Thursday, March 30, 2023
  • Sign In
  • Sign Up
Donate
Lesbian and Gay News
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Reports
  • Opinion
  • Interviews
  • Politics
  • Lesbian Lives
  • Gay Lives
  • Conversation
  • Home
  • Reports
  • Opinion
  • Interviews
  • Politics
  • Lesbian Lives
  • Gay Lives
  • Conversation
No Result
View All Result
Lesbian and Gay News
No Result
View All Result

Bev Jackson from LGB Alliance: Choose your battles

Home Opinion
byLesbian and Gay News
January 9, 2022
in Opinion
3 min read
Bev Jackson from LGB Alliance: Choose your battles
TweetShare

If the past year has taught us anything, it’s that we should choose our battles carefully when promoting the legal rights of LGB people. A good example of wasted energy was the seven years of legal battles between an LGBTQ+ activist and a Belfast cake-maker – which only serves to remind us that differences of opinion are baked into society. Deciding where one person’s rights end and another person’s discrimination begins is not a piece of cake. Sorry, I can’t help making bad jokes about this, if for no other reason than the whole story seems like one extended comedy sketch.

Other gay rights advocates have reacted with shrieks of horror to the European Court of Human Rights’ decision to rule inadmissible the case of a gay man who couldn’t get an Evangelical baker to make a wedding cake inscribed with the words “Support gay marriage”. As a free speech advocate, I applaud it. Mr Lee went to court but his lawyers forgot all the way through the British courts to invoke human rights provisions. Oops. Predictably, the LGBTQ+ vanguard is up in arms. At the heart of the battles over sex and gender is the fact, unpalatable for some, that others may have beliefs we reject and live out their lives according to them. That does not mean those people are breaking the law or that they are necessarily vile bigots.

You may also like

Jo Bartosch: “It is the EHRC’s job to look at facts; their intervention has been like the return of adults to the room.”

Gary Powell: “Was it our own internalised homophobia that allowed the gender lobby to hijack our gay rights movement? As though that’s all we are worth?”

Jo Bartosch on how gender critical campaigners are being labelled domestic terrorists and threats to national security by ‘radicalisation’ academics at King’s College London

Professional Judy signs up to Gettr: “As Twitter disappears up its own reality-denying ideological rectum it has become more and more authoritarian.”

Laws matter. One of the laws that matters is the law protecting freedom of expression. Another is the law protecting people with same-sex sexual orientation from discrimination, as laid down in the Equality Act. Some will say this sits uneasily alongside the law protecting freedom of religion. Somehow we all have to coexist and set boundaries that will work in real-life situations as opposed to bloviating on Twitter. Or in the courts. In my view, fighting discrimination need not involve compelling someone to write something against their will and their beliefs. Some people hold different beliefs: get over it.

Another issue where the gay rights movement is divided is on so-called “conversion therapy”. Now, if today’s version of “conversion therapy” meant what we all used to call conversion therapy, every right-minded person would want it banned. But as many people have since realised, inserting “transgender” into the proposals has produced a muddle of contradictions that could actually harm gay and lesbian teens instead of helping them feel happy about their sexual orientation. Now there is something more important than a cake to focus on. This piece of legislation is key to equality, and crucial to LGB rights. Let’s get this one right.

Another way to start getting it right would be to commit to a New Year’s resolution: clarity in language and law. The conflation of sex and gender has caused such a mess that male commentators have been floundering about on GBNews displaying their ignorance of sex-based rights. Clarity is badly needed. In an article in The Times Conservative MP Jackie Doyle-Price suggested a good place to start would be to strengthen the protections in the Equality Act. I couldn’t agree more. So how do we go about it? Doyle-Price urges the government to bite the bullet – to issue an unambiguous statement that the Equality Act protects “single sex spaces like hospital wards, prisons, refuges and rape crisis centres as well as women-only sporting competitions.”

Yes indeed. And let’s ensure, once and for all, that everyone understands that the sexual orientation that is a protected characteristic in the Equality Act is based on sex – not gender. In terms of protecting LGB rights, that really would be the cherry on the cake.

Choose your battles.

Bev Jackson is co-founder of LGB Alliance and a founding member of the Gay Liberation Front.

Photo (L-R): LGB Alliance’s Kate Barker, Chair of Trustees Eileen Gallagher and Bev Jackson. 

Tags: Bev JacksonJackie Doyle-PriceLGB Alliance
Previous Post

The accidental step mum by Deborah Evans: “Here’s the strange thing, children allow you to heal those childhood wounds. In parenting them, I parent myself.”

Next Post

Claire Heuchan talks to lesbian feminist author and academic Janice Raymond about her new book Doublethink: A Feminist Challenge to Transgenderism

Comments 1

The views/opinions expressed in these comments are solely those of the author and do not represent those of Lesbian & Gay News. Please thoroughly read our comment policy before posting.
  1. DC Hampton says:
    1 year ago

    Having met both Bev Jackson and Kate Harris online, I can see how people might be tempted to say: "Kate is the tough one, and Bev is the sweet one." After reading this op-ed, I'm reminded of what a Lesbian friend told me years ago: "When it comes to Gay women, it's a mistake to trust first impressions. There's more than meets the eye. We can't be stereotyped or pigeonholed. We are many-faceted." After which this very femme woman displayed to me a surprising and delightful butch side! It was a lesson I never forgot. So it's a pleasure to know that the very sweet Bev Jackson can be tough enough when she needs to be!

    Reply

To view all comments and to join the conversation, please sign in or register.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must sign in to join the conversation.

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Sign in to comment.

Would you like to sign in or register?

TopStories

Tavistock Centre’s gay conversion therapy whistle-blower vindicated in her employment tribunal, writes LGN legal commentator Dennis Kavanagh
Reports

Tavistock Centre’s gay conversion therapy whistle-blower vindicated in her employment tribunal, writes LGN legal commentator Dennis Kavanagh

by Lesbian and Gay News
September 10, 2021
3k
LGB Alliance is granted charitable status: Jo Bartosch reports on how the Charity Commission have rejected “sinister hate group” claims by MPs
Reports

LGB Alliance “have confidence in the Charity Commission” as trans children’s charity Mermaids leads legal attempt to overturn decision on charity status

by Jo Bartosch
June 2, 2021
7k
Gary Powell: Why we should say no to surrogacy   
Opinion

Gary Powell: “Let’s nail the gender activists’ lies about me, the Heritage Foundation, and LGB Alliance.”

by Lesbian and Gay News
October 27, 2021
3.2k
Reports that Iran has executed two men for gay sex
Reports

Reports that Iran has executed two men for gay sex

by Gary Powell
January 31, 2022
1.3k
Lauren Black: “I am a butch lesbian. I live with gender dysphoria. I do not believe my deep discomfort with my female body means that I should take steps to change it.”
Lesbian Lives

Lauren Black: “I am a butch lesbian. I live with gender dysphoria. I do not believe my deep discomfort with my female body means that I should take steps to change it.”

by Lesbian and Gay News
April 9, 2021
51.2k

RecommendedPosts

Claire Heuchan: Using difference creatively

Claire Heuchan: How do we find more lesbian spaces?

by Lesbian and Gay News
February 23, 2022
1k

Professional Judy: “Given the mob’s reaction to Alex he must have done something truly hateful to attract their wrath? Well no actually, he simply wore a T-shirt and beanie hat with LGB Alliance’s logo on it. That’s it.”

Professional Judy: “Given the mob’s reaction to Alex he must have done something truly hateful to attract their wrath? Well no actually, he simply wore a T-shirt and beanie hat with LGB Alliance’s logo on it. That’s it.”

by Lesbian and Gay News
August 31, 2021
3.6k

The Miller effect: How the Court of Appeal refashioned freedom of speech, by LGN legal commentator Dennis Kavanagh

The Miller effect: How the Court of Appeal refashioned freedom of speech, by LGN legal commentator Dennis Kavanagh

by Lesbian and Gay News
December 22, 2021
950

Jo Bartosch: Lost lesbians in the census

Jo Bartosch on why intersex people are fed up with their medical conditions being repurposed as a transgender identity

by Jo Bartosch
August 7, 2021
12.4k

Gary Powell: “Let us build up our magnificent LGB communities once again. When we find our authentic communities, we can find ourselves.”

Gary Powell: “Let us build up our magnificent LGB communities once again. When we find our authentic communities, we can find ourselves.”

by Lesbian and Gay News
June 24, 2021
1.3k

Jo Bartosch: Lost lesbians in the census

A Year in Review: “2021 was the year the fight to regain sex-based rights took form,” writes Jo Bartosch

by Jo Bartosch
December 30, 2021
2.1k

MostRecent

Announcement from the LGN Management Team: Lesbian and Gay News is closing

Announcement from the LGN Management Team: Lesbian and Gay News is closing

March 27, 2022
6.8k

Lesbians United on taking back the narrative

March 23, 2022
458

“The current model is not sustainable and another model is needed”: Interim Report of Cass Review welcomed by families with transgender-identified children, reports Gary Powell

March 23, 2022
748

Categories

  • Activism
  • Books
  • Conversion Therapy
  • Film
  • Gay Lives
  • Gender Dysphoria
  • Interviews
  • Lesbian and Gay News
  • Lesbian Lives
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Reports
  • Sponsored Editorial
  • Theatre
  • Transgender
  • Videos

Related Posts

Claire Heuchan: Using difference creatively

Claire Heuchan: How do we find more lesbian spaces?

February 23, 2022
1k
Shereen Benjamin on Stonewall: “It is alarming that City of Edinburgh councillors would affiliate their council to this increasingly discredited organisation.”

Shereen Benjamin on Stonewall: “It is alarming that City of Edinburgh councillors would affiliate their council to this increasingly discredited organisation.”

February 20, 2022
1.4k
Jo Bartosch: “One might have hoped that Lord Herbert might have questioned the huge rise in rates of referral to gender identity clinics, that he might have met with LGB Alliance.”

Gary Powell: Why Conservative backbench MPs should demand that Boris Johnson cancel the “Safe To Be Me” international LGBT conference

March 1, 2022
1.3k
EHRC skewers the UK Government’s Conversion Therapy proposals, by Bev Jackson from LGB Alliance

EHRC skewers the UK Government’s Conversion Therapy proposals, by Bev Jackson from LGB Alliance

February 7, 2022
2k
Jo Bartosch: “It is the EHRC’s job to look at facts; their intervention has been like the return of adults to the room.”

Jo Bartosch: “It is the EHRC’s job to look at facts; their intervention has been like the return of adults to the room.”

February 1, 2022
1.4k
Gary Powell: “The Conservatives’ LGBT ‘conversion therapy’ ban could become their new Section 28.”

Gary Powell: “Was it our own internalised homophobia that allowed the gender lobby to hijack our gay rights movement? As though that’s all we are worth?”

January 26, 2022
2.8k

Next Post
Claire Heuchan talks to lesbian feminist author and academic Janice Raymond about her new book Doublethink: A Feminist Challenge to Transgenderism

Claire Heuchan talks to lesbian feminist author and academic Janice Raymond about her new book Doublethink: A Feminist Challenge to Transgenderism

Categories

  • Activism
  • Books
  • Conversion Therapy
  • Film
  • Gay Lives
  • Gender Dysphoria
  • Interviews
  • Lesbian and Gay News
  • Lesbian Lives
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Reports
  • Sponsored Editorial
  • Theatre
  • Transgender
  • Videos

About Us

Lesbian and Gay News is an alternative source of news and opinion. Lesbian and Gay News picks up from an historic tradition of British lesbian and gay publications such as Gay News, which ran from 1972-1983, and The Pink Paper, which ran for 25 years from 1987.

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise with Us
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

© 2021 staging.lesbianandgaynews.com - BM Payments Services Limited

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Reports
  • Opinion
  • Interviews
  • Politics
  • Lesbian Lives
  • Gay Lives
  • Conversation
  • Videos
  • Sign In
  • Sign Up

© 2021 staging.lesbianandgaynews.com - BM Payments Services Limited

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.