Bristol City Council has been accused of offending women with “virtue-signalling madness” after claiming that legally defining sex as biological “misgenders trans people” and could lead to discrimination.
Officials also argue that the term “maternity” should be scrapped and replaced with “paternity” to avoid offending trans people, despite the latter meaning “the fact of being a father”.
They also demand support for biological men who want to “chestfeed” babies, despite questions about whether the practice is harmful.
The comments were made in a 39-page response to a consultation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) on updates to its guidance, following the Supreme Court ruling in April this year that sex in equality laws refers to biological sex.
The guidance, which is waiting final approval by Ministers, is understood to state that trans women cannot be admitted to women’s single sex spaces.
Bristol City Council, whose Green Party leader Tony Dyer has criticised the Supreme Court ruling, raised a number of objections, including urging the EHRC to drop gendered language when referring to pregnancy, maternity and breastfeeding.
They wrote that “not all pregnant individuals would use the pronouns ‘she/her’” and so it could add “emotional and psychological distress” for “trans men, non-binary, gender diverse or intersex individuals”....<<<Read More>>>...
