I fully understand and respect the thinking behind this letter, and I have contributed to quite a few of the fund-raisers listed. But I'm not sure what it's intended to achieve in its current form, or indeed to whom it is addressed.
As I understand it, there are three branches of the Council of Europe - there's the Court (judiciary), the Committee of Ministers (decision-makers), the Parliamentary Assembly (PACE - advisory) and a permanent Secretariat that services these. PACE has adopted the highly contentious Resolution 2417 https://pace.coe.int/en/files/29712 which it has submitted to the Committee of Ministers for their consideration under cover of Recommendation 2220 https://pace.coe.int/en/files/29710#trace-4.
What's needed now is to stop the Committee of Ministers from endorsing the unacceptable bits of the Resolution, while encouraging the protection of the rights of LGBT people across Europe. There is a choice of addressing the letter to the Secretary-General, Marija Pejčinović Burić; the current Presidency of the Committee of Ministers, Luigi di Maio, Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy; or the current President of PACE, the unfortunately named Dutchman, Tiny Cox. I'm really not in a position to know which would be most effective; it might be worth raising this with the relevant FCDO Minister, or approaching the UK Delegation to the Council of Europe direct: they should be well aware of these issues, and - given the Foreign Secretary's views - sympathetic. https://www.gov.uk/world/organisations/uk-delegation-to-the-council-of-europe
It was chilling to see the person quoted in the first tweet calling gender critical feminists “cockroaches”. Reminiscent of the language used by the instigators of the Rwandan genocide.
Please add me, Karlien O'Grady. I teach, and I am increasingly worried about the culture of fear around speaking about any of this (which I am also subject to) as it is interfering with placing children's safeguarding front and centre. Nothing should ever hinder raising safeguarding concerns about a child.
Two thoughts: mentioning that UK lawyers were at the heart of the Convention drafting will feed the anti-UK crowd. They will use that as an excuse to undermine sex as a PC even more. “See? Bigots wrote the Convention !!!11!1!!”. Also, references to Graham Linehan are counter-productive, and will be used against the findings in the rest of the letter.
You may wish to emphasise that women’s equality has always been resisted, and that even the greatest of institutions have histories of dismissing rational, evidenced arguments to recognise biological women’s human rights, but that you trust they will not repeat mistakes made in the past.
I fully support the freedom of people to openly discuss women's rights, even when they may conflict with the perceived rights of minority groups, in particular those in the transgender community. In my experience this is generally conducted in a respectful way. However I have seen very many instances of people who object to legitimately held gender critical views making abusive comments to those with whom they disagree. Sometimes even appearing to incite violence against those who hold views which they consider 'transphobic'. Many women are now fearful of expressing legitimate concerns about women's safety and rights as they are concerned with losing jobs or their positions in the voluntary sector. This is an intrusion on free speech and inhibiting healthy discussion on important issues.
I fully understand and respect the thinking behind this letter, and I have contributed to quite a few of the fund-raisers listed. But I'm not sure what it's intended to achieve in its current form, or indeed to whom it is addressed.
As I understand it, there are three branches of the Council of Europe - there's the Court (judiciary), the Committee of Ministers (decision-makers), the Parliamentary Assembly (PACE - advisory) and a permanent Secretariat that services these. PACE has adopted the highly contentious Resolution 2417 https://pace.coe.int/en/files/29712 which it has submitted to the Committee of Ministers for their consideration under cover of Recommendation 2220 https://pace.coe.int/en/files/29710#trace-4.
What's needed now is to stop the Committee of Ministers from endorsing the unacceptable bits of the Resolution, while encouraging the protection of the rights of LGBT people across Europe. There is a choice of addressing the letter to the Secretary-General, Marija Pejčinović Burić; the current Presidency of the Committee of Ministers, Luigi di Maio, Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy; or the current President of PACE, the unfortunately named Dutchman, Tiny Cox. I'm really not in a position to know which would be most effective; it might be worth raising this with the relevant FCDO Minister, or approaching the UK Delegation to the Council of Europe direct: they should be well aware of these issues, and - given the Foreign Secretary's views - sympathetic. https://www.gov.uk/world/organisations/uk-delegation-to-the-council-of-europe
How do I sign?
Terry Patterson, counsellor, psychotherapist specialising in adolescent development
It was chilling to see the person quoted in the first tweet calling gender critical feminists “cockroaches”. Reminiscent of the language used by the instigators of the Rwandan genocide.
Please add me, Karlien O'Grady. I teach, and I am increasingly worried about the culture of fear around speaking about any of this (which I am also subject to) as it is interfering with placing children's safeguarding front and centre. Nothing should ever hinder raising safeguarding concerns about a child.
Two thoughts: mentioning that UK lawyers were at the heart of the Convention drafting will feed the anti-UK crowd. They will use that as an excuse to undermine sex as a PC even more. “See? Bigots wrote the Convention !!!11!1!!”. Also, references to Graham Linehan are counter-productive, and will be used against the findings in the rest of the letter.
You may wish to emphasise that women’s equality has always been resisted, and that even the greatest of institutions have histories of dismissing rational, evidenced arguments to recognise biological women’s human rights, but that you trust they will not repeat mistakes made in the past.
Please put my name in: K. J. Kaye.
Please add my name - Jenny Lupton
Please add me Mary Gordon
Please add my name, Laura Tennant - and thank you x
I fully support the freedom of people to openly discuss women's rights, even when they may conflict with the perceived rights of minority groups, in particular those in the transgender community. In my experience this is generally conducted in a respectful way. However I have seen very many instances of people who object to legitimately held gender critical views making abusive comments to those with whom they disagree. Sometimes even appearing to incite violence against those who hold views which they consider 'transphobic'. Many women are now fearful of expressing legitimate concerns about women's safety and rights as they are concerned with losing jobs or their positions in the voluntary sector. This is an intrusion on free speech and inhibiting healthy discussion on important issues.
Lavinia Botnar please add me
Please add my name: Fiona Lubbock Marblehead, MA., USA
Please add me Susan Kennedy
Please add my name, I donated anonymously to a fair few. Helen Redmond
Please add my name Rhona Anderson, Glasgow.
Please add my name Jude English