Apologies are useless without action
by Jo Bartosch, Artillery Row:
It is nice that Gillian Keegan has acknowledged reality, but it is not enough.
Gravity has reasserted itself within Parliament; politicians who until recently were floating in the safe space of gender fluidity have been pulled down to earth with a bump. This week education secretary Gillian Keegan signalled her return to reality by telling the Telegraph that she will no longer use the phrase “transwomen are women”. This is apparently because since becoming a minister her understanding of the “complex and challenging subject” (otherwise known as basic biology) has “evolved”. While this is welcome, deeds must now follow these words.
Keegan, like her Labour Party compatriot shadow health secretary Wes Streeting, has clearly seen that the tide is turning (Streeting has acknowledged he had been wrong to use the phrase “trans women are women, get over it”). And thanks to the findings of the Cass Review, the trickle of public figures tentatively voicing their concerns about trans ideology will soon be a roaring flood.
As a rule, those who survive in British politics tend not to be troubled by self-awareness or a desire to take personal responsibility. Consequently, lobby group Stonewall is being lined-up as the non-gendered fall guy who led our guileless elected representatives astray.
When last week Dawn Butler MP apologised for “inadvertently misleading the house” she blamed a briefing from the LGBTQ+ lobby group. Keegan appeared to hint at their role too, explaining that when she mouthed trans activist mantras in the past she “didn’t have any direct experience of this topic and took advice on how best to respond”. She is known to have met with Stonewall in 2018.
While Keegan might have belatedly recognised the reality of biological sex, this message has yet to trickle down to classrooms. The need for clarity and unbiased advice has never been greater. Research commissioned by Sex Matters last year found 79 percent of teachers said that their school had at least one pupil on its roll who identifies as trans or non-binary. Yet teachers have been left to muddle through, turning to dodgy lobby groups for support.
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