u/CyclingClaire

We have a myriad of Trans legally focussed goups, medically focussed groups and so on. All which welcome all women. I believe we need a National Women's Association, that is trans inclusive, to put our political voice out to the country, and the national politicians, and be of a size that can be really influential.

With the Women's Institute debacle it was obvious that there were huge numbers of women in the country who support inclusion. This would be an opportunity to support such inclusion but within an organisation that supports women's point of view and interests on all matters at a level that they would be heard. I am thinking of the impact of the NION 'petition' but with a membership that would be there this week, next week and next year and not having to be reenergised each time help is needed.

Is this feasible?

I was always a fan of Science Fiction. After the westerns of the barrack block, Dusty Fogg with his twin Colts in the novels of JT Edson, I moved onto more sophisticated fare with futuristic themes of Isaac Azimov. One short story stood out then and stands out now as I have just reread it after a SF gap of 40 years or more.

The Bicentennial Man is the story of Andrew, the Martin family’s robot. Over two hundred years he studied robotics and robo-biology to enable him to become human. He found many barriers of robo-biology and many barriers of legal documentation. Andrew, as he came upon an obstacle, would spend hours, days, months into years to change his body and change his legal status against all resistance. But he persisted.

The establishment argued that he would become a danger to humanity, changing from a recognisable robot form into a man. The rules that all robots had to follow, the ones that protected everyone from robots, would have to be changed once Andrew changed his body to that of the human man he so wished to be.

He had changed his hard metal body for a soft skinned one. His many operations to change his internal organs to ones that fitted his new persona were made at great expense, great risk and pain and only reached after extensive preparations, operations and managing to get around the barriers placed in front of him. The years went by, but eventually his transformation was completed to his own satisfaction. Only one hurdle to overcome, the highest legislative body in the country.

Andrew pleaded his case before them. He was of no danger to humanity. He had done everything asked of him, even realising that the changes had made him mortal and he would eventually die. The legislators argued that his body parts were artificial, grown to imitate those of the men he wanted to join. He could only point out that those same men, as their bodies let them down with organs that did not work anymore, had transplants from others and those grown to order. They looked at every part of him, in and out. They examined his motives for wanting the change, as if all his efforts over all the years were not evidence enough of his sincerity and his wish to be granted the status of a man. They found he was no danger to humans, he thought like a man, he looked like a man. The only conclusion they could come to was that indeed he was a man. They signed off on his new status. He was not a robot anymore. He was a Bicentennial Man.

Claire Ashton first approached a Psychiatrist in London, referred on from the Psychologist from back home. The Psychologist, from back home, put his bill for services into the Police Force Claire then worked at as a police officer. When the Assistant Chief Constable found out one of his officers was making enquiries in regard to gender dysphoria, he set in train the procedure for sacking Claire. Thus began the long, expensive, heart breaking journey for Claire to become recognised as a Woman. She changed her name and started to take hormone replacement treatment. Soon the inner struggles subsided as her testosterone was subdued and her oestrogen levels increased to a normal level. Slowly the body changes became noticeable and Claire knew that there was to be no going back. She was of no danger to anyone, Claire stayed as her helpful self and began to research what needed to be done to reach her goal. The goal of becoming a woman.

Looking back, she realised that this had been a lifelong trail, winding this way and that. But always headed inevitably in one direction. She could recall instances from the age of about four or five that now made sense. Even her being sacked from the Army made sense, to her at least. Careers lost and not fulfilled, half a life twisted away from a path not taken. Careers shortened, leaving casual employments as the only path. Paperwork issued that told a story, papers never to be proudly shown as they were not for public view.

Claire studied late into nights, research to find a way to achieve her goal. To reach her dream of woman. All to be obtained privately, the other public way had been successfully barriered by the authorities. Her legal status was seemingly unachievable, so much of her research efforts were in that direction. After the outing to the national press and TV stations, the fuss calmed down. Claire was approached to ‘star’ in a TV documentary series called ‘Headliners’. This gave her impetus to continue working with others to change the legal status of herself and others. She had already lost at the Court of Appeal in regard to her police employment dismissal when her union abandoned her. She had nowhere else to go until eventually the government of the time was forced to grant trans people a legal status. By this time, she was a woman in all respects, except for the piece of paper that she badly needed. Needed for validation. Needed to convince herself that she was who she knew she was. Everyone had spent years telling her she was worthless, to lie down and be quiet, to stay where she was as that was all she could ever be. Claire finally became a woman in all the ways that society required. She had been a girl all her life, but only to herself and to be kept to herself.

Looking back again, the day she changed her name was the day she stopped being a person in transition. The day she stopped being a trans woman. That day she became a woman, a woman with a trans history. A history of interest to no one in particular, just a day to be noted and forgotten about.

Claire went before the legislature on her final journey to plead her case. Claire needed the legislature to declare she was a woman for all purposes with no exceptions. She explained she wasn’t a danger to women and girls. She explained she would uphold dignity and respect for all. She was not asking for much. Claire was asking for a validation that hurt no one else, took nothing from anyone else and did not cost anyone any resources.

As Claire turned away, having been refused her requests, she thought back to the Supreme Court and their reasoning. She was a danger to others but couldn’t recall why. She could never be a woman, she would always be a man, a biological man. She must go away and inhabit that space that is nowhere all the time. Inhabit a space that is not equipped for Claire and was never designed for Claire.

Claire turned as she passed through the Supreme Court door and asked if she needed to return all her earlier status paperwork from twenty two years before. The doorman gave a little laugh, said those papers never had any value in law then and certainly didn’t now. But he was kind enough to give Claire an appointment, an appointment to come back to the Supreme Court in twenty five years. He gave another laugh as he said “Perhaps they will let you become a Centennial Woman, though I doubt it.” He turned, closed the door firmly for a final time.

Claire Ashton has a 75^(th) birthday in a few weeks. She still researches ways to gain her status back. She may not make her century, but hopefully her legacy will live on for other Claires of the future. If you thought this tale would have a happy ending then you have been reading too much Science Fantasy. I live in the real world, where the good people don’t always wear white hats and the bad people don’t always wear the black ones.

… it is time the Gay community stepped up. 

Trans people in the UK are under attack from the Right and the Far Right. If that is not bad enough, the ‘centre’ of the political scene is drifting that way in its efforts to mop up any support from ‘not quite there yet with the Fascists’ voters.

Strong sentiments? Not hardly, the Trans Community is under attack from many sides. Not for its politics, not for its fringe elements, but for its temerity to even exist. There is no debate to be had, we are here, we have always been here. We are doing our best to resist the attacks but we are an easy target, being few in number and vulnerable on many levels. What is the saddest part of all this? It is when we look around to see who has our backs and there is no one there. Yes, I am looking for you – the Gay Community. Lesbians, Gay Men, Bisexual Men and Women. Where are you? We were there when you had your fights in the past. Stonewall, we were there in the struggles from then right through the decades until here, now. You are nowhere to be seen. Stonewall the charity, the campaigning group for your Gay rights, has abandoned us to the wolves at our door. They blame the drop in their financial support on their past stance on Trans people. You have it wrong, Stonewall, you have lost financial support because you have slid down the slope of appeasement. You were once a fearless champion of all things LGBTQIA+, the Alphabet Soup acronym made fun of by the Right. Instead of drifting towards their bigoted position you should have stood firm, stood your ground. You are lost to me now, both as a beacon of hope and as a recipient of my meagre membership donation. You are lost to thousands to Trans people in this country. Our financial backing may not be a great loss, perhaps a mere red ink blip on the balance sheet where your assumption of looking good to the Right is in black on the other side.

I must tell you that you are wrong. I’m not speaking to Stonewall now; I’m speaking to the Gay Community at large. Abandon Trans people, as you are, and you will be next. You do not fit into the scheme of things, the great plan, of the bigots that are loose in our society. They are further testing the waters with Trans people.

Let us see how they react when we take their very lives from under their feet. How do they fight back? How does the general population react, will they give us free rein?

These questions, we have already tested out on migrants. Pick the obvious targets that some will back us on. Brown people, religion different, sneaking in, taking our jobs, mainly young men, r*p*sts probably. They will do. Ignore the majority coming in seeking relief from persecution. Just concentrate on the weak and vulnerable.

Move onto so called men ‘identifying’ as women. Obvious men dressed up as women forcing themselves on women’s spaces, a danger to women and girls. Men who are intact, who have no respect for women and girls. We can always tell. Mention a male prisoner who attacks vulnerable women in the women’s prison. Call out the transsexual extremists who vandalise, but don’t mention the chalk, call out the Transsexual Ideology that is infesting society. Always mention transsexuals, so we know it is sex that drives them. Protect our children, normal children, from the p*rv*rts of the biological men self-identifying as women, with intact genitals dangling under their dresses.

There, that should do it. Another year of this and we will effectively have no more so-called trans people. They, the deluded men, will hide out of sight, out of our sight and out of our mind. So called transmen? Who? Forget them, they will disappear just as easily.

Who is next?

They will be more of a challenge. There are more of them. Don’t call them Queers, they have taken that into their own dictionary. But they are an easy target. They have their weak spots. Bisexuals? Can’t make their minds up. Gay Men? Stop using Gay, use homosexual. Introduce the idea that men are sexually interested in our children. Danger to Boys, our Boys. Lesbians? Ditto, danger to Girls, our Girls. And Women, our Women. Danger to Marriage. Danger to our normal, very normal, way of life. Men work, Women and Children at home. Married. Normal.

We, the long-gone Trans Community, will not be there for you. We will be hiding in our houses, or more likely our tents and cardboard boxes, just trying to get through the days ahead. Wondering what went wrong, wondering why the Gay cavalry did not show up. Wondering how they didn’t see what was coming in their future, wondering how they could be so blind.

Wondering why you failed us.

… it is time the Gay community stepped up.

Trans people in the UK are under attack from the Right and the Far Right. If that is not bad enough, the ‘centre’ of the political scene is drifting that way in its efforts to mop up any support from ‘not quite there yet with the Fascists’ voters.

Strong sentiments? Not hardly, the Trans Community is under attack from many sides. Not for its politics, not for its fringe elements, but for its temerity to even exist. There is no debate to be had, we are here, we have always been here. We are doing our best to resist the attacks but we are an easy target, being few in number and vulnerable on many levels. What is the saddest part of all this? It is when we look around to see who has our backs and there is no one there. Yes, I am looking for you – the Gay Community. Lesbians, Gay Men, Bisexual Men and Women. Where are you? We were there when you had your fights in the past. Stonewall, we were there in the struggles from then right through the decades until here, now. You are nowhere to be seen. Stonewall the charity, the campaigning group for your Gay rights, has abandoned us to the wolves at our door. They blame the drop in their financial support on their past stance on Trans people. You have it wrong, Stonewall, you have lost financial support because you have slid down the slope of appeasement. You were once a fearless champion of all things LGBTQIA+, the Alphabet Soup acronym made fun of by the Right. Instead of drifting towards their bigoted position you should have stood firm, stood your ground. You are lost to me now, both as a beacon of hope and as a recipient of my meagre membership donation. You are lost to thousands to Trans people in this country. Our financial backing may not be a great loss, perhaps a mere red ink blip on the balance sheet where your assumption of looking good to the Right is in black on the other side.

I must tell you that you are wrong. I’m not speaking to Stonewall now; I’m speaking to the Gay Community at large. Abandon Trans people, as you are, and you will be next. You do not fit into the scheme of things, the great plan, of the bigots that are loose in our society. They are further testing the waters with Trans people.

Let us see how they react when we take their very lives from under their feet. How do they fight back? How does the general population react, will they give us free rein?

These questions, we have already tested out on migrants. Pick the obvious targets that some will back us on. Brown people, religion different, sneaking in, taking our jobs, mainly young men, r*p*sts probably. They will do. Ignore the majority coming in seeking relief from persecution. Just concentrate on the weak and vulnerable.

Move onto so called men ‘identifying’ as women. Obvious men dressed up as women forcing themselves on women’s spaces, a danger to women and girls. Men who are intact, who have no respect for women and girls. We can always tell. Mention a male prisoner who attacks vulnerable women in the women’s prison. Call out the transsexual extremists who vandalise, but don’t mention the chalk, call out the Transsexual Ideology that is infesting society. Always mention transsexuals, so we know it is sex that drives them. Protect our children, normal children, from the p*rv*rts of the biological men self-identifying as women, with intact genitals dangling under their dresses.

There, that should do it. Another year of this and we will effectively have no more so-called trans people. They, the deluded men, will hide out of sight, out of our sight and out of our mind. So called transmen? Who? Forget them, they will disappear just as easily.

Who is next?

They will be more of a challenge. There are more of them. Don’t call them Queers, they have taken that into their own dictionary. But they are an easy target. They have their weak spots. Bisexuals? Can’t make their minds up. Gay Men? Stop using Gay, use homosexual. Introduce the idea that men are sexually interested in our children. Danger to Boys, our Boys. Lesbians? Ditto, danger to Girls, our Girls. And Women, our Women. Danger to Marriage. Danger to our normal, very normal, way of life. Men work, Women and Children at home. Married. Normal.

We, the long-gone Trans Community, will not be there for you. We will be hiding in our houses, or more likely our tents and cardboard boxes, just trying to get through the days ahead. Wondering what went wrong, wondering why the Gay cavalry did not show up. Wondering how they didn’t see what was coming in their future, wondering how they could be so blind.

Wondering why you failed us.