the point of a refuge is to provide a safe haven to those who need it. in the case of abuse, trans women are proportionally more likely to suffer from abuse than non-trans women. in fact, several of those refuge services were set up and run *by* trans women - see this, for example https://galop.org.uk/news/galops-statement-on-womens-aids-position-on-the-inclusion-of-trans-women-in-single-sex-services/
to be fair, that sums up my personal beliefs on the matter better than i could, and to exclude *anyone* from the help that they need when they're already vulnerable is ridiculous. whether you believe trans women are women or not is irrelevant: they're someone who needs help. fucking help them.
i could also suggest people watch read https://www.thepinknews.com/2020/09/08/trans-women-refuges-domestic-abuse-myth-debunked-womens-aid-diana-james/ as well where a parliamentary committee talking to people from domestic abuse shelters had no evidence for any of the claims made by anti-trans campaigners.
as for sports, i think the likes of ms semenya show that it's not all about biological gender at all. people have different levels of hormones - women with PCOS, for example, have higher testosterone levels than those without. even a cursory example of science shows that the whole 'male/female' dichotomy is an extremely simplified way to look at things, so how in hell any lay person is going to be able to be making a valid judgement based on anything but a knee-jerk emotional level gut feel is nonsense.
again, i believe in inclusion and ffs sports is fun and entertainment. let people join in. it doesn't fucking matter.
and as for the kids - ffs. anything that stops kids killing themselves in droves is a *good* thing. if that means they take hormone blockers to slow things down while they figure their shit out, fantastic. again, i've had friends go through this shit, and my daughter has friends figuring that shit out. the amount of crap they have to go through to get access is more than sufficient. but, ultimately, kids who get that help don't kill themselves. therefore, it's a good thing.
and let's also get this stuff in perspective: we're talking around a half a percent of the world population is trans. most people never meet anyone trans, and if they do most don't notice or care. this is yet another case of divisive culture war bullshit to distract the population. i guarantee you that when people don't feel like they're struggling to keep their head above water, these problems melt away into the background.
Responses