Dear All,

The discussion around the rights of transgender people seems to have gone quite crazy.

Yes, we live in an age that is more inclusive than ever and perhaps the curtailing of bigotry is a good thing but really, in many ways, it has gone too far.

One particular aspect of this is the question of whether a man who self-identifies as female should have access to female-only spaces. When author JK Rowling, the creator of Harry Potter, spoke out on this she was condemned, vilified and shunned. There was an uproar and activists called for a boycott of her and her work. The main stars of the Harry Potter films condemned her stance that trans-women are not real (biological) women. In response to her controversial tweets, Daniel Radcliffe (the actor who played Harry) wrote in 2020 that “I feel compelled to say something at this moment. Transgender women are women.”

Being categorised and recognised on the basis of self-identification alone leads to problems. For example, if a youngster in Libya said they felt as if they were British and they self-identified as British, would they be entitled to be considered British and would they have the right to travel to Britain simply on the basis of self-identification? I think not. Similarly, if I identified as a cat would the world then have to treat me as a cat and could I then live as a cat? The latter sounds ridiculous but even this is happening in the world and now in many parts of the Western world we hear about furry identification – i.e. cases where children self-identify as a furry animal and schools encourage them to explore and express such an identity.

Recognition on the basis of mere self-identification is nowhere more problematic than in the matter of men who claim to identify as women and whether they should have access to spaces reserved for women. Female toilets are a concern, women who use these toilets might not, understandably, want a man in the guise of a woman to be in what they considered a safe space. But, apparently, it’s not PC (politically correct) to say this nowadays. The trend is to allow men identifying as women into these spaces.

Columnist Suzanne Moore wrote about this recently asking: “Is there anything that women can have for ourselves that certain men do not want to take away from us?” She referred to a recent case in Australia where the court ruled that “a trans-identifying male calling themselves Roxanne Tickle” had been removed from a female-only website. Tickle then went to court and claimed that this was discrimination by the female-only app Giggle for Girls.

Tickle vs Giggle may sound hilarious but the Australian Federal Court ruling was not all that amusing: it ruled that this was indeed gender-identity discrimination. App founder Sally Grover was asked in court to say that Tickle was a woman – she refused. She was told she needed to be ‘re-educated’ or her site would have to be moderated. She refused and closed it down herself.

Should self-identifying be enough to give you access? Not really. In the case of female-only areas there are a number of horror stories which gender rights and equality activists are simply not paying enough attention to. In Scotland, for example, we have the case of the rapist Isla Bryson. Bryson (originally called Adam) said that he was a transwoman and claimed he had decided on this some years ago. But his/ their own wife said: “You can’t do a crime as a man, then want to transition once you’ve been charged with it. That’s how you know it’s all a big joke to him.” Presumably his aim was to be sent to a women’s prison. After a public outcry Bryson was eventually sent to a male prison “due to the level of risk and remaining uncertainties.”

Bryson’s wife said that “there had never been any suggestion during their relationship that her husband wanted to become a woman.” Despite this the media has to refer to Bryson as “she.”

Then there was 20-year old, Freddie Christian Trenchard, who raped his underage victim in 2021, before transitioning to identify as a woman known as Alyssa Christine Trenchard. Trenchard was sentenced to only three years imprisonment and according to the BBC, Trenchard “will continue to receive hormone replacement treatment and maintain appointments with a gender clinic in London, the court said.”

There was also the case of the Wyoming transgender woman who sexually assaulted a 10-year old girl in a bathroom. These are all examples of predators, who have used the trans identity to gain access and trust and who constitute a threat to women. This is not to say that all those who transition to a female identity are dangerous rapists but these instances certainly reinforce the case for restricting certain spaces to women who were born female.

Suzanne Moore certainly has a point: female-only spaces should be allowed to remain female-only. But Moore too has suffered for her views: I was surprised to see her – a long-time Guardian columnist – featuring in the rightwing Telegraph but there was a reason for this. Two years ago, she left the Guardian after a row over the transgender issue. She said that the paper had censored her on this. She said she was in part driven out by a letter signed by 338 editorial, tech and commercial staff at the title criticising its “pattern of publishing transphobic content.”

Transphobia is now an ‘unforgivable’ offence worse than the trans-gressions which new ideas of inclusivity allow. The trans-gressions allow for aggression against women. What is needed in dealing with the legalities of the issue really is a bit of common sense. Self identification is a perception – it is not a fact.

Best wishes.

Umber Khairi