, the Cambridge Rapist.

Peter Samuel Cook, The Cambridge Rapist

Read more

Buy me a coffee

Thanks as ever to my paid subscribers and to those who buy me a coffee. These updates do take up an enormous amount of work, so please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Onwards with the Dusty,Nicola, Moodie and Rex Film Series 😀 Please keep the suggestions for films coming in but please check the list first which I am updating as we go along. Please send suggestions in the comments here at this link:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/empire-of-light-dustys-film-series

Moon is a 2009 film directed by Duncan Jones.

This was the choice of Rex Landy and I will let Rex introduce it:

Moon is a twisty, tortuous tale of perception, reality, and what’s really going on. Sam Bell ( Sam Rockwell) is nearing the end of his three-year stint mining on the moon for a corporate giant; a solo mission he’s glad to see the end of. However, his health takes a turn for the worse with just two weeks to go. He encounters a dangerous situation that threatens his safety, his well-being and most of all, his mind. Sam Bell has to solve this mystery before the relief crew arrive and he’s released.

Thanks to two wonderful readers for suggested pieces.

Some of the linked pieces below may be behind a paywall.

UK - The For Women Scotland Judgment

We mentioned in the last update writing to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) about whether they would take action against one or more of the six London councils who have openly said they will defy the judgment. Here is their response received today:

Dear Dusty Masterson

Thank you for your email regarding council compliance with the Supreme Court judgment.

The services Code of Practice provides legally accurate, impartial and up-to-date guidance to help services comply with the Equality Act. By complying with the law, organisations can protect people that use their services while also reducing their own risk of litigation.

As we have said consistently since the Supreme Court clarified the law in April 2025, those with duties under the Equality Act should be following the law, updating their policies if needed and seeking independent legal advice where necessary.

We will monitor compliance with the law and take enforcement action where it is proportionate and necessary. We consider all alleged instances of non-compliance and base any decision to take action on our well-established regulatory model and decision-making framework.

Dusty: Puss, do you know what that means?

Puss: Haven’t the foggiest, Dusty!

We have also written to Sex Matters and LGB Alliance and will let you know if and when we hear from them.

The States - Wolves In White Coats

We featured this major report in the last update. Excellent piece on it here from gay campaigner Jack Jewel:

UK - Black Face, Woman Face?

Michael Deacon in The Telegraph writes:

The BBC will come to regret its bizarre obsession with drag queens

Our national broadcaster seems to think it’s being wonderfully progressive. Perhaps it needs a little lesson from history

15 August 2026

From 1958 to 1978, the BBC broadcast The Black and White Minstrel Show: a series featuring white entertainers who had caked their faces with ridiculous make-up, in order to impersonate black people. These days, the BBC is understandably rather embarrassed about this. So much so that, in the wake of Black Lives Matter, it published an article on its website, wondering how on earth its past bosses could have been so blind.

“It didn’t seem to occur to anyone in a position of authority at the BBC that the series really was offensive to more than just a few ‘killjoys’,” the article lamented. As a result, “this infamous programme” constituted “arguably the BBC’s most glaring failure to understand the damage it could do when it traded in outdated stereotypes”.

True enough. I’ve got just one question.

If, as the BBC now accepts, it’s wrong to show white people dressing up as grotesque parodies of black people, how come it’s fine – indeed, wonderfully enlightened and progressive – to show men dressing up as grotesque parodies of women?

I only ask because the BBC’s peculiar fixation with drag queens shows no signs of abating. Just this week, Newsnight invited one to participate in a discussion of the UK’s floundering economy. Perhaps we could boost quarterly growth if we each buy a pair of size 12 stilettos.

Meanwhile, the BBC has been eagerly plugging the new series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK. Apparently we can look forward to meeting contestants who use such charming stage names as “Anita P---”, proclaim themselves to be a “Bikini Bottom Bimbo”, declare that they’re “feeling lit to the t--”, and challenge the “other girls” to “step their pussies up”.

No doubt the BBC would argue that this is harmless, light-hearted entertainment, to which only killjoys could object. But then, 50 years ago, that’s what its bosses said about The Black and White Minstrel Show.

Still, times change. So, in another 50 years, maybe the BBC will once again be wringing its hands, as it wonders, in horrified disbelief, how it could ever have promoted the practice of pinking up.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/eb80c4d6873c1156

England - The Curious Incident Of The Police Not At The Event

Sarah Phillimore of Fair Cop is taking action against Wiltshire Police for their active involvement in the local Pride event. Sarah provides us with an update on her substack and note the date for the hearing of 23 November:

The Curious Incident of the Invisible Police at the Pride Events

If the police are going to argue in the High Court that they have a ‘duty’ to visibly support the LGBTQIA++++ community which overrides their statutory duty of impartiality - where are they?

Aug 15, 2026

The substantive hearing of my judicial review application against the Wiltshire Police will be heard on 23 November 2026. I am seeking a declaration that they have acted unlawfully in breach of their statutory duty of impartiality by sending out uniformed officers (including their Chief Constable) in the colours of a contested political ideology at Pride Events.

At the permission hearing on 8 June 2026, I heard the arguments of their barrister to explain why their Chief Constable bedecked in the Progress Pride Flag, was not a breach of the police’s statutory duty of impartiality, rather a necessary show of public ‘support’ for a ‘marginalised community’ which was also a ‘duty’ upon the police. I wrote about that permission hearing here.

I and my crack Team of Operatives went undercover at Chippenham Pride on 13 June 2026 to check out the police presence. Which was zero. What there was however was repeated and clear evidence that Pride is most definitely political, and almost exclusively focused on gender identities, the crowd being urged to ‘fight’ the laws ‘against’ trans people and only one rainbow flag amongst the huge variety of striped gender flags. I wrote about my visit here.

We repeated the exercise today on 15 August 2026 at Swindon Pride which I will assume is the jewel in Wiltshire’s Gender Fabulous Crown and will represent the event with the largest expected turnout. If Wiltshire Police genuinely consider they are under a ‘duty’ to be visible to support this community, I would expect them to be here.

A cunning disguise

They were not. I was at Great Western Park from 10.30 - 12.30 and the only police presence I saw was a police car driving past the park as I left. My operative said that two uniformed officers then approached the main entrance but she also left before being able to get any evidence of them suddenly dancing and painting their faces etc.

There were plenty of stalls. It was a very well organised and pleasant event - or at least the quiet first hour was before the marches arrived and I left. The RAF had a stall. Amazon had a stall. Wiltshire Wildlife had a stall. The police were not there. They didn’t have a stall. Nor were they policing the event.

I made it very clear at the permission hearing that I had no problem at all with the police attending such events to provide information and education about how the police operate, how and who to contact if you wish to report a crime etc. That to which I objected, and most strongly, was the police wearing the colours of a contested political ideology and thus making me anxious and afraid that they would not treat me with respect and care, once they knew of my opposite ideological leanings.

So where were they? If this ‘duty’ of visible support exists, why did it not apply to either Chippenham or Swindon Prides?

I had a very nice morning. There were not as many children with tails and puppy fetish masks as there were in Chippenham. There was the same one lonely Rainbow Flag in a sea of gender stripes. I had a tarot card reading which to my great pleasure revealed the Major Arcana ‘Justice’ as the first card in my Celtic Cross.

The full piece is here:

https://sarahphillimore.substack.com/p/the-curious-incident-of-the-invisible

Best of luck to Sarah at the final hearing. I intend to be there as your roving reporter.

Switzerland - More Woo Madness!!

It’s completely mad in Switzerland as reported by Feminist Legal Clinic via Reduxx:

Swiss Politician Calls For Overhaul Of “Absurd” Gender Laws After City Issues Apology To Bearded Male Who Was Arrested In Women’s Nudist Zone – Reduxx (17 August)

On August 10, Fehr Düsel, who represents the Swiss People’s Party, published a statement condemning the nation’s overly-simplistic gender identity change process, which became law in 2022. Since then, Swiss citizens have been able to pay a nominal fee, the equivalent of less than $100 USD, and instantly change their name and sex marker at any registry office.

In her statement, Fehr Düsel references a recent incident at Bern’s Marzilibad. famous outdoor swimming and riverside bathing area at the Aare River. Marzilibad has a designated, segregated nude area called the “Paradiesli” which is only open to women.

In June, a controversy erupted after a male claiming to be transgender entered the nude area and caused discomfort amongst the female sunbathers.

The man, who was described as having a beard, black hair, and penis, was confronted by multiple patrons who asked him to leave. He claimed he had a right to use the area because of he identified as a woman.

Female sunbathers then escalated their concerns to the park’s security, which called the regional police after the man continued to refuse to leave. Police arrived and attempted to check the man’s ID for evidence he was “legally” a woman, but the man would not provide it. He was then arrested.

According to local reports, some pro-trans patrons attempted to defend the man and assaulted a female police officer during the arrest. The officer sustained minor injuries as a result.

The city later issued an apology to the trans-identified male, concluding that he had been “improperly removed” from the women’s area.

“All people who identify themselves as women and live as such have access to the voluntary nudist area Paradiesli,” the city wrote in a statement.

Fehr Düsel highlighted the bizarre situation in her August 10 statement.

Source: Swiss Politician Calls For Overhaul Of “Absurd” Gender Laws After City Issues Apology To Bearded Male Who Was Arrested In Women’s Nudist Zone – Reduxx

https://feministlegal.org/swiss-politician-calls-for-overhaul-of-absurd-gender-laws-after-city-issues-apology-to-bearded-male-who-was-arrested-in-womens-nudist-zone-reduxx/

Who Are The ‘Trans Activists’?

Kiwi Terf, Garwhoungle started her substack one year before this substack in 2022. Here she re-posts her first ever substack which remains relevant today:

The trans activist fundies

What the hell is going on with this trans rights activism then? A throwback to Garwhoungle’s origin story.

Aug 15, 2026

Four and a half years later, and nothing’s changed. This is a repost of my very first Substack article, published in March 2022. It is as good an account as any of the origin story of Garwhoungle and why I started writing and continue to write The Ministry Has Fallen. Hardly any of you will have read it as back then, right at the beginning, I had no subscribers.

Most people on the left, like me, are empathetic towards trans people and the challenges that that life must entail. We think all people should be able to enjoy their human rights and live life free of discrimination and violence.

Lots of us have grown up and grown older comfortable with a distinction between sex (biological reality) and gender (a social construct often based around stereotyped ideas of how males and females should behave). We accept that the former shouldn’t be limited by the latter. You can be anyone and anything. Be who the hell you want.

And because bucking against society’s ridiculous and uncomfortable expectations is at the core of our flavour of progressivism, transgender people seem an interesting addition to our transgression party. Of course we’ll support them. It’s the only logical and compassionate position.

But the framework of egalitarianism and tolerance underpinning our instinctive support has been ripped out and replaced by a conservative trans rights framework. The most vocal brand of trans rights activists (TRAs) argue that the only way that anyone can support trans people is through rigidly and unquestioningly adhering to a set of beliefs that are fundamentally opposed to progressivism.

And from where I’m sitting, it looks like what they’re going for is less about trans rights and more about entrenching old ideas about the relative roles and rights of males and females, about what is proper and seemly, and who should be in control. In a move of genius hoodwinkery, they’ve got large portions of their natural critics, the left, in line and out in front. The left is eating itself.

The core principles of TRA’s gender ideology are something like this:

• Human biological sex is not real or not important. Transwomen are literally biological women. Sex is not binary but on a mysterious never fully explained spectrum. Sex is not recorded at birth, based on observation, but is assigned, and can be assigned wrongly. Sex is a feeling. Sex can change during one’s lifetime.

• Transwomen must have access to the same spaces, activities and opportunities as biological women.

• Any male-bodied person who feels that they are a woman must be recognised as one from the moment they announce it.

• Children and young people who don’t conform to gender stereotypes are likely to be trapped in the wrong body. It is the children not the stereotypes that need to change.

• Children and young people who have gender dysphoria or identify as a gender not their own must be believed, supported and affirmed. It is imperative that they are provided with “affirming” treatment including puberty blockers, hormones and surgery.

This is a conservative, anti-science agenda. One that unblinkingly accepts that a healthy kid is in the wrong body and must be fixed, that biological sex is a feeling not a fact (meaning of course that evolution, as science understands it, can not exist), that biological women have no right to self-determination — to organise and caucus as we wish, that there is a hierarchy of rights, and transwomen’s rights and comfort always trump biological women’s rights and comfort.

The full piece is here:

https://theministryhasfallen.substack.com/p/the-trans-activist-fundies

Dusty - the only thing I would add to that is that, though I accept that the ‘trans rights’ ideology is really neither left nor right, in reality it is parties on the left who are shilling for it. All thoughts gratefully received.

Dusty: Well, Puss that was a lot less effort than usual.

Puss: Indeed, Dusty

Dusty: Did you see I mentioned the great darts commentator, Sid Waddell in the comments to another piece today?

Puss: I did and it reminded me of another great Sid Waddell quote: “The atmosphere is so tense, if Elvis walked in, with a portion of chips... you could hear the vinegar sizzle on them.”

Endpiece

From Tenaciously Terfin

#BeMorePorcupine

#KeepTerfing

#BringDownAmnesty

#KeepFighting

#RepealTheGRA

#AdultHumanFemale

#LetWomenSpeak

#LGB✂️TQ

#NeverGiveUp

#HoldTheLine

#StopTheBlockersTrial

#NeverSurrender

#NeverForget

#TruthWillTriumph

#WeWillWin

The next update will probably be on either Wednesday or Thursday, Terven.

If you like this update, please send to a friend. Until next time, Terven. This isn’t over yet! Please subscribe for free or paid or buy me a coffee, like and comment.

The next update will be tonight.

#BeMore Porcupine.

Buy me a coffee

Thanks as ever to my paid subscribers and to those who buy me a coffee. These updates do take up an enormous amount of work, so please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Onwards with the Dusty,Nicola, Moodie and Rex Film Series 😀 Please keep the suggestions for films coming in but please check the list first which I am updating as we go along. Please send suggestions in the comments here at this link:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/empire-of-light-dustys-film-series

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a 1975 British film based on the Arthurian legend, written and performed by the Monty Python comedy group (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin). In their search for the Grail, King Arthur and his Knights come upon a French castle …in the English countryside!!??

Thanks to three wonderful readers for suggested pieces.

Some of the linked pieces below may be behind a paywall.

The States - Wolves In White Coats

A groundbreaking report has been produced by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) in the States as reported by Penny Marie on her substack:

HHS Releases Report Exposing Fraudulent Insurance Coding For Sex-rejecting Procedures On Minors

Wolves In White Coats report - significant to those of us exposing the truth behind ‘gender affirming care’

Aug 14, 2026

WASHINGTON, D.C. - August 13, 2026

Watch the announcement on X…

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today released a report: Wolves in White Coats: How Doctors and Hospitals Pushed and Profited from the Fraud of “Gender Medicine”

A commissioned report examining insurance coding practices, perverse financial incentives, and the provision of sex-rejecting procedures for minors. Drawing on Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Guidance, Department of Justice (DOJ) investigations, peer-reviewed scientific literature, hospital records, whistleblower testimony, nationwide insurance claims analyses, and interviews with patients and parents, the report presents HHS’ findings and recommendations about the industry pushing and profiting off so-called “gender medicine.”

A shortform documentary illustrating the report’s findings and highlighting the stories of victims of predatory gender medical practices was also released in conjunction with the report…

According to the report, more than 225 hospitals and health systems established paediatric gender programmes nationwide. The report also analyses nationwide claims data from 2015 through 2025 and identifies approximately $50 million in insurance claims for puberty blockers billed using endocrine disorder diagnostic code E34.9 (Endocrine Disorder, Unspecified). It further reports that nearly $11 million in claims for patients ages 13–17 were billed using a diagnosis code for precocious puberty E301 - findings the report says warrant additional review of insurance coding practices.

The full piece is here:

https://www.pennymarie.nz/p/hhs-releases-report-exposing-fraudulent

UK - The For Women Scotland Judgment

As reported in our last update, six London Councils have said they will defy the law as laid down by the Supreme Court in April 2025!! I have written to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) asking if they will take action against one or more of these councils. I have also written to Sex Matters and LGB Alliance asking whether, if the EHRC fail to take action, they, perhaps in conjunction with others, will take action. I will let you know what replies I get. Meanwhile Conservative Party Leader, Kemi Badenoch provides an opinion piece in The Telegraph:

It is not for local councils to decide the law of the land

Andy Burnham appears to have time to mull over whether disposable barbecues should be banned. What is his position on this?

Telegraph View

12 August 2026

The 17th-century English clergyman Thomas Fuller warned every person in England “be ye never so high, the law is above you”. From the mightiest to the lowliest, this has been a key principle of British justice for centuries. Yet, today, a group of Left-wing London council leaders seem to disagree.

It has been almost 18 months since the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling that sex in equality law refers to biological sex rather than gender identity. As the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) guidance indicates, this means single-sex spaces, such as bathrooms or women’s refuges, are intended only for those of that biological sex. This has brought welcome clarity to a highly contested issue.

But the leaders of Hackney, Haringey, Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark and Waltham Forest councils appear to think they can pick and choose which laws they wish to follow. Together they have committed to keeping their services “inclusive”, claiming that the rules were “harmful to the rights of trans people”.

It is not up to local politicians to decide the law of the land. The EHRC’s guidance has statutory force and clarifies how courts interpret equality law. Not complying with it exposes councils to risk of being found against in any unlawful discrimination cases. It is hard to imagine local taxpayers welcoming their money being spent fighting such battles.

Andy Burnham appears to have time to mull over whether disposable barbecues should be banned. What is his position on this? Is he willing to accept Left-wing council leaders riding roughshod over women’s sex-based rights?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/b4bd562108fdee48

England - The Tragic Death of Jason Arday

We have touched on the story of Jason Arday recently, for example here:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/its-the-meek-thats-nice-they-have?utm_source=publication-search

Very sadly he has now taken his own life after resigning from his position at Cambridge University. He was put in position there due to Diversity Equity and Inclusion policies and, in many ways, his death can be laid at the door of those who enabled that to happen by their use of these policies ( policies which often, as we know, allow Gender Ideology to take root in organisations though that is not the main issue here). All thoughts gratefully received. EDI Jester discusses this:

Jason Arday’s Death Is Tragic - But it is not the Real Tragedy.

Aug 15, 2026

Jason Arday is dead.

It’s brutal, it’s sad for those who loved and knew him, but it is not a tragedy, it is merely tragic.

The words of Sir Walter Scott’s narrative poem Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field (1808) never seemed more apt.

“O, what a tangled web we weave, / When first we practise to deceive!”

He built a public career on a fraudulent identity story of extreme childhood victimhood, non-verbal until eleven, illiterate until eighteen, against-all-odds triumph over autism and developmental delay, and being black.

That exercise in branding is what killed him in the long run, you cannot swim in the poisoned pool of EDI and expect to come away unscathed.

Identity killed him, that most foul of social construction concepts, a fixture for many in the last thirty years and the blank slate replacement for personality and the subsequent character development and meritocratic achievement that has given us so much to celebrate.

Nobody, except those with a profoundly fractured psyche, needs an identity, this is the realms of the therapeutic, and in the age of social media the very notion that you can construct one is profoundly dangerous to those who are not mentally ill.

Our culture has placed increasing and unearned weight on personal suffering and lived experience as sources of authority, the Autoethnograph (I wrote about this previously) now carries a credibility that it certainly does not warrant, for after all it is only subjective storytelling.

We are not talking about an errant under graduate or rogue employee here, but what appears to be a calculated, created and malign falsehood on both an individual and an institutional level, that whatever the intentions has ended horribly.

In one of our most august institutions, Cambridge, the Arday dramatic hardship narrative conferred status and insulated the teller from ordinary challenge.

That story carried him into a Cambridge professorship and a lucrative memoir deal. When the claims were examined in even a cursory manner, the fake foundations gave way and the moribund level of the so called scholarship was laid bare.

When the false narrative of curated identity failed, the curtain was pulled back and the individual and the institution rightly faced serious investigation.

Schoolmates remembered a talking child. Athletic and fundraising feats dissolved in real time and questions of plagiarism and data problems became public knowledge.

Even the visiting posts collapsed as they were denied by the institutions named.

The narrative crumbled under the most ordinary of scrutiny.

The full piece is here:

https://edijester.substack.com/p/jason-ardays-death-is-tragic-but

The States - Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA)

We have been covering this recently. I gave my opinion of it here ( behind a paywall):

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/basketball-gate

On this issue I have rather turned into John the Baptist - ‘a voice crying out in the wilderness’ - Gospel of John 1:23 if you’re interested 😊

I will re-hash and update my views here and then probably fall silent 😊 ( what do you mean ‘fat chance!’).

Sophie Cunningham plays for Indiana Fever, a women’s basketball team in the States under the auspices of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). 15 teams are included under this umbrella at present. During a game in June, Sophie pointing her finger went viral. Some Terfs in the States then picked up Sophie’s cause. Since the Terfs were using the ‘Sophie point’ as their main image, I was initially confused, thinking that Sophie must have been pointing at a larping man in the opposing team. In fact, she was pointing at a female player in the opposing team who had fouled her. So the ‘Sophie point’ has got nothing to do with Terfy issues at all!! Yet it is being used as the image of the Terf rallying call for keeping men out of women’s sport.

It transpires that last February (though not apparently picked up at the time) Sophie had spoken out against men in women’s sport. Excellent and well done, Sophie. This is what the Terfs were now picking up. Since the incident in June, Terfs have been demonstrating at all Indiana Fever games and continue to do so. At the first game following the incident, two teenage girls were in the audience holding signs saying ‘Thank you, Sophie’ and they were berated by a female coach. Well done those girls and glad to report that the coach was suspended for five games.

Just to complicate matters, there are no men in the WNBA league and their policy states that the league is for ‘females’. It doesn’t elaborate on what ‘female’ means but, as with the Equality Act 2010 here in the UK, that may be because nobody thought they needed to elaborate on it!! Additionally it says they must be adults so, presuming they are also going to be humans, that adds up to ‘adult human female’.

So why the concentration on the WNBA?

Kara Dansky reported:

…all the internet has been able to talk about since Friday is the fact that two male former NBA players have announced their intention to try out for a spot in the WNBA next season. One of them is Enes Kanter and the other is Royce White. Kanter is 6’10”. White is 6’8”. This is all coming on the heels of Sophie Cunningham, a guard with the Indiana Fever, explaining that she doesn’t think girls should have to compete against men.

https://karadansky.substack.com/p/a-new-class-action-to-make-us-taxpayers

It seems clear that both these men are just doing this to put pressure on the WNBA and are not really larping men.

Firstly, I’m not sure about this as a tactic.

Secondly, Royce White has a civil protection order against him, part of a separation suit that is still ongoing. I should add that he is abiding by the order as he appeals it.

There also seem to be some allegations against Enes Kanter ( which he denies).

Some of the Terfs are supporting this tactic by these men. Is that a sensible thing to do?

All of this is being bigged up as the great pivotal moment.

I am not, of course, having a go at the great campaigning (in general) by such as Kara Dansky, Amy Sousa, Riley Gaines, LGB Courage Coalition, LGB Alliance USA and others. I am just querying the emphasis on this issue.

Since I wrote the previous piece some coaches ( one in particular) have decided to make statements about ‘trans inclusion.’ At games, Sophie has been booed.

I provide several reports on the matter below. Karen Davis reveals that the men’s league, the National Basketball Association (NBA) has majority ownership of the WNBA and controls the voting rights. However there is no indication at this stage that they are going to change the female only policy. WNBA had a meeting the other day and, most unfortunately, failed to put the matter to bed by simply, like the Supreme Court in For Women Scotland, emphasising that we are talking about ‘biological sex’ here! Do try harder, guys! `I am grateful to Kara Dansky who does say that she understands my argument ( I don’t know that she is referring to me but she is referring to Mr Menno’s interview with Jennifer Sey and Amy Sousa and I was the lone soul in the chat who was querying everything so she may well be referring to me). However, she argues this is a great thing because it has brought enormous publicity to it all. I see that that is a good point. However, I remain baffled.

LGB Alliance USA especially look at statements from lesbian coaches.

https://lgbausa.substack.com/p/are-lesbians-contributing-to-lesbian

Carol ( aka Sour Patches) and Jos discuss the issues and widen out from this. They are especially concerned at LGB people who are supporting all the T and the Q nonsense!

https://sourpatches2077.substack.com/p/gay-fatigue

Karen does not think this is a good idea!! ( this is putting it mildly 😊):

https://ykright.substack.com/p/wnba-power-broker-commissioner-adam

Kara discusses it:

https://karadansky.substack.com/p/listen-to-womans-hour-the-terf-report-2f3

Amy Sousa looks at an interview by the Triggernometry team with Cenk of The Young Turks which seems to arise from the WNBA matter:

https://www.theknownheretic.com/p/cenk-prioritizes-random-boys-over

All thoughts gratefully received.

Puss: They’re all going to slag you off, Dusty!!

Dusty: I know, Puss. Hi ho.

Puss: I agree with you, Dusty! Don’t pick a fight with a cat that’s not picking a fight with you!

Australia - Kit Kowalski

Kara Dansky on the Terf Report provides a lovely tribute to Aussie Terf, Kit Kowalski.

https://karadansky.substack.com/p/ffs-friday-kit-kowalski

Brazil - 1984 is here!

This is so shocking from Reduxx!!!!!!

Post

REDUXX on X: “A public servant in Brazil has been sentenced to 1 year in prison for “criminal transphobia” after misgendering a student at the university he works at. Luís Barros was convicted of “social racism” for telling Odara Moraes that he was “not a woman.” https://t.co/lFSSPNSl4P”

@reduxx

14 Aug 2026

https://x.com/reduxx/status/2088382000566554778

Afghanistan - Beyond 1984

Very moving recording from a woman in Afghanistan care of Women’s Declaration International Afghanistan. We think we have got it tough!!!!!!

https://wdiafghanistan.substack.com/p/15-august-is-a-black-day-for-afghan

Charice Pempengco

Tragic story by Kat Highsmith on her substack of Charice who could have been the next Whitney Houston…but then, leading on from childhood trauma, she ‘transitioned’:

https://kathighsmith.substack.com/p/a-life-ruined-by-trans-the-story

Endpiece

From Petal

#BeMorePorcupine

#KeepTerfing

#BringDownAmnesty

#KeepFighting

#RepealTheGRA

#AdultHumanFemale

#LetWomenSpeak

#LGB✂️TQ

#NeverGiveUp

#HoldTheLine

#StopTheBlockersTrial

#NeverSurrender

#NeverForget

#TruthWillTriumph

#WeWillWin

The next update will probably be on either Monday or Tuesday, Terven.

If you like this update, please send to a friend. Until next time, Terven. This isn’t over yet! Please subscribe for free or paid or buy me a coffee, like and comment.

Buy me a coffee

Despite this, my feline assistant and I are determined to bring you the latest update of Worldwide Terf News.

Welcome to new paid subscribers. Thanks as ever to my paid subscribers and to those who buy me a coffee. These updates do take up an enormous amount of work, so please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Onwards with the Dusty,Nicola, Moodie and Rex Film Series 😀 Please keep the suggestions for films coming in but please check the list first which I am updating as we go along. Please send suggestions in the comments here at this link:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/empire-of-light-dustys-film-series

Life of Brian is a 1979 British film from the Python crew.

There are so many great clips to choose from but we have gone for the brilliant concept that those at the back of the crowd listening to Christ’s Sermon on the Mount might not have been able to hear him properly. That idea itself is genius!!

Anyway, Blessed Are The Cheesemakers!

Shut up, Big Nose!

Thanks to two wonderful readers for suggested pieces.

Some of the linked pieces below may be behind a paywall.

Everybody Knew!

Thanks to reader Tenaciously Terfin for suggesting we should re-run a brilliant piece by Róisín Michaux from January 2023. Here it is:

It takes a village to sterilise a child

Like all historical reckonings, one day we will say “but everybody knew”

Jan 28, 2023

Everybody knew.

The people lining the parade route. The CEO on the float. The women’s rights campaigners who railed against “period poverty” to distract you from the cross-dressing man on their executive board. The politician who called frantic mothers bigots. The café owner who cancelled their event. The investigative journalist who ignored their emails.

The doctor who didn’t question the girl’s binder scars during a routine pulmonary checkup. The director who hired a live-in female nurse for his elderly mother while piloting mixed-sex hospital wards. The human resources manager who hounded everyone to sign up for pronoun training and then terfed out, in a whisper, to her girlfriend over dinner.

The autism campaigner who took money from the Arcus Foundation. The ministers who blocked you on Twitter. The minister who stood beside the activist holding the sign. The minister who held the sign. The minister who signed.

The gynaecologist who used male pronouns while booking the lesbian teenager’s hysterectomy in the hospital CRM software. The Facebook moderator who banned a mother for wondering if it’s just a phase. The retailer who imported corsets in boys size ages 8-10. The accountant who audited the philanthropist’s transgender toddlers grants. Her office assistants.

The teacher who put pink and blue bunting around the classroom. The teacher next door who was horrified but kept it to herself. The school principal who retired early instead. The editor who commissioned a puff piece on the butcher of TikTok. The editors who ignored pitches on the 90% autism figure. The newspaper that published “The most popular girls’ names of 2022” on the day the Scottish parliament made it easier for child molesters to hide from the sex offenders’ registry. The party’s social media manager who hid the replies.

The bureaucrat who ignored the emails about eunuchs. The health technology assessor who recommended reimbursing gamete-freezing for 9-year-olds, before immediately cutting her own daughter’s internet access in horror. The assistant who took the minutes of the meeting.

The midwives who plunked newborns on the chests of mothers with no breasts. The javascript developer who kept adding more options to the gender drop-down menu box. The Proctor and Gamble graphic designer who created the puberty materials for German schools.

The childhood development expert who watched in shock as sexting was added to the school curriculum for 9-year-olds. The editor of the peer-reviewed bioethics journal. The peer reviewers. The proofreader. The psychiatrist who met the unstable patient over an unstable internet connection and immediately wrote a recurring prescription. The pharmacist who said nothing about the increasing number of GenderGP prescriptions, the ones with a Hong Kong address.

The government-funded support group that told anorexic lesbians where to get testosterone in a shortage, due to the rise in demand. The pharmaceutical distributor who noticed the rise in demand. The warehouse workers who stacked the boxes.

The full piece is here:

https://www.peaked.news/p/it-takes-a-village-to-sterilise-a

UK - The Government Allows Councils To Defy The Supreme Court

Do you think that the Labour Government under new Prime Minister Andy Burnham is going to change course on ‘gender ideology’? Don’t be silly!!

Amy Gibbons in The Telegraph reports:

Labour allows Left-wing councils to defy trans guidance

Six Green-led London boroughs vow to keep services ‘inclusive’

11 August 2026

Labour is allowing a coalition of Left-wing London councils to defy new guidance on single-sex spaces.

The Prime Minister has been accused of “sitting on his hands” after six local authorities were left to flout the new guidelines on transgender rights that came into force last week.

Last week, the Green Party leaders of Lambeth, Hackney, Haringey, Lewisham, Southwark and Waltham Forest councils made a joint commitment to keep their services “inclusive”, insisting they would not put staff in the “impossible position of policing entry to public spaces”.

The revised code of practice from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which took effect on Aug 5, states that access to single-sex spaces should be based on a person’s biological sex, rather than their gender identity.

It means that public services like councils are expected to ensure transgender people use either gender-neutral toilets or those intended for their sex at birth.

However, six local authorities in London have vowed to resist implementing the change, warning the new guidelines would be “harmful to the rights of trans people”.

It is understood the group has still not faced any action from the Government despite warning ministers they planned to defy the guidance last week.

The Tories, who have reminded their own councillors that they must comply with the new code, told the Prime Minister to “show some leadership” and “send a message” to those flouting the rules.

Bridget Phillipson, the women and equalities minister, has also been urged by women’s rights campaigners to “use her authority” and order the rebel councils to fall in line.

It is ultimately up to the EHRC [ The Equality and Human Rights Commission], which operates independently of the Government, to enforce the code. [ Dusty - so far there is also a deafening silence from the EHRC!] However, ministers could remind councils of their responsibilities under the law and warn them of the consequences if they rebel.

The code is intended to help organisations interpret the Equality Act 2010, meaning that those who refuse to comply could leave themselves open to discrimination claims – and potentially unlimited fines.

The revised guidelines were drawn up by the equalities watchdog after the 2025 landmark Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman, which found that “sex” referred to a person’s biological sex rather than their chosen gender.

In a joint letter to Ms Phillipson, the leaders of the six rogue councils said: “Trans women are women, trans men are men, and non-binary identities are fundamentally valid.

“It is simply unacceptable that the Code of Practice is harmful to the rights of trans people and will make their exclusion from public life more likely, not less.

“This will feel like an attack to the countless trans people in our communities who are simply trying to live their lives in safety and wish to be treated with respect.”

[Dusty - and presumably all the women and girls can take a hike?]

Meanwhile, the Conservatives said they would make sure all Tory-led authorities compiled with the guidance.

Kevin Hollinrake, the Tory Party chairman, wrote to councillors telling them they “must not allow” other authorities to defy the new code.

“Conservatives and Conservative-run councils must not allow this to happen,” he said.

“During the local election campaign, we pledged to work with Conservative councils to ensure clear, legally compliant policies on single-sex spaces and services, following the Supreme Court judgment confirming that sex in the Equality Act 2010 means biological sex.

“As a party, we believe in protecting the rights of women and girls to access single-sex spaces and services and we strongly support that full and rapid compliance with this ruling by all local authorities and service providers.” [ Dusty - I think he forgot to say: “And sorry we didn’t do this when we were in power for 14 years”]

In response to Labour’s failure to act, Mr Hollinrake told The Telegraph: “The Supreme Court was unambiguous: sex means biological sex.

“Protecting single sex spaces is not optional. Yet with Left-wing councils in open revolt and refusing to enforce the law, Andy Burnham is sitting on his hands and failing to act.

“Under Kemi Badenoch’s leadership, Conservative councils will apply the law and protect women’s rights. Burnham should show some leadership and send a message to councils who don’t.”

‘Protect women’s rights’

Fiona McAnena, the director of campaigns at Sex Matters, the women’s rights charity, urged Ms Phillipson to “use her authority and reply to those councils telling them they are wrong”. [ Dusty - and give the EHRC the green light to sue them?]

The full piece is here:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/dc7931b67a7b18eb

UK - Kellie-Jay Keen

A message from Let Women Speak.

Let Women Speak report (12 August):

Be *that* woman.

It’s been quite a week for Kellie-Jay.

Her appearance on TRIGGERnometry, debating Dr Helen Webberley on children, sex and gender medicine, has now passed an extraordinary 625,000 views — putting these arguments in front of an enormous new audience.

Dusty - We featured this interview here under ‘Kellie-Jay Keen v Helen Webberley’: https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/moby-dick?utm_source=publication-search

At the same time, the Metropolitan Police have contacted Kellie-Jay about attending an interview following a complaint concerning her criticism of Islam. Whatever comes of it, the contrast is striking: hundreds of thousands of people are choosing to listen to difficult conversations, while speaking openly about contentious subjects can still bring the police to your door.

The only reason Kellie-Jay is able to keep speaking publicly, travelling, organising and taking these risks is because Let Women Speak supporters make it possible. When you buy our merchandise, you are directly funding the activism, events and security that allow her to continue.

We are in a dangerous place for women, and this is not the time to become quieter. If you are ever in doubt about why women must defend the freedoms we have, cast your eyes towards the lives of women in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran or Iraq and ask yourself honestly: which of those lives would you willingly adopt?

Rights and freedoms are not indestructible. They survive because people are prepared to defend them, including when doing so is uncomfortable or carries a personal cost.

So please keep supporting Let Women Speak. Every purchase helps Kellie-Jay continue to speak, organise and take the necessary risks to make sure women’s voices remain in the public square.

Keep women speaking.

Keep us visible.

And never take our freedom for granted.

Here is Kellie-Jay’s speech at the Unite The Kingdom rally which is the subject matter of the complaint:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YXkbqOk33K0

UK - The Higher Education and Research Act 2017

As many readers will know Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is used to smuggle critical social justice ( especially gender ideology) and other matters such as critical race theory into organisations. EDI Jester looks at the role of this 2017 Act in this process. For the story of Jason Arday, see Andrew Doyle here:

https://www.andrewdoyle.org/p/the-curious-case-of-jason-arday

The Haldane Loophole: The Angle on Arday You Don’t Know About

Aug 13, 2026

Arday and the cronies of Cambridge do not exist in a vacuum. To think so is to fail to see the key changes that occurred in the university sector since the creation of something called UK Research and innovation, UKRI as it is known, in 2017.

Something important happened at that time that most people missed. Why wouldn’t they, after all it seemed like a dry exercise in funding allocation for the HE [ Higher Education] sector even if you were aware.

In reality it was anything but, and it’s a story worth telling.

Creating UKRI

UKRI is the main public body that funds research and innovation across the United Kingdom. Its creation dissolved the previous research councils covering science, medicine, social science, arts and humanities, along with Innovate UK and Research England, bringing it under one organisation, UKRI.

It controls billions of pounds (8.8 billion in 25/26) of taxpayer money each year and decides which projects, universities and researchers get funded.

But there is a problem, an overarching one that many still fail to recognise flows directly from the Equality Act 2010 and the subsequent Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED).

UKRI, like so many of these out of control Quangos, has institutionalised and embedded EDI as a core part of its mission and operations with a dedicated Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy titled “research and innovation by everyone, for everyone.”

Downstream individual research councils (EPSRC, Research England, BBSRC and others) publish their own multi-year EDI action plans.

These treat EDI as fundamental to high-quality research, diversity intrudes at every stage of the funding cycle, they monitor award rates by protected characteristics, push for more diverse panels, and encourage or require EDI-related statements and inclusive practices in applications and project design.

• Guidance from UKRI states that EDI “should be considered as fundamental to high-quality research and innovation.”

• Terms and conditions for grants include EDI expectations.

• There are dedicated programmes, hubs, training, and monitoring focused on increasing representation by ethnicity, gender, disability and other categories.

Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser Chief Executive from June 2020 was the key driver of this policy.

This dumbing down, the abandonment of excellence and meritocratic rigour, and the ascendancy of EDI in all its destructive force from implementation to infection of the funding pipeline did not occur by chance, but does illustrate a perfect Chesterton’s Fence example.

This demolition of a fence that has allowed Cambridge, with its Jason Arday and his boss Hilary Cremin, to behave in such a way was built into the creation of UKRI within The Higher Education and Research Act 2017 from the beginning, it is not a bug it is a feature.

The full piece is here:

https://edijester.substack.com/p/the-haldane-loophole-the-angle-on

Northern Ireland - The Féile an Phobail Festival

We have been covering the cancellation of Women’s Rights Network Northern Ireland from this festival. Sex Matters examine the coverage of this by BBC NI.

BBC Northern Ireland’s coverage of the cancellation of WRN NI’s panel

Aug 13, 2026

BBC Radio Ulster covered the cancellation of the Women’s Rights Network Northern Ireland’s panel planned for the Belfast arts festival, Féile an Phobail, several times in the fortnight running up to the event. But that coverage was far from balanced.

The cancellation was first reported on the BBC NI website on 21st July. The next day The Nolan Show, the station’s big morning show, hosted Nora Calder of WRN NI, opposed by a local councillor called Fiona Ferguson from People Before Profit, a small political party.

Speaking to stand-in presenter Chris Buckler, Calder did a good job of explaining what the panel was about and why cancelling it was wrong, but Buckler allowed Ferguson to say several defamatory and false things about members of the Sex Matters team and about gender-critical groups in general, without any challenge. Ferguson also repeated discredited, scaremongering claims about suicide among young people who identify as transgender.

Later that day Talkback had Ruth Paterson of WRN NI against a local solicitor called Sarah Creighton who claimed that “transgender people had lost a lot of rights” and implied that WRN had targeted Féile in order to engineer a legal case, and that gender-critical campaigners “do not want trans people to exist or to have rights”. She named Sex Matters and said: “I cannot debate with people who think that my family members do not have the right to exist.” The presenter did not challenge her hyperbole and she repeated it, calling us “people that have no respect”.

The full piece is here:

https://www.sex-matters-news.org/p/bbc-northern-irelands-coverage-of

The States - Mini Round Up

As ever, good round up from Kara Dansky on The Terf Report.

I will just highlight one piece:

Women’s Declaration International USA (WDI USA, of which I used to serve as President and member of the Board of Directors) has filed two important amicus (friend-of-the-court) briefs in federal court.

• In Gays Against Groomers v. Garcia, WDI USA supports two individuals who used accurate sex-based language during a committee hearing before the Colorado state legislature on a bill to allow convicted felons to legally change their names to match their “gender identities.” When they did so, committee members interrupted and silenced them. In the case of one witness, committee members struck her testimony from the public record. Lawyers with the Institute for Free Speech think this violated the individuals’ free speech rights under the First Amendment, and have taken the case all the way to the US Supreme Court. WDI USA agrees, and emphasizes that the committee members’ conduct was also in conflict with Article IV of the Declaration on Women’s Sex-Based Rights. Read more here.

• In Chandler v. Macomber, WDI USA teamed up with Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender (DIAG, on whose board I serve) and the group Women Are Real to support the Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF) and six incarcerated women who have sued the state [ of California] over SB 132, which permits men to be housed in the women’s prison on the basis of their woman “gender identities.” WoLF argues that this violates the women’s rights under the 1st, 8th, and 14th Amendments to the US Constitution. The brief was filed in support of WoLF and the incarcerated women before the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Read more here.

It was an honor and a pleasure to work with all of these groups on these briefs. The Gays Against Groomers brief quotes JK Rowling extensively. We quoted her 2024 statements inviting the Scottish police to arrest her under Scotland’s new “hate speech” law for referring to men as men. I don’t know if JK Rowling had ever been quoted in a brief before the US Supreme Court before, but if not, now she has!

The full piece is here:

https://karadansky.substack.com/p/minnesotas-lawsuit-against-trump

New Zealand - Cervical Screening and the Bill to define man and woman

Katrina Biggs on her substack, A B’Old Woman highlights ( by looking at two opposing reports on the matter) how the collection of data based on ‘gender identity’ has caused problems for the cervical screening process in NZ. She also refers to the progress of the Bill we have been following on defining man and woman in NZ law and I am highlighting that bit:

What part has replacing ‘sex’ with ‘gender identity’ in the NZ cervical screening register played in women missing out on being screened?

It’s increasingly clear that ‘gender identity’ should not be of primary importance in health.

Aug 12, 2026

Some dire failures have been occurring with New Zealand’s cervical cancer screening programme for women. Two recent accounts which have brought this to our attention are an opinion piece (paywalled) in the Sunday Star Times by journo Andrea Vance, and a press release by Jan Rivers of Genspect NZ. These writers are aeons apart in their understanding of what a woman is, with Andrea believing that men can be women if they just say they are, and Jan knowing that is nonsense.

…………………………………..

By “legislative messes” in the above snippet, I’m surmising she’s [ Andrea Vance] referring to the Parliamentary bill to define women and men in legislation according to their sex. We know it needs to be refined, and that process is underway right now. To digress a little, we should be glad that Christopher Luxon has retained his position as leader of the National party, after another coup to oust him yesterday failed, if for no other reason than another leader may be even less likely than him to whip the party into supporting the bill through a second and third reading. There’s no guarantee Luxon will do that, as he did for the first reading of it, but a different leader, particularly the one most speculated to succeed him had the coup come off, almost certainly wouldn’t.

It’s a credibility stretch by Andrea to claim that having legislative clarity on the definition of a woman is going to create a mess, whilst ignoring the mess which using ‘gender identity’ instead of ‘sex’ in the cervical screening programme has contributed to.

The full piece is here:

https://aboldwoman.substack.com/p/what-part-has-replacing-sex-with

Rod Liddle

We paid tribute to the great journalist Rod Liddle who passed away recently here:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/rod-liddle-rip

Great piece about Rod here by Andrew Doyle on his substack:

https://www.andrewdoyle.org/p/rod-liddle-versus-the-literal-minded

Double Dutch!

The horrors of puberty blockers all started with the so called ‘Dutch Protocol’. See, for example, here:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/goldfinger-part-2?utm_source=publication-search

It would appear that the majority of Dutch people don’t agree with giving puberty blockers to children as reported on Gender Clinic News by Bernard Lane:

Doubting Dutch

A new survey suggests that most people in the Netherlands disapprove of puberty blockers

Aug 12, 2026

Psychology first

Only 5 per cent of people polled in the Netherlands—home to the puberty blocker-driven Dutch protocol for paediatric medical transition—support the use of these drugs as the primary response to gender-distressed youth.

Of six questions on paediatric medical transition put to 4,179 voters, a preference for psychological treatment (75 per cent) over puberty blockers was the only common ground across political party affiliation, according to pollster and entrepreneur Maurice de Hond. One in five people simply did not know what was best.

“Support for the medical approach [by political allegiance] does not exceed 15 per cent anywhere,” Mr de Hond wrote on his website. That figure of 15 per cent was from loyalists of the progressive-left PRO party.

The full piece is here:

https://www.genderclinicnews.com/p/doubting-dutch

The States - Therapists

Pamela Garfield-Jaeger on her substack encourages therapist to include in their practice those who are confused about their ‘gender’.

Therapists: Do you have strong clinical skills? Then congratulations, you are a gender expert!

Please don’t refer patients away simply because you don’t believe you have the expertise to treat them.

Aug 11, 2026

This is one for the likeminded therapists who have excellent clinical skills, but don’t believe they are suited for treating patients with gender issues.

Recently, in a private chat group of conservative therapists, one member asked the group for advice about a non-binary identified teenager. Several people advised to refer the patient. I rushed to tell the original poster not to pass their patient on to someone else, because she would be sending them to the wolves.

Who is believed to be a “gender expert” nowadays anyway? Most of the time, the so-called “expert” is simply someone who believes a self-identity should be affirmed with little or no questions asked and then rushed into a regimen of cross-sex hormones and surgeries. They sound educated because they are well- versed in the trans cult language. However, a “gender expert” will abandon clinical discretion and play out one of the biggest blind spots in the history of psychology—gender affirmation.

How do I know this? Because every single mental health association and institution continues to double down on the affirmation-only treatment protocol for those patients who affiliate with the “trans community”. Therapists and the associations that lead them have taken the trans issue on (falsely) as the next civil right issue, and their savior complexes have kept them sitting high on that hill. Meanwhile, every single person taking cross-sex hormones for any significant length of time, regretful or not, is suffering from one or more health complication, but much is still unknown. It’s wild to me how ignorant these so-called experts are of the harmful effects —not side effects— of testosterone and estrogen when given to men and women in high doses to “affirm” their false gender identities

The full piece is here:

https://pamthetruthfultherapist.substack.com/p/therapists-do-you-have-strong-clinical

Dr Helen Webberley - Evil Incarnate!

See above re Kellie-Jay Keen’s discussion with Helen Webberley. Excellent response video by Kelly Dougall to a video, following that discussion, by the awful Ms Webberley.

Endpiece

From Liz Parker

#BeMorePorcupine

#KeepTerfing

#BringDownAmnesty

#KeepFighting

#RepealTheGRA

#AdultHumanFemale

#LetWomenSpeak

#LGB✂️TQ

#FreeSpeechNotSilencedSpeech

#HoldTheLine

#StopTheBlockersTrial

#NeverSurrender

#NeverForget

#TruthWillTriumph

#WeWillWin

The next update will probably be on either Saturday or Sunday, Terven.

If you like this update, please send to a friend. Until next time, Terven. This isn’t over yet! Please subscribe for free or paid or buy me a coffee, like and comment.

Buy me a coffee

As you all know I am an art buff including about film. So I thought, let’s give you all a break from the horror stories and the angst. Hey, it’s holiday season!!

I have always had a theory that Tammy Wynette’s ‘Stand By Your Man’ was actually a kind of secret feminist song. What about the emphasis on ‘ cos after all, he’s just a man’!!?? Answer me that! No? OK, well anyway, here are the Blues Brothers and you have to listen to Rawhide before you get to Tammy. 😀

OK, I will return to the serious stuff in the next update!!

#BeMorePorcupine

#StandByYour Man