I have been a long critic of the hate crime laws in Great Britain which has devastated free speech protections with regular criminal charges against people deemed to be insulting or harassing to others. One case highlights how such speech codes have turned courts into micromanagers of manners and language used by citizens in public. It began with a mother, Kate Scottow (left), being arrested in front of her children for the crime of referring to a transgender woman as a man online. The alleged victim, transgender activist Stephanie Hayden, has now charged that she is being denied free speech after being accused of trolling on the Internet.
Three officers came to the house to take Scottow to the police station under suspicion of “deadnaming,” or using the prior name or gender of a transexual person. The mother of an autistic ten-year-old daughter and 20-month-old son, Scottow was held for seven hours and her phone and computers were seized after a complaint by Stephanie Hayden. Hayden accused Scottow of a “campaign of targeted harassment” due to her ‘status as a transgender woman.” The basis was an exchange online where Scottow is accused of “toxic” and “defamatory” language, including referring to Hayden as a male in a debate over self-identification. Scottow insisted that she merely expressing her genuine belief that a person “cannot practically speaking change sex.” However, Deputy Judge Jason Coppel QC issued an injunction against her from making such statements, including “referencing [to Hayden’ as a man” or linking her to her “former male identity.”
We have previously discussed the alarming rollback on free speech rights in the West, particularly in France (here and here and here and here and here and here and here) and England (here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here). There are encroachments appearing in the United States, particularly on college campuses. Notably, the media celebrated the speech of French President Emmanuel Macron before Congress where he called on the United States to follow the model of Europe on hate speech.
This case however shows how the process of limiting speech results in a rapid spiraling into limits on other speech and expressions. Sitcom writer Graham Linehan was also given a verbal harassment warning by West Yorkshire Police after Hayden reported him for referring to her by her previous names and pronouns on Twitter.
Now however it is Hayden, 45, who is claiming to have been banned under speech codes. She claims to have been banned from Mumsnet for trolling and has again gone to court to force a judicial review of the exchange. In response, the High Court ordered Mumsnet to reveal the identity of an online troll who made allegedly defamatory comments about Hayden in accusing her of “serious criminal activity.” The website proceeded to strip the anonymity of the commentator but Hayden demands protection for her speech from being barring after Mumsnet said it was reviewing her membership.
Without any hint of self-contradiction, Hayden complained that “Mumsnet have now banned me from the website and accused me of being a troll. This is yet another example of Mumsnet attempting to silence the voices of the transgender community whilst permitting harassment and abuse.”
There is an alternative. It is called free speech.
To tell the truth I never know what to call them. If someone is said to be a trans gender woman I guess woman is what she transformed “kinda” into? Call me old fashioned but there must be some kind of genetic testing that shows which is which even if they got it lobbed off.
Be careful what you wish for Stephanie. You shut people up. You get shut up. Not good for anyone.
Hail Brittania! Brittania rules the waves!
Air waves.
“Woman arrested …..” Hey, it’s the trendy leftist thing to do.
You hurt someones little feelings, you should be arrested, maybe, they should consider some Sharia law tactics and stone her.
Leftist show their INSANITY more and more everyday.
I have a dysphoria that makes me think I’m the queen of England. I want an injunction prohibiting anyone, anywhere, from referring to anybody but ME as the queen of England.
As you wish, your Majesty. 👑
Deadnaming is only the beginning. In the US, at least our freedom of speech is better protected than in the UK, but on the other hand, in the US, female athletes are being put out of their sports by faster and stronger males who claim a female identity. It is happening at just about every level, from high school to college and beyond. Google Rachel McKinnon, Andraya Yearwood, Terry Miller, CeCe Telfer and Fallon Fox for a small taste. At least in the UK they are way ahead of the US in protecting women’s and girls’ rights from being eroded by men who claim to be female, although there are still many threats to sex-based protections in the UK.
It seems Canada may have it worst of all, as they have compelled speech laws like the UK and the transgender invasion of women’s spaces and sports like in the US. A Canadian pedophile and scammer named Jonathan (Jennifer) Yaniv has gotten entire blogs wiped from WordPress and people banned from Twitter because they referred to him as “he” when reporting about his multiple discrimination lawsuits against waxing salons whose female employees refused to wax his male genitalia.
Then there’s the transgender VP of the British Columbia New Democratic Party, Morgane Oger, an incredibly litigious and misogynistic male who is constantly spouting off about anti-discrimination statutes when people state the facts that a sex cannot be changed and that males are men and always will be. Oger used his political clout to get funding pulled from the Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter, because this nonprofit women’s shelter does not allow males as clients or residents, as female rape victims are typically severely traumatized and find being around males incredibly distressing. The center instead refers males to a nearby center which does serve males, and for this Oger cries discrimination, because he believes transgender males are actual women and interprets BC law to mean that everyone else must be compelled to believe this also. Now, thanks to Oger, this 45-year nonprofit, which serves 1200 women each year and houses 100 women and children, is no longer eligible for public grant money.
We can be kind to transgender people without throwing women and girls under the bus. Also, people should be able to speak the truth without worrying about it resulting in arrest or questioning by police.
If they have a dong then they are male.
This post is a very generous look at the issues boiling up in the west around freedom of speech. Elements in favor of limiting speech that may be offensive to some fail to see the future of communication among diverse groups when speech is limited to words and thoughts that can’t be found offensive by any person or group. “I find your statement offensive!” I’m entitled to my own reality. There will be no meaningful communication. We will have slipped beyond the event horizon of the black hole of nonsense. Feeling dominated, reality is meaningless.
Freakocracy.
Hysteria and incoherence.
Dictatorship of the proletariat.
_______________________
The American Founders established maximal individual freedom coinciding with severely limited government in a republic of citizens who are entitled to vote having met strict criteria.
What happened?
I will speak some words in Pig Latin so as to not offend. “Brit” is ok to describe someone from England. A transgender person is also known by the word queer. A person who complains can be called a whiner. But. Everything in moderation. Including moderation.
The best way to react to this story is to say: England. Fly over and flush..
How very typical from this activist crowd that Stephen/Stephanie Hayden want’s it both ways. He demands his free speech, but well, not so much for someone else. It matters little if he wants to be a Man, Woman, or something else. Nonetheless, this jerk should just go crawl under a rock.
Careful! You shouldn’t have used Stephen. Good thing you live in America — at least for the time being.
Sadly these people are mentally ill. Every cell in the human body has a nucleus, and every nucleus contains 23 pairs of chromosomes, with the 23rd being either XX (female) or XY (male). No amount of lipstick, hair coloring, nail polish, makeup or exogenous hormones can change their genetics. Follow the science.
https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/basics/howmanychromosomes
Bradley Manning and Bruce Jenner are still XY genetic males. Their DNA attests to this fact
Funny how liberals claim to follow scientific reasoning until their emotionally driven faith breaks with the science. So predictable
No one has the right to force anyone else to view them in any particular way. It is a basic human right to form your own opinion.
Gender dysphoria is a mental illness in which the sufferer feels they are trapped in the wrong gendered body. It is similar to body dysmorphic disorder, in which they obsess over perceived flaws.
I read about a transgender female, who transitioned from female to male, and then realized they identified as a dog. Then I had to look up the meaning of “pup play” which was used in the article. I really hate to think what algorithm GOOGLE has pegged me at. Pup Play can refer to a range of behaviors ranging from gay sex role playing as dogs, to people who actually believe they are dogs on the inside.
The former is more like role play. It might be an offshoot of BDSM. The latter involves people who described feeling uncomfortable in their bodies and social settings. They lick people’s faces, bark, eat out of bowls (usually human food, because some part of them realizes that they cannot eat raw meat like actual dogs), and bark. I believe that the same extreme submissive feelings and need for humiliation at the source of femmedom may be involved. I’m a little confused if wearing a collar with a lock on it to signify they “belong” to an “owner” is for the gay role playing thing or the identifying as a dog next level pup play.
The fact is that human behavior is very complex. There is a difference between acceptance and compassion, and forcing others to participate in a delusion.
As painful as it is for sufferers of gender dysphoria to understand, it is a delusion. There are thousands of biological differences between men and women, the most well known of which is genetics. You can pass as another gender, but you will still be either XX or XY (or any number of rare intersex possibilities). Nothing you do can change your genetic makeup. If you commit a crime, a lab will type you as XX or XY. You cannot change any of the other thousands of biological differences, either. They have got to make peace with the fact that their body is biologically one way, but they prefer to behave in another. As long as they have anxiety about “really” changing to the other sex, they will suffer.
What you can change is performative. You can behave in any way you choose. There are women who behave in a more traditionally male way, and vice versa. There are also uber feminine females. Choosing garments or makeup is performative. Choosing a name or persona is performative.
Choosing what to call other people is performative.
Men have the right to dress as women in our country. Everyone else has the right to choose how they view that person. We have the right of free speech. Women also have the right to have male-genitalia-free private spaces, for their own safety. Women have the right to compete in sports limited to biological females, for fairness and equality.
I refer to RuPaul as female, out of choice. I find her very entertaining, and greatly enjoyed watching a few episodes of Drag Race. However, RuPaul is not threatening to have me jailed, drummed out of a job, or harassed on the street unless I call her female. I actually have no idea if RuPaul even wants me to refer to him as “she”, or cares, since she is adamantly not transgender. She is a gay male drag queen, and the best at it, as far as I’m concerned.
Gender dysphoria is a mental illness that deserves compassion and support, just like panic and anxiety disorders, depression, or any other challenge that anyone suffers. They didn’t do anything wrong. It’s not their fault they feel this way. They deserve respect and kindness, just like anyone else, until and unless they start threatening other people who do not see them as they do.
That is the problem with delusion. When confronted with an alternate reality than the one they experience, some people can become very agitated and upset. That does not mean that they must force the rest of the world to adapt to their, sometimes changing, internal mental image of themself. For example, in the case of the transgender female now immersed in pup play, I view her as a female who performs as a male, and now a male dog. She is not, actually, a dog, and no amount of costuming or behavior will convince me that this person is a dog. If I feel like playing along and pretending the person is a dog, that is my choice, but I will not tolerate anyone threatening me if I don’t feel like doing so.
We should take heed of the loss of free speech and individual rights in other Western countries, and ensure we do not suffer the same. It doesn’t matter if the rights are taken away out of some intention for kindness, tolerance, or anything else. Individual rights are sacred. If someone has the right to perform as another gender, then everyone has the right to form their own opinions about it.
I looked it up. RuPaul doesn’t care what pronoun anyone uses to address him or her. Sounds like RuPaul is the most tolerant and comfortable person out of this entire manufactured crisis.
Karen….I always learn from your comments.
As far as RuPaul, as a professional entertainer, I think he knows he has to be flexible to survive.
We have an extended family member who is a very accomplished drag queen. As a drag queen he has a separate dynamic going on, ….and he would prefer to be a woman. But he is realistic. Also, he always has a very supportive family.
That’s good that he has a supportive family. I used to go to Hollywood frequently, and watch the Crowning of the Queen and other events. They are a lot of fun. That reminds me, I learned to tango with a drag queen dressed up like Little Red Riding Hood. His companion was over 6 feet tall, and walked in sky high platform stilettos, on grass, better than I ever could.
I think live and let live is a motto to live by, as long as no one is hurting anyone, but I also believe it works both ways. That’s the problem with the UK “misgendering” laws. They are intolerant and infringe on individual rights.
I’ll bet RuPaul also is wise enough to realize that if she is going to get upset if any of the millions of people watching her show, writing about her, or talking about her use a pronoun she doesn’t like, then she’s going to be exhausted. Why waste all that energy?
Karen……my best friend in the late 60’s was my gay tap dance/ ballet teacher in Shawnee Okla.
I was his beard, of course, around town. But when we went to “the city” (okla. city) he wanted to take me to the drag shows. You can’t believe how many gay men there were in Okla City in 1967! And half of them looked like football players.
My friend took me to all the gay bars, too, for an education. As a Southern Baptist girl I was fascinated that there was an entire culture that existed about which I knew nothing…….and so fascinated was I, that I made it the subject of my final in my college speech class.(at a Baptist school! LOL) I stood up and for 5 minutes spoke on everything I had observed. My professor thought it was so scandalous that I would even admit that I knew “one”!! She gave me a C .but I knew it was A material!
It’s interesting looking back on those days because it was before the term “gay” was used very much…..and the gay men and women hated each other. I think they finally came together during the AIDS epidemic in the 1980’s.
By the way, one movie from those days that gives you the flavor of that era is ” The Boys in the Band”.
This is a very generous reaction to the threat to free speech bubbling up in the west. None of the forces pushing against free speech rights seem to see where the road can lead if we limit speech to anything that can’t possibly offend anyone. Discussion will become meaningless. I’m right, you’re are wrong, because you offend me. My reality is my right. We will have unwittingly slipped past the event horizon of the black hole of meaningless communication.
How absurd.
Did you see where newborns being raised by parents as ‘gender neutral’ are being called “theybies” instead of babies? Will it be a hate speech crime to call someone’s baby a girl or a boy instead of a ‘theyby’?
Two words of advice for parents who can do it: home schooling.
What is even more concerning is that in the UK, doctors and schools are coordinating to give puberty blockers and transition hormones to children as young as 4 years old. There are serious health risks with these medications, in addition to sterility as the final result. This is malpractice, because over 85% of kids who identify as transgender no longer do so by the age of 18. In addition, the high suicide rate among transgender is highly concerning. It does not appear that transitioning saves lives as claimed.
They and they are crazy
I’m afraid your use of the third person pronoun above is not compliant.
Another example of the legally adept using bad laws to impose their will on others.
Have the British courts ever heard of the concept of a “vexatious litigant”?
I am old enough to remember when Britain was an leader in a fair legal systems – or for that matter in an effective political system. How the mighty have fallen.
I would wish that someone would test the constitutionality of hate speech limitations on our first amendment and then let us be an example to the world that hate speech is just speech someone else doesn’t care to hear but it is not prohibited speech in consideration of our constitution. the courts went totally around the bend in catering to grievance groups on this account and we need to amend this terrible law.
The British government has been in the hands of the Conservative Party since 2010. Heckuva job, guys.
@this is absurd x 3
“Conservatives” whether in the UK or here actually “conserve” very little. Used to admire William F. Buckley in my college days but realize he was a total fraud. Beltway “Conservative inc.” is a racket and failure.
antonio
Conservatives are lack luster believers who want to live their “Christian” ethos on their own terms, making it up along the way as the wind blows. No cojones. No skin in the game
At least liberals are honest. They relish being infidels
Am I the only one who thinks reading this is like work? I find it hard to remember who’s gender is what, who is being charged and who thinks they’ve been wronged. Ughh.
I wish someone would define hate speech so I could recognize it when I see it.
That’s easy, Jim22. Hate speech is any spoken or written truth liberals don’t like. Btw, she’s a he there Brit Bobbies. Please come to my door so I can show you how the Second Amendment guarantees the First Amendment here.
Down, boy!
mespo……..✔
If we have to remember 75 pronouns, especially when at least some of the people change their gender on occasion, then we’re all doomed. They’ll have to build more prisons for the entire population. AOC should be happy. At least people won’t fly or drive cars.
This all kind of makes you wish for some major catastrophe to realign our priorities and give us something real to worry about.
For Lent we decided at home to volunteer at a local facility where residents with permanent physical disabilities live until they die. After our first visit we felt ashamed we had ever complained about anything. The residents of the facility have intact cognitive faculties and are intimately aware of their permanent physical state in life. They never complain, are always happy to receive visitors and put all of us to shame
America has become such a moral catastrophe that its a wonder we haven’t been annihilated by our Creator