The fall of a once great man

 I was very disappointed yesterday to read the comment piece in The Times by Trevor Phillips, that once great advocate of equality and human rights. It appears that Phillips now believes equality and human rights are all very well unless you’re trans. 

Phillips cloaks his arguments in Latin quotes and allegories, but in essence his argument against trans rights, (and maybe even the right of trans people to question their birth gender, it isn’t clear), is “it’s what we all know to be true isn’t it?”

Well no Mr Phillips. 

He quotes his own involvement in advising the government on The Equality Act when it was being drafted. He says that if people believed trans women were women it wouldn’t have been necessary to provide for specific protections for trans people in the equality act. But hang on. It’s precisely because there are people like Phillips that don’t believe it’s possible to change your gender that the act had to make it clear that, yes, some people do. 

Worst of all he falls back on the old debating trick of ascribing ludicrously extreme views to his opponents and then pointing out how ridiculous they are. Apparently we trans sympathisers are “seeking to undermine the law on sex, race, religion and belief”. And it seems we want to “erase the very concept of sex itself”. And we’re “lining up behind patent absurdities.” 

It pains me to point out that there fewer  trans sympathisers who believe all that as there are trans deniers who believe trans women are really wolves in sheep’s clothing, closet rapists and should be jailed. 

What was lacking in his commentary was any argument as to WHY trans people can’t change their gender. Can we detect in his hysteria a subconscious acceptance that his fundamental arguments are weak? 

Finally he seems to think that the High Court’s judgement defines sex as being biological sex for all legal purposes. I refer him to the Gender Equality Act. It’s still there I’m afraid Sir Trevor. 

Well, at least he gets one thing right. In his last paragraph Phillips describes the supreme court judgement as a wake up call. He’s right, but not in the way that he means.