Sex Matters in the media – 2023 archive
25th August to 22nd December 2023
22nd December
This news week began with an exposé by Steven Edginton in The Telegraph on troubling guidance for social workers that teaches trans ideology as fact to vulnerable children and recommends asking children as young as 13 whether they are transgender. Helen Joyce called the guidance “dangerous and unscientific” and said no government document should signpost anyone to Mermaids.
This was followed by a second exposé by Steven in The Telegraph, this time on the new Ministry of Justice equality framework for prison officers that encourages consideration of “non-binary” and “gender fluid” staff, and the implementation of gender-neutral toilets, showers, changing rooms and uniforms. Maya Forstater called the guidance “hard line trans activism”, said the blatantly politicised language was concerning, and called for officials such as permanent secretary Antonia Romeo to act decisively. The story was also covered by Emily Jane Davies for the Daily Mail.
The new UK government schools guidance on sex and gender dominated the rest of the news week. Sex Matters saw the guidance as a big step forward and Maya said that while the guidance is imperfect, it sets the global standard for uprooting trans ideology from schools (full statement). The news on schools guidance was first covered by Louisa Clarence-Smith and Daniel Martin in The Telegraph, Steven Swinford in The Times, and Jason Groves and Martin Beckford in the Daily Mail, all quoting Maya.
Maya appeared on TalkTV with Alex Philips and Kevin O’Sullivan to discuss the new guidance alongside the executive head of St Thomas The Apostle School, Serge Cefai.
Further coverage on schools guidance that mentioned Sex Matters included Lauren Moss and Josh Parry’s coverage for BBC News, which emphasised that parents must be kept informed under the new guidance, and Richard Adams and Aletha Adu in The Guardian, who said that the guidance tells English schools to consider the influence of social media on pupils asking to transition.
In further Daily Mail coverage which quoted Maya, James Tapsfield and Martin Robinson warned that schools are threatening to flout the guidance, while Martin Beckford and Connor Stringer covered Kemi Badenoch’s warning that teaching children they can be born in the ‘wrong’ body is harmful.
Adam Forrest in The Independent referred to Sex Matters as a “leading campaign group” and “rival” to Stonewall in an article on the government advising that teachers can’t be forced to use pupils’ chosen pronouns. He also quoted Maya in an article on the view of some Tories that the guidance doesn’t go far enough.
Finally, The Critic published an article written by Maya on the new schools guidance, in which she welcomed the “return from Planet Gender” and said that the new guidance for schools on gender questioning children is a good start.
15th December
Coverage this week began with an article by Maya Forstater in Holyrood Magazine, which argued that the UK Government must act urgently to clarify the meaning of “man” and “woman” in the Equality Act following the Court of Session’s rejection of the Scottish Government’s appeal against the UK Government’s Section 35 order to stop the Gender Recognition Reform Bill receiving royal assent. Maya wrote that while it is positive that the judgment will prevent self-ID being brought into law in Scotland, it did not provide clarity about the meaning of sex in law.
This was followed by Neale Hanvey MP writing for The National, claiming that there has never been a more dangerous time for LGB people in his lifetime, with an equivalent threat to women and girls. Hanvey quoted Sex Matters’ proposal for a ban on modern conversion practices, citing the example of a gender non-conforming man who felt his sex had been “lobotomised” after being pressured into gender-reassignment surgery (removal of his penis and testicles). In a letter to the paper later in the week, Hanvey urged readers of The National to refer to Sex Matters’ proposal to ban modern conversion therapy for harrowing examples of gay people accelerated onto an irreversible transition pathway with minimal information or meaningful support.
Writing for The Telegraph, Hayley Dixon covered what could be one of the first examples globally of a healthcare provider rowing back from institutionalised transactivism, with private healthcare company HCA confirming it will now guarantee same-sex care for patients. This followed the cancellation of Teresa Steele’s operation at an HCA hospital in 2022 when she requested that only biological women be involved in her intimate care. Helen Joyce said that the move was extremely welcome and that the sooner the NHS follows suit, the better. She warned that it will otherwise be another example of inequity, with those who cannot afford private services being forced to accept intimate care from men who identify as women.
Helen was also quoted in the Daily Mail in an article by Claire Ellicott on the fallout from Conservative MP Rachel Maclean’s description of Melissa Poulton – the trans-identified straight male campaigning to be a green MP who identifies as a “proud lesbian” – as a “man in a wig”. Helen said that using ordinary, polite words to describe what everyone can see – for example a “man in a wig” – is not bigotry. Sex Matters chair Naomi Cunningham was interviewed on the topic by Ian Collins on Talk TV, and said it is “preposterous, abusive and manipulative” for a man to say that he is a lesbian.
Finally, Maya’s case was briefly mentioned in an article by Millicent Machell for HR Magazine in response to a Telegraph article which argued that the HR profession is “strangling the economy” and policing political attitudes in the workplace, including the hiring and firing of people in the name of progressive causes. HR consultant Jonathan Krogdahl warned that HR can overstep by enforcing values that senior executives have not agreed on, and said that HR leadership must remain aligned with the rest of the leadership team.
8th December
Writing for The Telegraph, Edward Malnick quoted Maya Forstater’s case in a report on how Equality and Human Rights Commission staff opposed the “direction of travel” under the leadership of Baroness Falkner.
Next was an exposé by Charlotte Gill for The Telegraph on how Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust asks patients to choose their gender identity from a wide selection of options that includes “demiboy, genderfluid and questioning”. Maya was quoted as saying that it is crucial that healthcare providers don’t get confused about what sex people are.
The launch of weak new guidance on trans-identifying prisoners by the Scottish Prisons Service saw Helen Joyce interviewed by Kathryn Sampson on Channel 4 News, saying that the only safe course of action would be to keep all men out of women’s prisons, no matter how they identify. Maya was interviewed by Julia Hartley-Brewer on Talk TV and said that the policy would allow a violent man or a paedophile who has committed crimes against a boy to be put in a women’s prison.
Writing for the Daily Mail, Martin Beckford previewed the launch of much-anticipated guidance on sex and gender in schools, quoting Helen as saying that the guidance must be clear so teachers are not left to face legal challenges.
Secretary of State Kemi Badenoch’s “tour de force” statement in parliament – which saw her speak passionately on several topics including conversion therapy, schools guidance and fairness in sports – was widely covered by the media. Steph Spyro in the Daily Express featured Maya saying that the era of “no debate” is finally over, and that it came to a close in the most important debating chamber in the country. Daniel Martin in The Telegraph quoted Maya on Badenoch’s agreement with Sex Matters that conversion therapy has evolved into a new, equally abhorrent form.
Writing exclusively for the Daily Mail on her response to the statement, Helen shared her relief at hearing Badenoch speak out against the epidemic of gay children being encouraged to “change gender”.
Finally, in an article by Oliver Brown and Daniel Martin in The Telegraph on the letter from over 70 politicians to the Football Association (FA) urging it to change its transgender policy, Maya was quoted as saying that there is nothing in the Equality Act or the Gender Recognition Act that says women’s sports must be opened up to men who identify as women, and that the FA is discriminating against women and girls and knowingly putting women in harm’s way by not protecting women’s teams.
1st December
This week’s coverage began with the news that civil servants at the Department of Business and Trade (DBT) were told in an internal memo marking Transgender Day of Remembrance on 20th November to check their colleagues’ email signatures for their pronouns and not assume each other’s gender. In an article for The Telegraph by Steven Edginton, Helen Joyce responded to the news by saying that all employers, including DBT, should think carefully about the risk of claims against them for discrimination and harassment of gender-critical employees if they allow themselves to be used as mouthpieces for evidence-free and inflammatory lobbying.
Maya Forstater’s recent comments in The Times on the anticipated government guidance on sex and gender in schools were quoted by Michael Curzon in The European Conservative, including her warning that the latest update on what the guidance will contain passes the legal risk down to the schools and leaves the door open for activist parents or unhappy children to try to negotiate, which is exactly what schools don’t need.
Writing for the Mail on Sunday, Cameron Charters reported that a whistleblowing midwife had evidence that babies were being registered according to “gender identity” on discharge forms under a new software system at London’s Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital, and King’s College Hospital, which Sex Matters’ Maya called “absurd and chilling”. Following up on the story, Michael Searles and Daniel Martin at The Telegraph were told by the NHS that it was a “system error” and that babies will be registered by their “legal sex”. Maya was quoted as saying that the response from NHS managers was disingenuous at best and would do nothing to quell widespread concern and outrage. GB News presenter Nana Akua did a segment on the news and quoted Maya.
After seeing the story above, a doctor then reported to Michael Searles and Daniel Martin at The Telegraph that the software’s new “Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity SmartForm” has been programmed to register patients according to their “legal sex” rather than their actual sex, and to record men and women who don’t express a trans identity as “cisgender”. It asks medical staff to complete “organ inventories” of the reproductive features of all patients. In this article and one by Danya Bazaraa and Cameron Charters for the Daily Mail, Helen was quoted as saying that this anti-scientific fringe ideology has been imported wholesale from America, and that activists within the NHS have attempted to impose it on the UK’s healthcare system by stealth.
24th November
It was a significant week for Sex Matters in the media, beginning with Will Hazell in The Telegraph and Katie Harris in the Daily Express covering our letter to Kishwer Falkner, which warned that the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s recommendation to collect data on the sexual orientation and gender identity of school pupils is a serious threat to safeguarding.
This was followed by coverage in The Telegraph of our letter to the Office of Statistics Regulation calling for an official investigation into the flawed gender question in the 2021 census in England and Wales, with an article by Daniel Martin and an editorial comment. Maya Forstater was interviewed by Martin Daubney on GB News on the story, and said that responses to the question should be downgraded from a national statistic with advice to use with caution.
Sex Matters chair Naomi Cunningham appeared on LBC at the weekend with presenter Clare Foges to discuss why the debate on sex and gender is so toxic. Naomi commented on how trans-rights campaigners decided they could lay down the law with no debate, and talked about why she no longer uses preferred pronouns.
News that ministers plan to limit the circumstances in which social transitioning can take place in schools was welcomed by Sex Matters, but in articles by Martin Beckford in the Daily Mail, Daniel Martin and Louisa Clarence-Smith in The Telegraph and James Beal, Steven Swinford and Nicola Woolcock in The Times, Maya warned that the idea of a presumption against social transitioning passes the buck back to schools and puts them at risk of legal challenge.
Finally, there was widespread coverage of the news that Victims Minister Laura Farris will meet MP Joanna Cherry to discuss a rapid review into the impact of extreme transactivism and the violence and intimidation faced by women’s rights campaigners, and her reference to Sex Matters’ letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, which was signed by nearly 15,000 people. David Lynch’s report for the Press Association was covered by The Evening Standard, The Independent, Irish News, Forres Gazette, Inverness Courier and The Times, in an article co-written by Tom Boothman. There was further coverage by Lucy Garcia in The National and Tom Gordon in The Herald. Writing for The Telegraph, Daniel Martin cited examples of the violence and intimidation faced by Maya and Helen Joyce, and quoted Helen’s call for the inadequate policing of women’s rallies to be examined as part of the review.
17th November
The news that trans-identified man Steph Richards has been appointed CEO of the charity Endometriosis South Coast dominated the headlines this week, beginning with an article by Hayley Dixon in The Telegraph which talked about Richards’ involvement in the FiLiA protests in Portsmouth in 2021. The article quoted Helen Joyce as saying that the appointment of a trans-identified male to this position would be outrageous under any circumstances, but is particularly so in the case of an individual who has repeatedly clashed with women’s rights campaigners.
Sam Blanchard’s coverage of the story in The Sun quoted Helen as saying that no matter how small the organisation, appointments like these matter and women with endometriosis deserve better. Her comments were also picked up by George Bunn for GB News and ITV.
Maya Forstater appeared on TalkTV with Kevin O’Sullivan and Alex Phillips to discuss the issue and suggested that the appointment may have been deliberate, to trigger a reaction. Maya expressed concern that as CEO of a women’s health charity, Richards will now have a voice at women’s health forums.
Richards appeared on BBC Woman’s Hour with the charity’s founder Jodie Hughes, who said during the interview that endometriosis is “not a gynaecological condition”. In an article by Catherine Lough for The Telegraph, Helen explained why it is in fact a women’s reproductive issue and suggested that Hughes’ remarks were offensive.
Writing for the Daily Mail, Dan Sales and Oliver Price quoted Maya as saying that presenter Emma Barnett did a good job of pushing back, but a lack of fawning in the interview does not mean it was ‘normal’ journalism, citing a thread by Helen on X.
In other news, Oliver Brown for The Telegraph quoted Maya’s case in an article on British Cycling allowing biological males to participate in its female-only Breeze community rides. The group removed a woman from a Facebook group for using the term “male” to describe the riders, on the grounds that this constitutes discriminatory language.
10th November
Coverage this week began with Helen Joyce’s book Trans being mentioned in an article by Martin Robinson for the Daily Mail on Kellie-Jay Keen’s experience of being accused of “standing with Nazis” by a Waterstones employee. Customers have previously accused Waterstones of “censorship” after reporting difficulty in finding books by gender critical authors such as Helen at the bookshop.
Maya Forstater was mentioned in an article by Brendan Carlin for the Daily Mail on how parents could be charged with domestic abuse for not using their child’s preferred pronoun under controversial new guidance from the Crown Prosecution Service. The paper quoted Maya’s assertion earlier this year that the service is “ideologically captured”.
Daniel Martin for The Telegraph and Greg Heffer for the Daily Mail reported Sex Matters’ letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, which was signed by 30 groups and called for a change to the law following the Scottish Court of Session’s ruling that the definition of woman is “not limited to birth sex”.
Finally, Martin Beckford quoted Maya in his article for the Daily Mail on how the Office for National Statistics has dealt with the latest blunder relating to the gender question in the 2021 Census. Maya said that the ONS’s suggestion that high rates of trans-identified people among people whose English is poor can be explained by some kind of influx of trans migrants is both “laughable” and “desperate”.
3rd November
Maya Forstater’s case was mentioned in Craig Simpson’s Telegraph article on author Stephen King’s praise of JK Rowling’s latest novel, after he called her gender-critical beliefs “wrong” in 2021. The case was also referred to in an article by The Christian Institute on the Green Party’s LGBT activist group branding party members who affirm the reality of biological sex as “transphobic” and by Evgeny Lebedev in the Evening Standard on Elon Musk and freedom of speech.
Helen Joyce had three powerful articles published in the media this week, starting with an essay for The Times on how she and her fellow Maddox Prize finalists have come under siege in the pursuit of their work. She also wrote for The Critic on how playing nice about being cancelled hasn’t encouraged censors to invite her back, and for the Evening Standard on why she speaks up on gender-identity ideology.
There was further coverage this week on Calderdale Council library service’s censorship of gender-critical books, including Helen’s Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality, with Craig Simpson at The Telegraph revealing that such books have been given the same treatment as Mein Kampf. The story was also covered by Jack Walters at GB News.
Ewan Somerville at The Telegraph and James Tozer at the Daily Mail reported on Free Speech Union’s investigation of 49 local authority library services, which found that two-thirds offer more trans than gender-critical books, such as Helen’s, despite the latter proving twice as popular in loans.
Finally, Maya was quoted in coverage of For Women Scotland’s loss at the Court of Session in Scotland. Andrew Learmouth for The Herald and Stewart Carr for the Daily Mail reported Maya’s statement that the judgment left many issues unresolved and her call for the UK government to use secondary legislation to clarify the meaning of sex in the Equality Act.
27th October
This week’s media coverage began with the news that Helen Joyce’s book Trans, alongside others by gender-critical authors, would be reinstated in Labour-run Calderdale council libraries, after librarians removed them from display earlier this year. Craig Simpson in The Telegraph and Melina Spanoudi in The Bookseller covered the news.
Writing on re-emerged talks of a ban on conversion therapy for The Times, Janice Turner referenced Sex Matters’ finding that Stonewall had barely mentioned conversion therapy in its annual reports and strategic documents between 2015 and 2020.
Julie Bindel’s article in The Sun about the Metropolitan Police’s failure to intervene when mobs shouted “Kill the Jews!” at a recent demonstration in central London mentioned Maya Forstater’s tribunal case in the context of police being selective on the basis of ideology.
Sex Matters’ launch of new guidance for the collection of data on sex and gender was covered by Daniel Martin in The Telegraph. The piece articulated Sex Matters’ concern that if schools, universities and other public-sector organisations continued to mix up sex and gender, it would affect the reliability of statistics and could be harmful for women’s rights.
Writing for the US publication National Review on whether the penalisation of Hamas sympathisers should be considered “cancel culture” in two successive articles, Madeleine Kearns said that the Grainger test that was applied to Maya’s tribunal case is a useful framework to determine which viewpoints should be tolerated by employers and donors.
Finally, Daniel Martin at The Telegraph covered the launch of Sex Matters’ new campaign to ban modern conversion therapy, and our view that telling children they can change sex is conversion therapy. The campaign sits in the context of ongoing calls to introduce new laws to ban historical forms of conversion therapy, and both Maya and Helen were quoted as saying that any new legislation must focus on current harmful practices targeted at same-sex attracted and vulnerable young people.
20th October
This week, Maya Forstater was quoted on Attitude magazine’s decision to award its inaugural Woman of the Year prize to trans-identifying male Dylan Mulvaney, which was covered by Danya Bazaraa at the Daily Mail. Maya said that the magazine’s decision was misogynistic to suggest that no woman has achieved anything more significant this year through their work than a man putting on a dress and having cosmetic surgery.
Maya also commented on JK Rowling’s surprise appearance last weekend at FiLiA, Europe’s largest feminist conference, which was held in Glasgow this year. It is believed to be the author’s first public appearance speaking on women’s rights since she posted in support of Maya in 2019. Maya told Lucy Bannerman and Jeremy Watson at The Times that JK Rowling left women in the audience feeling energised and inspired.
13th October
Responding to the news that a women’s shelter in London has a policy of accommodating men who identify as women, Helen Joyce told Alex Barton and Patrick Sawer in The Telegraph that the single-sex status of women’s shelters is critical for safety and wellbeing, and that Glassdoor, which runs the shelter, must reassess why it set the shelter up in the first place. The story was also covered by Iwan Stone for the Daily Mail.
Maya Forstater’s comments on the provision of “toilets for everybody” that had been set up at the Labour conference in Liverpool – including urinals behind a curtain – were covered by James Tapsfield and Shaun Wooller at the Daily Mail. Maya also appeared on GB News with Mark Nolan to discuss the issue.
Writing in The Telegraph, Steven Edginton reported that Border Force staff are permitted to wear LGBT Pride rainbow epaulettes. Helen was quoted as saying that some people use the rainbow flag as a symbol of extreme transactivism, and that public servants should be visibly fair and impartial.
Helen appeared on Jeremy Kyle’s show on Talk TV to discuss UCL and the University of Kent’s decision to provide student grants for “gender-affirming” products and medical procedures. Helen spoke of the physical risk of chest-binders, which are included in the schemes, while Kyle’s co-host Nicola Thorp compared the products to padded bras worn by “cis” women.
Finally, Maya’s tribunal was mentioned by Cath Walton in The Critic in an article on why denying sex change is not a crime, and by Danya Bazaraa in the Daily Mail in an article about JK Rowling’s criticism of Labour MP Lisa Nandy for hypocrisy regarding women’s rights.
6th October
Sex Matters welcomed the news that the UK government is launching a review on the importance of biological sex being recognised in data. Maya Forstater was quoted by Ben Riley-Smith in The Telegraph as saying that sorting out data on sex is at the heart of solving how society protects everyone’s rights when it comes to biological sex and gender self-expression.
Also welcoming the announcement that the UK government will tackle gender ideology within the NHS – from banning trans-identified males from female wards to the return of sex-based language on the NHS website – Maya was quoted by Laura Donnelly, Daniel Martin and Dominic Penna in two articles in The Telegraph, as well as Ryan Prosser in the Daily Mail, the BBC News website, Martyn Brown in the Express, Alyssa Guzman in the New York Post and Homera Hassan in the International Business Times. Helen Joyce was interviewed on the topic by Julia Hartley-Brewer on Talk TV.
The hostile reaction to Gonville and Caius College’s invitation to Helen Joyce to speak at Cambridge University last year was mentioned in an article by Fiona Parker in The Telegraph. The new Cambridge vice-chancellor, Professor Deborah Prentice, was interviewed and said that disagreeing well is as important as agreeing.
Scottish Legal News covered Sex Matters’ intervention in the gender-recognition certificate case brought by For Women Scotland against the Scottish Government that was heard in the Inner House of the Court of Session this week, with Maya highlighting that the importance of the impact of the definition of sex on human rights should be considered by the court.
News that East Midlands NHS Trust plans to give staff a year off for ‘male menopause’ was covered by Kate Pickles for the Daily Mail, with Helen saying the policies were part of an overall trend in HR to ignore, even deny, biological reality.
Maya’s case was cited by writer Jean Hatchet during an interview with Kay Burley on Sky News on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s statement that “a man is a man and a woman is a woman”.
Finally, Helen contributed to this month’s The Critic, writing on the diversity trap and how Stonewall’s diktats have created a workplace culture that scares and silences sensible people.
29th September
This week’s news coverage began with updated technical guidance for schools from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which was reported on by Daniel Martin at The Telegraph and Claire Ellicott at the Daily Mail. Helen Joyce was quoted as saying that while the updated guidance still isn’t perfect, the removal of faulty advice will make it easier for the government to produce strong schools guidance.
Writing in the Daily Express, Katie Harris covered the news that the Liberal Democrats passed a motion at the party conference which said that periods are “not just a women’s issue”. Helen remarked that it was a bleak moment for the party and that the Liberal Democrats have demonstrated how out of touch they are with voters.
Reporting in The Telegraph, Daniel Martin produced the first coverage of Sex Matters’ campaign to tackle the escalating violence faced by gender-critical women. Martin focused the article on our letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, which has been signed by more than 12,000 people.
In the Mail on Sunday, Chris Pollard covered the story of Colonel Dr Kelvin Wright, a war-hero doctor who was forced out of the army for quoting a sentence written by Helen, and was cleared of wrongdoing by an official inquiry. The story was also covered by Piers Morgan on Talk TV and for Sky News Australia.
Helen appeared on Talk TV with Julia Hartley-Brewer to discuss The Telegraph’s exposure of transactivism within the civil service.
Finally, Helen commented on news that a Harry Potter panel has been axed from London’s Comic Con on the same day that JK Rowling’s opening line from the book was voted among the best of all time. Quoted by Ewan Somerville and Patrick Sawer in The Telegraph, and Georgina Cutler for GB News, Helen remarked that no matter how hard extreme transactivists try to ruin JK Rowling’s life and career, they fail.
22nd September
It was another bumper week of media coverage, beginning with Edward Malnick reporting in The Sunday Telegraph that the Equality and Human Rights Commission had written to Sex Matters to advise that it recognises that its technical guidance for schools was wrong and will be revised.
Helen Joyce commented on the news that the General Medical Council had removed references to “mother” in its maternity document in Alex Barton’s front-page article in The Sunday Telegraph, which was also covered by Kat Lay at The Times.
In an article by Sanchez Manning for the Daily Mail, Helen commented on the news that sanitary-pad manufacturer Always had ordered the censorship of words such as “women”, “girls” and “females” in a recent article on helping daughters with their first periods.
Meanwhile, in articles by Alex Barton for The Telegraph, Iwan Stone for the Daily Mail, Leif Le Mahieu for the Daily Wire and Melissa Koenig for the New York Post, Maya Forstater warned that by featuring a model with double-mastectomy surgical scars in promotional photographs for a trimmer, Braun may be in breach of advertising standards guidance to not glamourise or trivialise cosmetic surgery.
Helen said that news that Police Scotland is setting up a new unit to tackle “hate crime” such as misgendering sends a sinister message to those who advocate for women’s and children’s rights in articles by Mary Wright for The Times and the Scottish Daily Express.
There was further coverage of the University of Leicester’s guidebook on trans inclusivity this week, with Joanna Williams of the Spectator Australia flagging the intimidating protests faced by the Sex Matters team in Manchester recently as problematic for the guidance.
Writing for The Scotsman, Susan Dalgety quoted Helen on the delay of the conversion-therapy bill in Scotland in an article on how First Minister Humza Yousaf appears to be taking a different approach to social-justice issues from that of his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon.
Finally, Sex Matters’ Lexi Ellingsworth was one of six women featured in an article by Jill Foster for the Daily Mail about the cancellation of women who aren’t in the public spotlight.
15th September
This week, the abusive protest faced by the Sex Matters team in Manchester on Sunday following the event at the People’s History Museum made news in the UK and abroad, with coverage by Mary Stone for Arts Professional, Madeleine Kearns in the National Review and Sarah Weaver in the Daily Caller.
The incident in Manchester was also flagged in news that academics at the University of Leicester have produced a new 44-page guidebook for museums on trans inclusivity, which was covered by Jo Bartosch for Spiked. In articles on the new guidance by Craig Simpson for The Telegraph and Alyssa Guzman for the New York Post, Helen Joyce highlighted that in an attempt to be “inclusive”, the guidance actually excludes views of people who don’t conform to gender ideology, while Sex Matters advisory group member Joan Smith said that it creates problems where they don’t exist.
Coverage of the need for quality guidance for schools on sex and gender continued this week, with Miriam Cates citing Sex Matters’ newly launched legal review in an article for The Critic and a Telegraph op-ed which argues that we can only win from a showdown with Stonewall.
Helen was also quoted in an article by Daniel Martin in The Telegraph on the SNP delay on a ban on conversion therapy, where she welcomed the delay and said that public consultation will give proponents of evidence-based gender care a welcome chance to make their case.
8th September
In the Sunday Telegraph, Edward Malnick reported on Maya and Helen’s recent letter to Minister for Women and Equalities Kemi Badenoch, which warned that faulty EHRC guidance is surely influencing the development of Department for Education’s new guidance for schools on sex and gender.
The launch of Sex Matters’ analysis of more than 20 laws and regulations on sex and gender in schools was covered by Jonathan Ames in The Times, Vanessa Allen in the Daily Mail, Gabriella Swerling in The Telegraph, and Jessica North in the Scottish Daily Express, with Maya warning that many schools may currently be in breach of the legal framework. Maya also discussed the review on GB News with Patrick Christys, and contributed an article on schools guidance to the Daily Express.
Helen also responded to the news that tampons are being provided in male toilets at the General Medical Council in a Telegraph article by Alex Barton.
1st September
Maya Forstater appeared on Andrew Doyle’s Free Speech Nation on GB News, where she discussed the Institute of Economic Affairs’ report on gender-critical views and Labour. She also spoke about the need for clarity in schools that children are boys and girls and cannot change, and that schools are there to keep them safe.
Helen Joyce was interviewed by Julia Hartley-Brewer on Talk TV in response to the news that 77 NHS trusts have signed up to a “Rainbow Badge Scheme” which marks down hospitals for using gendered words such as “mother” and “woman”. Helen highlighted that the push for the scheme is coming from the LGBT lobby group within the NHS, and said that the NHS is “acting like a bunch of incels”.
25th August
Commenting on the Liberal Democrats’ plan to vote on whether menstruation is just a women’s issue, Maya Forstater appeared on GB News with Patrick Christys and Helen Joyce was interviewed by Julia Hartley-Brewer on Talk TV, with Maya’s comments also picked up by a David Wilcock article in the Daily Mail.
Maya appeared on Julia Hartley-Brewer’s show on Talk TV to speak about the Institute of Economic Affairs report on Labour’s proposal for tougher hate-crime laws, and her comments were also covered by James Beal in The Times.
Internationally, an article on MSN covered Richard Dawkins’ recent interview with Helen, and Feminist Current published Meghan Murphy’s interview with Helen on her podcast.