Gina Gwenffrewi
@ginagwenffrewi.bsky.social
Co-Director of SUISS at the University of Edinburgh, where I also lecture and tutor in Trans and Queer Studies (Culture/Media). LGBT+ rep for UCU Edinburgh. Trustee of the Scottish Queer International Film Festival (SQIFF). She/Her. Cymraes.
I don't think the difference between 'left' and 'centre' is ever meaningless. One should be for social justice and structural change to achieve that aim, whereas centrism is protecting the status quo, don't you think?
November 11, 2025 at 1:56 PM
I don't think the difference between 'left' and 'centre' is ever meaningless. One should be for social justice and structural change to achieve that aim, whereas centrism is protecting the status quo, don't you think?
But TYT claim to be left wing (or used to), making their betrayal of trans people worse. I never got the impression that the Newsagents were anything more than centrists. I think Michael Walker of Novara - his interview with TYT's Anna Kasparian is fawning - is the closest thing to having TYT vibes.
November 11, 2025 at 1:47 PM
But TYT claim to be left wing (or used to), making their betrayal of trans people worse. I never got the impression that the Newsagents were anything more than centrists. I think Michael Walker of Novara - his interview with TYT's Anna Kasparian is fawning - is the closest thing to having TYT vibes.
I've watched a couple of the 'This Isn't Working' podcasts, it's hosted by a GC person who invites other GC or GC-sympathetic people to agree how crazy trans identity is. She attended a recent Stonewall conference with Maya Forstater and got upset trans women were using the 'cubicle' toilet area.
November 6, 2025 at 8:14 AM
I've watched a couple of the 'This Isn't Working' podcasts, it's hosted by a GC person who invites other GC or GC-sympathetic people to agree how crazy trans identity is. She attended a recent Stonewall conference with Maya Forstater and got upset trans women were using the 'cubicle' toilet area.
My paper literally got published yesterday, unfortunately, as part of the special edition by the Bulletin of Applied Transgender Studies.
November 5, 2025 at 9:01 PM
My paper literally got published yesterday, unfortunately, as part of the special edition by the Bulletin of Applied Transgender Studies.
Thank you, Stephanie. Yes, there's a broader issue of institutional corruption right across the U.K. political establishment, the LGBA and all the other anti-trans lobby groups are just a symptom of a much deeper malaise.
November 5, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Thank you, Stephanie. Yes, there's a broader issue of institutional corruption right across the U.K. political establishment, the LGBA and all the other anti-trans lobby groups are just a symptom of a much deeper malaise.
Thank you for your kind words, Jolyon ☺️, and huge gratitude to the work of the Good Law Project, which I draw upon in the 'Astro-TERFs' paper.
November 5, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Thank you for your kind words, Jolyon ☺️, and huge gratitude to the work of the Good Law Project, which I draw upon in the 'Astro-TERFs' paper.
Really important point by Jess about the crisis we're entering to since GC beliefs became protected. My colleague at the University of Edinburgh Law School, Sharon Cowan, wrote a paper back in 2022 predicting the can of worms that the Forstater appeal opened ...
academic.oup.com/ilj/article/...
academic.oup.com/ilj/article/...
November 5, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Really important point by Jess about the crisis we're entering to since GC beliefs became protected. My colleague at the University of Edinburgh Law School, Sharon Cowan, wrote a paper back in 2022 predicting the can of worms that the Forstater appeal opened ...
academic.oup.com/ilj/article/...
academic.oup.com/ilj/article/...
Absolutely this. If you look at the 'reassurance' Mr Justice Choudhury gave the trans community when he overturned the 2019 Forstater tribunal ruling in 2021 in favour of Forstater, he spoke of it not meaning 'indiscriminate misgendering' etc, but it has led to this, just as the 2019 ruling warned.
November 5, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Absolutely this. If you look at the 'reassurance' Mr Justice Choudhury gave the trans community when he overturned the 2019 Forstater tribunal ruling in 2021 in favour of Forstater, he spoke of it not meaning 'indiscriminate misgendering' etc, but it has led to this, just as the 2019 ruling warned.
Thank you Jo!
November 5, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Thank you Jo!
Thank you Madeleine!
November 5, 2025 at 10:26 AM
Thank you Madeleine!
Thanks for your kind words, though unfortunately I don't know of a paper on Sex Matters - though if I were to write another paper on an anti-trans group, it would be them. Sally Hines produced a useful paper on the transatlantic 'Hands Across the Aisle' alliance but it focuses more on Tufton Street.
November 5, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Thanks for your kind words, though unfortunately I don't know of a paper on Sex Matters - though if I were to write another paper on an anti-trans group, it would be them. Sally Hines produced a useful paper on the transatlantic 'Hands Across the Aisle' alliance but it focuses more on Tufton Street.
Sara Ahmed called the 'anti-Critical Race Theory' protected belief decision part of a “coordinated efforts to stigmatize and erase generations of antiracist knowledge, advocacy and history” (Ahmed, 2024). I wonder if it's now being used in cases like this.
November 4, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Sara Ahmed called the 'anti-Critical Race Theory' protected belief decision part of a “coordinated efforts to stigmatize and erase generations of antiracist knowledge, advocacy and history” (Ahmed, 2024). I wonder if it's now being used in cases like this.
I'd be interested in finding out what Tommy Robinson's protected belief is. I was shocked / not shocked when I discovered opposition to Critical Race Theory was established as a protected belief in 2023 in an employment tribunal involving Sean Corby (2023), following in Maya Forstater's shadow ...
November 4, 2025 at 11:38 PM
I'd be interested in finding out what Tommy Robinson's protected belief is. I was shocked / not shocked when I discovered opposition to Critical Race Theory was established as a protected belief in 2023 in an employment tribunal involving Sean Corby (2023), following in Maya Forstater's shadow ...
One thing I hate about academia is the amount of time a peer-reviewed paper takes to be published - in this case, 2 years. It's frustrating to see salaried anti-trans lobby groups and journalists pumping out disinformation on a weekly basis via a complicit media. How do we compete with this?
November 4, 2025 at 8:06 PM
One thing I hate about academia is the amount of time a peer-reviewed paper takes to be published - in this case, 2 years. It's frustrating to see salaried anti-trans lobby groups and journalists pumping out disinformation on a weekly basis via a complicit media. How do we compete with this?
For anyone interested in reading a contrasting paper that analyses the UK press' hostile coverage of trans-advocacy organizations, please read my article The Stoning of Stonewall:
www.ucu.org.uk/media/13245/...
www.ucu.org.uk/media/13245/...
www.ucu.org.uk
November 4, 2025 at 8:02 PM
For anyone interested in reading a contrasting paper that analyses the UK press' hostile coverage of trans-advocacy organizations, please read my article The Stoning of Stonewall:
www.ucu.org.uk/media/13245/...
www.ucu.org.uk/media/13245/...
This special edition of the Bulleting is titled 'Dynamics of Transphobic Content and Disinformation' has 9 articles on organized transphobia and can be read here: bulletin.appliedtransstudies.org
Bulletin of Applied Transgender Studies | A publication of the Center for Applied Transgender Studies
The Bulletin of Applied Transgender Studies is the leading venue for academic research addressing the social, cultural, and political issues facing transgender and gender minority communities across t...
bulletin.appliedtransstudies.org
November 4, 2025 at 7:57 PM
This special edition of the Bulleting is titled 'Dynamics of Transphobic Content and Disinformation' has 9 articles on organized transphobia and can be read here: bulletin.appliedtransstudies.org
My paper also highlights the UK press' complicity in mainstreaming the LGBA's anti-trans campaigning. The data shows UK press bias that whitewashes the LGBA and uses it as a weapon against the trans community in anti-trans stories. This contrasts with the media's attacks against pro-trans charities.
November 4, 2025 at 7:52 PM
My paper also highlights the UK press' complicity in mainstreaming the LGBA's anti-trans campaigning. The data shows UK press bias that whitewashes the LGBA and uses it as a weapon against the trans community in anti-trans stories. This contrasts with the media's attacks against pro-trans charities.
I contrast their anti-trans campaigning of the LGBA with their claim to be a pro-LGB group. As their campaigning against the Welsh Assembly's 'LGBTQ+ Action Plan' and pro-LGB Hate Crime Bill in Scotland attests, their focus is on undermining trans rights, not supporting LGB people ...
November 4, 2025 at 7:48 PM
I contrast their anti-trans campaigning of the LGBA with their claim to be a pro-LGB group. As their campaigning against the Welsh Assembly's 'LGBTQ+ Action Plan' and pro-LGB Hate Crime Bill in Scotland attests, their focus is on undermining trans rights, not supporting LGB people ...
Totally agree. The 'gender critical' movement also refer to themselves as being part of a 'sex caste', which isn't true and also problematic. There's definitely a segregationist and eradicationist agenda against trans people, but 'caste' is very specific and not reflective of our oppression.
October 31, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Totally agree. The 'gender critical' movement also refer to themselves as being part of a 'sex caste', which isn't true and also problematic. There's definitely a segregationist and eradicationist agenda against trans people, but 'caste' is very specific and not reflective of our oppression.
This is a really important analysis, the same thing has been happening in the UK. Advocacy groups like Stonewall and Mermaids have been marginalized and replaced by right-wing think tanks like Policy Exchange and astroturf groups like LGB Alliance. Total domination of the public sphere by the rich.
September 22, 2025 at 9:06 PM
This is a really important analysis, the same thing has been happening in the UK. Advocacy groups like Stonewall and Mermaids have been marginalized and replaced by right-wing think tanks like Policy Exchange and astroturf groups like LGB Alliance. Total domination of the public sphere by the rich.
I can download the story through my university's Nexis Advance UK search engine. I'll email the downloaded story to you.
September 21, 2025 at 12:25 PM
I can download the story through my university's Nexis Advance UK search engine. I'll email the downloaded story to you.
It is a very good article, but it's also published by a newspaper that has been on a crusade of disinformation against trans people for several years - I recommend Riki Wilchins' 'Bad Ink: how the NY Times sold out transgender teens' to anyone wanting to learn more. The NYT has a lot to answer for.
September 19, 2025 at 1:08 PM
It is a very good article, but it's also published by a newspaper that has been on a crusade of disinformation against trans people for several years - I recommend Riki Wilchins' 'Bad Ink: how the NY Times sold out transgender teens' to anyone wanting to learn more. The NYT has a lot to answer for.
Agree. This entire Labour Gov has undermined UK democracy: cynical careerists who will sell out the disempowered and hope we're stupid enough to make do with handwringing. Also special mention to the Guardian's journos who paved the way for this kind of politics and seem surprised it's going badly.
September 16, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Agree. This entire Labour Gov has undermined UK democracy: cynical careerists who will sell out the disempowered and hope we're stupid enough to make do with handwringing. Also special mention to the Guardian's journos who paved the way for this kind of politics and seem surprised it's going badly.